tsi 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTtJRE. 



JitL^ 



keep the screen out from the side of the house. To 



get bees out of the house, let down the top sash of 



the windows an inch or more; the bees will And 



their way out, and ours never return. 



E. France. 



While a good many have never used a 

 bee-escape at all, it transpires that quite a 

 few of tlie friends are using them, and with 

 profit. If I am correct, Dadant's and Mil- 

 ler's bee-escape are one and the same thing 

 in principle. The cut of tlie one shows a 

 sectional view, while the other a front view. 

 Am I right V 



]S[0¥Ef5 JiJU) QOE^IEg. 



ZINC QUEEN-EXCLUDING HONEY-BOARDS. 



"JIP SK yovir experts if the zinc honey-board al- 

 SfSbi ■"'^J'* excludes the queen. Raising- a super 

 ^^J yesterday, I was surprised to find her majes- 

 ■^^ ty on the board. She was an old laying- 

 queen in a strong- stock. She passed through 

 a slot in the board readily. O. Brumfield. 



Brumfleld, Ky., June 8. 1888. 



[The perforation in all zinc that we know of is 

 so made as to let the bees pass through readily, but 

 just exclude the queen. It is only in very rare 

 cases that a queen will be found small enough to 

 get through. The perforations might be made 

 small enough to exclude even small queens, but 

 then even workers will hardly pass through; and, 

 when filled with honey, not at all.] 



How many days is it before foul brood will be de- 

 veloped in a colony of bees, from the time the bees 

 take it into their hive? J. S. Bkaithwaite. 



Manti City, Utah, May »•, 1888. 



[We can not tell how long it takes foul brood to 

 develop after the germs are brought into the hive 

 —probably a couple of weeks.] 



Will good syrup-barrels do to put extracted honey 

 in? L. H. KOBEY. 



Worthington, W. Va., June 10, 1888. 



[Good syrup-barrels will answer perfectly well if 

 they are scalded out. Two or three of our large 

 honey-producers in the South use these barrels ex- 

 clusively. I think I should also wax them on the 

 inside, as per directions in the ABC book, under 

 "Barrels."] 



CHICKENS EATING BEES; DO THEY EAT DHONES 

 OK WORKERS, OR BOTH? 



When chickens take to catching bees, do they eat 

 workers, or do they catch the drones? 



Jetfersonville, Ky., June 0, 1888. VV. J. Daniel. 



[Chickens, when they get into the habit once, will 

 eat both drones and workers. Reports have been 

 received where only drones were found in their 

 crops, and again only workers; but quite a number 

 have corroborated the statement that both drones 

 and workers are eaten. It is seldom that chickens 

 ever get into the habit of eating bees. We have 

 quite a number of chickens in the vicinity of our 

 apiary, but we have never yet known one to be 

 guilty of the act.] 



RIBWORT. 



Will you or some of youi- correspondents tell 

 something of ribwort (a species of plantain), as a 

 honey-plant? also of the common persimmon? 



York Institute, N. C, May 13, 1888. J. S. Perry. 



CANNING SNAP, OR STRING BEANS. 



I see in Gleanings that some of the bee-keepers 

 told us how to dry and cook sweet corn. Will you 

 please have some brother bee-keeper tell us how 

 to can snap, or string beans? J- F. Hepp. 



Boonville, lad.. May :i3, 1888. 



WON'T HATCH THE EGGS; WHAT'S THE MATTER? 



1 have a swarm of bees full of honey. It was a 

 good one last year, and this spring the same queen 

 lays plenty of eggs, but the bees won't hatcli them. 

 What is the matter? 1 never heard the like in 2.5 

 years of bee-keeping. The eggs ai-e not touched 

 by the workers. The queen is a nice one— Italian. 

 All the rest are booming. Israel Jackson. 



Cambridge, O.. May -'«, 1888. 



[You will notice that we say, in the A B C book, 

 that such a case as yours may happen once in a 

 great while — say one queen in ten thousand may 

 produce eggs tliat will not hatch. There is no rem- 

 edy but to destroy the queen and give the bees 

 another one.] 



FERTILE workers. 



I have a swarm of bees which has been queenless 

 for some time. It is full of drone brood. May Tth 

 I gave it a frame of eggs, larvse, and brood. May 

 31st I gave another frame of brood, with a queen- 

 cell, but they tore down the queen-cell two days 

 later. They have plenty of honey, and the swarm 

 is a large one; but the bees do not work now, 

 neither will they try to raise a queen. What shall I 

 do with them? I have been thinking of uniting a 

 yoiuig swarm with them. Would this do? 



Harmer, Ohio, June 4, 1888. G. O. Salzman. 



[Your bees have fertile workers, I think. You 

 can unite the other colony you speak of, with them. 

 It may cure them, and it may not. We usually di- 

 vide them up, placing the frames of bees and brood 

 among several strong colonies.] 



HOW many COLONIES TO AN ACRE OF BUCK- 

 WHEAT? 



I have 28 colonies of bees, and would like to know 

 how many acres of buckwheat to sow for them to 

 be profitable. Any other information gladly re- 

 ceived. W. L. Harper. 



Gailatin, Sumner Co., Tenn., June 6, 1888. 



[With about (iU colonies we once secured about 

 200 lbs. of surplus from two acres of buckwheat. 

 Besides this, a large amount must have gone into 

 the brood-apartments. An acre of buckwheat in a 

 good season ought to fill the brood chambers of your 

 28 hives; but unless you have a good locality and a 

 good season, you may get nothing but the seed. 

 See " Buckwheat," in the A B C book.] 



SWARMING IN APRIL. 



To-day a small swarm of bees, about as large as a 

 quart measure, settled on a tree. This is very strange 

 tome, as the apricot-trees are only just out in bloom, 

 it being a late spring. Edwin Parker. 



Hooper, Utah, April 1.5, 1888. 



[If no honey had been gathered of any account, 1 

 should say that this little swarm was one that 

 starved out; but an examination of that hive would 

 soon settle this matter. If the hive contained plen- 

 ty of stores and brood, I should say it comes under 

 the head of "Absconding Swarms," as described in 

 the A B C book.] 



WEDGES FOR TOP OF SECTIONS. 



I would suggest that we use small wedge-shaped 

 strips of wood for filling the spaces between the 

 rows of sections on top the T supers, cut just the 

 right length to go inside the box crosswise, and 

 shape of about like this cross-section. They' 

 would, I think, ett'ectually prevent the bees ^^^ , 

 from filling these spaces with propolis, and \_/ 

 would be very much cheaper than using extra T 

 tins on top, as they would cost almost nothing. 



Peoria, O. K- L- Clegg. 



[Your suggestion is good, friend C. If we are to 

 use any thing to fill the spaces between the top cor- 

 ners of the sections, the wedge you speak of is about 

 as good as any thing. If we use spacers at all, we 

 must have something that will close up the inter- 

 stices perfectly tight, such as a wedge.] 



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