1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



175 



how to prevent swarming-. I have tried cutting out 

 queen-cells, but failed. I am working for comb 

 honey. O. 'D. Rogers. 



Solo, N. Y., Jan. 9, 1888. 



[The matter of preventing swarming is too large 

 a subject to take hold of here— better consult our 

 text-books in regard to the matter.— Cutting out 

 queen-cells is but a small part of the matter. It 

 may do some good, and, under other circumstances, 

 have no effect at all.] 



MOVING BEES IN WINTER. 



I have a few stands of bees about 120 miles from 

 here, which I wish to move to this place. They will 

 have to be transferred in wagons. Will it hurt 

 them to be moved in the winter time, during a 

 warm spell, when the roads are not too rough? 



Chas. a. Minich. 



Worthington, Tnd., Jan. 2.5, 1888. 



[Winter is an excellent time to move bees, when- 

 ever it is warm enough for the roads to be soft; 

 and there are many times when you can move them 

 very nicely on the snow; but I think I would not 

 undertake it when the weather is severely cold. 

 Some time when the snow just begins to thaw a 

 little, or, say, only a few degrees colder than freez- 

 ing, if sleighing is good they can be moved very 

 nicely.] 



WHEN AND WHERE TO SOW SWEET CLOVER. 



I should like it if you would inform me, either 

 through Gleanings or by mail, as to the proper 

 time and manner to sow sweet-clover seed, and 

 oblige— S. R. Morris. 



Bloomingburg, O., Nov. 12, 1887. 



[We have never sown more than one crop of sweet 

 clover, and that wa.s sown in drills, and cultivated. 

 We had a splendid stand, and when it was a foot 

 high farmers left the road and came over to see 

 what new forage-plant I had got hold of. At this 

 stage, cattle and horses would eat it somewhat, but 

 they did not seem to care for it very much. Wo 

 sowed it in the spring. Others report having 

 failed to get a stand in that way. even when it 

 would grow very rank and tall on the hard road- 

 sides.] 



GIVING A QUEEN TO HATCHING BROOD. 



Tf I place 2 frames of hatching brood in an empty 

 hive, and put a queen and her retinue in, just as 

 they come in a cage by mail, do you think they 

 would make a colony? Subscriber. 



Dudley, Pa., Jan., 1888. 



[Yes, sir, friend S., you will make a colony in 

 time, providing there are great numbers of bees 

 hatching every hour. This plan has been sometimes 

 adopted in order to be absolutely certain of intro- 

 ducing a very valuable queen safely; but it is a 

 wasteful way of doing, after all; for these little 

 "innocents" will have to goto nursing bees and 

 gathering pollen, probably, before they are fit to be 

 sent out of doors at all. It is like making a girl ten 

 'years old do all the housework of the family, and 

 take care of the baby besides. 1 have often worked 

 on the plan you suggest, however, and watched the 

 proceedings carefully, to see whether these soft 

 downy young bees could be crowded into going in- 

 to the fields before they would ordinarily.] 



THE JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT A GOOD HONEY-PLANT 

 AS WELL AS A HEAVY YIELDER. 



The bushel of Japanese buckwheat I got from 

 you was sown about the last of June. Only part of it 

 came upon accountof thedrought; but then it came 

 on beautifully. The rest came up after the fall rains 

 set in. and was just in bloom when the frost took it. 

 From what came up first I have thrashed 35 bush- 

 els, and this is far ahead of other kinds around here. 

 I intend to sow 18 acres of the Japanese in the 

 spring. I have 26 colonies of bees. Their stores 

 were very light, but they worked well on it, and 

 filled their hives well and are wintering well so far. 



Simcoe, Ont., Feb. 6, is88. Q. W. Culver. 



0aR QaEgJFi0N-B@?^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly- 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or Questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked, " For Our Question-Box." 



Question No. 37.— Do you think it advisabU to 

 have single-walled hive8 protected by some sort of 

 shade? If so, what sort of shade do you preferl 



Yes. A roof, and shade-trees of any kind. 



Dadant & Son. 

 Paint the hive white, and it will need no shade. 

 G. M. Doolittle. 

 No. The disadvantage exceeds the advantage. 



R. Wilkin. 

 I think a good top-chamber cover is shade enough. 



E. France. 

 1. Yes; 2. I prefer a shade-board made of half- 

 inch stuff. Dr. a. B. Mason. 



Yes. I use grapevines. Shade-boards are just as 

 good, and have some advantages. 



James A. Green. 



It is immaterial whether shaded or not, when 

 hives are painted white. Geo. Grimm. 



Yes, by a board 2X3 feet in size, laid upon the 

 hive, its north edge being even with the north side 

 of the hive. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Most certainly I do. Even if hives are painted 

 white, I should prefer a shade-board raised four or 

 six inches above the hive. A. J. Cook. 



Yes, by all means I prefer single-wall hives shad- 

 ed to any double-wall hives, for summer use. I use 

 and prefer a 2x 3-foot shade-board. 



James Heddon. 



In this climate I find that the partial shade of 

 trees is the best. Bees don't seem to do as well 

 if in the full sunshine, nor if too shaded. Nothing 

 affords a better shade than peach and plum trees. 

 Paul I;. Viallon. 



I like the shade <>f large trees, not so dense but 

 that the air has free circulation, and this I like for 

 my own comfort in working, rather than for any 

 benefit to the bees. Take the whole season through, 

 and I am not sure but the bees are as well off with 

 no shade whatever. C. C. Milleu. 



Yes. In the south, a scuppernong-grape arbor is 



much the best arrangement I know of, as they 



carry their leaves when needed, and drop them 



when not needed ; and even in the North I prefer 



some kind of a shade that covers both hives and 



the man who works with them. 



O. O. Poppleton. 



Yes. I use asparagus, but I think some form of 

 board shade is the better. Asparagus is quite ef- 

 fective, one of the very best of green shades; but 

 keeping it clipped properly is rather too much 

 work. For several years after being set it seems to 

 be nearly worthless— not shade enough, and blows 

 down every gale; but eventually it becomes a solid 

 mass which winds scarcely affect at all. 



E. E. Hasty. 



It is desirable, but not necessary, to have single 

 and double walled hives protected against the hot 

 rays of the sun. In my long years of bee-keeping 

 on a tin roof and in the yard, without any protec- 

 tion whatever, it has happened to me only once 

 that some of my combs in an upper story have 



