1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



385 



HONEY FROM PEACH-TREE LEAVES. 



I see on page 310 of Gleanings, where Mr. Arch. 

 A. Moore's bees have been working on peach-leaves. 

 Such has been the case with my bees; but the 

 leaves have been covered with aphides, and the bees 

 worked on the leaves mostly in the morning-. The 

 leaves are all curled up now from the aphides' work. 

 My bees are gathering- honey very rapidly from 

 ratun. Some are extracting-— those that are situ- 

 ated rig-ht in the midst of rataii. The honey is beau- 

 tiful. 



POLI.KN ON BEES COMLVd Ol T OF THE HIVE. 



1 notice my bees entering with just a little pollen 

 on their legs, and others coming- o\it with about the 

 same amount on theirs. 1 concluded, that in their 

 haste to gather honey they won't take time to de- 

 posit the pollen in the cell, but go again after more 

 honey. Uut, why gather the pollen at all? 



THE QUEEN TH.VT WON'T I..\V WITH A NEW SWARM. 



I had a nice swarm of Italians come off on the 4th. 

 I hived them all right in a nice new stand, with 

 starters and one frame of partly sealed and partly 

 unsealed brood. In two days they again swarmed; 

 and on looking in the hive I found queen-cells 

 started on this frame of brood, and nothing done to 

 the starters. I removed all queen-cells and returned 

 them ; to-day I looked again, and found queen-cells 

 again, but the starters were run nearly down to the 

 bottom, and no eggs in the hive at all. The queen I 

 know to be pi-oliflc and young. This is her second 

 year. The combs are full of honey as far as built 

 out. I shall go this afternoon and add another story, 

 raising half the frames, inserting empty ones in 

 their stead. Would that be your advice? Do you 

 think the bees filled the cells as fast as built, thus 

 giving the queen no room to deposit eggs, or what 

 was the matter? Bees are swarming- throughout 

 the country a good deal. Du. A. B. (.'ox. 



Ladonia, Tex., May 13, 1884. 



When bees are greatly disturhpcl tlicy will 

 go into the hive and (•(inu- out without lui- 

 loading their pollen. Sometimes during the 

 excitement of swarming they will do this, 

 too, or when they go in and tind their (ineen 

 gone ; but I never l)efore heard of their get- 

 ting so excited aliout the honey-yield as to 

 forget to kick off the ])ollen-l)airs.— I have 

 seen queens refuse to lay when the swarm 

 was thinking of decaniiii'ng, and L have also 

 known an old feitile (juecn to wait two oi- 

 three days after the swarm was hived (Ui full 

 combs, liefore she laid an egg. When she 

 got down to business, however, she soon 

 made up for lost time apparently. The bees 

 were reluctant to commence on the starters, 

 I think, because they had decided to go otf . 



EARLY SWARMING IN PENNSYLVANIA ANU OHIO. 



My tlrst swann issued May 17th. If there are any 

 of our friends in my locality who can beat that for 

 early swarming, let them come foi-ward, or 1 will 

 claim to be in the front. The weather was cold and 

 wet all through fruit-blossoms; so cold that the bees 

 could fly only a few hours each day; but they kept 

 the brood-chamber booming with young bees. 



Wm. F. (Jekjer. 



Beatty, Westmoreland Co., Pa., May 19, 1884. 



Friend G., we had a nice large s'W'arm on 

 the 17th, and a neighbor of ours hived a 

 swarm, as near as 1 can remember, all of a 

 week before ours. Since we have begun to 



talk about it, I should not be surprised to 

 hear there are many throughout both of our 

 States perhaps considerably earlier than 

 those just mentioned. Apple-bloom was with 

 us about two weeks later than usual ; but I 

 think bees nevei- gathered more honey from 

 it during my experience. 



THE BOSS BEE -FEEDER. 



Friend Ed Bailey, of Rodgers, Te.vas, an A B C bee- 

 man, has taught mo, a veteran, how to feed bees. 

 Just take an empty comb, and till it with syrup, and 

 hang it in the hive. But toflU it, that's the question, 

 and it is where the discovery comes in. Insert a 

 quill, or other tube, in a vessel, and allow the syrup 

 to spout through it into the cells. It fills them ef- 

 fectually on both sides by inverting the comb. 

 Have a vessel underneath to catch the waste syrup. 

 Now, why is this not the best and cheapest bee-feed- 

 er in existence, where one has the combs? 



GOING TO FLORIDA. 



I am selling out and going to Floi-ida. I spent the 

 winter there; like the climate; but it is not half 

 such a country for bees as Texas, and there they 

 have no land, grass, or live stock like oui'S in Texas; 

 but, the climate is worth a thousand dollars an acre, 

 and the country is on a boom. I have sold most of 

 my bees in Simplicity hives, good fix, for S^S.OO a col- 

 ony. I met friend Ashmead at Jacksonville, Fla, 

 He had just got there with his bees from New York 

 in good fix. I also met a German bee-friend at 

 Titusville, but forget his name. He was also rais- 

 ing oranges. His palmetto honey I thought was 

 aboiit equal to our horsemint honey— no better. I 

 was told that the mangrove honey was of superior 

 quality; but, alas! the mangroves and mosquitoes 

 grow together— on the coast. J. L. Caldwell. 



Mart, Texas, May 8, 1884. 



Friend C, your plan of feeding is not en- 

 tirely new, but it is a good thing to have the 

 idea emphasized occasionally. The objec- 

 tion to tliis plan of feeding is, that it requires 

 opening the hive and removing combs ; and 

 Avhen rol)l)ing is bad. it is generally a trouble- 

 some process. Instead (if preparing a can 

 with the ([uill. as you mention, just take a 

 common oil-can and iill it with syrup. It is 

 a fact, thai a short tube sends tlie syrup to 

 the bottom of tlie cells more effectively than 

 pouiing tlie syrup into a basin having a per- 

 forated bottom, as is often done.— Thanks 

 for youi- leport from Florida, friend C. ; but 

 I believe there are quite a number who have 

 gone there and got back again who do not 

 feel quite as enthusiastic as you do. 



KEEP an eye on your E.MPTY UNirSEI) CO.MBS. 



We have 300 frames full of foundation, packed in 

 honey-house. Tell us in next Gleanings, without 

 fail, if there is any danger of moth injuring them. 



Galena, 111.-, April 5, 1884. Hallett & Son. 



There is a great deal of danger, friend II., 

 as soon as the weather is warm enough foi- 

 the moth to get aromid, and for her eggs to 

 hatch. However, if the combs are spread so 

 as to be two inches apart, they are pretty 

 safe, even if exposed in an oi)en shed. AVhere 

 two com])s touch each other, or are pressed 

 up together, there will be danger, imless 

 they are shut up in a tight box or very close 

 room. See our different text-books in regard 

 to the matter. 



