604 



GLEANIKGS IK BEE CULTUEE. 



Sept. 



periment, and as the above case conld not be 

 guided (or, at least, not very much) by the 

 known property of these articles, it would 

 take a vast deal of exiierinienting to lind even 

 one that is an antidote for the disease. Then 

 to tind out a conibiuation of two of these, 

 needs vastly more experimenting, and these 

 two remedies seem to bear so little relation 

 to each other that I can not see how it ever 

 came to be found out. Now, is it not possi- 

 ble that turpentine alone would have done 

 the work just as well y You see, I am a lit- 

 tle incredulous in regard to the virtues of 

 medicines made up of such combinations. I 

 have seen a very strong solution of potash 

 give relief in the way you mention. This 

 strong potash may be readily obtained any 

 time by dropping saleratus into vinegar, us- 

 ing the preparation as hot as the flesh will 

 bear it. A quick, painless remedy for a fel- 

 on is indeed a great boon to suffering hu- 

 manity. 



A HONEY-FOG INSTEAD OP A HONEY-DEW. 



Having seen so much in Gleanings about honey- 

 dew, and its being caused by insects on the leaves, 

 etc., on the night of the 35th of Aug., 1884, we had a 

 very heavy fog; and after it cleai-ed away the bees 

 were seen gathering the honey-dew off from trees, 

 grass, and also from pine boards that lay out and 

 had been planed smooth. They were apparently 

 crazy after it. A. W. Spracklen. 



Cowden, 111., Aug. 26, 18S4. 



Friend S., the fog you mention moistened 

 the honey on the leaves of the trees, as I have 

 described in another column, and this set 

 the bees at work. The honey-dew you speak 

 of on the grass and leaves dripped from the 

 trees. The planed lioard you sjx'ak of must 

 be in some place where it dripiJcd from the 

 trees, or spattered on it, 1 tliink. By going 

 out entirely away from the trees or other 

 obstacles, and catching the fog on a clean 

 plate, I think you could satisfy yourself that 

 the fog itself was not sweet. However, if 

 it is really a fact that we do have honey-fogs, 

 we should be quite glad to know it. 



ZINC honey-boards (see p. 531.) 

 The zinc perforated honey-board that I reported in 

 your last issue as a success, arc the ones represent- 

 ed by the perforated cut on page 23 of your illus- 

 trated catalogue, Feb. 1, 1883. You will know wheth- 

 er it contains the large or small perforations. 

 A queen stings a drone. 



1 intended to put some drones in an introducing- 

 cage with an unfertilized queen, and introduce 

 them all together. The queen bounced the first 

 drone that went in, and stung it. It soon died. I 

 did not put any more in the cage with her. 

 tinning enameled cloth. 



If our enameled cloth, used over the frames, were 

 tinned on the sides instead of the ends, I could use 

 them to better advantage. It would obviate the ne- 

 cessity of taking the cloth off every time a frame is 

 examined. With the side-tinned cloth, we could 

 roll them back as far as needed, and leave the re- 

 maining frames undisturbed. How about that, my 

 friend? W. E. H. Searcy. 



Griffln, Ga., Aug. 6, 188i. 



This perforated zinc mentioned is the 

 Jones.— -I believe that queens will at times 



sting workers, drones, or even the hand that 

 holds them ; but all these cases are excep- 

 tions and not the rule.— We used to make en- 

 ameled slieets with tin bars on the sides in- 

 stead of on the ends; but the objection (and, 

 in fact, the objection to removing any mat 

 by peeling it up at the side instead of the 

 end) is, that you move the frames all out 

 of place as you draw it up ; whereas if you 

 peel it up lengthwise of tlie frames, none are 

 disturbed. Of course, this is a great objec- 

 tion where metal-cornered frames are used ; 

 but any sovt of a frame, when the hive is 

 new, is pretty sure to be misplaced if the 

 mat is pulled up tirst at the side. 



poison oak, again. 



I hereby give a short description of the poison oak, 

 mentioned in August Gleanings, 1884, p. 528. The 

 plant referred to is a vine and not a tree. It is 

 known here, and understood, generally speaking, 

 as poison oak. It grows sparingly on uplands and 

 hillsides, but abundantly in creek bottoms and low 

 lands, and often climbs to the top of the tallest trees ; 

 flowers about three months in the year; the flowers 

 are small, and greenish in color. When the flowers 

 disappear, a small greenish beny appears; and 

 when grown it is about the size of a buck-shot, and 

 they get black when ripe; and when the vine is 

 handled by persons unacquainted with it, or care- 

 lessly, it often produces swelling of the flesh. Its 

 poisonous effects are not A^ery dangerous. It yields 

 both pollen and honey. I know nothing of the 

 quality and quantity of honey it produces. The 

 bees sometimes visit it in groat numbers. I have 

 never got any poison honey from my hives. 



There are several varieties of poison-oak vine. 

 This which grows here is only a common variety, 

 and is much milder in its poisonous eftects than the 

 general poison-oak vine. G. W. Beard. 



Milano, Texas, Aug. 9, 1884. 



FERTILIZATION OF QUEEN - CELLS. 



B. F. lee's discovery BIDS FAIR TO BECOME A 

 B'lXED FACT, AFTER ALL. 



W^ S you may suppose, we waited anxiously 

 ^It!, for reports after having published the 



jN? process in question. But until this 

 -»^ ^ week, every who one reported , reported 

 a failure. "Yesterday I was very agi-ee- 

 ably surprised to hear Mr. Calvert, who has 

 charge of a piirt of our apiaries, say that one 

 of our visitors reported having succeeded. 

 To have the matter more direct, I have ask- 

 ed him to make a statement of tlie facts 

 communicated to him, Avhich tlie friends 

 will lind below: 



FEHTILIZATION OF QUEEN-CELLS. 



A few days ago J. C. Phillips, from West Chester, 

 Butler Co., O., was up to see two of his boys who ai-e 

 working in the "Home of the Honey-Bccs." While 

 I was showing him through the apiarj- he spoke of 

 " doctoring " some queen-cells. My mind went back 

 to B. F. Leo's article in May Gleanings, p. 2%, which 

 I had disregarded as absurd, and I began to question 

 him. To my surprise he had actually followed out 

 the directions of B. F. Lee, and has three queens 

 which laid eggs inside of 3 days from the time they 



