188G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



70!) 



BEES NOT WORKING ON BASSWOOD. 



fp^ HE honey season has been a good one here, 

 ^ but is just about closing, owing to dry 

 > weather. I have three basswood-trees in 

 my yard; but this year tlie bees paid them 

 very little attention. This surprised mo 

 some, as the trees were never fuller of bloom. 

 Woodstock, 1 II., Aug. 2, 1886. A. W. Cumins. 



tllAPMAN HONEV-I'IiANT. 



Chapman hoiiey-plimt lasted only from July 20 to 

 Aug. 10. Kocky-Mountain bee-i)lant is still in liloom, 

 and will be till frost. A. .1. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Aug. 17, 188fi. 



now TO KIM. CANAI),\ THLSTLES. 



The easiest way to kill Canada thistles is to cut 

 them low in the ground, and pour about a gill of 

 coal oil on the stump. This treatment has succeeil- 

 ed well in Northern Indiaiui, where the seeds are 

 brought by cars from Canadian railroads. 



Vincennes, Ind., July 17, 1886. E. IJuuke. 



A COKKECTION. 



In Aug. 1 Gr.EANiNGS, p.630, 1 was surpi-ised to see 

 in my article, 6th line, " Cast skins of spiders;" it 

 should be "Cast skins of aphides." This showed 

 that lice had been there. J like the solar wa.v-o.\- 

 traetor voy much. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Aug. 4, 1880. 



TWO QUEENS IN A CEI.I.. 



I send you by this mail a curiosity. A queen-cell 

 I had put into a nucleus liid not hatch; and on 

 opening it 1 found two full-grown queens. Was 

 this ever known before? What made them die? 



Bristol, Vt., July 4, 1886. E. O. Tuttle. 



[I think we have had reports before of two queens 

 in a cell. Probabl.y they died because there was not 

 sufficient nutriment or sufficient room for both of 

 them.] 



SHALTj WE SUPEIiSEDE QUEENS WHEN THEV AKE 

 THREE VEARS OLD? 



I have a nice queen that will be three years old in 

 August. I have been advised to supersede her on 

 account of her age. Shall I do it? S. K. Fuson. 



Kockville, Ind., July 12, 1886. 



[Friend F., I would supersede any queen that did 

 uot keep lier brood-nest full, no matter what her 

 age ; and 1 would keep any queen that did keep her 

 brood-nest full, no matter what /ice age; that is, I 

 would not destroy any queen because she happen- 

 ed to be so many years old. Make her work, rather 

 than her aqe, decide the matter.] 



BLACKS WOliKING ON RED Cr.OVER. 



I have seen the blacks working on red clover as 

 thick, seemingly, as the Italians. There was lots of 

 buckwheat in blossom too. Are the Syrians, Holy- 

 Lands, and Palestines all the same race of liees, f)r 

 are they all different races? White clover and bass- 

 wood were injured liy the dry weather a good deal 

 here; basswood lasted only al)out tlve daj's. 



Cr..\RKNCE W. Ron I). 



Jackson, Mich., Aug. 16, 18S6. 



[Friend Bond, the Syrians, Holy-Lands, and Pal- 

 estines are so nearly alike that we might as well 

 call them one and the same thing, although the 

 bees from certain localities give nuich better re- 

 sults than those from other localities.] 



SEPARATORS NOT A PREVENTIVE TO QUEENS LAV- 

 ING IN THE SUPERS. 



I have a number of times found brood in sections 



where separators were used, so nearly as often as 

 when they were uot, that I have about decided that 

 separators or no separators makes but little ditier- 

 ence. This matter of brood in sections has become 

 such a nuisance to me that I am going to use queen- 

 excluders pretty generally. Geo. F. Bobbins. 

 Mechanicsburg, 111., Aug., 1886. 



00^ 0WN ^Pi^i^Y. 



AN IMPROVEMENT IN CHAFF-HIVE COVERS. 



LTST after the honey-fiow we have always been 

 annoyed by a few stray robbers tugging at 

 the ventilators of the chatl'-hive covers. At 

 such times there are a few bees which seem 

 to persist in minding every one's else business 

 but their own; and whenever a hive-cover is raised 

 they will dart down into the hive. Situated as we 

 have been with foul brood in our apiary, a few such 

 bees could do a vast amount of harm. Passing 

 through the a])iary one day I felt i)articularly vex- 

 ed to see a lot of these shiny-backed fellows trying 

 to jjass through the ventilator-holes to the chaff 

 hives. It is true these holes were covered with 

 wire cloth on the inside; but why should those bees 

 try to get through it? I then i-emembered that bees 

 will feed each other through wire cloth. It was evi- 

 dent, that the inmates of the chafT hives were feed- 

 ing the robbers on the outside through tlie wire 

 cloth, otherwise the little lovers of ill-gotten gains 

 would have gone home. I accordingly instructed 

 the apiarist to tack wire cloth on the ()?(^si((e of all 

 the chaff-hive ventilatoi-lioles in the apiary. This 

 would make -'a of an inch space in each ventilator, 

 between the strips of wire cloth. When the chaff- 

 hive covers had been so fl.xed, the result was very 

 satisfactory; for not a robber would bother himself 

 with those ventilators; in fact, we have wondered 

 why we had not done it Ijefore. Try it, brother bee- 

 keepers, and note the results. 



We are sometimes annoyed by bees getting under 

 the covers of Simplicity hives; and it has occurred 

 to me. Would not this ti'ouble be aggravated if the 

 union of the cover and body were made by simply 

 a plain \inbeveled edge? The beveled edge of the 

 Simplicity will permit of considerable warping of 

 both body and cover, and yet not permit any rob- 

 bers to get into the hive. Where plain edges meet 

 it has seemed to me that a very slight degree of 

 warping would start robbers. I nuiy be mistaken. 

 Perhaps some <ine can infoi-m me to the contrary 

 (M- otherwise. The jilaiu edge possesses some very 

 important features, I am well aware; but I will not 

 take time to mention them here. 



THE SIMPSON HONEV-PI.ANT. 



Whatever may be said in praise of the Chapman 

 honey-plant, it would be hard to e.vcel the Simpson 

 in many respects. The bees have been i-oaring on 

 our patch from morning till night ever since the 

 fon^ part of July. If .\()u should stan<l at the end of 

 one of the rows you might see hundreds— yes, thou- 

 sands—of bees Hitting around the little cup-shaped 

 blossoms. Is there any sweeter sound to the bee- 

 keeper than the happy hum of his little servants? 

 How different from the roar when bees are robbing! 

 When I take visitors down to see our carp-pond I 

 always take special pleasure in showing them our 

 patch of Simpson honey-plants. The Chapman 

 honey-plant may yield more honej' in a short space 



