102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



TOMATOES AT 31 CTS, A BUSHKL. 



On psifre 49 of Gleanings lor Jan. I.t you seem to 

 be very much surprised to learn that tomatoes* 

 sold for 130 ct.s. per bushel. There is a larjie can- 

 ning-factory here, which obtained all the tomatoes 

 it cared for at #7.00 per ton, which is at the rate of 

 31 cts. per bushel, delivered, and I believe it was 

 thought to be a paying crop at the above price, and 

 they were surely fine tomatoes. 



C. C. MlLf.EU, ,1r. 



Marengo, McHenrj- Co., 111., Jan. 30, 1888. 



Many thanks, my yoimg friend, for the 

 facts you furnish. If this be true, then we 

 have the greater reason to congratulate our- 

 selves on having a locality where real nice 

 tomatoes will bring two dollars a bushel. 

 It was not only right around Medina, liow- 

 ever, that tomatoes commanded so high a 

 price last year, for the Cleveland quotations 

 were not less than a dollar at wholesale for 

 really llrst-class tomatoes at any time. I 

 think, however, the large price we received 

 was owing a good deal to those very large 

 Mikado tomatoes. Our experience is, that 

 tomatoes that weigh toward a pound apiece 

 will bring much better prices than those 

 weighing only a quarter or half a pound ; 

 and this is another argument in favor of the 

 Mikado, even though our Ohio Experiment 

 Farm did pronounce them only second class. 



ASTER HONEV CANDYING TOO QUICK TO BE SUIT- 

 ABLE FOR WINTERING. 



I hope you will give a word of caution to the 

 fi-iends who are trying to winter their bees on ai^ter 

 honey. I get on an average more surplus from 

 aster than from any other plant; but I leave as lit- 

 tle as possible of it for winter. It will granulate 

 without any jirovocation, and the bees may starve 

 to death. If extracted it will commence to turn 

 white in a week; and if sealed up in the comb, a 

 month or six weeks is long enough to make it all 

 solid, except where the cluster covers it, when it 

 may take a little longer. R. C. Whitney. 



Rahway, N. J., Dec. 30, 1887. 



AHTIFICIAI, PASTURAGE, AND HOW IT PAID ONE 

 BEE-KEEPER. 



I got one peck of Japanese and two bushels of 

 silverhull buckwheat. On account of dry weather I 

 did not sow until the 3.5th of July, which was too 

 late in this ])art. Just when it was in full bloom 

 the bees boomed on it. The'hot winds of one day just 

 about used it up. Still I had from the one peck ti 

 full bushels of nice Japanese, and only 10 bushels 

 from the 3 bushels of silverhull, although 3 acres of 

 the silverhull I did not cut. However, lam very much 

 in favor of the Japanese for this country, on ac- 

 count of dry weather. I shall sow largely of it next 

 season, and some silverhull also. My bees (17 stands) 

 up to August, or till they got the buckwheat, were 

 barely living— so much so that they did not swarm 

 much. 1 had only 4 or 5 swarms during the season. 

 Well, they just tilled those lower stories full from 

 the buckwheat, so 1 went through them this fall 

 and took from them two side frames each for mj- 

 own use; that is, from the heaviest of them, leaving 

 them still plenty to winter on. 



HOO-RAISING VERSUS BEE-KEEPlN(i ; THE LATTER 

 MORE PROFITABLE BY 3 TO 1. 



Next spring I shall, or intend to, sow an acre or 

 two in each month for the benefit of my bees. 

 I invested in the outstart about $100 in thorough- 



bred Herkshires. Now, taking into account the corn 

 and the expense it is to raise hogs, I believe 1 can 

 invest the same .Tmount in bees, and, with the same 

 trouble and expense, make the bees discount the 

 hogs two to one. I am beginning to feel, with 

 brother Miller, after we have labored hard to build 

 up a honey-farm we ought to have a certain amount 

 of exclusive territory. Perhaps I'm selfish. 

 Quenemo, Kan. J. H. Kennedy. 



CAN TWO t'ROPS OF BUCKWHEAT BE SECURED THE 

 SAME SEASON FROM THE SAME GROUND ? 



If the Japanese buckwheat be sown as early as it 

 can be on account of the frost, can it be gathered 

 in time to sow for the fall crop, or can two crops 

 be raised on the same ground the same year? 



FERTILE WORKERS. 



Can there be more than one fertile worker in the 

 hive at the same time? I will give my experience 

 after this is answered. If it is worthy, please an- 

 swer through Gleanings. S. C. Frederick. 



Arcadia, Kas. 



I think, friend F., some one has already 

 reported getting two crops of buckwheat in 

 one season ; that is, it was done on a small 

 scale. The great trouble is, the first will 

 not fill out and produce grain unless it is 

 sov/n very early, so as to avoid the extreme 

 heat of the summer while the grain is filling 

 out. — Whenever there is one fertile worker 

 there are almost always several more. 



FREQUENT DISTURBING OF BEES NOT NECESSARILY 

 FATAL. 



About 14 years ago I put a swarm of bees in a 

 dark closet, not plastered. They had no stores to 

 amount to any thing. I put some dry comb on top 

 of the frames. I made it a practice to take a teacup, 

 about half full of melted light-brown sugar, and 

 drizzle it into the comb every evening. I set my 

 lamp down close by the hive, took off the cover, 

 poured on the feed, and it was fun to see them rush 

 up and rat— not a bee flew to the light, nor at me. 

 They would act like a lot of little pigs. They win- 

 tered well. J. n. Whiton. 



Ithaca, Mich.. Jan. 19, 18S8. 



Friend W.. I have known bees fed daily 

 all winter, just tlie way you mention, with- 

 out any bad results at all ; that is, it whs 

 done successfully with a single colony ; but 

 I have, however^ known a good many to try 

 the same experiment of feeiding quite a nuiri- 

 ber of colonies while in the cellar, and a 

 general demoralization was the result. 



QUEE.N-CELL BUILDING WHEN NOT EXPECTED. 



I purchased an albino queen last June. As soon 

 as her bees began to hatch they began to build 

 queen-cells. I cut. out from one to three a week, 

 until I cut out forty, and one batched in the hive. 

 I introduced the virgin to another colony. I finally 

 sold the old queen to a neighbor, after raising all 

 the <iueens 1 wanted from the cells thus built. 

 Now, what do you suppose was the reason of their 

 acting so? The queen was the best laying queen in 

 my yard, and I have some of the finest queens and 

 bees from her I ever saw— four and five banded. 



Valley, Lewis Co., Kj-. .Iames M. Dbnham. 



Why, friend I)., that queen of yours was 

 wortli a small fortune. In our back num- 

 beis. such cases have been mentioned. You 

 had better buy her back again if you can get 



