456 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



the upper and lower stories, 

 for hives. 



Better use pine 



ANTS IN THE HONEY-ROOM. 



Please ask the readers of Gleanings to tell us 

 of something that will drive small black ants out of 

 the honey-room, and keep them out. 

 honey from appt.e-blossom— the color and 



t^)UALITY. 



On page 403, Gleanings for June 15, Mr. J. E. 

 Pond, Jr., says he has taken some fine apple-bloom 

 honey this year. If I had read that statement be- 

 fore this year's apple-blossoms came here, I should 

 have thought they grew different apples in Massa- 

 chusetts from what we do hero. In the spring of 

 1883 I took about 500 lbs. apple-bloom honey, about 

 equally divided between comb and extracted. It 

 was the blackest and rawest tasting honey I ever 

 saw or tasted— much darker than buckwheat or 

 aster honey. I have a jar of it yet, and it looks like 

 dark molasses. This spring I took over 300 pounds 

 extracted honey from apple-bloom. It is as light 

 colored as white-clover honey, and of mild taste, but 

 not pleasant to me. I don't like it nearly as well as 

 clover or basswood. It had a very strong smell of 

 apple-bloom, so it scented the room for a long time. 

 Can you or any of your readers tell why the honey 

 was dark two years ago, and light from the same 

 source this year? I think the flavor the same this 

 year as in 1883, only not so strong. 



E. D. Howell. 



New Hampton. N. Y., June 33, 1881. 



Tlie ants seem to be especially troublesome 

 this season. Can not Prof. Cook, or some- 

 body else, tell us if pyrethrum will not work 

 with them as well as with the smaller in- 

 sects? — I can not tell why we have these dif- 

 ferent experiences with apple-bloom. In 

 former years I had decided as you do ; but 

 Ave have' sections of honey in our lunch-room 

 now, filled and capped dunu,it ai)ple-l)loom, 

 that we think ecjual tt) any from any source. 

 Is it not likely that, in former years, dande- 

 lions, shell-bark hickory, or something simi- 

 lar, was mixed with it V 



ALBINOS. 



We had our first swarm of bees come off yesterdaj- 

 —nearly a patent pail full. I tell you, we were all 

 tickled. The alsiko and white Dutch clover ai'e Aery 

 nice; my silverhull also. How about those albinos 

 of Mr. Harrington's? If they are a good kind of 

 bee, would you get such a thing for yourself, if you 

 were starting in the bee business? 



J. H. Kennedy. 



Williamsburg, Kan., May 21, 1884. 



All the albinos we have, friend K., are 

 some raised from an albino queen that I got 

 from one of our Southern friends a few days 

 ago. I can not see that they differ in any 

 respect from ordinary Italians, only they 

 are a trille lighter in color, perhaps, and oil 

 some of them the bands of down have a 

 grayish- white which makes them rather 

 pretty to look at. I should say they were 

 simply Italians— nothing more, nothing less. 



MORE ABOUT THE HONEY-DEW, ETC. 



Bees did nothing here till about the first of June, 

 owing to cold and wet weather. They are storing 

 honey fast at present from the honey-dew. I have 

 not examined to find the cause of it, but have found 

 it on oak, hickory, walnut, and apple trees, in abund- 



ance; but it is not fit to eat; has a very peculiar 

 taste; is of a lead color, and thin. 



I started into winter quarters with 41 colonies; 

 came out the first of June with 19, the most of them 

 weak. Some others here lost heavier than I did — 

 some as high as 80. If older bee-men had not suffer- 

 ed as heavily, or heavier, than I did, I think Blasted 

 Hopes would have been the place for me. 



Cowden, 111., June 24, 1884. A. W. Spracklen. 



DRONES— EXPENSE OF BOARDING THEM. 



The drones are eating almost all of my honey. I 

 have been stopping them out with guards; but 

 when I go to kill them the bees become very angry ; 

 and besides, the bees lie out very thick, and mix up 

 with the drones, so I can not kill the drones without 

 killing bees. How do you do it? W. N. Parish. 



Little Rock, Ark., June IT, 1884. 



Friend P., the way we do is by dispensing 

 with the drone comb, and making combs 

 built on comb fdn. to take its place. 



REPORT FROM SWEET CLOVER. 



I will tell you about that little patch of sweet 

 clover (melilot) of mine. It is about one-eighth of 

 an acre, very thick, and 6 feet high; has been cov- 

 ered with bloom and bees since the 5th of May, and 

 the blossoms seem to get thicker every day, and are 

 covered with bees from daylight till dark. I counted 

 eleven on one little spine. My bees have been very 

 backward this spring, and have swarmed but 15 out 

 of 100 colonies to commence with ; but the way they 

 are gathering honey now is encouraging-. I am 

 using wired frames, and can get the comb built on 

 the wires by putting every other frame with foun- 

 dation, and waxing the wire well before putting 

 them in. Just try it. I have quit tobacco. 



W. G. McLendon. 



Lake Village, Ark., June 15, 1884. 



holy-lands and pea-vine clover. 



My bees are doing finely now; starving-time is 

 about over. I started with 80 stands this year; have 

 sold the rest; lost afewbyspringdwindling. Started 

 with 36 last spring; increased to 120 by fall, by nat- 

 ural swarms. I have 5 kinds. The Holy-Land bee 

 beats them all; one young swarm of Holy-Lands 

 last year, when my pea-Aine clover Avas in bloom, 

 weighed 140 lbs. in two weeks, mostly clover honey, 

 and brood. The Holy-Lands made more honey than 

 all the rest. They are easier to handle than my 

 albinos. F. H. Bruning. 



Kent. loAva, June 21, 1884. 



OUR SECTIONS OP 1884. 



The 3000 sections, etc., I ordered of you Averc re- 

 ceived yesterday noon all O. K. My son has just 

 finished putting together 1000 sections. He put them 

 together in 9 hours' time. He didn't wet one sec- 

 tion, and broke only three. There were 11.50 first- 

 class and .50 unusable sections in the first 1000 lot. 

 The second lot is as yet unpacked. Freight charges 

 Avere 93 cents, which I think Avas i-easonable. 



Ligonier, Ind., June 20, 1884. J. C. Mishler. 



A^ery good, friend M. It is diffcult to 

 make the sections come out right without 

 counting ; and as we sell them, counting is 

 out of the question. We* have desired to 

 have them overrun, rather than to liave any 

 risk of shortage, especially as almost every 

 box would contain a few that are bad. But 



