1886 



GLEANINGS IN 13EE CULTURE. 



867 



Df. Smith's. Dr. Smith is professor of {geology 

 at the University of Alabama, and was a special- 

 census agent of U. S. A. His report gives all the 

 bottom facts about Florida— the geologry, physical 

 geography, constituents of soil, growth, elevation, 

 rainfall, adaptation of soils to particular crops, 

 drainage, etc. Of course, it does not give the de- 

 tails in regard to the honey product and some 

 other things, such as are furnished you bj- Hart 

 and others, but all the fundamental facts are there. 

 It forms a part of the U. S. census. I do not 

 know where a copy is to be had; but any one who 

 wishes to know all about Florida ought to begin 

 with it. .7. A. GoiiEE. 



Tuscaloosa, Ala. 



gUKEN-CATCHERS, AND CLIPPING QUEENS. 



I have used an implement similar to Klimitz's 

 queen-catcher for some time. I am in the city, 

 and it will not do to run over town to take swarms 

 out of neighbors' yards or from the shade-trees in 

 the streets, so I clip the queens' wings. To catch 

 up the wings by the fingers, with the feet always in 

 motion, and then clii) the wing, risks too much; 

 danger comes in of getting a foot with the wing. 

 Letting the queen rest on the knee is not always 

 safe either, so I have a small sack made of mosqui- 

 to-netting, which I pass over the open eud of the 

 cage; and as the queen runs into the sack out of 

 the cage, I have her in the sack with her tail to- 

 ward the opening. I withdraw the cage, lay it 

 down, and turn back the ends of the sack, holding 

 the queen in the sack by her head and body with 

 the left hand; as soon as the wing is exposed I clip 

 exactly what I want, and then release her. It 

 takes a little longer time, but it is sure, and not 

 the least danger of injury does the queen incur, 

 and this is the main point. The cage I have used 

 has ragged wire edges, which catch the bag. Mr. K.'s 

 cage is better. 



HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS UVK. 



Give everybody credit, is my motto, if it doesn't 

 cost too much. Let Mr. Heddon have credit for his 

 hive— it is a good one: Mr. Jones for his— it is equal- 

 ly good; let Mr. Heddon have ail the credit the 

 pollen theory is worth, and let Mr. Clarke hiber- 

 nate the bees. Let all the army of reversible-frame 

 inventors be pleased with themselves, and last. 

 but not least, let Mr. Perrine have the credit of 

 being the " Father of Adulteration of Honey." 1 

 believe that is what he claimed at the late congress in 

 New Orleans. .\11 I ask is, credit for the money 

 I send. S. t'. Bovr-STOX. 



Charleston, S. C. 



Friend B., your sugffestioii in regard to 

 hiindling queens is good, but I think I should 

 prefer to handle them with my naked lin- 

 gers. They sometimes bite spitefully, it is 

 true ; but t am not afraid tite queens will in- 

 jure me. and I am i)retty sure I shall not 

 injure the queens, i oui' suggestions about 

 giving credit are also good. 



A LETTER FROM ONE OK OUR AUSTRALIAN KRIKNUS. 



I am interested a little in bees. I have ten hives. 

 1 commenced with one, a chance swarm, which 

 came along in December, 1884; and since reading 

 your A B C it seems more wonderful. You Ameri- 

 cans can do almost any thing. I df) not know that 

 our country can i)roduce honey like yours; but I 

 have been told, since taking an interest in bees, of 

 some of our farmers in the country distriptg hftvjng 



as much as six tons of honey in one season from 

 bees kept in all sorts of boxes. Nearly all the na- 

 tive trees here blossom— gums, box, and acacia— 

 and just now in winter I see the Tasmanian blue 

 gum (hhtcalyiilus i/^n/jKh/.s) is coming into blossom, 

 and will continue until August. I have two Wood- 

 bury and eight Langstroth hives, or the same size 

 as your Simplicity hives. The Bee-Keepers' Society 

 here decided on that size. I see you have the cold 

 to contend with, but we do not get snow here, and 

 there is not more than two or three days wet, or 

 weather when the bees can not work, and I notice 

 now they are busy bringing in pollen. Sometimes 

 we have four or five fine sunny days; the gera- 

 niums and marigolds I sse bloom all the year round. 

 Ours is not one of the best jiiaces for bees. It is 

 very open, or plain, and not many trees. 



Braybrook, Victoriii. Australia. William Dabb. 



We think Australia is making rapid strides 

 in bee culture. AVe have filled quite a num- 

 ber of orders from there for machinery, etc. 

 Thanks for your kind letter, friend I). I do 

 not see why Australia should not give as 

 good results as America. Aie yoit sure the 

 capabilities of your country have been as 

 fully brought out as ours haveV 



STINGLESS BEES IN AUSTRALIA. 



A correspondent from Queensland sends 

 us the following: 



Your correspondent. Mr. Henry Stewart, is not 

 quite correct in stating, p. 208, Gleanings, that the 

 stingless bee is found only in South and North 

 America, and not in the other continents; at all 

 events, we have a stingless bee in Queensland in 

 two varieties, very similar in appearance, but their 

 nests and combs are different. I send j'ou here- 

 with a pressed specimen of the bee for microscopic 

 examination. They are such insignificant little 

 things that I hardly think it would ever be worth 

 while to cultivate them. The whole yield of a largo 

 colony is only about a quart. Their combs are cer- 

 tainly not constructed of wa.v, although it looks 

 much like it. I tried to melt up a lot once, but got 

 only a dark-brown sticky mass, which, however, 

 proved a source of immense attraction to the bees 

 in my apiary; for although there was an immense 

 profusion of honey-flowers at the time, they seem- 

 ed to give them up entirelj'. and devoted their 

 whole attention to carrying away the brown stickj- 

 mass, and plastering it all over the inside of their 

 hives. As I didn't want it there, I buried it, and 

 so forced them to go about what I considered a 

 more profitable occupation. 



As 1 have started writing I may mention a curious 

 circumstance which has just happened in mj- 

 poultry-yard. A tiger cat got in one night, and, for 

 apparently the pure delight in murder, killed two 

 geese, two ducks, and one sitting hen and one of 

 her chicks, leaving five uni)rotected orphans. The 

 mother had laid only about a dozen eggs before she 

 commenced to brood, and she had a sister in the 

 yard that was .just about to begin to lay. Well, next 

 morning this young pullet with her fiery-red comb 

 commenced to cluck, cluck, like a brooding hen, 

 called the chickens to her, brooded over them at 

 night, and has, in every respect, performed a moth- 

 er's duties to her nephews and nieces, although she 

 has never yet laid an egg. Formerly, if one of the 

 chicks came near her while they wei'e being fed 

 she would peck at them furiously, but now she 

 wpn't joiicli a morsel till they are all fully satisfied. 



