THE jtMERicsM mmm j©iejre«mi<. 



21 



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Tool for Cleaning Propolis from 

 llic Sections. 



1. Italians, and Italian-hybriils can, 

 at an)- time when the Howret.s are well 

 filled with nectar, and better when a 

 previons drouth has shortened the 

 tnbes of the tiowers. — R. L. Taylor. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 603.— What kind of a tool do you 

 «ee to cleao the propolis from sections ?— 

 Iowa. 



A dnll knife.— Dadant & Son. 



A common case-knife. — C.C.Miller. 



An ordinarj' pocket-knife. — K. L. 

 Taylor. 



The small blade of a pocket-knife, 

 usually. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



Any knife at hand. — M. Mahin. 



A strong pocket-knife, or a short 

 table-knife. — A. B. Mason. 



Tlie instrument that I nse is a .sharp 

 three-cornered piece, with a handle to 

 ir. — Will M. Barnum. 



Any knife convenient for the pur- 

 piise — a pocket-knife is as good as any- 

 thing. P. L. VlALLON. 



A good, strong knife with a sharp 

 point. — C. H. Di^BERN. 



A case-knife ; sometimes a wide, dull 

 chisel ; that is, a chisel not very sharp. 

 — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



I have used an old case-knife, and I 

 liiid that it works very well. — J.E.Pond 



A sharp and pointed knife-blade ; 

 and sometimes glass and sand-paper. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



A common cftse-knife, with a thin, 

 pliable blade.— A. J. Cook. 



An old table-knife is about as cheap 

 and as good a tool as you can use. — J. 

 P. H. Brown. 



I use a sharp pocket-knife. There 



no propolis on my sections, except 

 -lithe edges, to be cleaned off. — G. 

 A\'. Demaree. 



An old case or table knife having ij 

 of the blade taken off, so as to leave 

 tlic end square, like a puttj--knife. — G. 



^I. DOOLITTLE. 



A small jack-knife. I use the largest 

 blade, and hold that blade between my 

 thumb and finger in such a manner as 

 to guage its position at all times. — 

 James Heudon. 



I have used a carpenter's paring 

 cliisel with good effect. Do not use 

 tlie cutting edge, but use the sharp 

 corners of the blade with a kind of 

 stroke motion. The best way is to use 

 proper cases, and keep out of 

 " scrapes." — J. M. Shuck. 



One which I have found quite satis- 

 factory is made by breaking a worn- 

 out three-cornered file in two in the 

 middle, and grinding the three sides 

 until the edges are sharp. With this 

 tool in the right hand, and the section 

 in the left, very good and sati.sfactorj- 

 work can be done. — Eugene Secor. 



Any knife, eitlier one carried in the 

 pocket or used at the table, will do. A 

 scraper can easily Ije made, or you can 

 use the side of a chisel or putty-knife. 

 — The Editor. 



Getting Honey from the Red 

 Clover. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 604 1. Can Italian, Cyprian, Car- 



niolan, Holy-Land, CauoaBian. Egyptian, Al- 

 bino or any other kind ot bees get honey 

 easily out of red clover? If so, which ? 2. If 

 uoi, which can penetrate the deepest flowers ? 

 -A. H. 



Yes ; bumble-bees.— A. B. Mason. 



We have no red clover here, and I 

 cannot say. I do not know, but the 

 Italians are good enough for me. — P. 



L. VlALLON. 



1. Why do you not add "bumble- 

 bees ?" then you would have it. 2. The 

 one with the longest tongue. — H. D. 

 Cutting. 



1. No, not generally. I, think that 

 any of the breeds may do so some- 

 times. — C. C. Miller. 



Yes, sometimes. If the flowers are 

 "short," and other forage scarce, all 

 hive-bees store from it— J. M. Shuck. 



I cannot speak about the "easy" 

 part, but I have frequently seen Ital- 

 ians work upon red clover. From a 

 series of measurements, I have found 

 that the Cyprian and Italian bees can 

 penetrate the deepest.— J.P.H. Brown. 



No, not as a rule. Sometimes Ital- 

 ians and other varieties will work on 

 the second crop of red clover ; but it 

 cannot be depended upon with any 

 race of bees. — C. H. Dibbern. 



I have had no experience outside of 

 Italians, blacks and their crosses, and 

 I have never had the pleasure of see- 

 ing either of them gathering honey 

 from red clover. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



I have read of certain strains of bees 

 (Italians, I believe) that were bred up 

 to this, and I think that it is quite pos- 

 sible. We should breed more for 

 "long tongues." It will be the princi- 

 pal feature of the " bee of the future." 

 — Will M. Barnum. 



I have no experience with any bees 

 except blacks, Italian and Holy Land 

 or Syrian. None of them can get 

 honey from red clover "easily," but 

 all of them can get at it sometimes, 

 but with some difficulty. The bees 

 from Palestine and Syria have longer 

 tongues than bla(/ks or Italians. — M, 

 Mahin. 



Italian bees work quite freely on the 

 second crop of red clover, particularly 

 on the smaller heads ; and in our api- 

 ary some colonies of Italians work 

 milch be.ttcr upon red clover tlian 

 others. Such colonies we mark "Ex- 

 tra," and breed from them. — Mrs. L. 

 ■ Harrison. 



We have not tried all, but we think 

 that the Italians come as near to it as 

 any of the otliers, and it is only at 

 times that they can get honey from red 

 clover — probably when the corollas 

 happen to be shorter, or perhaps fuller. 

 — Dadant & Son. 



No. Sometimes all bees can get 

 some honey from red clover. Those 

 with the longest tongues could do the 

 best. Italans and Syrians have the 

 longest tongues of any that I have ex- 

 amined. — A. J. Cook. 



In some years all kinds of bees work 

 on red clover, and in other years none 

 of them get any honey worth speaking 

 of from this plant. The Italians will 

 work more on red clover than any 

 variety I know of. — G. M. Doolittle. 



Red clover is not such a great honey- 

 yielder as many people suppose. The 

 largest yields of red clover honey I 

 have ever seen gathered, were taken 

 in by crosses between Italians and 

 brown-German bees. — James Heddon. 



1. No, not easily ; though it is 

 claimed that the Italians can do so to 

 a considerable extent. 2. From all 

 the evidence I can gather, the Italians 

 can penetrate deeper into the flowers 

 than any other variety. — .T. E. Pond. 



1. I have never seen any hive-bee 

 that could get^honcy out of red clover 

 at all seasons.' I think that it is mostly 

 from the second crop (^f clover that 

 they get honey, because the blossoms 

 are smaller. If from any cause the 

 first crop is dwarfed, the r(^su!t would 

 be the same. 2. I have only observed 

 blacks, Italians and Carniolans, the 

 advantage being perhaps with the 

 Italians. — Eugene Secor. 



1. According to my observations red 

 clover yields nectar very scantily in 

 some seasons, and very profusely 

 in some other seasons. I believe that 

 all the yellow varieties of bees work 

 on red clover, when it yields nectar. 

 The best results that I ever obtained 

 from red clover, was by the use of 

 Ijces that were a first cross between 

 Italian drones and Cyprian queens. I 

 believe that no bees are equal to this 

 cross as workers on red clover. — G. 

 W. Demaree. 



Yes ; all of the kinds of bees can do 

 so sometimes, but none more "easily" 

 than the Italians. When the nectar is 

 plenty, or the corollas are " stunted " 

 by drouth, it is more easily done than 

 when the tubes are deep. The " long 

 tongues" count in this matter. In this 

 the Italians and Syrians are doubtless 

 at the head. — The Editor. 



