350 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUHE. 



May 



sxicli different names for things I Where we 

 live we say a hive of bees ; and in some 

 places they say a gnm, because bees are of- 

 ten kept in a hollow log sawed off from a 

 tree ; and as gum-trees were often liollow, 

 and not very apt to split, they got to calling 

 them gums. Your people call them skips. 

 and in some places they call them skeps. 

 Many of our Southern friends call a liive full 

 of bees a •'■bee.''' Who can tell us any more 

 names for a hive of bees V 



OMAR S LETTER. 



I have one swarm of bees. They are in a long 

 hive that holds 18 frames. I can put another story 

 on my hive, and 18 more frames. Sometimes we ex- 

 tract the honey, and sometimes we put in sections 

 for comb honey. The old queen lays eggs In the sec- 

 tions, and spoils them. The bees made lots of clover 

 and linn honey last year. The ground was white with 

 clover. They did not get much fall honey. We 

 have ten swarms. One swarm ate u)) all their hon- 

 ey. Aunty put some of the poor starved bees down 

 on the board in front of another hive. The other 

 bees came out and fed them, then they let them go 

 in the hive. Wasn't it funny, Mr. Root? Aunty 

 has to feed four stands. She puts molasses in the 

 frames, made of white sugar. My book says the 

 queen has twelve bees to wait on her; is it so? 



The maple-blossoms have been out some time. The 

 bees have been gathering honey from them, when 

 it was warm enough. It has not been very warm 

 yet. The willows are blossomed. 



I have four new hives. Uncle Vir;4'il got them of 

 you last summer. ( >ma!! Clover. 



Pierceton, Md. 



Friend Omar, I guess the papers don't un- 

 derstand bees (luite as well as you and I do, 

 or they wouldn't say the queen has fwclve 

 bees to wait on her." The (lueeu lias a sort 

 of body-guard, or retinue, it is ti-ue ; l)ut even 

 that is often exaggerated, for it may be two 

 or three bees, or it may be a dozen or more, 

 and I don't suppose the same bees follow 

 her around at all, for they are cdustaiitly 

 changing about, and tliose that t'crd and 

 caress her one minute will probal'ly be off 

 doing something else the next. 



SEVERAL SUGGESTIONS FROM A JUVENILE. 



I will tell you what I did with the watch I got of 

 you. J gave it for 3 stands of bees in old box hives. 

 My father put them in L. hives, and they swarmed 

 once apiece. I anticipate getting a large crop of 

 honey. Father had 3 swarms of bees— one the 18th 

 and 3 this morning. He is quite busy now with his 

 bees. They are all in good condition. 



ANOTHER HIVING-BOX. 



Father has a frame he holds up when they are 

 swarming. It holds just an L. frame. He puts the 

 frame of comb in and holds up, and all alight on it, 

 then he shakes them in front of the hive, and they 

 all run in. The way my father moves bees from 

 one locality to another, he puts an empty frame 

 between every one that is full, then puts in a wedge, 

 and they are firm as you please, and there are no 

 bees smashed. 



ANOTHER PLAN OF INTRODUCING QUEENS ALSO. 



My father is quite jubilant over his success in in- 

 troducing queens. He dips the queen in flue flour, 

 and lets her loose; she runs in, and they clean her 

 oft, and she is acknowledged their sovereign ; that 

 is the way he introduces all his queens— never loses 



any in that way. My father has nearly 100 stands of 

 bees, all in Langstroth hives. He intends to send to 

 you for some honey-pails after a while. I have a 

 little brother and sister. It would do you good to 

 see them eat honey. Salado Simanton. 



Brookston, Lamar Co., Tex., Apr. 28, 1884. 



The idea of having a frame of brood in tlie 

 swarniing-box has been several times sug- 

 gested, friend 8. It seems to me as if it 

 were uniiecessaiy trouble, and not really es- 

 sential. 1 never knew bees refiise to go into 

 the swarming-box if it is hold up against the 

 cluster, nor have I ever heard of tlieir leav- 

 ing it after they once go in.— Your father's 

 plan of introducing queens is certuinly a very 

 novel one ; but is he really sure that the 

 flour has any effect either way V It may be 

 that bees i^ ould not sting a queen as soon if 

 she is covered witli Hour, although I'am in- 

 clined to doubt it a little. Was not liis suc- 

 cess owing to tlie fact that (pieens will, a 

 great i)art Of tlie time, be well received with- 

 out any caging, daubing with honey, or any 

 thing of the kind V 



BERTHA'S KIND LETTER. 



We began the spring of 1883 with 13 colonies, and 

 increased them to 34. We lost two of them in 

 wintering. We got about 35 lbs. of honey per colony, 

 spring count. We disposed of it at 13' i cts. per lb.; 

 we sold several stands at a good price. We had Sj 

 queens laying in Feb. How can we extract honey 

 now? Our bees have some surplus honey, which 

 we want to take out. We have not much clover 

 here. The bees get most of their honey from 

 lucerne and wild flowers. The snow is <iuite deep 

 here yet. We have a small yellow flower here; it 

 blooms as soon as the snow is ott'. It furnishes the 

 bees with pollen about 6 weeks. We have had 

 goods from you several times; they were O. K., es- 

 pecially the extractor. It is the best one I have 

 seen, and everybody says it is a wonder. We all 

 think your smoker is excellent. Your ABC has 

 taught us more about bees than any man or any 

 other book we have seen. I do not know how we 

 could get along without Gleanings. 



IS swelling of THE HANDS OB F.4.CE C.4.USED BY 

 SIMPLV WORKING AMONG BEES? 



Father has looked at the bees twice this spring, 

 and his face swelled up both times, and the bees did 

 not sting him. W^as it the smoke of the cotton rags 

 that made it? Can you give us any light on the sub- 

 ject? Beutha Larson. 



Fairview, Utah, March 17, 1884. 



Friend Bertha, you have struck upon a 

 matter that has puzzled a good many as well 

 as yourself. It has been suggpsled. that one 

 may be so sensitive to the poison of the bee- 

 sting that he will feel the elfects of it from 

 the air. I know bees often put out their 

 stings with a drop of poison on it. Well, it 

 is supposed that this i)ois(m is volatile, and 

 passes off in the air, enough to produce the 

 effect you have mentioned. I have some- 

 times tliought I could feel it in my eyes ; 

 and the fact you give affords another link in 

 the chain of 'evidence. Perhaps it was this 

 that caused the swelling; but for all that, I 

 sliould apprehend no bad conseciuences to 

 follow. The poison of the bee-sting is rapid- 

 ly coming into use as a valuable agent in 

 medicine. 



