21H 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mab. 



to burn up every thing at our expense, as 

 soon as we were informed of it. We pre- 

 fer to make this statement to tlie public, 

 that our friends may know what tlieir 

 chances are in sending ns their orders. We 

 shall not commence sending bees or queens 

 again from our own apiary until we have 

 waited a sufficient length of time to be sure 

 that foul brood is not going to break out 

 any more. 



WHEN AND HOW TO MAKE NUCLEI. 



As I failed in my efforts at queen-rearing' and 

 making- nuclei last spring', I desire to avoid a repe- 

 tition of the failure this spring; hence I ask you the 

 following questions: , 



1. In making nuclei, how do you prevent them 

 from returning to the old hive? 



2. What season of the year, all conditions being 

 favorable, do you consider best to start them? 



I understand the process of getting the queen-cells 

 ready; but after placing them in the hive, the bees 

 all return to the old colony. D. B. Butler. 



Fort Branch, Ind., Feb. II, 188S. 



Friend B., we have no trouble, providing 

 we take along two or more combs well filled 

 with brood and well covered with bees, 

 mostly young ones. This last point is ac- 

 complished by removing the combs when 

 the older bees ;ue mostly in the fields. 

 Friend Doolittle takes the (pieen along with 

 them, and leaves her long enough for the 

 bees to be re<'onciled to their new home. 

 In this case you can keep nearly every bee, 

 old and young. The very best time of year 

 is when the bees begin to swarm naturally. 

 If you undertake it at any other season, it 

 will be more apt to be a failure. 



CAN A FEW BEES BE KEPT ON A SMALL, TOWN 

 LOT, AND NOT BOTHER NEIGHBORS ? 



1 am now clerking in the headquarters of the 

 Burlington & Missouri R. R., in this city, and work 

 from 8 a.m. until 5 p. m. I live in the city, and rent 

 a place. I have a lot about 40 x 40 feet on which I 

 could keep some bees. Of course, there are houses 

 close by. Do you think if I got a colony of your 

 purest Italians that they would bother the neigh- 

 bors? and do you think it would pay me to keep 

 them here, and raise comb honey for the market? 

 There is a great deal used in this city, and I wish 

 very much to keep bees. Do you think a woman 

 could care for them while I am at the office? There 

 are several trees in the yard, so they could alight 

 when they swarmed; but I should be safer to clip 

 the queen's wings, I presume. W. H. Prentiss. 



Omaha, Neb., Feb. 33, 1888. 



Friend P., there would not be a bit of 

 trouble in keeping one colony of bees in 

 such a location as you mention ; nor will 

 there probably be any trouble in half a doz- 

 en or even a dozen colonies ; but when you 

 get up to forty or fifty, somet)ody will be an- 

 noyed, and will find fault. Almost every 

 objection, however, can be met, except the 

 one of the bees soiling the clothes on wash- 

 days in the spring. This is quite a serious 

 matter, and I do not just know how to get 

 around it. There will also be trouble dur- 

 ing droughts, from the bees getting into 

 houses during the time women make pre- 

 serves, etc. — A woman can take care of four 

 or five colonies very well. If she has 



strength, and likes the business, she may 

 take care of a dozen or more. It depends 

 on the woman and the will, you see. 



]\[8¥E^ ^JiB QaERIEg. 



HONEY-BOARDS; CAN WE KEEP POLLEN OUT OF THE 

 SURPLUS DEPARTMENT? 



^jriLL your zinc queen-excluding ;honey-board 



keep beebread out of the upper story? Our 



lower story is an old Langstroth with the 



Simplicity let down until it rests on the 



frames below. How can we manage to get 



a honey-board to work between the two? How can 



we get a bee-space below? Hallett & Son. 



Galena, Ills., Feb. 33, 1888. 



[The queen-excluding honey-board will not keep 

 pollen out of the surplus apartment, although it 

 will discourage the bees from carrying it above, to 

 a certain extent. Pollen is usually stored above 

 when the brood-nest is contracted too close. Con- 

 tracting should not ordinarily reduce the brood- 

 chamber to less than three-fourths of its former 

 capacity. It is a difficult matter to get a honey- 

 board to fit the brood-chamber of one hive and yet 

 work satisfactorily in connection with the upper 

 story of another hive of a different pattern. To 

 make a bee-space, lay ?4-inch strips on the end of 

 the brood-frames and lay the honey-boards on top; 

 that is. unless a bee-space is already provided for. 

 Probably the best way to remedy the matter is to 

 have hives all of one pattern. Our honey-boards 

 are adapted to any of the hives we make, "but can 

 not very well be used in a hive of the old Langstroth 

 pattern.] 



How can I keep worms out of my hives? 



Mrs. T. W. Langley. 



Scotland, Md., Feb. 33, 1888. 



[The difficulty you speak of will be very quickly 

 remedied if you Italianize your apiary. In Italian 

 apiaries the moth worm is unknown as a pest.] 



Thanks for remarks relating to light in the cellar. 

 The 48° on the 18th did not induce the bees to stir 

 in the cellar, while a temperature of 40° in the shade, 

 with sunshine, gave them a fly. T. F. Bingham. 



Abronia, Mich., Feb. 30, 1888. 



The " trick " you speak of in foot-note to ques- 

 tion 3.5 was tried here about five years ago. A hive 

 was placed at the end of a row. The bees went in- 

 to it. Brood was supplied, and a nice colony pro- 

 duced. J. M. Beatty. 



Shaw's Landing, Pa. 



JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT. 



I sowed 5 cents' worth of Japanese buckwheat on 

 the 13th of June, and very thin. My turkeys and 

 chickens ran over it until it was cut, and must have 

 destroyed nearly half of it; but after thrashing and 

 cleaning I had 35 lbs. J.Augustine. 



Whitehall, Wis., Feb. 39, 1888. 



light in cei,lars deleterious. 



I will now tell you what I have to say on winter- 

 ing in light cellars. This fall 1 put one colony in 

 the cellar where it was very light, and they have 

 been very uneasy so far. Great numbers came out 

 every day, and of course they could not get back 

 again, and have died. I think the dark cellars are 

 superior to light ones for this reason. Since I have 

 been taking Glea.mngs I have been very much 

 pleased with it. I like Our Homes very much. 



G. C. Allan. 



Churchill, Ont., Canada, Feb. 3,5, 1888. 



