802 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



placing these cages in a frame made to fit a 

 certain number, said frame to take the place of 

 one of the frames in the hive. The one cage 

 can be placed in a frame if it is thought better 

 for the queen to be down among the bees, by 

 making blank cages to fill the frame. Make as 

 many blanks as your frame will take cages, 

 and then when you have queens to put in, re- 

 move as inany blanks as you have cages with 

 ■queens in. and you are prepared at all times to 

 accommodate as many or as few as may be de- 

 sired. The nursing colonies are made up of 

 five or six frames of hatching brood, and are 

 kept well stocked with young bees, which are 

 not permitted to have a laying queen while 

 used as a nursing colony. My advice would be, 

 not to keep any queen away from the bees or 

 combs, where she can lay, for more than three 

 weeks; for I believe longer confinement tends 

 to the injury of the queen. The last reason for 

 desiring to keep queens outside the hive is, the 

 prevention of increase while securing a crop of 

 comb. A large increase of bees and a crop of 

 comb honey do not go together; and for this 

 reason many of our best bee-keepers practice 

 the removing of queens from the hives when 

 the swarming season arrives, and in nine or 

 ten days destroy all queen-cells and return the 

 queens, when the bees are said to go at once 

 into the sections, and no trouble with swarm- 

 ing results. While I do not fully indorse this 

 plan, yet I have had the best of success in this 

 way some years. In others the bees would 

 contract the swarming fever later, and swarm- 

 ing became a source of annoyance to me. 

 Where queens are to be kept for this purpose, I 

 consider it best to take her out with a frame of 

 bees and hatching brood, putting the frame of 

 brood into a nucleus hive above or close beside 

 the old hive till wanted back, when she is easi- 

 ly replaced by setting the frame back. 



[One of the best methods of keeping a queen 

 while out of the hive is the Atchley plan of 

 using very small nuclei, containing one or two 

 sectioniJ. with an entrance consisting of only 

 one perforation of excluder zinc. The plan is 

 dfscriberl in full in another column in Notes of 

 Bicycle Travel.— Ed.] 



A CORRECTION. 



In my article in Gleanings for Sept. 15, on 

 " Work in the Apiary," I find a couple of errors, 

 the correction of which will give a better un- 

 derstanding of my meaning. P. 721, 2d column, 

 15th line, "No. 2" should be No. 72. In the 

 concluding paragraph you make me say .... 

 "I have several times forgotten the stopper for 

 a few minutes, or until I needed it the next 

 time." In the " copy " I wrote " or until I 



needed it at the next hive. " " The next hive " 

 may be only a few steps away. "The next 

 time"7(U(y be next day or next week, which 

 would prove rather disastrous to the colony 

 where the entrance-stopper was left. 



Wm. Muth-Rasmussen. 

 Independence, Cal., Sept. 28. 



statistics. 



Alabama.—" Sorry." 



Arizona. — Very good. Mr. Gregg gets 2.'),980 lbs., 

 2(K) colonies. 



California. — New Rosedale, e.xtraordinary; one 

 apiary of Si^O colonies averages 1.50 lbs. ; good in Sier- 

 ra Co. ; at IndeiJendence, very poor. 



Coloiado.— Very favorable at Las Animas, 85 colo- 

 nies giving 5000 lbs., 3000 of it comli; at Port Mor- 

 gan, Aug. 27, tliere was a biff crop, and still coming. 



Florida. — Very good at Vero, ,50 colonies giving 

 ]0,000 lbs., one colony giving 4.50 lbs. extracted; poor 

 at Wewahitclika. 



Georgia.— Very good in the northwest part. 



Illinois. — Favorable at Osage; bees "down" at 

 Jersej'ville. 



Iowa.— August reports are ail bad; much better 

 in September. 



Kansas.— Fiiilure. 



Maine. — " Best we ever knew," etc. 



Maryland.— Very good in Garrett Co.; poor in 

 Queen Anne's Co. 



Michigan. --Very poor in Hillsdale Co. 



Minnesota. — Two report good, one bad. 



Mississippi.— One bad report. 



Missonri —Aug. 20, very poor. 



New Mexico.— First failure in 12 years. 



Npw York.— Five report favorable, two not. Julius 

 Hoffman reports " poor in quantity and quality." 



Ohio.— Both extremes are reported. 



Pennsylvania.— Good from buckwheat in Juniata 

 Co.. Aug. 21. 



Texas.— Two report good, one bad. 



Ftah.— Very unfavorable. 



Virginia.— "Poorest season in 20 years," one re- 

 ports. 



Washington.— Best in 15 years at Elherton; very 

 poor at Mossy Rock; fair at Port Angeles. 



Wisconsin.— Two good reports, but generally 

 rather liad. 



[As the reports above were written somewhat 

 later than those given Sept. 1. we see a decided 

 improvement after the drouth was broken the 

 first week in September. In some respects it 

 has been a year of great extremes in regard to 

 rain. and. consequently, as aff'ecting the flow of 

 nectar.— Ed.] 



RIDING A bicycle; SOME QUESTIONS FROM 



PROF. LAZENBY. OF THE OHIO STATE 



UNIVERSITY. 



Mr. Root: — I read with equal pleasure and 

 profit your notes in Gleanings, especially your 

 reports of long-distance rides on the bicycle. 

 I should like to ask you a few questions. 



1. Does riding a wheel demand so much at- 

 tention that one can not observe with satisfac- 

 tion, or follow a continuous line of thought? 



2. How does the use of the bicycle affect your 

 walking? Does it lessen your inclination or 

 pleasure in this exercise? 



^. Do you sit perfectly upright on your 

 wheel, or do you adopt the common spider or 

 racing position? If you use low handle-bars, 

 and bend forward, do you regard it as injuri- 

 ous? Do the advantages of such a position 

 overbalance the disadvantages? 



I have never used a wheel, but am thinking 

 of doing so. Before bc^ginning I desire more 

 light on the above points. I believe I realize 

 the advantages of the bicycle. They are many 



