Qoi 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTUBE. 



Aug. 



out injury— a fact made known to the fi-aternity 

 when Iriend Root taught us the use of the lamp- 

 nursery. If a queen-cell is inverted hefoi-e this time, 

 the queen seems to remain in the base of the ver- 

 tical cell, she herself retaining' a horizontal position, 

 and hatches as a stunted, dwarfed sijcciuien. 



Now, what effect, practically, has the occasional 

 destruction of an embryo queen as a preventive 

 of swarming? The natural swarm issues on the 

 very day, weather permitting, that invertipg of a 

 vertical cell would destroy its inmate; and should 

 this inverting perchance be done at the right hour, 

 the swarming fever has so far taken possession of 

 the bees that usually the swarm issues, notwith- 

 standing- the injured embryo queen; and, further, 

 there are usually several queen-cells of varying 

 ages; and if inverting- is practiced before the time 

 indicated, a dwarfed queen for the future mother 

 of the colony is the result— an injury rather than a 

 benefit; and this injury may result to us, if we in- 

 vert for any other purpose, without knowing- the 

 condition of each comb inverted. 



The advice of Ernest, on page.').")!, is indeed timely. 

 Some combs may be all kinked and doubled up by 

 inverting-, and I quite agree with him on the un- 

 sightly appearance of combs whose lower edges arc 

 imperfectly built out, occupying space that should 

 be solid with brood; and to fill this seems about 

 the main (and I might say the only practical) CMiise 

 for inverting. Yet this and many other ])rofltable 

 manipulations can be accomplished without invert- 

 ing, and that is, alternathnj. A hive constructed so 

 that its brood-chamber may be horizontally divided 

 —that is, one half placed on top of the lower half, 

 and arranged to interchange, furnishes all the de- 

 sired advantages. If the lower edges of the combs 

 are not built solid to the bottom-bar, simply place 

 the lower half on top of the upper half (alternate). 

 The lower edges are now near the middle, and are 

 soon built solid, and filled with brood, not honey, 

 as is usually the case when inverted. 



I would not advise discarding our present hives 

 at once, by any means; but this is a progressive ag-e, 

 and we will sooner or later adopt more or less of 

 the alternating principle, as hundreds have already 

 done in their surplus-honey arrangements. It re- 

 duces the time required to manipulate such a hive 

 about one-half. We simply have to alternate occa- 

 sionally to equalize the brood ; make artificial 

 swarms by removing- one case with bees, brood and 

 all. When honey - cases are added we alternate, 

 bringing the center of the brood-nest directly un- 

 der the sections; and any honey that may be in the 

 brood-chamber is thus brought down below the 

 main portion of the brood from where the bees re- 

 move it; and as tlie top of the brood-chamber is 

 filled with brood it is deposited in the sections. 



Hight here is an important point over inverting: 

 If a comb is inverted, its empty edge is uppermost, 

 and the honey removed from below is stored to 

 some extent in this empty coml), instead of in the 

 sections; and the empty combs, thus inverted, with 

 the additional space between brood-comb and sec- 

 tion case, furnishes no special inducement to enter 

 the surplus-chamber; whilst by the alternating- 

 plan, the solid brood is brought up close to the sec- 

 tions. 



Seventeen years ago I constructed and used quite 

 a number of these hives. The ends of the frames 

 were close fitting to each other, standing- on metal 

 strips, all held in jilacc by a wedge; but in later 



years I have used them with closed, as well as with 

 separated suspended frames, and am so using them 

 to-day; and after carefully conducted experiments 

 with l)oth styles of fr.uncs, I greatly prefer the sus- 

 pended frames, on account of the lateral adjust- 

 ment; alid although both styles can be inverted 

 with their cases, and I have so used them liy way of 

 ex])ei-iment, I can not find any additional merits 

 from inverting, as alternating- accomi)lishcs all that 

 is practically valuable in inverting. 

 Coburg, Iowa. E. Kretcumek. 



DR. SEAL'S \^riLD GARDEN AT THE 

 MICH. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Af.SO SOMETIIINC, ABOUT THE nONEV-PI^ANTS BE- 

 ING TESTED THERE. 



"HJti MONG the many excellent things accomplish- 

 2W>i. cd by Dr. Bcal at this College is the "Wild 



j^^' Garden," so called, not because things are 

 '*-'*^ allowed to run wild in it, but because the 

 natural hei-bs and shrubs are there arranged 

 in wards so as to show the natiu-al orders. This is 

 in a ravine; and in the dark shades along the rocky 

 bank are seen the graceful ferns, while in the ponds 

 are the various aquatic plants, many of which, as 

 the pond-lilies and the American and Egyptian lo- 

 tuses, are most beautiful. Now, friend Hoot, how I 

 should like to have you with me as I take my daily 

 stroll through this, one of the most lovely places at 

 this College! Oh! but wouldn't you enjoy it? Of 

 late I have been especially intere ted in some of the 

 honey-plants. Two of the mints are crowded with 

 bees from dawn till nightfall, and by their superior 

 excellence may well make catnip and motherwort 

 hide their respective heads. I doubt if even the 

 horsemint of Texas would more than rival these 

 plants. They both belong to the same genus as 

 does catnip. One is Ncpeta mufi^ini, and the other 

 Nepeta mida. Another plant, Ei"yngium planvm, is 

 a marvel. For weeks it has been thronged with 

 bees. It looks some like the Chapman plant, of 

 which I have written you; that is, the fiowers are 

 in balls; but, unlike the Chapman plant, are not 

 very showy. To look at this plant casually we 

 would think it a composite or relative of the teasel, 

 though in fact it is related to neither one, but be- 

 longs to the parsley family, which fact would never 

 be suspected without close study. I shall gather 

 seeds, and expect to rival, though not in beauty, the 

 Chapman plant. The two will look well upon one 

 bed together. Eryngium yucccefolmm, butter-snake 

 root, an American plant of the same genus, is also 

 an excellent honey-plant, or Is so reputed. 



A little way from this is the teasel. This looks 

 much like the Chapman plant, tliough it is of a dif- 

 ferent family. The bees are wild about it. Did you 

 ever notice the connate-opposite leaves, which form 

 a cup about the stem, and hold sometimes half a 

 pint of water? We have had no rain here for weeks, 

 and yet these cups from Nature's own hand are full 

 of water, and the water is full of decaying insects 

 which have been entrapped, and are now fertilizing 

 the plants. Gray says these cups are often full of 

 rain water; but it can not be rain water. The water 

 must have come from the plant, or they would have 

 dried up long- ago. 



Another i)lant, the white verbena, is a great favor- 

 ite with the bees. This is Verhena vciticifidid, and is 

 much better, T think, than the common place Vo- 

 iviin rrrhnid hasUita. The various sunflowers are 



