1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



•■07 



DO QUEENS WITH CLIPPED WINGS 



ELY? 



HOW MUCH OF THE WING SHOUM) HE tT.l I'PEI).'' 



T HAVE been reading- Gleanings since April 1st, 

 I^P and some sample copies before that, but I am 

 ^l not familiar with what has and what has not 

 •*• been discussed in the past years; therefore if 1 

 tread over j^ronnd which has been trodden be- 

 fore, you will please excuse me. 



Some time before swarming- time, my brother and 

 I went over our bees and clipped the wing-s of all 

 the queens which had not been clipped before that, 

 so we thought wo need not be afraid of any swarms 

 g-etting- awaj-. My brother George and I are part- 

 ners in the bee-business, while my brother John has 

 a few cjlonies independent of ours. A few days ag-o 

 we were all thr^e in the apiary, cutting- the (jueen- 

 cells out from a colony which had cast a swarm, so 

 there would be no after-swarms. Suddenly John 

 exclaimed, "There they g-o ! " 1 looked around 

 and saw a swarm issuing- from a colony which had 

 a clipped queen. I went to the hive, took off the 

 cover, and picked up a queen cage which 1 had 

 placed on the enameled cloth some time be 'ore, 

 and commenced looking- for the queen, in front of 

 the hive. We all three looked for awhile; and when 

 we could not see her we proceeded to look inside 

 of the hive. But we loooked in vain. By this time 

 the bees had settled on a peach-tree some fifty or 

 sixty feet away, and seemed verj- well contented. 



" Well," said 1 to my brothers, " the way those 

 bees sit there, they must have a queen with them; 

 so I think we had better cut the limb and carry 

 them to the hive, instead of putting them in a new 

 hive on the old stand," as we had been practicing-. 

 I was somewhat puzzled at their cai)ers, as I knew 

 the queen's wing-s were clipped, and I also knew 

 they could not have raised a young- one, as I had 

 been examining them quite often. We thought the 

 queen might have got lost in the grass, so, after 

 putting- three frames of brood in the hive, one con- 

 taining a sealed queen-cell from our choice (jueen, 

 and filling the rest of the hive with empty frames, 

 and closing- it, we shook the bees in front of the 

 hive, when they marched in very much as if they 

 had a <|ueen, and in a short time they were at work. 



When looking in the hi\'e the next daj' we found 

 the queen-cell torn down. '- Well," said I, " (luceiis 

 with clipped wings can surely fly." We did not see 

 her then; but a few days later we found eggs, and 

 after looking- for her awhile we saw the old lady, 

 evidently very well satisfied with her new home. 

 Her wings were clipped, but not short euoug-h. Now 

 this, I suppose, is known to all veterans, and there- 

 fore may not be interesting fur them to read; but 

 there may be more young- apiarists, like myself, 

 who would suppose that a small portion of the 

 wings clipped off is sufficient. To those, I would 

 say, if you don't want 3'our queens to fly, clip off 

 nearly or ()uite half. Had we waited for the bees 

 to return, thinking- that the queen was lost in the 

 grass, I think we should have been badly disappoint- 

 ed about the time the scouts returned. If the bees 

 had no queen, would they have remained in the 

 hive with the brood and queen-cell 'if S. E. Mii-i,ek. 

 Bluffton, Montg-omery Co., Mo., .lune 18, IKHfi. 



I think, friend M., ii" yon will clip (dk 

 wing it will do more to in'event the (ineen 

 from flying than if yon clip hoth ; Imt in- 

 steatl of cutting tfie wing sijuare off, vuii 



the scissors sj as to take the thin ganzy por- 

 tion, and leave the hard rib. It seems to 

 hurt the queen more to cut this hard rib 

 than to cut the web part ; and this thin 

 gauzy web is the part that does the flying. 

 Of course, she can flop her drum-sticks to 

 her heart's content ; but so long as it does 

 not help her to get up in the air, we have no 

 objections. — Bees will remain contentedly 

 without a (pieen, providing they have 'un- 

 sealed larviv ; otherwise tliey will generally 

 desert. 



Bee B05^^ny, 



OR, HONEY - PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



LIPI'IA LYCIOIDF.S. 



BY this mail I send you specimens, for naming-, 

 of a shrub which is probably the most valua- 

 ble boe-pUmt in this portion of the State; 

 height, 6 to 10 feet; delicate white flowers in 

 spikes; highly aromatic; blooms from April 

 till .July, if seasonable, and after each heavy rain 

 until th? hard frosts in December. Iii fact, under 

 favorable circumstances it is a perpetual bloomer. 

 It is (luite plentiful in this locality, and I am told 

 that in some places it predominates. The honey is 

 very excellent and abundant; but as it comes at the 

 same timo of mesquite, mint, and other flowers, it 

 is difficult to keep the honey separate. 

 San Antonio, Tex. T. F. McCamant. 



Prof. Devol replies as follows : 



The i)lant is Lippia (i/ci'oidr.s, Gray, a member of 

 the Verbena family. It is not described in the text- 

 books of botany, but may be found in Gray's Syn- 

 optical Flora of N. America, Vol. 3, p. 338. 



Columbus, O., June 7, 1886. W. S. Duvot.. ■ 



ANDROMEDA. 



1 send a f "w sji'-cimens of what is here called su- 

 gar plant, ^uU of honey, but too deep for common 

 bees to reach. Can Italians use if? It is plentiful 

 hereal.out.s. W. V. Spencek. 



Prof. Devol says of it: 



The plant from W. V. Spencer appears to be An- 

 dromeda nitida, Barto. I know no common name 

 for it. It is a beautiful shrub, common in the low 

 pine barrens of the Southern States. Some of the 

 species of Andnoneda are poisonous to sheep when 

 eaten; but whether this one is, I can not say. 



W. S. Devoe. 



CHINQUAPIN. 



I send you a sample of what we call chinquapin. 

 It is a great honey-plant. Please let us know its 

 name. C. C. Ktrkman. 



Coxville, Pitt Co., N. C, May 39, 1883. 



Prof. Devol says : 



The inclosed jilant is chinquapin (Castanea pum- 

 iln, Michx.). W. S. Devol. 



SWEET CICEt^Y. 



Seeing- in Gleanings that yon give the name of 

 herbs and plants, I send one to name. I send you 

 some of the stalk, loaves, and roots. W. W. Gioer. 



Heltonville, Lawrence Co., Ind., June it, 1886. 



Prof. Cook's reply: 



This is sweet i:ict'\y (Otiiwinldzii hmoislyli^). The 

 name, from the Greek, means "scented root." The 

 i-ootnot only snielis sweet, but tastes not unpleasant. 

 It belongs t(( |he Umbellifera, or Parsley family. 

 While the pluiit^i pf this family secrcfp neptar, I do 



