81G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



AN A B C SCHOLAR IN SANTO DOMINGO, W. I. 



fRIEND KOOT:-Though I haven't the honor 

 of knowing you personallj', I have, neverthe- 

 less, become acquainted with you through the 

 good services of our friend Mr. Sobotker, of 

 La Fe apiary, in this city. 1 congratulate 

 myself for it, as I am to become a bee-keeper 

 through his influence, so I beg of you to consider 

 me as a friend, and an enthusiast for bee-keeping. 



As soon as they are put up, I shall have ton Sim- 

 plicity hives to start with, just to see If I can man- 

 age them; if so, I shall get more hives, as I have a 

 farm (stock) and own 1203 acres of woods in the sur- 

 roundings of this city. 



In an article written by Mr. Sobotker in Glean- 

 ings for May 1 (to which I have subscribed), I read 

 he had been troubled with visitors. Allow me to 

 tell you that I have been one of the most trouble- 

 some, asking him always a lot of questions, and get- 

 ting information from him, to which he corresponds 

 most obligingly, and I am very thankful for It, as 

 he is, in fact, ray bee-keeping master. He got me 

 a copy of your A B C, and I think that, with the 

 book and his information, I shall get along quite 

 nicely. 



I send you with this my picture (excuse the liber- 

 ty), as a proof of admiration toward you, and so 

 that, if I some day or other give you a call, you 

 should recognize me at once. In time T shall let 

 you know either of my success or my failure. 



Alfhed F. Fellerano. 

 Santo Domingo, W. I., May 26, 1884. 



Many thanks to you, friend Alfred, for 

 your kind letter, and especially for your pho- 

 tograph. It is quite a treat to us to get 

 even a look at our friends away across the 

 water. I am glad to have you give so good 

 a report of our friend Sobotker. With 1200 

 acres of woods, you ought to have an abun- 

 dance of honey 'in your mild climate. We 

 shall be greatly pleased to get reports in re- 

 gard to the honey business of your island. 



HOME-MADE BUZZ-SAWS; SOME EXPERIENCE. 



The friend who writes the following says I 

 can put this in Heads of Grain or Reports 

 Encouraging, as I think best. Hear him : 



After seeing a number of saws, and hearing 

 the buzzing, I naturally soon had the fever, and 

 a saw and mandrel too, so I made a frame and 

 nailed two spinning - wheels together for the first 

 wheel, and attached a crank to the end of the shaft. 

 A belt runs from this on a small pulley on a second 

 shaft, with a fiy-vfheel attached, with a belt running 

 on to the mandrel. I had it only a short time when 

 I knocked it to pieces, and made another from an 

 old jack of a horse-power. I fastened a foot-power 

 crank to the end where the shaft from the horse- 

 power is fastened, and ran a belt from fly-wheel to 

 mandrel, and now I am going to make one after the 

 description of W. Z. Hutchinson's, Nov. Gleanings, 

 1883; and if my third runs as much better as the sec- 

 ond runs better than the first, 1 shall not make a 

 fourth one. Briefly,! learned this: The less gear- 

 ing, the better; have the belt as thin as possible; 

 keep the saws sharp, and well set. 



Dr. Gunu advises us to take a i-idc lirjruiugs to 



bring the muscles into action, and aid digestion. 

 The doctor was evidently not acquainted with buzz- 

 saws, or he would not need to torment a horse to 

 help him digest his meals, for he would find ample 

 exercise on the treadle of a foot-power saw, sawing 

 one-inch pine. C. Weckesser. 



Marshallville, O., Nov., 1884. 



You make a good point, friend W. 1 have 

 made sections on a foot-power saw. and saw- 

 ed thi'ui from two-inch plank too; but my 

 impressions, 1 believe, were about like your 

 own. Ilouie-made buzz saws do first rate 

 for a bee-keeper who has plenty of time and 

 muscle, and wants to economize ; but when 

 his number of colonies begins to get up into 

 the fifties, my opinion is that he will begin 

 to look over the catalogues of low-priced en- 

 gines. 



A gUEEN WHOSE EGGS WON'T HATCH. 



I send you two queens. One was hatched last 

 June, and was found, just before sending you, to be 

 a layer of drone-eggs only. From the size of the 

 colony, 1 don't believe she ever added a " worker" 

 to it. The other queen began laying about two 

 weeks before she was sent j'ou, but her eggs never 

 Jiatched. S. W. Morrison, M. D. 



Oxford, Pa., Sept. 15, 1884. 



The two queens mentioned above were 

 forwarded to Prof. Cook, who replies as 

 follows: 



The two queens sent me are not exceptional cases. 

 The one has never been fecundated— is simply an 

 unmated queen. A close inspection with the micro- 

 scope shows the spermatheca void of the sperm. 



The other queen is fecund, and apparantly perfect 

 in every way, but her eggs are at fault. Such im- 

 potency is noted in higher animals. All we know is. 

 that the ovaries are in some way defective. The 

 eggs grow in them, but are worthless, and never 

 develop. Breeders of horses and cattle are often 

 vexed with examples of the same kind. I have ex- 

 amined many such queens. A. J. Cook. 



ALSIKE clover AND SHEEP SOKHEL. 



Friend Root, is a man who counterfeits seeds any 

 better than the man who counterfeits money? I 

 sent to you some time since for a peck of alsike- 

 clover seed. You were short, and sent one pound. 

 Lucky for me that it was no more. If I had known 

 it was so adulterated, it would have gone into the 

 fire instead of the ground, for it was one-half sheep 

 soi-rel. I think you were innocent, but the man 

 who gathered the seeds knew better, and is the 

 counterfeiter. I shall have to eradicate the clover 

 to get rid of the sorrel, for I want none of it in mj- 

 land. S. P. Sowers. 



I Dunlap, Kansas, June 30, 18S4. 



I agree with you, friend S., that it is as 

 bad to counterfeit seeds as to counterfeit 

 money, (^ome to think of it, I believe it is a 

 great deal worse. We do not plant money 

 to get another crop like that which yoii 

 planted, but we do plant seeds. But I hope 

 you won't take it amiss if I suggest you 

 were mistaken about the sample. Alsike 

 clover produces seeds of different size and 

 different colors ; and when sorrel comes up 

 on ground where it was planted, it is natu- 

 ral to infer the sorrel seed was with the clo- 

 ver. This is the first complaint of tjae kind 

 we have had for i year O)- two : and I thiuk if 



