16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



of Chili have other honey-plants, the flora be- 

 ing quite diversified. 



Mr. Dufey commenced, a green hand, in 1888, 

 with one colony, from which he obtained one 

 swarm and 44 lbs. of honey. Since then he has 

 allowed only a very moderate increase, his api- 

 ary now numbering only 30 colonies. Since the 

 first year, his average yield per colony each 

 year has been, respectively, 275, 103, 95, and 110 

 pounds, extracted. He gets 9 to 10 cents a 

 pound, which is about double the average price 

 of the average Chilian honey. 



WEDDING-FLIGHTS. 



In lUustrierte BienenzeltuiKj is given a very 

 interesting table recording the excursions of a 

 number of queens. In the opinion of the ob- 

 server, Iv. Befort, there is always a preliminary 

 flight merely to mark the location, and, in gen- 

 eral, a plurality of after-flights— in one case at 

 least ten excursions being made, fertilization 

 occurring in no case till the third excursion or 

 later. Time occupied in each excursion, from 

 10 to 35 minutes. Cowan reports a flight of 45 

 minutes. 



One queen was fertilized on two dift'erent oc- 

 casions. One queen flew when only two days 

 old, one whriu 'i'l. One queen was killed by the 

 bees on her return, and Mr. Befort is of the 

 opinion that such cases occur because of too 

 small fly-holes. If there is a very small fly- 

 hole it may be so filled with bees as to change 

 its appearance so that the queen does not recog- 

 nize it readily, and. in her doubt and vacillating 

 movements, she arouses the suspicions of the 

 guards, who seize her as an intruder. He rec- 

 ommends that the fly-hole be at least large 

 enough for 8 or 10 bees to pass in and out com- 

 fortably at the same time. 



HONEY VINE<4AK. 



An interesting communication from A. I'ro- 

 chaska appears in Deutsche Imker (iu,s Boeli- 

 men. The writer manufactures honey vinegar 

 and honey-vinegar essence in quantity, of such 

 quality that it sells readily at a higher price 

 than any other vinegar. The essence, as he 

 calls it, is of such strength that the addition of 

 nine parts of filtered soft water makes it vine- 

 gar of the best quality. This is convenient to 

 ship long distances. He seems to have'buiJt up 

 an important trade by keeping up his product 

 to a high standard; and honey used to manu- 

 facture his product must come up to the follow- 

 ing reciuiri^ments: 



1. The honey must be pure and transparent 

 when in the liquid state. 



2. The taste and smell must be good and pure, 

 no matter whether the color be light or dark. 



3. The consistence must be such that the hon- 

 ey shall be granulated solid throughout, or else 

 in a thick fluid state. Thin honey, or that 

 which yet contains a thin i)ortion after granu- 

 lation, is rejected. 



Honey coming up to the recpiired standard he 

 receives from bee-keepers, paying .•.'13(|ts. vin- 



egar essence for a pound of honey. As each 

 quart of the essence makes 10 quarts of vine- 

 gar, it makes a little less than ;.' pounds of hon- 

 ey for a gallon of vinegar. 



It may be worth while to inquire whether if,, 

 in Germany, a market is thus opened for honey, 

 the same thing may not be done here. (Jiven 

 the right man to establish a honey-vinegar fac- 

 tory, miglit he not make a good thing? The 

 point is to make vinegar of such quality that it 

 can have a sure market at a paying price. Each 

 bee-keeper might do something on a sraalP 

 scale. C. C. Mii.lek. 



Marengo, 111. 



DOOLITTLE CELL-CUPS. 



SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF USING. 



There seems to be a good deal of interest 

 manifested as to what is the best way to rear 

 queen-cells. I have reared thousands of queens; 

 have tried nearly all the plans known, but have 

 found none as satisfactory and certain, and that 

 gives as uniformly^fine, large, and good queens, 

 as using the Doolittle cups and having the cells 

 built in the second story of strong colonies over 

 queen-excluding metal. I find that cells built 

 on Doolittle cups excel in strength. The thick 

 base enables them to be taken off the sticks; 

 are put into hives to hatch, and caged or han- 

 dled in various ways more rapidlv, and with less 

 risk of injury to the inmates, than cells built in 

 any other way. The uniform size and extra 

 strength is a great advantage in caging cells 

 when more than are needed are ready to hatch. 

 These and other advantages more than offset 

 the time required to make the cells. I have 

 spoiled so many fine-looking cells built on 

 combs, that were so frail I could not trim them 

 to cage them, or that were ruined in cutting 

 them out, and T have so little trouble with those 

 built on " cups," that I use them nearly alto- 

 gether. By watching the cells and culling out 

 all that are not properly cared for. uniformly 

 large fine queens may be secured. I "happen- 

 around" the day after giving cups and larvie; 

 and if any have not received proper attention 

 they are destroyed; and I look after them again- 

 before the cells are sealed; and any inferior- 

 looking cells are taken out, and the food used' 

 to start other cu|)S. 



I use eel Is from my best colonies when they 

 swarm, but I do not see that they are a bit bet- 

 ter than cells started from cups with larvn^ from 

 my best queens. 



I suppose most bee-keepers have noticed that 

 the first Iarva> in a new swarm, during a good 

 flow of honey, have a great abundance of food. 

 Sometimes the larv;e in a colony are fed very 

 scantily, and they seem to rest on the bottom of 

 the cell instead of swimming in the food, as in 

 the case of the new swarm. LarviB from cells 

 w(dl supplied with food are not only more easi- 



