1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5a5 



piece of wood. Ten holes, about the size of 

 an ordinary darning - needle, are pricked 

 through from these side grooves into this 

 end hole. The spur of the bit makes anoth- 

 er hole. Fearing this might not be quite 

 enough, friend B. takes anotlier precaution. 

 You will observe two smaller-sized lioles 

 near the center of tlie box. ^Vell, these 

 smaller holes are connected willi a hole aliout 

 as large as a gimlet would make, shown part- 

 ly at (me end of the block. This also comes 

 out where the block is grooved or cut in. 

 Five small holes are made through into this 

 gimlet-hole, so these ventilating-vestiliulcs at 

 each end of the block are both ventilated 

 from two sides in such a way that the venti- 

 lating-holes can not well get stopped up. A 

 cover of wood, about i inch thick, is tacked 

 over the hole when comi^leted. I do not 

 know how friend B. gets in his queen and 

 bees, unless he lays the wooden cover on the 

 block so as to partly close the holes, and 

 then puts in the Ijees and queen one by one, 

 after which lie slides the cover on and fastens 

 it with wire nails. 



The questicm may be asked, why we should 

 not adopt this in place of the cage we use for 

 shipping queens. It is not suitable for in- 

 troducing (lueens, as is the Peet cage. Al- 

 though some failures are reported with the 

 Peet cage, I believe the number is less with 

 this manner of introducing, by far, than with 

 any other cage we have ever used. 



QUEENS SENT BY MAII-, ALt. THE WAY FIfOM MU- 

 NICH, OEIIMANY. 



I received, on the 2od of July last, two Italian 

 queens by mail from Frank Benton. They were 

 mailed June 30, and were 24 days in the mail. One 

 was from Lombardy, and the other from Bergamo, 

 Italy. Frank Benton wrote me on the same date by 

 postal card, stating- that he had mailed the queens, 

 and that he had put a dozen young- worker bees in 

 each cage. When they arrived I took the cages into 

 a close room and opened them. Both queens came 

 out immediately, and flew around the i-oom. The 

 Bergamo queen was especially strong, flying all 

 around the room without any sign of weariness, 

 alighting on the window, where I captured her. The 

 other one fell to the floor, but arose and alighted on 

 the window. The Bergamo queen is dark, but has 

 the largest and strongest wings I have ever seen 

 on a queen. I introduced her into a strong colony 

 of Italians in twelve hours, when she began to lay 

 immediately. She is rather dark on her back, but 

 the under side of her abdomen is of beautiful yellow. 

 I hope that her brood will have wings strong enough 

 to breast our prairie winds. I shall know in a few 

 days what her queen brood will be like. 



The Lombardy queen is a very line one also; l)oth 

 appear, so far, to be veiy prolific. 



In one of the cages, liut four of the bees were 

 dead, while in the other one but four were living. 

 The food consisted of Good candJ^ There was no 

 water at all. The food was in a one-inch hole U in. 

 deep. I send you the cage. It is a neat little piece 

 of mechanism. Friend Benton has demonstrated 

 that queens may be sent by mail long distances at 

 very little expense. 



The postage on the two queens was one mark 1 

 pfenning, or about Sf^.i cents of our money. The 

 bee-keepers everywhere certainly owe friend Ben- 



ton a debt of gratitude for his eftorts to discover 

 new races of bees in the East, as well as his discov- 

 eries and inventions in shipping bees all over the 

 world. His name in after years will certainly stand 

 alongside of Hubert, Langstroth, or any others who 

 have made the study of the honey-bee the business 

 of their lives. 



He speaks about the season in Europe this year, 

 much as we have had in this country— cool and wet, 

 with a very poor crop of honey. 



Wii.MAM Little. 



Marissa, 111., Aug. C, 1884. 



WIRED FRAMES. 



HOW TO FASTEN THE FOUNDATION TO THE WIRES. 



ITp FTER the illustration given recently of 

 ^ri, the Easterday foundation-fastener (or, 



Pj[ rather, our modification of it), a good 

 -*^^ many are inquiring how it is to be 

 used. The engraving illustrates it: 



IMBEDDINO AVIKES BY MEANS OF THE EASTERDAY 

 roUNDATION-FASTENER. 



The implement is made of such a size, 

 that, rocking it from the first tootli on one 

 side to the last tooth on tlie other side, goes 

 across tlie frame from the top-bar to the 

 bottom-bar. In the illustration the artist 

 has shown it on one of the diagonal wires. 

 To iml)ed these, of course it has to be set 

 down twice. The implement pleases us the 

 best of the many devices offered. 



THE SEASON IN" IOWA. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT THE AMERICAN BEE. 



RIEND ROOT:-We have had a long drought, 

 and no honey for bees to gather. Beginners 

 have been badly discouraged, though the sea- 

 son opi'iud lumously in the spring, and our 

 bees got a good stai-t on the fruit-bloom, fol- 

 lowed by a few days of wonderful activity in gath- 

 ering " bug juice," enough of which was secured to 

 carry early and old swarms through the season of 

 famine in good shape. 



Within a few days we have had and are now hav- 

 ing an abundance of rain; and when the weather 

 will permit, the little fellows are just booming. At 

 such times, could you hear the roar from my api- 

 ary you would think you were near a railroad, and 

 a train wei-e passing. 



Apiculture, except upon the old brimstone plan, 

 is quite a new industry in this section, but prospects 

 are quite encouraging. Our season for honey- 

 gathering is in August and September, and I think 

 the honey comes largely from the hearfs-ease, 

 though flgwort, spider-plant, and many others yield- 

 ing honey grow wild or \olunteer, and white clover 



