S62 



GLEA^J^GS IN BEE CUJ/rUilE. 



May 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



A SMOKKU NUT ALWAYS NECESSAUY; ALSO A KIND 

 WORD FOR THE EDITOR OF GLEANINGS. 



fKIEND ROOT:— I believe you a friend to every 

 "beeist," tlierefore I hope I am not unduly 

 familiar in addressing' you as "friend Hoot" 

 on such short acquaintance. The impression 

 your editorial and comments therein have 

 left on my mind are that you are "full of the milk 

 of human kindness," and that I need not be so 

 formal in writing you. 



My first experience in bee-keeping- began last 

 spring, when I bought three strong hives of Ital- 

 ians. During the season they increased to ten (in- 

 cluding one swarm that "took to the woods"). I 

 sold three hives and a little honey, and started the 

 coming season with six strong colonics that have 

 been left just where they were first placed, and 

 have required no feeding or other attention so far, 

 and I think they will come through all right. 



I want to give you a bit of my experience with 

 the smoker which I got from you. It was a little 

 late in the season when it arrived, and I had safe- 

 ly hived my three first swarms without getting a 

 sting, and I used neither smoke, gloves, nor veil; but 

 when my smoker did come, I thought I'd show 

 them that I was "big Ike," and let them know what 

 was in store for them if they didn't behave. So I 

 loaded up the smoker, went out to one of the hives, 

 and lifted otf the top, with a sense of authority and 

 srcurity that must have tickled them immensely, 

 for it wasn't more than ten seconds after when I 

 gave them Iheir first dose of smoke before they be- 

 gan to "tickle" me in a way that was not at all 

 funny to me, however much they may have appre- 

 ciated it. Since then I use smoke only when I'm 

 obliged to, and I find that, by careful, gentle hand- 

 ling, I seldom require it. Wm. E. Cu.n'ni.ngham. 

 Hartwell, Hart Co., Ga., Feb. 23, 1886. 



Friend C, you have hit upon an important 

 truth. A great many times bees behave 

 worse witli smoke than without it ; and it is 

 the business of the intelligent bee-keeper to 

 tell when to use it and when not to use it. 



MEXICAN BEES, IN APPE.VUANCE LIKE .-VN ITALIAN 

 QUEEN. 



I saw in one of the back numbers of Gleanings 

 where Mr. McCamant spea'is of l^cxican bees. 

 One of my friends told me of cutting a bee-tree up 

 in the Nueces Caiion. He said the bees were 

 yellow, and longer than the blacks. I supposed at 

 the time they were Italians; but the other day 

 another of my friends who had worked with bees a 

 good deal told me of robbing a cave up there, and 

 that the bees were long and yellow. They were 

 very gentle, and did not sting him once. I ques- 

 tioned him closely in regard to them, and showed 

 him my Italians— also a queen. He said they were 

 all like the queen I showed him. Next summer we 

 are going up there to see if they are really as he de- 

 scribes; and if I do 1 will send you a few of the 

 bees. W. B. Kendall. 



Uvalde, Tex. 



Friend K., by all means look this nuitter 

 up. If we have native bees in our own land, 

 with yellow stripes on, we all want to know 

 it. 



poisonous honey op ASIA MINOR. 



From an article on honey, in the Library of Uni- 

 versal Knowledge, I note the following: 



It should be mentioned, that honey occasionally 

 possesses very deleterious properties. Xenophon, 

 in his history of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, 

 describes the honey of Trebizond as having pro- 

 duced the effect of temporary madness, or, rather, 

 drunkenness, on the whole army who ate it. Mr. 

 Abbott, writing from Trebizond in IBS}, to the secre- 

 tary of the Zoological Society, observes that he 

 has himself witnessed that the effects of this honey 

 are still precisely the same as those which Xeno- 

 phon describes, and he adopts the views propound- 

 ed by Tournefort in 1704, that the poisonous proper- 

 ties are consequent on the bees extracting the 

 honey from Ihe Azalea Portica. Many other in- 

 stances of poisonous honey are on record. 



From an article on the Azalea (same authority), I 

 note: 



The whole is narcotic and poisonous, and the hon- 

 ey collected liy bees from its flowers, which very 

 much abound in honey, is said to cause stupefac- 

 tion and delirium. — Nor'tli America abounds in aza- 

 leas. 



Dresden, Tenn., .Ian. 23, 1886. 



Geo. S. Boyd. 



CAN THE worker-bees CONTROL THE SEX OF EGGS? 



Two years ago, on taking bees out of my cellar, I 

 found one qucenless colony, and I gave them a 

 frame filled with worker-eggs, no drone-cells in the 

 com'j. On examining, after some days, I found 

 seveial queen-cells, and apatch of drone-cells about 

 3 inches square, from which perfect drones were 

 hatched. Does not that prove that the workers 

 have the power of controlling the se.v of the egg'? 

 I think it is conclusive proof that they can, and do 

 so when circumstances render it necessary for 

 them to exercise that power. J. Blagkhall. 



Hobart, Ind., Mar. 2f3, 18b'6. 



AVITAT KILLED MY BEES.' 



Tlierc is notliing in bee-keeping that is more an- 

 noying than robbing. I have had several cases of it 

 since I began, three or four years ago, and in every 

 case it was brought about by some oversight or 

 negligence on my part. I had a case during the 

 winter ; and from the confidence with which "sheet- 

 ing" is recommended I unhesitatingly applied the 

 sheet to the robbed colony. The result was a con- 

 siderable loss of bees that at nightfall were found 

 adhering to the sheet, unable to flj-. In addition 

 there were quite a number in the same condition 

 on the ground under the sheet. I concluded that, 

 warm as was the day for winter in latitude 32°, it 

 was too cold for a prolonged stay of the bees out of 

 the hives. But having another robbing case this 

 spring, and again applying the sheet, the loss of 

 bees was still more striking. In putting on the 

 sheet, which was quite large, I look particular pains 

 to stretch it as far away from the hive as possible, 

 so that there might be no lack of fresh air to the 

 imprisoned bees. The result was the death of hun- 

 dreds of bees. As 1 did not wish to have my bees de- 

 stroyed in such a way, I confined them next day to 

 the hive by means of a wire-cloth covering over the 

 entrance. This seems to have worked nicely, as I 

 was very careful to shield the hive from the rays 

 of the sun, and at night to give them a small pan of 

 water, every drop of which they drank. Now, in 

 the sheeting cases, what killed my bees? I confess 

 that I am utterly in the dark. Josepho. 



Tuscaloosa, Ala. 



Friend J., didn't the bees sting eacli other 

 while confined under the sheet? Robbing 

 usually results in the death of a good many 



