5f4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



strongly bridged across. First, is thei-e any better 

 cover than what I have? Second, must I tear the 

 fi-anies apart? Wm. S. Adams. 



Queenstown, Md., Juno 7, 188t). 



There is no better way than to tear the 

 frames apart, cut out thfe combs, and make 

 what use of them you can, and start the bees 

 right. The use of comb foundation would 

 have saved all your trouble. 



SYMPHITUM ASPERRIMUM (COMFREV). 



This has been advertised as sometliing- wonder- 

 ful for honey-production and fodder-production, 

 liH) tons to the acre. This is an old dodjie, 40 or 50 

 j'ears old. I don't think a fact can be produced to 

 show where it yielded 10 tons to the acre, or where 

 any animal relished it as food, unless it is brought 

 to eat it by starvation. 



THE RESURRECTION PLANT. 



You will not often succeed in making- the resvir- 

 rection plant grow. The only way to do so is to get 

 it as soon as possible, as gathered in its native 

 home, and then do not soak it, but hiy it on moist 

 soil, covered with a bell-g-lass or tumbler, shaded, 

 so it revives by degrees. This soaking full of water, 

 and exposing- to the air at once, won't do it. Tf you 

 take immortelles and dampen them they will shut 

 lip; put them in the sun, and they will open nlniost 

 daily; and so with helychrysuin, rhodiinihe, :ind 

 so on. F. J. M Otto. 



Sandusky, O., June 21, 18S6. 



SPANISH-NEEDLE HONKV. 



Your comments on the article of T. S Robbins, 

 in Gleanings of June ].')ih, led me to believe I 

 could make a sale of some fine Spanish-needle hon- 

 ey to you next fal^. We never fail to get a lai-ge 

 crop. I have 30 hives arranged for extracting, and 

 can pack in 1, 2, or five gallon jacketed cans. 

 What can you offer for it per pound, t. o. b. ? We 

 are now harvesting a crop of fine clo\er honey 

 —4600 lbs., from 100 colonies (comb honey). We al- 

 ways winter on summer stands, with Spanish- 

 needle stores, and have verj' tew losses. I„ast win- 

 ter (a severe one) we did not have a single loss nor 

 a single case of dysentery. E. Buuke. 



Vineennes, Ind., June 19, \SSn. 



Friend B., we are at present so well sup- 

 plied with honey that does not sell, that we 

 could not promise to take ai4y more. Per- 

 haps some of the friends who see this will 

 be able to take it off your hands. 



given one of them the fifth fraiue with three 

 queen-cells closed, and one cell still open. Can yon 

 tell what is the matter ':' They are not storing much 

 surplus, for out of 22 days it has rained 20, with a 

 cloudy prospect for more. S. J. Smith. 



Chattanooga, Tenn., June 21, 1886. 



I can not tell why those two colonies re- 

 fused to build queen-cells, unless it is be- 

 cause they have some sort of a queen in 

 their hives. Once in a while a colony gets a 

 queen that does not lay, and they w'ill very 

 often hold on to her luit'il they are rendered 

 worthless. The only way to make them 

 build queen-cells is to hunt them out. In- 

 troducing a laying (jueen would be the best 

 thing, but they would probably refuse to ac- 

 cept a queen if it is as I have suggested. 



"WHY was IT THE COLONY WOULD NOT BUILD 



QUEEN-CELLS "? 



I have 14 colonies of bees, some bright Italians, 

 and some mixed. I am in the flooded district. At 

 the time of the flood here I had to move my bees 

 twice, losing many by confinement, and some by 

 falling in the water. I began building- them up aft- 

 er getting them home; Two were queenless and 

 weak. All built up well, as all had honey enough. 

 May 8th, I had two natural swarms. I divided one, 

 and started two nuclei with four fi-ames each, with 

 plenty of brood and eggs. Neither of them made 

 an effort to make queen cells. 1 gave them each an- 

 other frame of brood, with the same result. This I 

 have done four times, as fast as the cells were seal- 

 ed. On the 19th I examined them again ; no queens, 

 but bees plenty, storing honey and pollen. I have 



^EP0RTg Digceaix/ieijiG. 



AN ADVERSE REPORT FROM TEXAS. 



tEES have done woi-se this season than I ever 

 knew bel'oi-e. one-half of them having starv- 

 ed to death. They commenced in March, the 

 prettiest I ever saw, and raised a large 

 amount of brood, and I was sure I should 

 have a great many swarms by the 1st of April; but 

 about that time we had a heavy frost that destroyed 

 the bloom, and cold, continued rains until the 2,5th, 

 and then it set in dry. We had no rain until the 

 18th of June. With such unfavorable weather we 

 had no new swarms, and I don't think there were 

 over half a dozen swarms in this whole section of 

 country. I don't think that, in my 100 colonies, 

 from the 1st of April to the 15th of June, they gath- 

 ered over 10 lbs. of honey. They came through the 

 winter rich; but on account of raising such a large 

 amount of brood, and such unfavorable weather, 

 they could not s^'-arm. They destroyed their queen- 

 cells, and clustered on the outside of the hives, 

 leaving the impression they were going to swarm, 

 until they ate up all their stores, then they began to 

 starve to death. 



About that time I was very busy cutting- hives for 

 myself and ncighboi-s, leaving my wife to watch 

 when they commenced swarming. By that means I 

 neglected noticing- them until I heard my neighbors 

 complaining of their bees dying, then I began to 

 examine, and found mine in the same condition. 

 Then I commenced feeding, and fed lT51bs. of sugar, 

 but lost 10 colonies, from which you see it almost 

 blasted my hopes and discouraged a great many be- 

 ginners in the business, some of them losing all 

 they had. What are left, however, are now doing- 

 very well, and the outlook is favorable. I am satis- 

 fled the Cyprians and Syrians are the bees for f/ji's 

 country; for while the Italians and blacks give it 

 up and quit raising- brood entirely, the Cyprians 

 and Syrians never stopped, and came through the 

 drought strong, and are now working vigorously, 

 while the others are just building up. 



Notwithstanding- the great disaster that has be- 

 fallen the bee-industry in this section, I am not 

 dispirited, and my faith is as strong as it ever was. 

 I expected a great man3' swarms this season, and 

 prepared to hive the increase; consequently I have 

 about 100 extra hives on hand, and 80 lbs. of foun- 

 dation, which I shall have no use for this year. 

 Gatesville, Texas, June 24, 1886. M. Simpson. 



