1884 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULT HUE. 



r)4i» 



What do they want of drones at this season of the 

 year? In one hive they are killing- their drones, and 

 another are rearing- more. What is the cause of 

 such? 



I presume they have lioney in such abund- 

 ance tliat they are getting the swarmuig 

 fever, and therefore tliey l)uild drone-comb, 

 and tlie queen expects "to hi] it with drone- 

 brood. 



Are bees making- wax while elnstering- outside of 

 their hive? Do bees loaf around when there is 

 honey to be gathered, and their hi\-e is not full? 



I do not think bees are secreting wax, as a 

 general thing, when they cluster on the out- 

 side of the hive. They will sometimes loaf 

 around when honey is to be gatheied, when 

 they are thinking" of swarming, oi- when 

 their hive is full, or something of that sort. 



Have you luiy way to keep the queen from laying- 

 in certain frames? In some of my hives the queen 

 lays in every frame except on the side, next to tiw 

 side of the hive. 



We keep the queens from laying in certain 

 frames, by the use of tlie perforated zinc. 

 That is tl'ie only way I know of. 



Do the bees fill their brood-combs with honey after 

 the queen stops laying- for the winter, if they do 

 not, can one make them Jo so by feeding in the 

 fall? 



If the honey-tiow continues late, the bees 

 do sometimes till the combs after the brood 

 is hatched out. You could probably make 

 them do so by feeding, if the feeding did not | 

 catise the queen to lay more eggs and rear 

 more brood. 



How much " boot" will you take between one of 

 your old A B C's and one of your new? There are 

 no leaves gone, and soiled but very little. 



For answer to this question, see page .510. 



The sample one-piece section box did not come 

 all in one piece; it was broken in two places. But it 

 is good enough to give one an Idea of how they are 

 made. 



The single samples we send by mail often 

 get broken, friend P.; but then, "it gives you 

 an idea of liow tliey are made, just abou"t as 

 well. 



HOW TO STRAIGHTEN COMBS THAT HAVE GOT BENT 

 OITT OP SHAPE. 



Not long- ago T took an empty frame of comb from 

 a hive, and laid it on a shelf, one end of which rested 

 on a milk-cover. After putting my smoker away I 

 went to pick it up, but the sun had made it so soft 

 it would not bear its own weig-ht, so I jjut a piece of 

 paper over it until it got cool. AVhen I picked it up 

 it was kinked out of shape. So I put it in the sun 

 again, on a smooth place, and it straightened itself 

 out again, and T reijlaeed the paper, and then when 

 it was cool it was all right. This is the way T mean 

 to straighten my other crooked combs as I getthem. 

 No patent on this. I don't know how it would do if 

 it were full of honey. A. H. PmuNci, Jit. 



Clear Creek, Tnd., Aug. 4, 18S4. 



You can straighten combs in this way, 

 friend P., when they are entirely empty, as 

 we often find them "in the spring; but it is 

 apt to make the cells on one side a little 

 smaller than they were before; and if brood 

 is put in them you will have some small- 

 sized bees, as I explained a few months ago. 



HONEY FEOM KED CLOVER. 



ARE ITALIANS SUPERIOR TO THE BLACKS FOR 

 RED CLOVER? 



HAVE something to tell jou. I did something 

 to-day that I never did before (in August) in 

 mj' life. I extracted a nice lot of honey to-day. 

 and it is the tinest, clearest, and best-flavored 

 honey I have ever seen, and T have seen a 

 great deal. I have seen the noted white-sage honey 

 of California, and the beautiful honeys from Florida, 

 but I think this surpasses them all, and what do 

 you think it was gathered from? It was gathered 

 from the common red clover by my Italians. I have 

 had Italian bees only two seasons, but they are cer- 

 tainly far superior to the blacks. I do not think 

 what few blacks I have yet have gathered 20 lbs. of 

 that altogether. I want it distinctly understood, 

 that I have no queens to sell, as I have not enough 

 of pure ones for my own use. I will send you a 2- 

 pound bottle of it, if you desire to see it, which I 

 hope you will, as it is a treat just to see and taste 

 it. I do not suppose I shall have any large quantity 

 of it to sell. Our clover-flelds around here are in 

 full bloom for a crop of seed, and it is certainly nice 

 te see the bright and pretty Italians flit fro;n bloom 

 to bloom, sipping the sweet nectar, and see them, 

 when they reach home, drop on the alighting-board 

 with a thud, and march in with a joyous hum. I 

 will make way with the blacks next season, the last 

 one of them, nothing further preventing than I 

 know of at present. As a general thing-, we never 

 have any bloom for bees to gather honey from 

 in this month, except red clover; and before I had 

 the Italian, we had no bees that could reach the red 

 clover. James Craig. 



Mt. Meridian, Va., Aug. 1, 1884. 



REPORT FROM AN ABC SCHOLAR. 



and a report THAT FAVORS EXTRACTED IIONEV 

 RATHER THAN HONEY IN SECTIONS. 



J' THOUGHT I would send you a short report of 

 f my experience in the 1 ee business. I have 

 ( been trying to farm since the war. I was all 

 ■ through the war. I was a prisoner in Ander- 

 sonville and other prisons for eight mom hs or 

 more, consequently I have very poor health, and 

 can not do much farm work. I have always had an 

 interest in bees, and have kept a few in gum hives 

 for seven or eight years, and never got what we 

 could eat. I got hold of some bee-journals, and 

 read some of what I considered unreasonable re- 

 ports from bee-keepers; but still it increased my 

 interest in the bee business very nuich. So one 

 year ago last spring I paid $12.5 for 17 colonies of 

 bees, Italians and hybrids. I had four colonies of 

 blacks; increased by natural swarming to 71; lost 

 4 in wintering, and began this spring with about (iO 

 good strong colonies, and 7 weak ones. Some had 

 but very few bees, not enough to cover one comb. 

 They commenced swarming the 1.5th of May, and I 

 now have 102 colonies as the result. Last year I did 

 not exti-act; comb honey in two-pound sections, 

 but they paid for themselves. This year I have been 

 extracting from 44, until basswood began, then I 

 extracted from 47; all the rest were working in 

 sections. 



The flow from basswood was enough to drive all 

 doubts from my mind concerning those reports in 

 the journals, and my report ought to settle the mat- 

 ter in regard to which is the more profltable. 



