358 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



the pound, since we rarely jfet any surplus befoi-e 

 August, unless honey-dew puts in an appearance, 

 Avhich it sometimes does in Jvine. Early in August 

 the bees usually begin to yet a little surplus. By 

 the middle of the month they are frequently get- 

 ting' a fair j'ield from some of the larger species of 

 the sraartweed family. 



Our main dependence, however, is Coreopsis Aris- 

 tosa, usually, though erroneously, called Spanish 

 needle. It begins to secrete nectar about the 37th 

 of Aug., and lasts 15 to 17 days. It grows on dry 

 land as well as wet. Many of the stubble-fields ap- 

 pear like a solid mass of yellow bloom. There are 

 usually some hundreds of acres of coreopsis bloom 

 within range of my bees. 



About the only causes for failure to get a good 

 yield of honey from coreopsis are, either a severe 

 drought, or weather so cool as to prevent the bees 

 from working. During the past 16 years we have 

 not had a single season in which our bees failed to 

 get abundant winter stores, though we have had 

 two seasons in which they failed to get any surplus 

 to speak of. Once the failure was due to cold 

 Aveather which prevailed during the coreopsis 

 bloom, in the year 1879. The second failure was 

 during the severe drought of 1881. We have had 

 other seasons when the yield was materially dimin- 

 ished by very cool or very diy weather. In fact, I 

 believe our honey-crop this year was shortened one- 

 half by the cold weather that prevailed in August 

 and September. 



The honey gathered from corerpsis is thick, 

 weighing 13 lbs. to the gallon. It has a beautiful 

 amber color, has a pleasant aromatic flavor, and 

 does not leave any rank or unpleasant taste in the 

 mouth. I have never known it to become sour, or 

 foam up, as some other grades often do when e.Y- 

 tracted too soon. It is very slow to granulate, usu- 

 ally remaining liquid until near the close of win- 

 ter. Its thick and non-souring qualities make it a 

 good winter feed for bees. My winter losses have 

 been light, though kept on their summer stands, 

 last winter being my poorest record, with a loss of 

 only ten per cent. Bees do not build comb or draw 

 out foundation as i-eadily when gathering this thick 

 coreopsis honey as when Avorking on the thinner 

 smartweed or clover honey. Bees show very little 

 desire to swarm while working upon it ; and since 

 our honey-supply before that is usually too scanty 

 to induce swarming, we get along with very little 

 natural increase. In fact, during the past two years, 

 without trying to repress swarming,%I don't think 

 I have had more than six natural swarms, and yet 

 my honey-crop for that time has amounted to 18,000 

 lbs. This coreopsis, while so plentiful here, seems 

 to abound only in limited areas. 



To make this a good honey locality, we need clover 

 in addition to our present resources. I think this 

 want can be best met by cultivating alsike clover in 

 our meadows and pastures. 



16— T. P. Andrews, 34.5. 



Farina, Fayette Co., 111., Dec, 1885. 



We have had quite a quantity of the hon- 

 ey mentioned above, but we always called it 

 goldenrod honey. During a conversation 

 with friend Andrews at New Orleans, I be- 

 came convinced that what we call goldenrod 

 honey is honey from the Spanish needle. 

 The body and flavor are excellent ; and when 

 it is so thick tliat a saucerful may be turned 

 over without spilling, it candies little or 



none at all. Its dark amber color seems to 

 be the worst thing against it; but when it 

 is better known and recognized, it seems to 

 me the price ought to rank nearly if not 

 quite equal to that of the best clover or bass- 

 wood honey. 



A LETTER FROM THE ISLAND OF CY- 

 PRUS. 



GETTING SWARMS TO CLUSTER ON THE S.-V-ME SPOT 

 DURING THE SEASON. 



f^ HE goods you forwarded to me arrived In 

 |]^ good condition. I am glad to say that every 

 / thing was found nice; the foundation ma- 

 chine works beautifully. 

 Having derived much benefit from reports 

 I read in Gleanings, I consider it is my duty to re- 

 port a discovery I made in bringing down swarms 

 during last season. 



I started bee-keeping with ten stocks in February 

 last. In May I had twelve swarms; before the 

 swarming commenced I was told by a lady that 

 swarms prefer clustering on orange or lemon trees 

 to any other kind of tree. As I have only two of 

 this kind of trees in my house, and as they are far 

 in the other corner of the garden, I thought I could 

 vise the small branches and shoots thereof by 

 cutting and hanging them on the branches of the 

 pomegranate-trees which are near to the hives. 



On the day I was expecting the first swarm I cut 

 two shoots from the lemon-tree, each having about 

 ten leaves; and having first rubbed the leaves to 

 make the smell rise, I tied them on the pomegran- 

 ate-tree, which was about four yards distant from 

 the hive. About three hours after, the expected 

 swarm came out and went right on the said lemon 

 leaves; and after all the swarming bees were set- 

 tled thereon, I slowly removed the cluster into a 

 hive. 



Some days after, I saw another hive was swarm- 

 ing. I immediately cut off a small branch of lem- 

 on-tree; while I was tying it on a tree, my servant 

 brought to me another branch from the orange- 

 tree, the leaves of which I rubbed, and secured it 

 to the same tree, but about one yard from the 

 former; then the half of the bees clustered on the 

 lemon leaves and the other half on the orange- 

 leaves, making two separate clusters of one swarm. 

 I hived them separately in nucleus hives on 

 combs, one partly filled with honey and pollen, the 

 other empty. The bees from the one having the 

 empty combs went to their parent hive because 

 there was no queen with them. Three other 

 swarms 1 caused to clu.ster on the lemon branches 

 while I was holding them up for the bees. At the 

 time when the other swarms were seen in the air, 

 in my absence from the house, my servant caused 

 them to go straight into the hives prepared for 

 them, having thrown into the hives a few leaves of 

 a lemon-tree. 



I am sure I lost no swarm, and I hope I shall not 

 lose any so long as I shall use such a bee-magnet. 

 I think that orange-water, or lavender, used for 

 toilet, will attract swarms to any place desired, the 

 same as fresh leaves of orange or lemon trees do. 

 M. S. Dervishian. 

 Larnaca, Cyprus, Feb. 5, 1886. 



Thank you, friend D., for your kind re- 

 port from your far-away apiary. In regard 



