801 



(iLEAxXlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



had not swarmed, and they desired drones; after 

 they had swarmed they did not care for drones, 

 consequently they built no drone-comb. When the 

 youn}< queens beg-an laying in the old colony, they 

 shunned the frames of drone-comb, even if they 

 iwre in the center of the hive. 



Of course, my experience has not demonstrated 

 that, in some seasons and localities, and under some 

 circumstances, fdn. may not be profitably used in 

 the brood-nest; but it does show conclusively that I 

 used it last season at a loss. I shall not be satisfied, 

 however, until I have experimented at least another 

 season. AV. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersvillc, Mich., Xov. 10, 1884. 



Thanks for the result of your experiments, 

 friend H. ; but while they conclusively dem- 

 onstrate that fdn. in the brood-apartment 

 was of no value as you managed, I do not 

 tiiink it conclusive that we do not want fdn. 

 in the brood-apartment even where we are 

 raising comb honey. Colonies with sheets 

 of fdn. and with empty frames have been 

 tested side by side for years, and in thou- 

 sands of apiaries. When the matter first 

 came up, such experiments were made daily, 

 and the results were, almost without exce[> 

 tion, in favor of the fdn. But, of course, 

 we almost all of us use the extractor to take 

 out the honey when it is in the way. — In re- 

 gard to giving swarms empty combs, I once 

 paid what my friends thought a pretty large 

 sum of money for a swarm of bees "iust as 

 the basswood season was closing. I filled 

 the hive with empty combs, above and be- 

 low, and in two days the honey I extracted 

 paid for my bees. Could T have got my mon- 

 ey back in two days, if the colony had been 

 obliged to build iieAv combs V It seems to 

 me, that instead of deciding we do not need 

 fdn. or empty combs, we ought to decide 

 that tlie method of management was not 

 (|uite the thing. 



One thing more, friend II. Y(^.ur experi- 

 ments were all made with the Ileddon ar- 

 rangement, if I am correct, witli a honey- 

 board and two bee-spaces between the brood- 

 frames and section boxes. When I gave the 

 advice I did about not letting the bees into 

 the sections the first day the swarm was 

 hived, I did not contemplate the above ar- 

 rangement. 



FRIEND LINDLEY'S VISIT TO THE 

 CHICAGO CONVENTION. 



ALSO THE WAY FRIEND L. BUILDS UP A HOME 

 MARKET FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



fOR the first time in my life I had the privilege 

 of attending the bee convention at Chicago. 

 It was quite a treat to meet with a lot of bee- 

 friends— those whom I had been reading 

 about for so long. AVcll, I got on to the train 

 a great while before day; and as we went sailing 

 along I was wondering whom I should see at the 

 convention. As I took my seat I did not see any 

 one whom I knew, but I felt as if I had fallen in 

 with a lot of jolly fellows. I had the pleasure of 

 seeing Prof. Cook, friends Newman, Hutchinson, 

 and C. C. Miller, and a lot of other great and good 

 bee-keepers. Friend Heddon was there. He had 

 quite a lot to say in the convention, and right to the 

 point on sonic tlijngs, but 1 do not think lie ;e quite 



right about artificial honey being no detriment to 

 the sale of pure honey. 



For the last two years I have been going around 

 to private parties selling honey, and one of the 

 worst difficulties I had to contend with was, " Is it 

 pure honey?" etc.; but I went right ahead selling 

 the honey, but I do not think I shall ever be able to 

 raise all the honey I can sell at from 8 to 1.5 cts. per 

 lb. This fall the grocerymen are glad to get my 

 honey to sell. One told me the other day he had 

 no trouble to sell my honey; but if he told them he 

 bought it in Chicago they would say at once that it 

 was adulterated honeJ^ Yes, I am building up 

 (luite a trade in honey, sending 203 or .300 miles for 

 honey. I have this to saj': If you want to build up 

 a trade, first go from house to house, and give the 

 folks a talk on honey; and, more than that, let your 

 honey be nice and good; and if they talk slighting- 

 ly of the honey at first, explain to tbem in a pleas- 

 ant manner about it, and I think you will soon build 

 up a good trade, so you can sell all the honey you 

 can raise, at a good price; but if you want to sell 

 your honey by the barrel, take all the pains you 

 can to furnish good ripe honey, and wax the bar- 

 rels, so if honey is taken out with a paddle it will 

 not be full of black specks from the sides of the 

 barrel, and, more than that, I have taken the heads 

 out of barrels of honey, and would have to skim off 

 a lot of trash— dead bees, etc. Please keep your 

 honey nice, friends, if you want to sell it to me. 



Georgetown, 111. J. R. Lindley. 



THE FIBROUS MATERIAL FOR CAP- 

 PING BROOD. 



Where do They Get it? 



ALSO SOMETHING IN REGARD TO POLLEN P.iCK. 

 ING, AND HOW IT IS DONE. 



0N page "46, Nov. Gleanings, Mr. C. F. Uhl 

 asks what bees get to cap bi'ood with, and the 

 editor asks, " Who can tell us where it comes 

 from?" Some two or three years ago this 

 subject was written upon a little, and some 

 called the bees crazy when they were " raking hay " 

 on their aligliting-board; but I suggested that there 

 was "method in their madness," as I believed they 

 wei-e scraping up a fibrous material, to be used in 

 capping brood. Now I can throw a little more light 

 on the subject. 



When I first began bee-keeping I made several 

 quilts to cover them, and stuffed them with cotton 

 batting. This last summer I used one of those 

 quilts to cover a nucleus, by putting one end over 

 the frames, and letting the other hang down over 

 the side of the comb. After having been there 

 some time I found it stuck quite fast to the comb, 

 and found the cotton completely woven in with the 

 cappings of the brood, the outside lining having 

 been previously eaten away; and on lifting out the 

 comb I found considerable of the cotton had been 

 carried around on the inside, and also some taken 

 to the next comb, and also woven in with the cap- 

 pings. There was so much cotton used that it was 

 very plain to be seen; so this settles the matter, in 

 my mind, that the bees do use a fibrous or lint sub- 

 stance in their brood-cappings, and I am convinced 

 that they get it from whatever source they can 

 best, and that they get ft large supply from wood 

 surfaces. 



