1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



597 



bees to come in and carry it away. If they 

 get out of stores they will be pretty apt to 

 swarm out. Perhaps heavy feeding will 

 eventually fetch them straight. Bees sel- 

 dom kill their own queen unless they are de- 

 moralized by starvation. At such a time, 

 giving them" a little honey, or only so much 

 as they can load up and carry off, does not 

 help the matter. Make them store it in their 

 combs. 



STOPPING blood; a hint to those rSING BUZZ- 

 SAWS, AND OTHERS. 



Gleanings is at hand this morning-; and as I am 

 sending to you for a queen, I may as well say to 

 A. n. Osbun, page 553, that when a person is bleed- 

 ing from a wound in a limb, a loose bandage (such 

 as a handkerchief) should be tied above the wound. 

 A piece of stick being then introduced under the 

 bandage, it should be twisted sufficiently tight to 

 control the flow of blood. The veins will soon be- 

 come occluded, or stopped up, by a plug of coagu- 

 lated blood ; but if any of the larger arteries are 

 severed, the ends have to be picked up by forceps, 

 and tied with silk, etc., which could hardly be done 

 by an amateur; and if the blood-vessels severed 

 were large, a medical man only could deal with 

 them properly. But the prompt application of such 

 a bandage as I have mentioned can be done by al- 

 most any one, and has saved many a life. 



Henry H. Reeve, M. D. 



Churchill Ont., Can., Aug. 19, 1884. 



A STRAIN OF FIGHTING BEES WANTED. 



I commenced the season with 25 Italian and hy- 

 brid colonies in cottage hives, and transferi-ed them 

 to L. frames, and inci-eased to .50, and have taken 

 1.500 lbs. extracted honey, without the use of any 

 comb foundation. After the bees were transferred 

 they averaged 5^^^ combs to the hive. Is there any 

 way to make bees flght? My bees are the worst 

 thieves I ever saw, and none of them will flght. I 

 have tried everj' thing I can hear of or find 

 out from any of the bee-books. This is my sixth 

 year with bees, but I have had more trouble last 

 week than I ever had all together before. 



Marion, Ind. B. T. Baldwin. 



Friend B.. the best way to make bees fight 

 that I know of is to get a little Italian blood 

 infused into them. You need not have to 

 wait very long if the case is urgent, for a few 

 young Italians shaken into the hive at night- 

 fall will act as sentinels, and protect effectu- 

 ally any hive that bothers in the way you 

 mention. The Syrians and Cyprians are 

 even more vehement, if any thing, than Ital- 

 ians ; but there is not much chance for a 

 robber with any of these three races of bees. 

 Even a slight mixture seems to answer the 

 purpose. I notice you mention having Ital- 

 ians and hybrids. Now, if there is unsealed 

 brood in the hive, it seems to me they must 

 protect their stores unless they have got into 

 a worse state than any I ever saw. A colony 

 without queen or brood will very often pay 

 but little attention to robbers. 



REPORT FRO.M WE.ST VIRGINIA. 



We have a poor honey season here now. We had 

 a large apple-bloom last spring, but the weather was 

 cool and rainy. The bees could not be out, so they 

 did not get very much honey to start brood-i-earing 

 as early as they should have done. Bees starved 



here in May. We had a good poplar-bloom. The 

 bees did well while it lasted. White clover did not 

 last long ; the dry weather set in, and dried it up. 

 We have had a long drought here. Bees are gath- 

 ering no honey, only a little pollen. Some people 

 say their bees are eating up what honey they have. 

 They will have to feed this fall. We had much of 

 honey-dew here, but I never saw a bee on it all sum- ' 

 mer. Perhaps thej' worked on it somewhere else. 

 The bees did not swarm much; and what did swarm, 

 some of them took the " skedadels " and went to the 

 woods, or somewhere else. There have been sev- 

 eral bee-trees found here in the woods, some of them 

 pretty rich in honey. 



I started last fall with 19 stands; wintered 18; 

 divided 8 stands this summer; one natural swarm. 

 Took out 4.38 lbs. of honey; sold for 18 to 30 cts. per 

 lb. I think they all have plenty to winter on, ex- 

 cept four stands; I may have to feed some. I have 

 sold $137 worth of bees, honey, and gums, this sum- 

 mer, out of my apiary. I have my bees in chaff 

 hives. W. B. Zinn. 



Holbrook, W. Va., July 38, 1884. 



A YOUNG DRONE-LAYING QUEEN AFTERWARD 

 TURNING OUT ALL RIGHT. 



Inclosed find $1.00 to pay for a queen sent to re- 

 place a drone-layer. Instead of pinching the di'one- 

 layer's head I kept her, and she turned out all right 

 after laying drone-eggs for two or thi-ee weeks. 



A. W. Smith. 



Shelton, Buffalo Co., Neb., Aug. 5, 1884. 



Many thanks to you, friend S., not only for 

 remembering us, but also for the very valu- 

 able fact you furnish. I was aware that 

 young queens sometimes lay a few drone- 

 eggs to start with, but I do not remember 

 before that one that has laid drone-eggs after 

 she had been shipped, turned about and final- 

 ly laid worker-eggs. Now, in view of the 

 above, friends, let us not be too hasty in kill- 

 ing a queen, even if her first eggs do pro- 

 duce drones; and especially would I be care- 

 ful if the eggs were laid regularly. A drone- 

 laying queen seldom lays lier eggs with the 

 regularity that a fertile queen does. 



QUEENS THAT WON'T LAY WHEN FIRST INTRO- 

 DUCED, AND HOW TO MAKE THEM LAY. 



Your postal is at hand, offering to replace queen, 

 if not laying. I was not aware that you would re- 

 place a "dollar" queen for any reason, except 

 death on the road, and was therefore as much 

 pleased as surprised by your generous offer. How- 

 ever, I am glad to be able to say that feeding had 

 the desired effect, and that both queens are now 

 laying satisfactorily. H. H. Reeve, M. D. 



Churchill, Out.. Can., Aug. 14, 1884. 



Friend E., I never feel right to take mon- 

 ey for any thing when tlie article never does 

 the purchaser any good, and tlnough no fault 

 in any way of his own; therefore it lias been 

 our custom to replace queens; no matter 

 what the price, that do not lay when prop- 

 erly introduced. In the fall of the year, I 

 am well aware, many queens will not lay un- 

 less the honey is coming briskly. At such 

 times a little "feed every evening will start 

 them, as transpired in the above case. 

 When this does not have the de.sired effect, 

 sometimes they will commence laying by 

 simply giving the (H»lony a frame containing 

 some eggs, and a little imsealed brood. As 



