528 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Aug. 



HOnSEMlNT, POISON OAK, ETC. 



Horseiiiiiit ki"Ows here from one to tour feet high, 

 and my bees seldom notice it. They are mostly 

 hlacks. Did you ever know bees to work on poison- 

 oak blossoms? It g-rows here by the thousands, and 

 my bees work on it in great numbers. You say 

 young queens never lay in drone-comb. I have had 

 several young qvieens from 5 to 6 weeks old lay in 

 drone-comb, right straight along. They do this in 

 Simplicity hives too. Colonies with young queens 

 build drone-comb right along. G. W. Beard. 



Milano, Texas, June 38, 188i. 



8o it seems, friend 11, that even liorsemint 

 does not always yield lioney.— We have had 

 a good many reports of lioney from the oak, 

 bnt I do not know that I ever heard before 

 the poison oak mentioned. — I do not think 

 I said young qneens never lay in drone-comb, 

 did I '? At any rate, I should have said, 

 they seldom lay in drone-comb, and their col- 

 onies seldom build drone-comb ; and I be- 

 lieve this rule holds true, does it not? 



REPOUT FROM WESTERN NEW YORK. 



Judging from present appearances, the bee-keep- 

 ei'S of Western New York will harvest the shortest 

 crop of honey that has been taken in this locality 

 for the past ten years. Since July 1st we have had 

 cold weather, so that the flowers did not secrete 

 honey; and even if the yield had been good, the 

 weather has been too cold for bees to fly. For the 

 past five or six days, basswood has been yielding a 

 very little honey in the forenoon, and to-day the 

 yield has been better all day, so that we have some 

 hopes of a small surplus yet. At the presen* writ- 

 ing our bees are strong, but have not one ounce of 

 honey in boxes. G. W. Stanley & Bro. 



Wyoming, N. Y., July 31, 18S4. 



TOO MANY DRONE8. 



Do drones evcrbecomc so numerous as to injure 

 the progress of the colony? I have two old colonies 

 that sent out three swarms each, and then filled the 

 frames in the upper story of the hive with comb, 

 but do not fill it with honey. They seem to work 

 hard, but there is about a pint of drones in these 

 hives. The bees run them out every evening, and 

 they pile up at the entrance, and go back at night. 

 If at any time the upper story is opened, an un- 

 usual number of drones make their appearance. 



Moody, Tex., June 33, 18M. R. F. Clark. 



Yes, sir."" ^Where the matter is not at- 

 tended to, a great many hives have so many 

 drones that they eat up the honey as fast as 

 the bees can gather it ; and one great reason 

 why we get so much more honey by the 

 modern system of management is because 

 we repress tlie production of drones by 

 comb fdn. 



THE PERFORATED ZINC, AGAIN. 



Jones bee-guard is received. It is a grand success— 

 for the drones too, as it lets them through as well as 

 the workers. Haven't you got them with a smaller 

 mesh? It is of no earthly use. L. B. Lilly. 



Sabethn, Kansas, July 18, 188i. 



The above is the first report of dronei^ get- 

 ting^through, and it looks now as if drones 

 varied in size, as well as workers. Yes, 

 friend L., we have got zinc with a smaller 

 perforation, but yon will notice by our back 

 numbers that a good many complain that 

 tljis doesn't let the workers thropgh, >Vp 



can furnish drone-guards made of zinc hav- 

 ing the smaller perforations, just as well ; 

 ami although there is bnt a hair's breadth 

 difference in the width of the perforations, it 

 looks as if we should need a size just be- 

 tween the two. 



ANTS, SULPHUR, CHICKEN CHOLERA, ETC. 



Tell Mr. Brooks to sprinkle flour of sulphur where 

 the ants arc troublesome; that will drive them 

 away. If you have any doubt about it, try it your- 

 self. Now I have given you a cure for ants, I hope 

 some one will give a cure for chicken cholera, if 

 there is any cure for it. George Fausnight. 



Middle Branch, Ohio, July 18, 1884. 



No doubt, friend F., the sulphur will an- 

 swer in your house, or with your ants ; but 

 I confess, the number of remedies brought 

 forward begins to make me a little skeptical. 

 —Some time ago the juveniles took np the 

 subject of chicken cholera ; but there were 

 so many remedies, and many notions (if you 

 will excuse me for saying so) that 1 began to 

 think the remedies" were mostly guesses. 

 The ^\■hole matter seems to be in some re- 

 spects like the remedies for bee-stings. The 

 trouble rights itself, usually, sooner or later, 

 any way f and when the remedy is tried it. 

 gets tlie credit, whether it had any effect in 

 the matter or not. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM THE BLUE RIDGE. 



I wish to give you a partial report of this season's 

 work in my apiary of 45 colonies of bees. Up to 

 date I have extracted four barrels of honey; two of 

 the barrels hold 4.5 gallons apiece; have taken sev- 

 eral hundred pounds of comb honey. 



SOURWOOD honey. 



My bees are now bringing in the sourwood honey, 

 which is the most delicious honey to be found in 

 this or any other country. I wish some liv^e bee- 

 keeper would move into the old Tarheel State — I 

 mean North Carolina, with about 100 stands of Ital- 

 ians, and let them gather that snow-white sourwood 

 honey. There Is a scope of country along the base 

 of the Blue Kidge that 1 understand is lined with 

 sourwood, and the coves in the mountains with linn 

 and poplar. John Faris. 



Town House, Va., July 18, 1884. 



GETTING SURPLUS HONEY FROM QUEENLESS COL- 

 ONIES. 



Last year we bought of you one tested queen and 

 two of your dollar queens, all three Italians. We 

 were well satisfied with them. The dollar queens 

 were both pure, and far surpassed their royal tested 

 sister. Of the former, one is quite superior — so 

 much so that I am raising queens only from her. 

 For this purpose I removed her in due time to a 

 separate hive, performing the transfer toward 

 nightfall, that the uneasiness among her loyal sub- 

 jects, incident on her departure, might be relieved 

 by sweet slumber. The bereaved colony, therefore, 

 alter the hours of repose, did not deem it necessary 

 to indulge in much mourning; being very strong 

 and business like, moreover, as American-born folks 

 are apt to be, they began queen-cells immediately, 

 are as active as may be desired, and bring in sur- 

 plus honey as rapidly as any of their neighbors. 

 Although quecnless, they are not without brood in 

 all stages, as I keep them constantly replenished 

 Avith eggs. After tljc removal of the queen, I fear-. 



