442 



GLEANINGS IN iiEE CULTURE. 



June 



Friend F., we do not care how much it looks 

 like an advertisement, so lone: as you prefer 

 to communicate it to others, rattier than to 

 keep it all to yourself. The idea was given 

 some years ago in some of our bee-journals, 

 and you just now remind me of it. It is a 

 shame that such things should be so quickly 

 overlooked and forgotten. But why do you 

 mention putting the comb inside of a tub 

 to fill the cells with water V Is water so 

 scarce at Belleville that you can not afford to 

 lay the comb on the grass while you give it 

 a shower bath V When honey is coming in 

 rapidly, so that both combs" and bees are 

 dripping with thin nectar, we have not 

 found it necessary to put any water in the 

 combs at all. But during such drouths as 

 we have had for two years back, it certainly 

 would not be only humane, but profitable to 

 the shipper, to give his bees a good heavy 

 comb of water. If I mistake not. a good- 

 sized perfect comb will hold pretty nearly a 

 (juart, if it is properly put in. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



A LOCATION FOR AN APIARY SOUTH. 



R. EADY asks to know something about the 

 best locality to start an apiary. Though I 

 do not suppose that this place could com- 

 pete with either of the places that he men- 

 tions, still the large amount of unoccupied 

 field, coupled with the nearness to large and grow- 

 ing towns, made up largely of mechanics and work- 

 ingmen, who are, I think, the best consumers, gives 

 this section some advantages. 



For my own information I have kept a record of 

 bee-pasturage as the season advanced, and the list 

 by itself will tell a good deal. 



Feb. 1, cat-tails and red maple; Feb. 10, elm; 

 Feb. 25, wild plum; Mar. 10, peach-bloom; Mar. l.'i, 

 red-bud, or judas-tree; Apr. 1, apple-blossoms and 

 wild haws; Apr. 15, black gum and white clover; 

 Apr. 22, rattan and poplar. 



From the last date until July, the flow is constant, 

 or, at least, was last year. In succession we have 

 basswood, sourwood, and chestnut, lasting pretty 

 well up to August 1st. Last year the fall flowers 

 yielded no nectar; but that may have been on ac- 

 count of the year, which was a very poor one. 

 The fields were covered with asters and goldenrod, 

 but I saw no bees on either. For miles around 

 here the uncleared creek bottoms are jungles of 

 rattan, and the bees fairly roar over the branches 

 for three weeks. The foot-hills are full of sour- 

 wood, and the mountain coves have quite a fair 

 sprinkling of basswood. Every ridge is a chest- 

 nut orchard. The low metidows are full of white 

 clover, but I have never seen the bees on it. Per- 

 haps the continued flow of honey from the larger 

 growth draws them away from the ground. The 

 winter problem resolves itself into a question of 

 stores, as bees fly all winter except on cold rainy 

 days. H. R. Talcott. 



East Lake, Ala., May 6, 1888. 



HOW TO GET WHITE BASSWOOD FOR SECTIONS. 



In your experience with basswood, if piled ordi- 

 narily out of doors, does the rain affect the color? 



To gain the whitest wood from selections in the 

 forest, what has been your experience iu keeping 

 it so at the least expense? E. R. Nkwcomb. 



Pleasant Valley, N. Y., May 6, 1888. 



Friend Newcomb, after basswood has 

 been sawed into plank it must be so pro- 

 tected as not to get wet. Water will be 

 sure to color it and consequently spoil it for 

 sections. Use only winter-cut basswood, 

 and have the logs cut into plank before the 

 bark peels ; otherwise the white lumber will 

 be colored. Our green plank we have cut 

 as above mentioned, and piled up outdoors 

 with inch strips between each layer of plank, 

 and each plank 2 inches from its neighbor. 

 After the planks have been piled up as far 

 as we care to liave them they are covered 

 with old cull pine boards. The dry bass- 

 wood lumber which we buy by the carload 

 is placed directly into a shed, and not stuck 

 up. 



WHY NOT LOOK FOR MONEY WHERE YOU LOSE IT? 



I had a swarm of bees robbed, and I said to my- 

 self, " Why not look for money where you lose it? " 

 1 then sent an order for one-half pound of bees to 

 A. I. Root, and put them in said hive. They have 

 done flnelj-, and now I feel I found my money 

 where I lost it. Why melt up the comb when your 

 bees are robbed? Just buy a pound or half « pound 

 of bees and a queen; put them on the empty comb, 

 and the bees can go immediately to filling the 

 empty combs. Do you consider it wrong to hive a 

 swarm of bees on the Sabbath? E. W. Pettys. 



Windsor, Broome Co., N. Y. 



There is no doubt about it, friend P. It 

 is an excellent plan to stock hives where the 

 bees have died, by putting in a queen and 

 half a pound of bees. I do not know that I 

 ever knew it to fail, especially when they 

 are put in during May and June. If you 

 can get the bees and queen of somebody 

 near you who has hives with frames like 

 your own, I would give them, for a start, a 

 comb of brood also. In reference to your 

 last question, see Our Neighbors, issue for 

 May 1. 



what to do in case (JF spring dwindling. 



I received the ABC book in due time. I will say 

 that I am weH pleased with it. I think it is a very 

 excellent book in every particular, on the manage- 

 ment of bees. I find in the book that my bees have 

 spring dwindling. I have four hives that might, 

 with proper treatment, be redeemed. As I am a 

 beginner, I thought best to ask your advice. In the 

 first place, they are out of food, and have been for 

 some time. I have been feeding them syrup of 

 white sugar, but they keep dwindling in numbers. 

 But there is quite a considerable amount of bees in 

 each hive yet. I. S. Wilkins. 



Havana, Huron Co., O., April 2, 1888. 



We can not give you much better advice 

 on the matter of spring dwindling than is to 

 be found in the ABC book, under the head 

 of •' Diseases of Bees," and under '■ Winter- 

 ing.'' The best remedy is prevention. Dur- 

 ing later years, when bees have been packed 

 in chaff hives and on summer stands, or 

 carefully housed in the best approved meth- 

 ods in the cellar, we have not heard so much 

 of the trouble. Bees should have ample pro- 

 tection ; and when this is provided they are 



