452 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



^rass is grazed close, moi-e of it comes than when it 

 is not grazed at all, and I believe it yields more 

 honey; I'or while the bees are scarcely seen on it in 

 the high grass, they are swarming on that in the 

 pasture-fields from morning till night. I have not 

 noticed any one, in writing of the various honey- 

 producing trees, making any mention of locust. 

 The locust-tree blossoms here about the middle of 

 May, coming in a little after the apple-bloom, and is 

 one of the finest honey-producing flowers of any we 

 have, lasting about a week or ten days. We always 

 have swarms during locust-bloom, and I have known 

 swarms to fill a hive from top to bottom in from 5 to 

 C days, from locust alone. The honey is very nice 

 and cleai", and delicious to the taste. I think it bet- 

 ter than white clover. I live about a mile and a 

 half from the wooded section. Bees always do bet- 

 ter in this wooded section than they do down with 

 me. I attribute this to the fact that, in this wooded 

 section, there are thousands of poplar and chestnut 

 trees, both of which bear honey-producing flowers. 

 I regard the poplar, however, as the better of these 

 two forhone.v. Edwakd C. Heterick. 



Washington, Va., June 7, 1884. 



OUR AGRICULTURAL FAIRS, AND THE PREMIUMS 

 THEY OFFER. 



One of our friends copies the following 

 from a paper : 



It is a matter of especial gratiticaliou to every 

 thinking citizen, that the euthut^iastie ajiiarist, Mr. 

 Byron Dickinson, has so woTidertiilly dcxclopedand 

 made manifest the pleasure and j)rutit of bee-keep- 

 ing in this county. Now, at the last county fair his 

 exhibit was large, valuable— over $700 worth— ex- 

 pensively and artistically displayed. His award was 

 one dollar and tliree rihlions— the latter not ha\ing 

 value enough to adinit him to the fair once next 

 season, and the whole caboodle not wortli as nuuii 

 as the premium a lady received on a plant she car- 

 ried in her hand. 



At an expense of one hundred and fifty dollars, 

 Mr. J. L. Keed made and put on exhibition a beau- 

 tiful buggy. His award did not equal that on a big 

 turnip or rotund pumpkin. 



Tills is bad, I admit, and it often comes 

 about, I think, because the managers of the 

 fairs are not posted, or are too careless to at- 

 tend to the awards as they should do. Very 

 likely, no bee-keeper was present at the 

 meeting when these things were arranged, 

 and I do not know whose fault it was so 

 much as that of the bee-keepers themselves 

 for not being on hand and letting their light 

 shine. May be the judges thought friend 

 Dickinson advertised his wares and honey 

 enough to pay him for his time and trouble, 

 and the same way with the buggy-man, 

 while the producer of the pumpkins and 

 turnips could not very well hope to build up 

 a trade by taking these things to the fair, 

 in the same way the bee-man and the buggy- 

 man did. 



HOW TO MAKE A SWARMING-POLE. 



1 send you a description of an invention which I 

 am using to hive bees with this season, and which 

 answers the purpose of ladder, step-ladder, and an 

 assistant also. ]f you will name it I will give you 

 a right to make, use, and sell. 



Take a good stiff light piece of timber (basswood 

 is best), IVz inches square, about 16 inches in length 

 at one end; nail a strip crosswise on the end, '/ix?^ 

 of an inch, and 13 inches long, and put one on the 

 opposite side of the stafi', to correspond; now turn 

 the staff one-eighth around, and nail on another, and 



one opposite; they will need to be about li.j, or I'i 

 inches apart, and 12 or 15 pairs of cross-sticks. Care 

 should be taken to turn the staff just 'a around for 

 each cross - stick, and to nail one exactly op- 

 posite each time, to keep it uniform; and if the 

 center-sticks are longer, gradually shortening each 

 way, it will look better. Each stick should be nail- 

 ed with two small shingle nails; the main part of 

 the staff may be round. When a swarm begins to 

 alight, place the end of the staff' on which the cross- 

 sticks are nailed, under the cluster, and they will 

 alight on the staff, and can be carried several rods 

 to the hive, if need be. Two staves should be made, 

 one about eight feet in length, and one longer, to 

 take down swarms form tall trees. With one of 

 these, any lady or an elderly person may hive a 

 swarm that alights high, without any trouble. They 

 are the nicest thing I ever saw around an apiary. I 

 have used one only since I commenced to write this. 

 If the upper part is stained slate color (or bee color), 

 I think it would be better. J. H. Andre. 



Lockwood, Tioga Co., N. Y., June 18, 188-1. 



Thank you, friend A. I know bees will 

 cluster on such an arrangement, for they 

 seem to have a particular fancy for crawling 

 around in nooks and corners, and a large 

 swarm would nearly fill the place occupied 

 by the sticks. J suppose you could get them 

 otf in front of the hive by laying the pole in 

 front of the entrance, or. if in a hurry, strik- 

 ing it against your hand just below where 

 tlie sticks are liailed on. Who will give it a 

 trial, and report? 



SOME OF A BEGINNER'S TROUBLES. 



In March, 1883, 1 caught two swarms of black bees. 

 I knew about as much about bees as to know thei-o 

 were such things. I hived them in flour-barrels. 

 Last April they sent otf 7 swarms, 2 absconding; 4 of 

 the others I hived in barrels, and the other being very 

 small, I put it in a small box. I now began to be 

 interested in them, and sent for your ABC book 

 and Gleanings. I studied my ABC pi-etty well 

 while my Simplicity hives were coming, and found 

 two of my young swarms were nicely marked hy- 

 brids. As soon as my hives came, I got ready to 

 transfer, and transi'erred one of the young swarms. 

 That night they seemed to be doing well. The next 

 morning they were gone. Seeing a commotion in 

 another hive a few feet away, 1 concluded they 

 had gone in there. I transferred them into the 

 same hive that I did No. 1, and, sure enough, I found 

 two queens— one a fine hybrid, the other a poor- 

 looking black one, almost dead. Now, what bothers 

 me is, that No. 2 shows signs of deserting their 

 brood, and consolidating with another barrel hive. 

 If they keep on in this manner, I shall need a hive 

 about five feet square. What do you suppose 

 makes them leave their brood, and act in this 

 manner? I disguised the other baiTcls, covering 

 them with sheets. 



Yours in much perplexity at such erratic proceed- 

 ings,— Clarence Hopkins. 



Port Gibson, Miss., June 31, 1884. 



Friend II., if I am correct, one of your 

 troubles was occasioned by setting "your 

 flour-barrels too near together ; then when 

 you went to transfer, your new hives were 

 so unlike the old ones, the bees did not un- 

 derstand the new order of things, and all 

 piled into the nearest familiar-looking flour- 

 barrel. Where we are to transfer from such 



