lSS(i 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CT^LTURE. 



545 



THE MARKKU SUPEUIOIUTY OF ITALIAN OVER 

 Bt.AClC BEES FOU WOUKINO ON KKD CLOVEU. 



I have noticed lately in one of the bee-journals 

 that some writers go back on red-clover bees, and 

 say that the idea of such bees is all " bosh;" and as 

 I have had some experience in the matter I will just 

 throy in my " mite." While living- on a new place, 

 some nine miles from here, I seeded six acres of 

 fallow ground with "mammoth" red clover— not 

 peavine. It caught well, and the next year it was a 

 perfect sea of bloom, and at that time there were 3 

 colonies of Italians and 75 colonies of blacks in the 

 neig-hborhocd. When I cut this clover the bees 

 were at work on it vigorously; and by actual count 

 by myself and hired help there were tlve Italians to 

 one black bee. We counted the bees in a number 

 of places in the held, and found them to average as 

 above. I would give f-.'i.OO for a colony of bees that 

 would work on red clover as vigorously as did those. 

 These bees were raised from a queen sent out by 

 Mr. M. Quinby, just about the last of his shipping 

 queens, and they were the prettiest Italians I ever 

 saw. Geohge a. Whight. 



Glcnwood, Susq. Co., Pa., June 2, 188(5. 



now DO BEES CARRY WAX? 



Is it a fact, that the bees use their pollen-baskets 

 for the purpose of carrying- wax as well as pollen? 

 I was greatly amused several days ago at a sight I 

 never saw before. When I was putting on my sur- 

 plus boxes the fdn. dropped from one of them, and 

 so I laid it on top of one of the hives. As I was 

 passing- that way later, my attention was called to 

 the hive, where I discovered several bees at work 

 on the piece of fdn. They would nibble it off with 

 their mandibles, and then pass it back to their 

 pollen-baskets, and put it on so that it would stay 

 there. I noticed they woi-ked at the fdn. all the 

 afternoon. 



The prospects for a good honey-fiow were never 

 better in this section than at the present time. The 

 season is about two weeks earlier than usual. My 

 bees are all very strong, and are gathering honey 

 slowly; but I e.vpect in a few days that they will 

 begin on the white clbvei% which is just blooming 

 out. Now, while we in this section do not have 

 such honey-tlows as we read about in Gleanings, 

 yet I bad one colony store 40 lbs. of clover honey in 

 ]-lb. boxes. I often see in Gleanings where your- 

 self and others speak \ery highly of clover and 

 basswood honey. In this part of the State we have 

 an abundant How of honey from a small white flow- 

 er which surpasses all clover or basswood honey I 

 ever saw. It is a wild shrub, and blossoms in Au- 

 gust. I may send you a sprig of the flowers, if I 

 have time to get them, and box them up when they 

 are in bloom this summer, and perhaps some of the 

 honey too. lam sui-e you will pronounce it e.vccl- 

 lent, as my customers all do. 



10— Geo. W. Bennett, 1,5—31. 



New Bedford, Mass., June 7, 1886. 



Fi'iend B., the matter yoii mentic.n is not 

 at all new. IJees will often stop woi"k right 

 in the height of basswood and clover bloom 

 to collect wax, in the way you mention. I 

 am inclined to think they use it as they do 

 propolis; and I have imagined that they be- 

 come more eager for gathering wax, var- 

 nish, resin, or different kinds of gum, when 

 we begin to have cold nights. It seems to 

 me that they begin to feel a,n instinct 



prompting them to shut up cracks before 

 the approach of winter. Perhaps you had 

 been having some approacli to cool nights 

 about the time you wrote, and this set the 

 bees in a mania for hunting propolis. 



HYUUIDS — AND WHAT IS A HYBRID BEE? 



If I understand rightly, an Italian hybrid is the 

 i-esultof a cross of a pure Italian queen with a black 

 drone, and that her drones are pure Italian. Will 

 the drones from her daughters be pure to cross with 

 Italian queens ? Are the progeny of a black queen 

 crossed with Italian drones, as cross and as good as 

 the others ? F. Clare. 



L'Original, Ontario, Canada, June 9, 188ti. 



Friend C., the theory is, that the drones 

 produced by a pure queen, even though she 

 be impurely mated, will be pure, or full 

 blood ; and I believe all careful experiments 

 corroborate this theory. In view of this, the 

 drones from a black queen mated with an 

 Italian drone will be pure black drones. As 

 to whether the workers will be any different 

 in the tirst case from those in tlie second 

 case, is a question. We have very carefully 

 watched the habits of hybrid workers from 

 pure black queens and pure Italian queens. 

 There seems to be little if any difference. 



B.ASSWOOD ON SANDY SOIL. 



Will you or some of our Viee keeping friends tell 

 me how basswood will do on sandy soil, as I think of 

 starting a grove on sandy land ? Maple, and such 

 trees as walnut and locust, grow well here. 



Elmer Skinner. 



Morocco, Newton Co., Ind., May 23, 1886. 



Friend S.. we lind basswoods growing nat- 

 urally on all kinds of soil, although I think 

 they thrive best where the ground is some- 

 what low or damp. On this account they 

 seem to thrive better in dense forests, where 

 the sun does not strike near the root. We 

 seldom see good strong thrifty basswoods on 

 high hills, unless near springs. 



CALIFORNIA BEES PROHIBITED IN CERTAIN FRUIT- 

 BELTS. 



Here we are, only thirteen miles from the beau- 

 tiful city of Los Angeles, of which we had heard so 

 much, but had never seen; while away in the dis- 

 tance Ave view the snow-capped peak of "Old 

 Baldy," which reminds us of "Old New York," our 

 old home, three thousand miles away. Although I 

 am but 19 years of age, I have read Gleanings for 

 three years, and could not get along without it. 



Bee-keeping is prohibited in the fruit-belts, owing 

 to the alleged injury to the fruit, done by the bees. 

 As I have been in the fruit-region only, I have seen 

 but few bees, and consequently I am unable to give 

 you a satisfactory idea of the trials and tribulations 

 of the Californian apiarist: but as I intend to travel 

 from Los Angeles to San Francisco on horseback, I 

 shall probably see a great manj- bee-ranches, as they 

 are called here, and shall then be able to tell'you 

 about bee-keeping here. 



To those who are thinking of joming to California 

 to reside, I will say, Come and see the country before 

 you l)ring your family, for no description could 

 con\ey to you a correct idea of this country, as it 

 is so entirely ditferent from the East that it seems 

 like another world. People here speak of the East 

 as "The States." C. E. HUTCHINSON. 



Fulton Wells, Cal. 



