600 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



STRAMONIUM AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



There is a lot of Jamestown weed, or stramonium, 

 growing- here, and the bees are working- on it all the 

 time. If you pull out one of the blossoms, and suck 

 on it, you can get quite a drop of sweet; but if you 

 take too much it will make you feel sick. Do you 

 think it is good for the bees? M. Bryant. 



. Holton, Kan., Aug. 2, 18?4. 



We have had several reports in regard to 

 this, and we had some seed sown in our 

 flower-garden, which is now up nicely, and 

 the plants are about three inches high. 

 If honey enough can be sucked from the 

 flower to make one sick, it certainly has the 

 merit of furnishing it in a quantity larger 

 than any thing I remember to have seen re- 

 ported so far. 



WORKEU-BEES FROM WHAT IS APPARENTLY DRONE- 

 BROOD. 



There is a queen in my apiary that does not be- 

 long- to me. That queen is two years old in August. 

 She came out with a swarm the first day of July. 

 In four or five days I looked them over. Near the 

 queen-cells I found a frame of all drone - brood 

 capped over. I went to uncap them, and found 

 that they contained all workers. I showed them to 

 three or four different men, to convince them of 

 the fact. She can be found on Section 12, in the 

 township of Woodland, Barry Co., Mich. 



Michael Sweitzer. 



Friend S., I have known worker - bees 

 hatched from drone-comb many times, but 

 I have never seen worker-bees hatched from 

 cells that were capped over so as to resemble 

 drone-cells. The case you mention is, in 

 that respect, a novelty. 



LOOIC OUT FOR OVERFLOWS. 



I have one queenless colony that I just got this 

 morning-. I lost 52 colonies in June. They were 

 swept away by the flood. We had not one left to 

 start with — all Italians. The stream got too high 

 to save them in the night. It rose too fast to do 

 any thing with them. I will try to start again. 



Geo. W. Taylor. 



Lewistown, Md., July 30, 1884. 



Friend T., there is a moral to your sad 

 story, and it is this: Locate your apiary on 

 ground so high that it will be quite improb- 

 able if not impossible that the ground should 

 overflow. We have some low ground on our 

 place that is better land than our upland, 

 but I have been deterred many times from 

 putting crops on it, from the liability to 

 overflow, and I certainly should not want to 

 risk bees there. We are very sorry for your 

 bad luck. 



THIEVES IN THE APIARY. 



The honey-flow was cut short by drought; no 

 basswood honey to speak of, and now bees are 

 scarcely making a living. I am almost ready for 

 Blasted Hopes; at least I am in trouble. Some 

 thieves entered my apiary and killed one of my best 

 colonies, cut out and threw brood and honey around 

 the hives, which has started my bees to robbing. 

 We are having a good rain now, which may start 

 flowers, and give them something else to do. 



Ashley, O., July 38, 1884. Elias Cole. 



Friend C, I am sorry to hear such a re- 

 port. Years ago we used to have bee-hives 

 robbed in our vicinity, but of late it seems a 



thing of the past. Now, one who would 

 commit such a piece of folly as this must be 

 ignorant as well as bad, for who would de- 

 stroy choice queens and bees, worth ten 

 times the small amount of honey they get, 

 if they were really aware of the damage they 

 were doing? I am afraid your neighbor- 

 hood needs educating, and perhaps still 

 more, Christiauizing. Is it not so, breth- 

 ren V Where the spirit of Christ prevails, 

 and where a majority of the people attend 

 church regularly, surely such disgraceful 

 acts can not be common. I suppose it is 

 liardly possible that the person who did it 

 will see these pages, and yet 1 wish I might 

 call his attention to the fact that it is a dis- 

 grace to the whole neighborhood. 



common GARDEN SAGE AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



I want to know if garden sage produces good 

 honey, and if it is a profitable crop to raise. I have 

 a small patch, about .3 rods square now, but not 

 enough to test its honey-producing qualities ; and 

 if you can put me on the way how to cultivate, 

 cure, and prepare it for market, I shall feel much 

 obliged. I am aware this is not strictly in your line 

 of business, yet I believe the information sought 

 would be of much value to many bee-keepers as 

 well as myself. Joseph Mason. 



Wallace, 111., Aug. 1.5, 1884. 



Friend M.,we have had several commu- 

 nications in our old volumes in regard to 

 sage as a honey-plant, and doubtless some 

 of our gardeners who have grown sage for 

 market can give you the desired information. 



WATER FOR BEES, AND WATER IfOR PEOPLE. 



Have you or any of the ABC class had any ex- 

 perience with strong mineral Avater, for watering 

 bees? If so, does it produce any bad etfect, or is it 

 as good as any? The strongest minerals of the 

 water I have are sulphur andiron, with several other 

 minerals. The bees drink it, but they do not like it. 



Milano, Tex., Aug. 3, 1884. G. W. Beard. 



Friend 13.. I do not think it would make 

 much if any difference what the water was, 

 providing it did not disagree with the bees. 

 If they like rain water better than the spring 

 and well water, I should by all means en- 

 deavor to furnish it to them. Within the 

 past few weeks I have demonstrated pretty 

 conclusively by careful experiment, that 

 soft water, from a nice cistern, the water 

 being caught on a slate roof, is much better 

 for myself than the hard water we get from 

 our wells here in the clay soil of Medina 

 County. I believe physicians usually tell us 

 that hard water is not olMcclionable ; and 

 although I have used it for years, I am sat- 

 isfled that it was doing me harm. Now. if 

 vou give the bees pure soft water, you cer- 

 tainly can not liave' any thing mucli lietter. 

 unless they are sick, and need medicine; 

 but even i'f tliey were, I sliould prefer the 

 soft water. I believe. I know many people 

 think they exi)erience great lelief in visiting 

 mineral springs; but my impression is, it is 

 the change of scene, and outdoor air. more 

 than the water they drink. I should have 

 pure soft water for myself and bees too, if I 

 were vou. and I would not mind much, 

 either,' what it costs to get it, within the 

 bounds of reason, 



