662 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



the first sharp piercing pain ; and as to the hatched out, and still there is the one frame of 



swelling, we have had nothing of the sort since brood. Although this queen was young, we did 



the lime when we went around barefoot, some not fuss with her any more, but pinched her 



twenty years ago. head, and in her place shall be a prolific queen. 



A COLONY OF A DOZEN BEES. 



A FEW days ago we received a dozen bees of 

 the five-uanded sort, in a Benton cage, from J. 

 E. Hand, of Eldora, la. They were sent to us 

 for our opinion as to their general markings. 

 We pronounced them to be A No. 1 five- banded 

 bees, of course; and, feeling sorry for the little 

 fellows, we pulled back the wire cloth and laid 

 them on the stone sill of our office window. 

 This we have done many times before with oth- 

 er cages of bees; but never before had we known 

 the little chaps to stay by their cage, and bold 

 it as ■■ home, svveel home," for so long a time. 

 Yes, they held it for two weeks, and would 

 protect ilie mouth of the cage against all in- 

 truders. A number of times we jarred the cage 

 to see what tliey would do. They would fiy out 

 and resent the intrusion as quickly as if from a 

 strong colony ; and if a roober attempted to 

 come around smelling of their little store of 

 Good candy ihey would pounce on said robber 

 as if they were uefending a home of ufty thou- 

 sand individuals. Indeed, they would, in all 

 probability, have been there till now — a month 

 — had it not been for several dashes of rain that 

 seemed to wash them out of house and home. 

 If they had had a queen we should not have 

 thought so much about it ; but here they were, 

 trying to keep house, with nothing but a wire 

 cloth to cover their poor little heads from the 

 weather— without a queen, without comb, with- 

 out any thing save a small cage that had been 

 sent here with a one-cent postage-stamp. 



THE DIFFEKENCE BETWEEN A POOK AND A GOOD 

 yUKEN. 



At our basswood yard we had one queen 

 that seemed to have a laying capacity of only 

 about one frame of brood at a time, even at tne 

 height of the honey season. Wlien we first saw 

 her we concluded, as she was a young queen 

 she had not had a chance lo lay in mure than 

 one comb. On a second visit, a couple of weeks 

 afterward, she still had the equivalent of one 

 comb of brood, although basswood honey was 

 still coming in. We had a numbi-r of other 

 queens in the yard, which would not only nil 

 out their own hives with brood, but would lay 

 in extra combs as fast as we gave them. We 

 gave these frames of brood to weak stocks that 

 needed a little stimulating and encouragement. 

 •• Well," thought we, •' we will see what we can 

 can do with this one-frame of-brood queen. 

 Perhaps we can encourage her to do better." 

 So we went to one of the colonies of the good 

 queens, took out four five frames of brood in all 

 stages of growth, and gave them lo the colony 

 in question. The bees set up a hum of delight. 

 Three weeks have since elapsed; the brood is all 



SHALL WE GO BACK TO GRANULATED SUGAK 

 FOK A QUEEN-CAGE CANDY? 



We have referred a number of times in this 

 department to the fact that we were, three or 

 four years ago, uniformly successful in sending 

 queens to Australia, and that now we quite 

 uniformly meet with failure. So far as we 

 know, we have used the same kind of candy, 

 made in exactly the same way. Why the dif- 

 ference in results when the cage is identically 

 the same, and the seasons, as they go by, 

 average up about alike? Well, we begin to 

 think it is in the sugar. Our candy that gave 

 such excellent results some three or four years 

 ago was made of what is known on the market 

 as "confectioners' sugar" — a sugar tliat is used 

 largely for frosting on cakes by the women- 

 folks. Having had such good results, when 

 this barrel ran out we ordered another just like 

 it; but the queens sent on this candy almost 

 all died on arrival at destination. We changed 

 the candy again, with the same result, using 

 the same grade. We have been wondering of 

 late whether this confectioners' sugar was al- 

 ways made in the same way. We have reason 

 to believe it is composed somewhat of starch, 

 from its tendency to turn to lump, and perhaps 

 in some lots they get in too much starch, and, 

 mayhap, sometuing else. Two or three have 

 written us that granulated sugar, from the 

 fact that it is absolutely pure, and can not be 

 adulterated, gives uniformly good results. We 

 are on the eve of trying it again; but meanwhile 

 have received a letter written to Mrs. Atch- 

 ley by our old friend and correspondent Ph. J. 

 Baldensperger, who, it seems, sent Mrs. A. a 

 couple of queens which arrived in perfect con- 

 dition. The nature of her letter will be evident 

 from his reply. 



Mm. Jennie Atchley:— Yours of the 29th June is at 

 hjiid. 1 am glad the cage and bees arrived all right. 

 The way ot making my caudy is most simple. I 

 took common beet sugar; pounded it as line as pos- 

 sible, then dropped in cold extracted lioney till the 

 dough was so tlrm it would hardly tlatlen down 

 wlieu made into a ball. Don't you think the double 

 ^.uuipartment of cage is very good, and, together 

 Willi tlie candy, is one of the seciets of success? 

 This is just what I did. Of course, I picked out 

 young bees to accompany, and some full of honey. 



Nice, Fiance, July !«. I'h. J. Baldenspekgeh. 



We would explain that the cage referred to is 

 a sort of double Benton, of the larger sizes. 

 Two cages were put together, a small hole con- 

 necting them. Mr. B. attributed a part of his 

 success to this cage. The secret of success, in 

 our estimation, is in the candy; for with good 

 candy— that is, one that is perfectly made of 

 the right material— there would be good results 

 in almost any cage. 



