444 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUXE 



Of course, I don't insist on this, tor you might 

 spend all your time trying the pet notions of others. 

 Prof. Cook thinks it the best feeder he ever saw; 

 but then, he— nei'cr tried it. C. C. Miller. 



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



I am very glad, t'rieud M., tliat you like 

 the feeder so well. I have no doubt that 

 it is better than the ordinary butter-dishes 

 where large quantities are fed at a time. I 

 mentioned the butter-dishes because of their 

 being so extremely cheap— costing practical- 

 ly nothing. For feeding small quantities— 

 a pint a day, to stimulate brood-rearing, 1 

 believe they are aljout as good as any thing 

 one could have ; but if we desire to feed up 

 for wintering, I prefer a large tea-kettle 

 feeder ; and perhaps if I could try the feed- 

 er which you described some time ago in 

 Gleanings, I should like it l>etter than the 

 tea-kettle. In feeding up for wintering, 

 when desirable to give the colonies their 

 winter's rations as cheaply and as rapidly 

 as possil)le, it is much cheaper to give the 

 syrup to them all at once than to be giving 

 it to them in little dribs at a time in small 

 feeders. As to whether the bees could ripen 

 that syrup fed to them all at once as well as 

 they could an equal quantity fed to them in 

 small doses at a time, I am not positively 

 sure about. But last winter we tried feed- 

 ing both ways ; and this spring we can not 

 detect any difference between those fed at 

 once and those fed slowly. 



CLAMP WINTERING. 



Could you kindly give tie numbers of Gleanings 

 containing references t^ clamps and earth-houses 

 during 1885 and 1887 (I have the numbers complete 

 for 1886)? Wm. Stokes. 



Balnastraid, Scotland, March 34, 1888. 



In regard to special numbers containing 

 items in regard to clamp wintering, we 

 would say that, in looking back over our 

 index, we And that but little was written on 

 the subject. There are several reasons for 

 this. First, because the apiarist never 

 knows the condition of liis colonies after 

 they are buried until he opens them in the 

 spring. Again, it is dilhcult to keep it dry. 

 Furthermore, bee-keepers generally have to 

 lose pretty severely by clamp wintering for 

 a year or two before they succeed in bring- 

 ing their colonies through safely. The only 

 thing that we can say in its favor is its 

 cheapness. When we consider the liability 

 to lose, however, it will not be so cheap 

 after all. The only item which would be of 

 any service to you for 1887 you will find in 

 the Sept. loth issue of Gleanings from the 

 pen of W. Z. Hutchinson, page 705. In isss 

 a valuable article on the subject was con- 

 tributed by G. M. Doolittle in the Feb. ir^th 

 issue. As you are a subscriber, you have 

 doubtless received and read it. Mr. L. C. 

 Root, of Stamford. Conn., and P. II. fllwood, 

 of Starkville, N. Y., both use clamp winter- 

 ing. For particulars in regard to it we 

 would refer you to (^uinby's New Bee-keep- 

 ing, by Mr. L. C. Root. The price of this 

 hook is $1.50 postpaid. For further infor- 

 mation in regard to clamps in the A Ji C 

 book, see " Special llepositories for Winter- 

 ing.'" 



THE KLIMITZ QUEEN-CATCHER. 



Is Klimitz's queen-catcher and introducing-cage 

 the best one you have for catching the queens from 

 swarms, if you wanted to catch the queens in your 

 second swarms, and return the swarm to the parent 

 hive? I. L. Nance. 



Cato, Crawford Co., Kan., May 7, 1888. 



The queen-catchers are designed to catch 

 queens on combs. The plug is removed, and 

 the large end of the cage is set directly over 

 the queen, care being taken that the legs 

 and other portions of her body are not caught 

 between the cage and comb. As soon as 

 she finds herself confined she will run up 

 into the cage. If a queen's wings are clip- 

 ped, and she is found running on a bare 

 spot of ground after the swarm has issued, 

 the catcher will be just the thing to secure 

 her, if the bee-keeper is an amateur, and 

 feels a little hesitancy about taking up his 

 beauteous queen by the silken wings. The 

 queen-catcher will not answer to take queens 

 from a cluster of bees, as you seem to think. 

 If you desire to catch the queen when she 

 starts to issue with a swarm, use the Alley 

 trap, frequent mention of which has been 

 made in these columns. 



WHAT TO DO WITH PARTLY FILLED SECTIONS OF 

 CANDIED HONEY. 



I have a few hundred 1-lb. sections partly filled with 

 comb and honey. Some of the honey is candied 

 down in the sections. Will the candied honey hurt 

 the sale of them, if I put the supers on the hive and 

 finish filling them? J. L. Queen. 



Albaton, Iowa, April 39, 1888. 



Yes, the candied honey in the comb will 

 injure its sale ; that is, it will either not sell 

 at all, or else it will be sold for several cents 

 less per pound. Such honey is usually of 

 very slow sale, and dealers do not like to 

 purchase it. The best way to dispose of 

 such combs with partly candied honey is to 

 place them in the solar wax-extractor. The 

 wax will float on the top, and harden. Be- 

 low this will be a stratum of nice clean hon- 

 ey. Such combs can also be used for feed- 

 ing back — that is, for stimulating brood- 

 rearing, or where colonies need stores. 

 Those partly lilled sections which have no 

 candied honey in can be placed in the super, 

 and completed ; but such ccmib honey is not 

 really first-class. If you can dispose of it in 

 the hrst place among yom- neighbors and 

 friends, at a low ligure, we would advise you 

 to do so. 



COON'S SOLAR WAX-EXT){ACTOR. 



1. How about the solar wax-e.\traetor, described 

 by O. E. Coon, in Gleanings, 1885, July 1, page 4i)7? 

 Will it work all right? 



3. Will it do any harm to paint bottom-boards on 

 the inside? C. S. Walker. 



Grafton, Vt., Apr. 29, 188S. 



The solar wax-extractor described by O. 

 E. Coon will work all right, we have no 

 doubt. It is quite similar in construction 

 to the one we have already tried in our 

 apiary. We think, however, that only one 

 thickness of glass is necessary. Friend 

 Coon uses one, two, or three, according to 

 circumstances. We can get all the heat we 

 want in melting wax with one glass, in our 



