(124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



perfect arrangetnents with the light- house 

 keeper, 10 miles out at sea, on a small island 

 near Port Lavaca. Then I shall soon be pre- 

 pared to answer the question. 

 Beeville, Tex., July 1(3. Jennik Atchley. 



Jo Pages? /JO 



95 PER YEAH.- 



Behold, I wUl bring: it health and cure, and I will cnre them, 

 and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.— 

 Jkb. 3:5: 6. 



We are beginning to think that we had bet- 

 ter call a halt on the taj'iff question. It has 

 now been quite well discussed on both sides, so 

 far as it affects bee-keeping. 



The American Bee-Kecper objects to the 

 practice of having its name indicated by the; 

 initials alone, and wants the names of all the 

 journals spelled out in full. The point of order 

 is well taken, except in such matter as Stray 

 Straws, for instance, where the names of all the 

 different bee-journals are used so constantly 

 that a shorter way of indicating them seems al- 

 most indispensable. We think such abbrevia- 

 tions, where numerous, will cause no confusion. 



The Annual Report of the Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation for the Province of Ontario, 1893. is 

 before us. It contains a very full and interest- 

 ing account of the proceedings of the last meet- 

 ing of the Ontario Bee-keepers' Association, 

 and was printed by order of the Legislative 

 Assembly of Ontario. In looking it over we 

 were struck at once with the evident fullness 

 and correctness of the report; and. being curi- 

 ous to know who was secretary, it was with no 

 little pleasuse that we learned it was the late 

 S. Corneil, of Lindsay, Ont. 



STATISTICAL REPORT CALLED FOH. 



We are expecting now to send out in a few 

 days some statistical blanks. Now, we do not 

 wish to slight anybody. We should like to 

 have every bee-keeper, who is interested in 

 knowing what the crop of honey has. been, to 

 send us a postal card at once — later will not do 

 — answering just these two questions: 1. What 

 has been the honey season in your vicinity, so 

 far as you can ascertain? 2. What was your 

 average yield in lioney, both comb and extract- 

 ed? Now. please do not go and add a whole 

 lot of particulars; because, when we attempt 

 to go over hundreds and perhaps thousands of 

 postal cards, it takes time to tabulate them 

 properly. 



Of course, you fully appreciate tlie necessity 

 of knowing what the crop has been. If you or 

 your neighbors have secured good yields, and 



you know the yield has been poor througlioul 

 the country, you will not be in haste to lump it 

 off at a low price. 



ROBBING IN THE WAKE OF BASSVVOOD. 



In very many localities in the North there 

 has been an excellent basswood flow. We pre- 

 sume that, by this time, it has stopped, and 

 robbers — oh my 1 — look out ! Be sure that the 

 entrances to all nuclei are contracted; and if 

 they get started badly upon any one hive, cram 

 the entrance loosely with grass— just tight 

 enough to prevent the entrance of robbers for 

 the time being. In a very short time— at least 

 when the bees inside have had a chance to re- 

 cover themselves — the grass will have willed, 

 and no smothering will have taken place, as 

 might be the case were the whole entrance 

 stopped tight with a stick 



By the way. robbing can be checked to a cer- 

 tain extent by dousing the bees as they pile 

 over each other pellmell near the entrances of 

 hives, with sprays of water from the fountain 

 pump, or even from a watering-pot. It wets 

 their wings up, wets the grass, disconcerts the 

 robbers, and gives the bees in the hive a chance 

 to know " where they are at." 



CONDITION OF THE HONEY-YIELD SO FAR AS 

 reported; BETTER THAN LAST YEAR. 



We have had a remarkable flow from bass- 

 wood. It lasted for us. and for our neighbors 

 within three or four miles of us, about a month. 

 Usually we do not get more than about ten or 

 fifteen days flow. One of our neighbors re- 

 ports about a fifth of a crop; another, a little 

 better than a half. Neighbor Chase, instead of 

 being "in clover," as reported in last Glean- 

 ings, by reason of the prospect before him of 

 obtaining a large crop from alsike and bass- 

 wood, obtained I.t lbs. per colony this year, 

 against 60 for last year. So far as we can 

 ascertain, the yield from basswood has been 

 good in most localities, particularly in Wiscon- 

 sin. New York, and Pennsylvania. Colorado 

 reports a good yield, presumably of alfalfa. 

 Michigan also seems to have done well. Re- 

 ports show that the season has been an entire 

 failure in California. The fact that we are 

 r'-cpiving more offerings, and at a lower price, 

 seems to indicate that the season generally was 

 better than last year, east of California. 



THE ATCHLEY FIVE-BANDED QUEENS — A GOOD 

 WORD FOR THEM. 



About a year ago Mr. Vernon Burt, of Mal- 

 let Creek— a name familiar to our readers — 

 ordered of Mrs. Jennie Atchley, through us. a 

 dozen five-banded queens, to test them. He 

 wintered most of them over; and this year, now 

 that the honey season is over, he reports that 

 their colonies brought in //lorc honey per colo- 

 ny than any others he had in the apiary; and 

 this morning he came down to order a dozen 

 more of the same kind of queens. 



