398 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



1 should say no. Often buckwheat furnishes no 

 honey. I should say it would be better for the bee- 

 keeper to rent some land and sow for himself. 



A. J. Cook. 



We thought so till we made a sale of ^8 barrels of 

 honey to Thurber & Co., and they made the express 

 condition that there should be no buckwheat honey 

 in it. Dadant & Son. 



It might one year in three, in our locality. Many 

 farmers now sow buckwheat, and we furnish no 

 seed: should we begin furnishing the seed free, all 

 the farmers who now sow and furnish their own 

 seed would call on us for seed. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Previous to the past si.x or seven years, buck- 

 wheat yielded honey largely where I was, and it 

 would have paid to do as suggested in the question. 

 Since then it has yielded almost no honey at all. 

 and it would not have paid to furnish seed. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



No, sir, it is not. Every bit of agitation you stir 

 up among your neighbors about the honey-supply 

 will cost you fS.OO where you get one, by way of 

 their going into the business in your field; and es- 

 pecially is this the case if you haven't three or four 

 hundred colonies of bees in your apiary. 



James Heddon. 



In some cases, yes; in some, no. Likely, oftener 

 no. Where it is a profitable crop for grain there 

 is usually enough sown; when not in-ofitable for 

 grain, does it yield much honey? 1 should say, if it 

 usually yields honey and not enough is otherwise 

 sown, it would pay well to furnish seed to make a 

 plentiful pasturage for his bees. C. C. Miller. 



No. Buckwheat is very uncertain in yielding 

 honey. Alsike clover is a better honey-plant to in- 

 troduce, but I should not buy any seed for my 

 neighbors, nor tell them 1 was anxious to have them 

 sow it for its honey-producing qualities. Human 

 nature is such that you will usually have more 

 buckwheat and alsike about you if you simply rec- 

 ommend them on their merits for forage and 

 grain. P. H. Elwood. 



I think it profitable for us to furnish 

 buckwheat and alsike clover, more especial- 

 ly the former, to keep the bees out of mis- 

 chief, and to counteract robbing. It is worth 

 something to me to see all hands pile out in 

 the morning in great droves, in the direc- 

 tion of some farmer to M'hom I have fur- 

 nished buckwheat free of charge. It is true 

 here, as well as with others, that we seldom 

 get very much honey from buckwheat ; but 

 there are very few seasons, however, when 

 the bees do not work on it in great numbers 

 in the forenoon, and evidently do their best 

 to make a success. Whatever pleases the 

 bees pleases me ; therefore I think I should 

 continue to furnish buckwheat. Prof. Cook 

 tliinks that the bee-keeper should rent some 

 land, and raise it himself. This will do, 

 providing he is sure of getting a good price 

 for his grain— such prices, for instance, as 

 we often get for the Japanese, and are like- 

 ly to get. But I would much rather furnish 

 the farmers with grain than to rent land, 

 sow the seed, and then sell my crop for <iO 

 and 75 cents a bushel. I have tried both 

 ways. 



\mil^ MB QUERIEg. 



SPRINKLING OF ITALIAN BLOOD. 



T SEE you (juoted in the Indiana Farmer as say- 

 ^ ing that a very little sprinkling of Italian blood 

 ^l would almost banish the bee moth. As I am 

 -*■ unacquainted with this remedy, I should like to 

 know what Italian blood is— what it costs, and 

 how to apply it. J. B. 



[The letter above will prove to be a little amus- 

 ing. We must beg our friend's pardon for making 

 our language ambiguous— so much so that he even 

 got the idea that the remedy called " Italian blood" 

 is administered in the foi-m of a spray. When we 

 used the term "sprinkling of Italian blood" we 

 meant the crossing of a new race of bees with the 

 common bees, just as we say that a certain fowl 

 having a few feathers of a Brahma has a sprink- 

 ling of Brahma blood; or that a certain cow has a 

 sprinkling of Jersey 'olood. To make our meaning 

 perfectly plain, we will tell our correspondent that, 

 if he desires to get rid of the moth worms in his 

 hives, he should kill the black queens and introduce 

 Italian queens.] 



BEES ON SHARES. 



I have changed locality, but still have bees. What 

 is the usual way of farming bees on the shares? 



Orbisonia, Pa., April 26, 1888. J. W. Olewine. 



[We do not recommend keeping bees on shares. 

 It you do, you should have one-third of the honey 

 or a fourth of the honej' and increase. Some think 

 it about right to share all profits alike. This ques- 

 tion, or, rather, a similiar one, is propounded to our 

 corps of contributors to the Question-Box depart- 

 ment, and will appear in a month or so.] 



LIZZIE cotton. 

 I much dislike your apologetic remarks about 

 Lizzie Cotton. In my view it is mistaken charity. 

 She is not trying to do any better, any more than a 

 thief is doing better who steals less this year than 

 last because the danger of detection is greater. 



C. C. Miller. 

 Marengo, McHenry Co., 111., April 18, 1888. 



HOW LONG COMBS WILL LAST. 



A bee-keeping neighbor says that, after bees have 

 used brood comb two years, it is necessary to cut 

 it from the frames and give them new comb. Is 

 that true? L. A. Duqgan. 



Cuthbert, Ga., Apr. 12, 1888. 



[Your neighbor is mistaken, friend D. Combs 

 will last from 3 to 15 years. In fact, reports have 

 been given of combs which have been in use for 

 over 20 years. It depends upon the amount of 

 usage they have had, and whetiier wired or not.] 



Al'TER A CONFINEMENT OF Kil DAYS. 



I put my bees on summer stands April 21st, after 

 a confinement of 161 days. They came out strong 

 and in good condition; 16 colonies consumed an 

 average of WA lbs. per colony. I think the picture 

 of Mrs. Heater's exhibit at the Nebraska State Fair 

 should be put in the next edition of the ABC, op- 

 posite Mrs. Culp's, so we can show our friends what 

 women can do. Frank Durand. 



Esdaile, Pierce Co., Wis., Apr. 37, 1888. 



DRY APRIL IN ILLINOI.S. 



This month has been a very cool one. While the 

 ash-leaved maples were blooming, ice the thickness 

 of window glass formed at night. The last freezing 

 was the night of the 2,5th. It is quite warm now, 

 and fruit-bloom, what little there is, is just opening. 

 Fruit-trees are almost all dead, killed by drought 

 and severe winters; only now and then a cherry, 

 where there used to be dozens, and a few crab- 

 apples. No peach-bloom. I have not seen any 



