366 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



May 



ed with nieo new comb, as white as paper; and 

 as the top-bar of the feeder is the top-bar of an L. 

 frame, or, rather, the feeder is an L. frame with my 

 —well, my patented sides nailed on, all you have 

 to do is to take the sides off and you have a' nice 

 comb all ready for the queen, and I am not sure but 

 if I had looked closely I should have found l»-ood 

 in this comb. Wm. L. Kino. 



Sodus, Berrien Co., Mich., Mar. 10, 1886. 



The matter of using water under the melt- 

 ed wax, in making foundation, lias been fre- 

 quently discussed. We do not use it in our 

 work, because we always liave plenty of 

 wax ; but many of the friends say they suc- 

 ceed just as well with water under the wax. 

 —The matter of wintering a colony on empty 

 combs is not new. The same thing has been 

 done repeatedly, with nothing but lumps of 

 candy laid on top of the empty combs. 



BOOKS ON ENGINES AND STE AM-BOILEJ{S ; WHERE 

 TO OET. 



I notice in Gleanings, Mar. 1, that V. W. Keeney, 

 of Shirland, 111., wishes to get a work on the steam- 

 engine. I will say to him that he may procure the 

 work he wants from " Frederick Keppy, Bridge- 

 port, Conn." Send him a stamp for his catalogue. 

 His books are fully up to the times. The following 

 books of liis publication, best adapted for station- 

 ary engines, arc, " Use and Abuse of the Steam- 

 Boiler." Price .f2.00; and "Practical Steam-En- 

 gineer's Guide," price $3.50, postage paid. I think 

 you will do well to add the above two works to 

 your book-list. The time is coming when engineers 

 will be required to have a thorough knowledge of 

 the duties they are called upon to perform. 



Luna, Ark., Mar. 1, 1886. E. H. S.mith. 



CAN PURE GRANULATED HONEY BE SUCCESSFULLY 

 IMITATED? 



In all I have read about honey since I became a 

 bee-keeper, I do not remember of any one claiming 

 or suspecting that pure granulated honey could be 

 successfully imitated, except friend Foster. If I 

 remember rightly, you did not agree with him, Mr. 

 Editor. Now, if you regard pure granulated honey 

 as difficult, or not likely to be imitated, why not ad- 

 vise the friend on page 181 to purchase granulated 

 honey? Very many of us claim its imitation is im- 

 possible, and state this to dealers and consumers. 

 I wish to know whether this is true or not. 



J. B. COLTON. 



Waverly, Bremer Co., la , Mar. 8, IgSj. 



I have never seen a successful imitation 

 of granulated honey, friend C. The granu- 

 lation of grape sugar might, at first glance, 

 be considered the same thing; but careful 

 investigation will show that it is not granu- 

 lation at all. It is simply solidification, 

 just as tallow gets hard by cooling. 



WHAT IS THE BEST METHOD OF MANAGING THE 

 CLUSTERING OF SWARMS IN A FOREST? 



I write to you for advice as to how to manage our 

 bees. We work for section and comb honey most- 

 ly, and some extracted. We have managed by nat- 

 ural swarming, putting swarm No. 3 into hive No. 1, 

 swarm No. 3 into hive No. 3, and so on. We get 

 plenty of honey sometimes, but it takes much 

 hard work, for we live in the timber, and are sur- 

 rounded by forest-trees. Many swarms alight 2,5 to 

 30 feet high, and 1 have to move a heavy ladder and 

 climb after them. As I am 57 years old I do not see; 



much romance in it. The bees swarm out a good 

 deal, and thus make us more work. If you give 

 us some easier way, we shall bo much obliged. We 

 have the ABC book (old), about one bushel of 

 Gleanings, and over 80 swarms of bees in Simplici- 

 ty hives. We use division-boards, and pack in chaff 

 by setting a rough bo.x over the hive, filling in, and 

 covering over with about 4 inches of chaff. We 

 put tliis on in the fall, and take it off about the first 

 of June. AVe use the hives two and three stories 

 high in summer, taking them off' in the fall, and 

 wintering in the lower stories. I have been very 

 successful in wintering without loss, and my bees 

 come through pretty strong too. We do not make 

 it paj^ financially. I like to work with the bees 

 pretty well, but my women-folks do not care much 

 about it. Our two oldest girls have gone to Wash- 

 ington Territory, and that will leave us short of help. 

 There is very little sale for bees here. 



E. A. Kii'lKpatrick. 

 Bowling Green, Pike Co., Mo., Feb. 10, 1886. 



Friend K., this matter of keeping bees 

 from going into the tops of high trees to 

 cluster has been a good deal discussed ; but 

 it seems to me that no better way has ever 

 been offered than to have tiie apiary located 

 where such large trees are not very near by. 

 Swarming artificially, so as to keep the bees 

 from natural swarming as much as possible, 

 is also a remedy^ 



ONE BUCKET OF WATER DAILY FOR THE BEES. 



My bees have been gathering pollen every day 

 since the .5th; they consume about one bucket of 

 water daily (29 colonies); have brood in all the hives, 

 and are all doing tiptop. Day before yesterday I 

 neglected to put warm well water (74") in my stone 

 troughs, as is my custom, and the result was I had 

 about half a pint of bees chilled, and in the cold wa- 

 ter, in about three hours; but after taking them 

 out, and putting them in a sunny place, they (with 

 the exception of about half a dozen) came to them- 

 selves again and went to their respective homes. 

 I give this merely as a caution to new hands at the 

 business, not to supply their bees with ice water, 

 at least in cold weather. M. Broers. 



Gonzales, Texas, Feb. 18, 1886. 



Friend 13.. a bucket of water daily for 29 

 colonies is, I think, more than I ever knew 

 bees to use before during the hottest weath- 

 er. Didn't a great part of it evaporate V 



horse-power for making hives, etc. 



I see by Gleanings that you want to be posted 

 in regard to the "Fearless" horse-power. I have 

 had one in use for 30 years, and it is as good as new. 

 I send you by to-day's mail an old circular. I think 

 the machine a good one. Gain R.Smith. 



Victor, Ont. Co., N. Y., Apr. 7, 1886. 



Thanks, friend S., for your circular. 

 Since your article was printed we have re- 

 ceived "quite a number of circulars in regard 

 to horse-powers for hive-making. The 

 tread-power is probably one of the best ; 

 but the one you mention as the " Fearless." 

 we notice costs about $140. Circulars of oth- 

 er horse-powers have been sent us. We no- 

 tice one from the Sandwich Mfg. Co., Sand- 

 wich, 111., that costs only 30 or 40 dollars. 

 Perhaps this latter will not give the power 

 of the other, but it comes nearer within the 

 means of the average bee-keeper. 



