1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



4ol 



i 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



DIKECTIONS FOR MAKING A COLD-BLAST SMOKER. 



^ L ANINGS of the first inst. is at hand, in 



K hicli is shown the way to make a smokci'. 



Ij^ The information given is not what snits me. 



*^ I think it is not complete. The most impor- 

 ant part is omitted ; namely, the v.ay to put 

 a smoker together with the screws. I can neither 

 see how they are put in nor taken out. If you put 

 them in after the fire-l!ox is all put together, how do 

 you do it ? Just let me know. I want to get mine 

 apart, so that I can clean the blast-tube. The tube 

 gets choked up with a sort of creosote— a gummy 

 substance hard to remove, and this I did by cutting 

 off the ose of the smoker far enough back to get at 

 the end of the blast-tube. I have now got on a loose 

 one, so that I can get at the tube to clean it. The fuel 

 I have used consisted of dry old rags, paper, moss, 

 and shavings, such as are used for packing furni- 

 ture, and bark; all produce the same results. I am 

 not pleased with its working. I want to know how 

 to get the screws out without wrenching them out. 

 Will you tell me how you get them in, and how to 

 get them out? Henry Allen. 



Santa Rosa, Cal., .June 9, 1884. 



Friend A., you do not need to take a smok- 

 er apart to clean ont the blast-tube at all, 

 neither do you have to cut the nose off. 

 Simply use a bent wire of pretty good size ; 

 and after pushing otit the accumulation, 

 wind a bit of rag about the end, and swal) it. 

 This wire will go down in the nozzle of the 

 smoker easily. With a, little care you can 

 push the valve to one side so as to get your 

 bent wire in at the other end of tlie blast- 

 tube also. Terhaps your fuel is something 

 tliat generates a good deal of gummy matter. 

 Very dry rotten wood does not lill the blast- 

 tube. It you want to take the screws out, 

 they are to be drawn out with a long slender- 

 pointed screw-driver. Our girls turn them 

 down into their places very rapidly. 



OIL OF WINTERGKEEN AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR 

 SMOKE. 



I tried Mr. Spidle's substitute for smoke (see p. 

 314). I got an ounce of the best oil of wintergreen, 

 and paid 30 cents for it. As my bees are all hybrids, 

 I thought if it would work on them it would on any. 

 Well, when I use the oil On my hands I can manipu- 

 late some of my hives, and the bees will be very 

 quiet, and not offer to sting, while other hives will 

 pay very little attention to the wintergreen, and 

 can be controlled only by the use of smoke. But I 

 have received no stings on the hands since com- 

 mencing the use of the oil of wintergreen. I think 

 one could handle Italians without smoke, if it were 

 used, but I don't think I shall invest in any more 

 after the one ounce is used up. 



A C.\STER-WHEEL FOR FASTENlJs'G FDN. TO THE 

 COMB-OUIDES. 



Did you ever try using a bed-caster for fastening 

 foundation in V-topped brood-frames? If not, just 

 try it. You will throw away putty-knives and 

 screw-drivers, and' use them no more after using the 

 bed-caster. Get an iron one, dip it into water, then 

 press your foundation along the side of the top-bar 

 with your thumb, then run the wheel of the caster 

 over the foundation lightly, then di-aw the wheel 



back and forth once ov twice more, each time press- 

 ing a little harder, and the thing is done nicely and 

 quickly. Have your foundation slightly warm, and 

 you need not even rub any wax on the side of the 

 bar before putting on the foundation, as most peo- 

 ple do. Be sure-to use a caster with an iron wheel, 

 as it will not slip and injure the foundation as a 

 caster with a porcelain wheel will. M. Miller. 

 Leclaire, Iowa, June 17, 1884. 



Friend M., are you really sure that the 

 wintergreen did any good at" all ? Very like- 

 ly y(m are right, but 1 can not quite under- 

 stand why it should make any difference.— I 

 have used a wheel similar t() a caster-wheel 

 for the purpose you mention, but tlie wlieel 

 was a wooden one. Your suggestion is 

 doubtless a good one, but almost everybody 

 nowadays fastens his fdm into wired frames. 



WHAT AILS THE BEES? 



My bees have been dying lately under very ciu-i- 

 ous circumstances. Everj' morning I find lots of 

 thcni in front of the entrance, dead. Some are 

 loaded with pollen, and others are not; sometimes I 

 see them come out of the hive and buzz around, and 

 are dead. When the other bees see them they try 

 to drive them off as if their enemies. One of my 

 neighbors says his bees die the same way. Every 

 one whom I have asked, reports the same state of 

 affairs. All the bee-books that I have, mention 

 nothing on such a case. If you can give us any 

 light on the subject, I should like to have you do so. 



J.4COB GiBRISCH. 



Wood's Cross, Davis Co., Utah, June 6, 1884. 



Friend G., I think there is hardly a ques- 

 tion but that the bees were poisoned. It 

 maybe they found Paris green, fly poison, 

 or something of that sort, and I suppose it 

 is possible, too, that they are getting some- 

 thing from some poisonous plant, although 

 the latter has not yet been proven clearly. 

 If it were earlier in the season, I should 

 think it might be a phase of the spring 

 dwindling, that will disappear with warm 

 settled weather. 



KEEPING BEES NEAR OR OVER LARGE BODIES OF 

 WATER. 



I have just received my last issue of Gleanings, 

 and can tell Thomas C. Kincade something about the 

 cause of the bees falling in the water. I have had 

 my bees for seven weeks on a scaffold, in about four 

 feet of water, and have had time to observe them. 

 I have noticed that they fall in only as they come in 

 loaded with honey, or when fighting— never as they 

 go out, unless there is a sprinkle to wet their wings. 

 It must be the load they bring that makes them so 

 tired they fall before getting to the hive. The proof 

 of that is, that when honey was plentiful lately, we 

 would all spend our time picking bees out of the 

 water; and now that it is scarce, there are very sel- 

 dom any to be found, except after a sprinkle. 



M. Laforest. 



Bayou Heron, La., May 'i'Z, 1884. 



value OF THE LOCUST TO BEE-KEEPERS, ETC. 



I am an A B C scholar, and "am also a reader of 

 Gleanings, which I like verj' much. I live on the 

 eastern slope of the Bhu; Ridge, rn one of the most 

 beautiful countries in the world. These lands in 

 this section are best adapted to grass, and are u.sed 

 mostly for grazing purposes, which makes white 

 clover come in abundance; for it seems, where the 



