24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUBE. 



Jan. 



talking- about is here. No other climate on the 

 broad globe will melt beeswax with the thermome- 

 ter at 70°. I am so glad! This— this is happiness. 



Italy, 



With all her sunshine and her wealth of flowers, 

 Can never be thy equal. O'er her lowers 

 Malaria's gaunt and naked form. The sea 

 That sweeps her shores is not like this of ours. 

 She is not, then, thy peer, nor e'er can be, 

 O thou unclouded land along the sea! 



J. P. Israel,. 

 San Dieguito, San Diego Co., Cal., Dec., 1885. 

 Friend Israel, I beg pardon, and own up, 

 but some way I had got tlie idea into my 

 head that yonr summers are mucli hotter 

 than ours.— See what friend Poppleton has 

 got to say about solar wax-extractors, on 

 page 10. Truly there is a great deal to 

 learn in regard to solar wax-extractors and 

 some other things. That reminds me of 

 what somebody said when Horace Greeley 

 wrote his book, " What I Know about Farm- 

 ing." They said it would take a great deal 

 larger book to hold what Horace Greeley did 

 not know about farming. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELOC, 



KANSAS CHIPS; KIND WORDS FOR GLEANINGS. 



T^ AST spring I purchased three colonies of Ital- 

 ic ian bees (this being my first experience in the 

 c^r business) ; and during the spring and summer 

 -^" they were very " good natured," and we got 

 along very pleasantly; but after the honey 

 season commenced in July they became very cross, 

 and, like Josh Billings' mule, "seemed to take espe- 

 cial pride in exhibiting the part where their strength 

 lay." I suffered myself to be stung for awhile; but 

 it finally got old, and I donned the veil and gloves, 

 then I had them; and unless their disposition 

 changes, or confidence in myself increases, I think 

 I will keep on the safe side in the future. But I 

 hope that, with Prof. Cook's Manual, and Glean- 

 ings, as counsel, and the veil and gloves for pro- 

 tection, I shall be able to succeed. 



Apiculture is an experiment in this Western coun- 

 try at present; but I think, by raising sweet clo- 

 ver, alsike, and buckwheat, we may be able to make 

 it profitable, to some extent at least. 



I now have seven colonies— four new, and the 

 three old ones. They are well stored for winter; 

 but the new ones, being rather lat*, are not as 

 strong as I should like. 



1 prize Gleanings very highly; and while I con- 

 tinue to try to handle bees I will be a subscriber; 

 so that, when I say " stop," you may know that I 

 am stung out of the business. 



The supplies ordered of you all came in splendid 

 condition, and gave perfect satisfaction. The foun- 

 dation I thought very fine. 



I am wintering in cellar. I did not get any honey 

 this season, it being very wet here. 



Jewell City, Kan. D. A. Atkins. 



A beginner's enthusiasm; moths; scorched 

 sorghum, etc. 

 About nine years ago I paid five dollars for a 

 large swarm of hybrids in an old American hive, 

 with two or three frames of brood and honey, to 

 start with. I also procured an old volume of King's 

 text-book on bee-keeping, in cennection with a few 

 copies of King's periodicals. In perusing these 



books my enthusiasm for bee culture was aroused. 

 It was here I first noticed A. I. Root's advertise- 

 ment of Gleanings and supplies. His talk was 

 quite homelike-so reliable, and not puffed up. 

 The idea that he opposed patents — all things free— 

 was so much to my taste that I at once sent for a 

 sample of Gleanings. The sample came and I in- 

 vestigated until mj^ enthusiasm caught to a flame. 

 I was soon a subscriber to Gleanings, and really 

 calculated the time that I should have 100 colonies, 

 of thousands each, of living beings to gather in the 

 luscious sweets of the country, and jilace it right at 

 my feet. But, alas for a continued burning ambi- 

 tion without some realizations' I have barely suc- 

 ceeded in keeping the flame aglow. The burning is 

 really painful at times. If apiculture is ever a 

 success in these parts it will be of a cultivated 

 source. Hitherto the profit (which consists mainly 

 of "anticipation") does not cover expenses. 



Last fall, a year ago, the " water" being dried up 

 in my mouth for the taste of honey (hopes being 

 blasted), I decided to try the queen business, and 

 sent to friend Koot for a choice imported Italian 

 queen, which proved a "daisy" with me. Early 

 last spring the yellow bands began to appear, and 

 in a short time 1 had a full corps of Italian workers. 

 Here my hopes took another " boom," as they 

 seemed to work with more determination than I 

 had been accustomed to see. In spite of the bad 

 season last year, these bees did better, every way, 

 than usual. 



ITALIANS A SURE CURE FOR MOTHS. 



Tell all who are troubled with moths, to Italianize. 

 I firmly believe, if I were to place a frame, riddled 

 with moths, in the midst of one of my hives, the 

 bees would caoy it out in less than two days. 



SCORCHED SORGHUM. ' 



Last fall I went into winter quarters with five 

 stands, in good trim, as I thought. In the after 

 part of the winter I noticed the bees of one hive 

 coming out, at every warm spell, and perishing on 

 the ground in every direction. By investigation I 

 found solid sheets of sealed stuff which tasted like 

 scorched sorghum. A part of the stores seemed to 

 be grains of sugar, and some thick water mixed. 

 When I overhauled the other four hives I found 

 this watery substance would run out of the combs 

 when tilted over. I threw a great deal of it out 

 with my hands. A. P. Stair. 



Whitney, Ala. 



red ants killing QUEENS IN THE CELL; SIM- 

 PLICITY CHAFF HIVES. 



My bees have acted very strangely indeed. One 

 colony, consisting of a first and second after swarm, 

 cast a swarm; and no one being near, it flew away. 

 When it was time for the young queens to hatch I 

 examined the hive and found that the bees were 

 tearing down the queen-cells, so I began examining 

 those not torn open, and I found that, in every case, 

 the immature queen was dead, and the cell infested 

 with very small red ants, hardly visible to the 

 naked eye. Do you think that the ants destroyed 

 the queens, or did they get in after the queens died? 

 I believe they killed the queens, else why should 

 evei-y cell be infested, and every- queen dead? 

 About a week afterward I gave the colony a hatch- 

 ing queen, and three days afterward there were 

 eggs in all the combs but one. 



On the 6th of Sept. an absconding swarm from a 

 neighbor entered a hive containing a swarm. They 

 killed my queen, and, having brought none with 



