1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



633 



Ah ! how it humped its little back ! 



I thought T heard it fairly crack, 



And saw its little face grow black 

 As aged comb; 



That bee was no untutored quack- 

 It "sent it home." 



You should have seen me paw the air 

 And drop my tools, and claw my hair. 

 And through the currant-bushes tear 



With steps not short; 

 And rub my well-punched nose, and swear 



And sneeze and snort! 



Enough. This is no joking sham. 

 But true as your name isn't Sam; 

 I've told you why I'm where 1 am, 



And not at ease. 

 My nose is bigger than a ham— 



Away with bees 1 



-F. F. MuiTinj. 



downward. Bend the point into an eye, like 

 the eye of a needle, only larger, and then 

 drive a small blind-staple so that one leg goes 

 through this eye. The pin will now swing 

 easily, but can not get out of place so as to 

 get stuck, even if the box is tipped over. 

 The best proof of the working of the ma- 

 chine is, that it actually did the work. And 

 i now, friend George, if our other friends suc- 

 ceed in making it catch all tlie drones in one 

 day, we shall owe you a vote of thanks.— I 

 am glad tliat you are posted in regard to the 

 historical events connected witli your home. 



ANOTHER DRONE-TRAP. 



dp:scribed by one of our juveniles only 11 

 years old. 



fATHER has 10 stands of black bees he bought 

 this spring; he is transferring them into Sim- 

 plicity and Langstroth hives as fast as he gets 

 Italian queens to Italianize them, and when- 

 ever he thinks they have sealed their honey j 

 so that they pay for the outlay at the same time. ! 

 One hive in particular had so many drones in it j 

 that father made a trap to catch them; it is a small 

 box with glass in the place of the lid, 3 or 4 holes 

 bored in the box close to the bottom near one end 1 

 (each hole large enough to admit a drone); a pin j 

 bent like a U is driven in ou the under side of each 1 

 hole inside of the box; another large-sized pin is | 

 driven in to hang over the center of the hole with j 

 the point through the U at the bottom, but clear of 

 the bottom. The drones pass through the holes 

 made for them; the pin moves in with them as far 

 as the U allows it, and the pin prevents them from 

 going back again. There is a strip cut out on the 

 opposite side of the trap for workers that may come 

 in to pass out. This trap is placed on half of the 

 entrance to the hive; the other half is closed with a 

 slat, so that workers only can pass under it. Father 

 puts this trap on early in the morning. It will catch 

 all the drones in one day. 



I live at Point Lookout, where General Hooker 

 fought the "Battle above the Clouds." I have 3 

 brothers and one sister. George Lawson. 



Lookout Mountain, Tenn. 



Our friends will please bear in mind, that, 

 in the drone-trap described by our friend 

 George, the drones are permitted to go into 

 the trap through holes over which a common 

 brass pin is hung, so as to act like a valve. 

 AVhen the drone pushes his head against the 

 pin it moves it out of the way so as to let him 

 pass ; but after he has passed it hangs 

 straight down across the opening. The bent 

 pin which our friend likens to a letter U is 

 more properly like a blind-staple. This is 

 driven over the lower end of the pin, and the 

 opening is long enough to allow the pin to 

 slip down far enough to let the drone pass ; 

 then when it drops down vertically of its 

 own accord it is prevented from beiug push- 

 ed from one side to the other by this same 

 blind-staple. The only difficulty in the mat- 

 ter seems to be to get the pin hung so it will 

 swing freely, and not drop out. It seems to 

 me the realliest way of accomplishing this 

 would be to liang the large-sized pin head 



FROM THE LAND OF THE ORANGE- 

 GROVES. 



MRS. E. L. FROSCHER WRITES TO THE -lUVKNILES. 



HAVE never written you a letter, so I thought 

 I would try to-day. Our bees are working nice- 

 ly. We extracted 100 gallons last week of the 

 nicest honey I ever saw, and the best tasted. 

 It was gathered from the cabbage-palmetto 

 tree. I suppose there are many of you who never 

 saw a cabbage-palmetto tree. It has in the top a 

 cabbage that is good to eat, either cooked or raw, 

 and they make splendid pickles. The leaves are 

 good to braid, and make hats of, ard we cover our 

 bees for shade with them, so it is a useful tree. I 

 presume we shall extract as much more honey this 

 week of the same kind. 



I think the Cyprians the best honeygatherers as 

 well as the best stingers. We use plenty of smoke 

 when we go to them. I notice when honey is scarce, 

 the bees work ou scattering flowers. Among them 

 are what we call "fly-catchers," a very sticky or 

 gummy flower; if the bees alight on it they stick. 

 They soon find It out, so they fly around the 

 flowers and stick their tongues out. I will send you 

 a piece in this, though it has been in press a good 

 while. It is a wild flower. 



The bees work well on the crape myrtle. There 

 are three kinds -^ the pink, crimson, and white. I 

 have the pink and crimson, but the white is more 

 common north. If any one wishes the pink and 

 crimson (or purple), and will send me the white, I 

 will send in return the kind I have, or any other 

 flowers or bulbs, though I have not a great variety. 

 I know our orange-trees would look nice to many 

 of you. We have more oranges this year than we 

 have ever had before, though I miss the apples, 

 peaches, etc. But some friends north send us such 

 fruits, either dried, fresh, or canned, and we send 

 oranges in return, which is very pleasant to both 

 sides. 



I like to read the letters from so many little girls 

 and boys, and a good deal of useful information can 

 be learned through them. Elbert is writing a let- 

 ter. Last winter, while we were making founda- 

 tion, Elbert suggested that we try the white of an 

 egg to keep the sheets from sticking to the rollers. 

 We did try, and found it was the very thing we 

 needed. We had no more trouble. I thought it 

 was a pretty good suggestion for a boy ten years 

 old, and I found it much nicer making foundation 

 than using starch. I used a little cold water with 

 the egg, after we got started. Did any of you ever 

 try running honey from a barrel with a siphon? 

 We use one. It is slow but convenient. 



Mrs. L. E. Froscheu. 

 La Grange, Brevard Co., Fia., Aug. 1, 1884. 



