1884 



gLeanIkgs In bee culture. 



475 



a little lower than the rest of the body. This 

 will often of itself revive a faintin,<>- person. 

 —In regard to driving the bees out of a room 

 by burning sealing-wax, it seems to me llic 

 burning wax would have the opposite eifect. 

 To get bees out of a room, I would open all 

 the doors and windows, and then carefully 

 remove or cover up every thing that attract- 

 ed them. So far this season w.e have not liad 

 a bee buzzing about our honey-house. The 

 reason is, no honey is left exposed that will 

 start them. 



BEES SMTAEMING WITHOUT A QUEEN. 



MAY NOT A FERTILE WORKER TAKE THE Pr.ACE 

 OF A QUEEN? 



§ BEING nothing in Gleanings about bees 

 swarming- without a queen, but having fer- 

 tile woi-kers, I concluded that I would write 

 you a letter on the subject. About two 

 weeks ago, John Coon came running from 

 the corn-field, where he was working, and said he 

 had settled a swarm of bees. As we had no hive of 

 the cheap kind, he said he would let them go. But 

 pa said, " Walter, here, has a hive he made for a 

 swarm; he can go and get them, and pay you what 

 they are worth." 



John said, "All right." 



I went and took the swarming-box and went and 

 got them. There was half a pint of them, and no 

 queen, that I could discover. I put them in a two- 

 fi-ame nucleus hive got of you, with Mitchell 

 frames, and some comb. In about a week I looked 

 at them and they had eggs in the comb. In one cell 

 there were as many as 13 eggs. Fertile workers 

 thought I. 



Pa and I were examining a hive of Lees, and 

 found three young queens just hatche(? out, and 

 the old one. We put one in with my bees, and made 

 two more nuclei. Daj- before yesterday I came 

 home from work, and my bees were gone. I looked 

 around and saw some bees tiying around a cedar- 

 tree. I went there, and my bees were thei-e, as was 

 also the queen, and about 25 or 30 drones. I sup- 

 pose that the queen went on her wedding-flight, and 

 was followed by my bees and strange drone. I took 

 them and put them in a nucleus box with 3 frames, 

 6x4, and they seem to be all right at present. 



We have 36 stands of bees; 13 in our improved 

 Simplicity chaff hives, and 38 in other chaff hives, 

 and one (my large swarm) in a common Simplicity 

 hive^ one story, without chaff, that I made myself. 

 We are going to transfer to chaff' hives next season. 



We have a carp-pond, with 7.5 carp, whose average 

 length is 16 inches, and millions of small carp; also 

 a poultry-yard of fine - blooded Plymouth - Rock 

 chickens. We have had one swarm abscond this 

 year. We have set out a maple-grove near our api- 

 ary this year. We ai-e going to build a new shop 

 soon. 



Mr. Root, some time when you take a trip for 

 your health, come out our way, and see how well 

 you are treated. Walter A. Keeler. 



Andersonville, Ind., July 7, 18H. 



I think you are right, friend B. Since you 

 mention it, I believe I have seen small clus- 

 ters of bees behave themselves toward a lay- 

 ing worker very much as if she were a queen. 

 The cluster is usually small, however, and 

 they seem to have a sort of demoralized way 



of acting. A good frame of hatching brood, 

 as well as sealed brood, will probably 

 straighten them out. 



AW IMPROVEMENT IN HANDLING 

 LIQUID HONEY. 



A MEASURE AND TUNNEL COMBINED. 



tllO has not experienced difficulty in 

 pouring honey or oil into small- 

 mouthed utensils, or into an oil-canV 

 Our boys wasted so mtich oil in fill- 

 ing up their oil-cans, that Mr. Gray, 

 some time ago, had a can made with about 

 half of the top covered over, and a small 

 spout at one edge to conduct the oil into the 

 mouth of the can. This utensil was so handy 

 that the girls were continually borrowing it 

 when they had to put oil, glycerine, and 

 other liquids, into bottles. Well, I was 

 thinking about them for household utensils, 

 when finally I found an engraviug of them 

 in one of our catalogues of tinners' goods. I 

 will show you the engraving below. 



THE UTILITY .ME.VSURE. 



In using an ordinary tunnel with a mea- 

 sure, you have often felt the inconvenience 

 of being obliged to hold the tunnel iti place, 

 and manipulate the measure at the same 

 time. Well, the above makes both handy 

 utensils all in one. We are so nuich pleased 

 with them that we have placed them on five 

 of our counters. The smallest one holds 

 half a pint ; price 15 cts.; one pint, liO cts.; 

 one quart, 25 cts.; two quarts, 35 cts.; and 

 the largest, holding a gallon, 50 cts. They 

 can be safely sent by mail for 4, 0, 8, 10, 

 and 20 cents respectively. 



THE USE OF SLANG WORDS. 



A KIND REPROOF. 



OTICE page 403, Juvenile, in first column, 

 and note the " slang " expi-ession there used 

 by the great disseminator of morality, etc., 

 ''catch on." Why, sir, I am surprised, es- 

 pecially as I can easily see that this habit of 

 using slang is slowly creeping into lots of your 

 writings. There are GOOD people who closely watch 

 you, and — look out ! R. C Taylor. 



Fort Scott, Kan., Jiuie 34, 1884. 



Thank you, friend T.; but I am not sure 

 that I entirely agree with you in this matter. 



