80 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



W. A. Pryal (A. B. J.) thinks that the great 

 fatality attending the mailing of queens to Cal- 

 ifornia results from the candy becoming too dry 

 as it enters that sunny clime, and that there 

 should be a return to the old plan of little wa- 

 ter-bottles. Confectioners make a candy dry 

 outside and soft in the middle. How would 

 that do for California shipments ? 



Robbers. Boil for a few minutes a handful 

 of tobacco or cigar-stumps in a gill of water, 

 and you have a not costly chemical product 

 that will put to route, like enchantment, an 

 army of robbers. Apply a few daubs of it at 

 the points where robbers try to enter, and they 

 are totally driven away for a long time, when 

 the application must be renewed.— i'^picul- 

 teur. 



Foui. BROOD. Dr. Wra. R. Howard (A. B. J.) 

 claims to have proved that " the queen does de- 

 posit eggs in cells containing the dark, coifee- 

 colored dried mass " of foul brood; that honey 

 is also stored in such cells, and sometimes cap- 

 ped, and that stores and bacilli live in such hon- 

 ey indetinitely. That's not accoi'ding to Che- 

 shire, perhaps, but it's according to the belief 

 of most practical bee-keepers. 



Honey in butter, as mentioned in another 

 Straw, an ounce to the pound, has a twofold 

 purpose: To improve the flavor, and to prevent 

 the butter from beooniing rancid. If an ounce 

 of honey were sold in this country for every 

 pound of first-class butter, there would be quite 

 a boom in the honey -mai'ket. Is there a dairy- 

 man in our ranks to try the thing, and report 

 his judgment as to the effect of honey in bat- 

 ter ? 



That notched scraping-knife, on p. 60. It 

 seems, Ernest, that I didn't make clear what 

 my chief objection was. It was. that it took 

 too long time to set that notch at the right 

 place to work— somewhat in the same way it 

 takes loo much time to set loose hanging frames 

 at the right distance. But a half-hour's trial 

 will convince you better than an hour's argu- 

 ment. And just you try that notch at the end 

 of a long springy blade! 



MANUM IN THE APIARY. 



INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS IN QUKEN- REAR- 

 ING; manum's nucleus-chamber. 



By A. E. Manum. 



"Here we are, Mr. Daggett, at the Williams 

 yard, and here I have a horse-shed connected 

 with the honey-house, as you see, with double 

 door to the honey-house, so that I can back my 

 wagon into the honey-house when necessary; 



and, by closing the doors, I can load my honey 

 without fear of robber-bees." 



" What work have you got to do here to-day, 

 Manum '?" 



"Just about the same that I had yesterday at 

 the Meach yard, with the addition of looking 

 over a few of my experiment hives, which I 

 will leave for the last thing before we return 

 home; and since you are acquainted with Judge 

 Williams — I suppose I should give him the title 

 of ' President,' since he is President of the State 

 Humane Society — you might make him a call of 

 an hour or more." 



"Manum, I guess you are going to have a 

 call." 



" Yes. I think so. That is Mr. Cox, who has 

 an apiary four miles north from here. How do 

 you do, Mr. Cox? You seem to be in a hurry." 



"Y^es, Manum, I am somewliat, though I have 

 left my 12-year-old boy to hive the bees should 

 any swarm while I am away. I have come 

 over to borrow a foundation-fastener, if you 

 have an extra one you can spare." 



"Oh, yes! I have one right here that you can 

 have as well as not. Are your bees doing pretty 

 well?" 



" Yes; the past two days have been favorable, 

 and all are at work in sections; and as bass- 

 wood promises a full bloom I wish to get more 

 sections ready," says Mr. Cox. 



" Are you sure basswood will give a full bloom 

 this year, Mr. Cox ? I am not so sure of it. I 

 have seen but a few trees, it is true; but those 

 I have examined promise only a partial bloom. 

 I find no buds except at the top of the trees and 

 at the very tips of the branches; and I have 

 come to the conclusion that we shall get only 

 about a third of a full bloom. It may be, how- 

 ever, that, in some localities, they will bloom 

 more fully. It is well enough to be ready, how- 

 ever; but at the same time 1 would advise you 

 not to get too many sections ready wlien the 

 basswoods promise so sparingly. I liave been 

 caught so many times that I have learned to be 

 very careful unless there is a prospect that we 

 shall get a full bloom." 



" What is the matter with that colony ? and 

 why do you shake the bees off the combs in 

 front of their hive?" 



"Well, I will tell you. Twelve days ago I 

 gave them a virgin queen, and I opened them to 

 see if she was laying, and I find they are queen- 

 less." 



"Well, but you did not look for any eggs. 

 How can you tell that they are queenless?" 



" By their actions, and the mournful hum I 

 hear. Do you see they are not clustered in any 

 particular place in the hive? They are in all 

 parts of it, and appear very much in trouble. 

 Doubtless their queen was lost in mating, and I 

 will now give them another if I can find one in 

 my queen-nursery that has just hatched, as 

 they will be more apt to accept a queen just 

 emerged from the cell than one three or four 



