1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



521 



with the level surface of the end-boards. 

 Another thing, the frames must be made 

 vertj accurate, and the hives also, or these 

 nail-heads would either fail to catch on to 

 the rabbet, or else strike against the end of 

 the hive, and pinch. To make it work pro- 

 perly, but very little variation can be al- 

 lowed, and I have been afraid to inuh^rtake 

 such an arrangement l)ecansp of tlie dilliciiUy 

 of making the woodwork sullicientl> accu- 

 rate, and have it stay so. Now. aftei- having 

 made these objections, I will say tiiaL your 

 plan fills the bill nearer, perhaps, than any 

 thing heretofore offered, in my opinion. 



A STRANGE WHIM. 



A COLONY THAT KEEPS RAISING YOUNG QUEENS, 

 AND THEN DESTROYS THEM. 



§OME three weeks or a little more ago, a verj' 

 I larg-e colony of bees that I was working- for 

 I extracted honey in a ^li-story hive, swai-med 

 out; the bees circled around for a short time, 

 and beg-an to cluster on a low tree near by; 

 but before the cluster was one-third formed, they 

 began togo back with the hive, and finally all went 

 in. I at once opened the hive, and on the first 

 frame I took out I found the old queen quietly at- 

 tending to her duties; in fact, she deposited three 

 or four egrgs while I held the frame in my hand. On 

 looking- further I found two or three partly formed 

 queen-cells, empty, and one which a queen had ap- 

 parently left very recently. On further examina- 

 tion I found a young queen balled. I closed the 

 hive, and left the colony to arrange matters as it 

 chose. The next morning- T found the young- queen 

 dead in fi-ont of the hive. 



After this, nothing unusual occuri-ed till last Sat- 

 urday, .Tune 28th, when the same colony started to 

 swarm again; but instead of doing- so they went 

 through the same performance they did the first 

 time. On opening- the hive I found the old queen 

 and several torn-down queen-cells, and on the bot- 

 tom of the hive was a young- queen balled as before. 

 The old queen is only about one year old ; her wings 

 are perfect, consequently her not accompanying is 

 not owing to any physical disability. 1 do not un- 

 derstand why this colony operates as it does, but 

 hazai-d the conjecture that the old queen is trying 

 to break in an assistant, and the workers are 

 " blocking her little game." 



The first time this colony swai-med and returned, 

 I thought nothing of it; but when I found the same 

 state of things precisely, in the second attempt at 

 swai'ming-, I concluded that there was something 

 more than chance; Mhat, I leave others to guess. 

 I have never read or heard of such a thing before; 

 but for all that, it may be a frequent occumence; I 

 think, however, it is one of those strange vagaries 

 which lead us all to conclude that bees are "funny 

 critters." J. E. Ponu, Jr. 



Foxboro, Mass., June 3J, 1884. 



Friend P., I do not know that I ever saw 

 any thing exactlj^ like your case, but 1 have 

 seen something similar. If either one of the 

 queens had been able to go off with the 

 swarms, I presume tlieir plans would liave 

 worked all right, and there would have been 

 no hard feelings. 1 can not tell why the old 

 queen would not go otf with them when you 

 had got queen-cells so far along, or a yoiuig 

 queen really hatched out. 



CANDIED HONEY FROM THE PINE- 

 TREE. 



THE AGENCY OF THE APHIDES IN THIS TliOrni.E. 



ELL, my Northern bee-friends, I learn from 

 the ABC and Gleanings that you hardly 

 ever have any candied honey in the comb 

 in the summer time, while half of the crop 

 here is candied, so it can not be extracted. 

 Well, I will tell you how this honey is gotten. The 

 aphides get all over the pines, and there is a lai-ge 

 area of them in this country, and every morning- 

 you can see drops of it shining like dew; but on e.\'- 

 amination you will find little hard lumps of sugar 

 that the bees could not gather the day before. If 

 they don't gather it the first day, they can't get it; 

 I mean the first day it is sprayed; it will candy the 

 second day, in the hive or out. 



I had my bees arranged for extracted honey, and 

 this candied stuff uses me up; so next year I will 

 run for comb honey. My bees have got every comb 

 filled and capped over. I have built them, too, three 

 stories high. I don't want to cut my combs out, 

 and I have no sections to put in mj' hives. 



bee-keeping in geoiuua. 



I wish some of my friends from the North would 

 come down here and help me raise bees, and gather 

 the honey of this country. Bees are scarce in this 

 country; what few there are, are in the old box 

 hive. We are behind in bee culture here. .Thei-e 

 could have been two tons of honey got every three 

 miles square hei-e this season. 



I find one dilficulty here; that is, wlien you have a 

 swarm, the bees fill up with honey so quick that the 

 queens hava nowhere to lay, and they all get weak. 

 Now toll me what to do with my bees. 



Bees winter here on their summer stands, and 

 hai-dly ever have an}- loss. Our temperature ranges 

 from VZ to 90°. Bees do nothing from the first of 

 November till the first of February; then go to 

 gathering pollen, and brood-rearing. I don't see 

 but this country is as good for the apiarist as any 

 other. I know that we can raise queens a great 

 deal sooner than you can, when you don't set them 

 out of the cellar till April, and we have swarms here 

 by that time; so, pay us a visit, and see if you don't 

 like it down here. 



We have a great many honey-bearing plants and 

 trees. The peach-tree leaves have two little warts 

 at the base that yield a full drop of nectar every 

 morning, and the sweet-elder the same, and the 

 cotton-bloom; there ai-e 1(X) acres within one mile 

 of me, now just coming in bloom, and acres of as- 

 ters. 



That queen I got from you is of the pure Italian 

 breed, but my blacks are a third larger. I never 

 saw an Italian bee till those came to hand, and tliese 

 are all that y.re in this country at present. 



J. A. UlLLASHAW. 



Bowman, Elbert Co., Ga., July 18, 18^4. 



Friend 1)., we have had several reports of 

 luniey tlitit candied almcwt immediately in 

 the combs, but we did not know wliere it 

 came from. It seems to me from your state- 

 ment that the aphides tire at tlie lK)ttom of 

 tliis ti-ouble also. I am just beginning to 

 wonder whetlier we are going to have any 

 reports the rest of the season where aphides 

 did not mix in somewhere. 



