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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



may also be bleached by leaving it exposed to 

 the rays of the sun, so as to be practically 

 white. If the wax is left in the solar wax-ex- 

 tractor long enough it will become white. 



J. W. B., of Va., writes: " I have some bees; 

 I do not know what they are. They are very 

 small. Some of them are as black as coal, and 

 some have one yellow band." Aiis. — Tlieie 

 seem to be two kinds of black bees in this coun- 

 try — one a sort of brownish bee, of good fair 

 size, and another coal black and smaller. The 

 bees you have are doubtless of the latter kind, 

 with a very little Italian blood mixed in, or 

 what we should call very dark hybrids. 



J.W.,of N. F., asks: 1. What is the legal 

 distance for a hive of bees to stand from a 

 street or highway ■? 2. How close can the bee- 

 entrances be for a house-apiary, considering 

 the welfare of the bees, and economy of space 

 inside the house? 3. What point of the com- 

 pass is it best for the entrances to face? 4. 

 Will a wall of inch boards, two thickness, 

 with paper between, be any injury to the bees 

 in summer? A7is. — 1. In most States there is 

 probably no legal distance. However, there 

 may be a municipal ordinance regulating the 

 distance from the highway. 2. Generally not 

 closer than 3 feet. 3. Toward the east or south. 

 4. No. Better make a space between the walls, 

 and pack with sawdust. 



J. B. C, of La., wishes to know whether it is 

 possible to breed a queen whose workers shall 

 be extra honey-gatherers, by tinkering or doc- 

 toring with the larvae of said queen before she 

 hatches. Ans. — Certainly not. This thing has 

 been brought up several times before, and cer- 

 tain old-fogy bee-keepers have wisely said they 

 had the secret of manipulation, which they 

 said they would sell for a certain sum. Man 

 can not step in and interfere in this fashion 

 with the processes of nature. The only way to 

 get extra honey-gatherers is to breed by selec- 

 tion — that is. by breeding from queens whose 

 progeny excel others in the yard; and by this 

 process, in time, a race of workers more ener- 

 getic than the average might be secured. For 

 some reason or other, but little attention has 

 been paid to bees for business. The whole rage 

 nowadays seems to be for coior — five bands, etc. 

 This is all right in its place, but we hope as 

 much — nay, more — attention will be paid to bees 

 for energy and longevity — in general, bees for 

 business, because it is from these that come the 

 dollars and cents. Extra color alone will not 

 add another cent to the pocketbook, except — 

 that of the queen-breeder, who breeds them just 

 because his customers demand them. 



J. AT., of O., inquires what we recommend for 

 covering sections while the beos are working in 

 them, and what sort of cover we use over the 

 brood-frames when the sections are off. Ans.— 

 With the Dovetail hive, we use no other cover 

 than the hive-cover itself. This will leave 



scant I4 bee-space above the sections. But a 

 great many— and we believe it is a decided dis- 

 advantage—put on the sections old carpets, old 

 cloths, etc. So far as the amount of honey is 

 concerned, these old cloths do not make any 

 particular difference either way; but far clean- 

 er sections, and hence comb honey that will 

 bring a higher market price than that which is 

 secured without the use of any carpet or cloths 

 will be secured, because many bee-men do not 

 scrape their sections. Wherever the cloth comes 

 against the sections, the bees will daub a line of 

 propolis ; and if they can push the cloths up 

 they will chink in propolis in the crevices, pro- 

 viding it is less than a bee-space. Practically 

 the same reasons apply for not using enamel 

 clo.ths or any thing of the sort over the brood- 

 frames. The thick top bars have practically 

 no burr-combs. If hives are properly construct- 

 ed with bee-spaces, then cloths, old carpet, 

 enamel cloths, etc., are worse than useless. 



CAN SUPERfl BE PUT ON TOO SOON? 



I notice in my perusal of Gleanings there is 

 more or less said about the proper time to put 

 supers on the hives. Will you kindly inform 

 me how they could be put on too soon ? That 

 is, what harm would result from doing so? 

 Probably this would interest others as well as 

 myself. E. Bkubaker. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Mar. 21. 



[The only objection to putting supers on too 

 soon is, that the bees will unnecessarily soil the 

 sections by traveling over them, and perhaps 

 gnawing holes in the foundation. But if the 

 bee-keeper is in doubt, we presume it would do 

 no harm to put sections on a week or ti^i days 

 too soon. and. on the other hand, it might en- 

 tail considerable loss to put them on too late — 

 loss of the colony by swarming for want of 

 room, and loss of the honey that would have 

 been gathered and stored in the sections. — Ed.] 



THE chemical QUALITIES OF GLUCOSE AND 

 GKAPE SUGAK. 



I am glad to see you take such a decided stand 

 on adulteration. Glucose is not grape sugar, 

 though it has the same chemical equivalents — 

 carbon 12, hydrogen 12, oxygen 12. Chemists 

 determine this by analysis; but no chemist 

 can determine the arrangement of these equiv- 

 alents or atoms, nor can he tell the effect the 

 arrangement has on the article made up of 

 these atoms; for instance, in true fruit sugar 

 the placing of the atoms is, hydrogen first, then 

 oxygen, then carbon; but in glucose it is carbon 

 first, then oxygen, then hydrogen. Now, the 

 number of equivalents may be just the same, 12 

 each; but the reversing of the order may make 

 a world of difference. As there are limits 10 



