570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



to secure, s;iy, a teacupful of the honey, it 

 would not be very practical. I am glad you 

 called my attention to it, however, as it set- 

 tles the fact that growing trees may yield 

 nice honey. Tlie important question in re- 

 gard to the palm-tree honey is something 

 like the above. Would you not have to 

 sacrifice a valuable tree, besides the time 

 and trouble V 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



HOW LO.VG MAY EGGS REMAIN AND VET HATCH 

 OUT LARV.E? 



T SHOULD like to have this question answered: 

 iM How lon^ will eggs remain and then hatch out 

 ^t and make workers or queensV I took a queen 



'*' out April 27th; 30 days after that date 1 lound 

 young- bees and drones sealed up, and others 

 about ready to seal. Now, this nucleus had a 

 queen-cell all the time. In 33 days they had a rir- 

 g-in queen hatched. Will you be so kind as to give 

 me some light on this? Benj. Bolinqer. 



Pleasant, Tenn. 



Some years ago, friend B., quite a busi- 

 ness was done in sending larvse for queen- 

 rearing, by mail. In our investigations at 

 that time, we discovered that eggs would 

 keep but a very few hours, when taken out 

 of the hive ; and it can not be temperature 

 alone ; for when the proper temperature is 

 maintained, the eggs seem to dry or shrivel 

 up, and are no good. It has been suggested 

 that the bees keep the eggs covered with a 

 milky food, especially when they are nearly 

 ready to hatch ; and we had our greatest 

 success when only a limited number of eggs 

 was given to a nucleus or strong colony. 

 The bees, in their anxiety to get brood, 

 would cover these eggs, or minute larvaj. 

 with a profusion of the milky food ; and in 

 this condition, during the warm weather of 

 midsummer, the larva? would live without 

 the agency of bees for between two or three 

 days, but not often longer than two days. 

 We used to charge 25 cents for a piece of 

 comb containing larvie of the right age. 

 This piece of comb, in favorable circum- 

 stances, would give perhaps a dozen queens; 

 but there were so many failures that the 

 whole business was abandoned. I do not 

 think it possible that eggs or larvae can be 

 preserved in any possible way so long as 30 

 days. Friend Doolittle, however, thinks 

 the bees have a secret known to themselves, 

 of keeping eggs or ]arva3 for a consideral)]e 

 number of days, when circumstances make 

 it advisable for them to do so. — It is hard 

 to explain the matter you mention. My 

 opinion is, however, that more such cases 

 are caused by a queen getting into the hive 

 unexpectedly. Queens frecpiently get into 

 the wrong hive after a wedding-tlight. 



FORCING bees INTO SUPERS. 



T have at present 60 colonies of bees. There is 

 plenty of white and alsike clover in bloom, but not 

 much honey yet. There seem to be a good many 

 buds on the basswood, but it will be late. 1 clip all 



my queens before they commence swarming. 

 When they leave the hive I move the old colony to 

 a new stand, and leave the new one on the old 

 stand. I then get my honey from the new swarm, 

 hnt fail to get any comb honey from the old one. 

 They set to be strong, but will not go above. They 

 will fill the brood-nest full. If I extract it they will 

 fill it again, but will not go above. It stops all aft- 

 er-swarming. What can I do to get them above? 

 Would it be advisable to take out the frames that 

 are filled with honey, lay them away for winter, 

 and contract the brood-nest? Will that send tbem 

 above? W. G. Wadsworth. 



Pittsford, Mich., June 'SO, 1888. 



Contract the brood-nest to about 6 frames, 

 as you suggest in your last paragraph, and 

 put in dummies to fill up the vacant space. 

 If your bees still fail to go above, put a sec- 

 tion containing a little honey in the su|)er. 

 This will generally have the desired effect, 

 if honey is coming in as it ought to come in 

 in order to obtain surplus honey. 



don't NEED CHAFF PACKING IN SOUTHERN MIS- 

 SOURI. 



On page 48.5, Mr. Agnew recites his experience on 

 chafl" packing. I wish to say to Mr. A. and others 

 in our latitude (37 and 38), in what is tertaed the 

 Mississippi Valley, and probably all south of this, 

 unless it be in the Allegheny and Rocky Mountains, 

 that we do not need chafif packing and cellar winter- 

 ing. It is extra expense for no pay. I have had 19 

 years' experience here, and know what I am talking- 

 about. I always winter on summer stands; and if 

 my bees are put in proper shape in September or 

 October I would not give a nickel per colony to 

 have them insured to winter. I have over 200 colo- 

 nies scattei-ed in different locations. We never 

 lose any by spring dwindling. We lose some few in 

 spring- and fore part of summer, for lack of stores, 

 swarming out, etc. A. Liston. 



Virgil City, Cedar Co., Mo., June 32, 1888. 



THE GRAND RAPIDS LETTUCE DOWN SOUTH. 



Brother Root:— I got of you two 5-ct. papers of 

 Grand Rapids lettuce-seed, one of which I sowed 

 the 6th of Febuary, in boxes, and transplanted in 

 March. The other paper I sowed late. The first 

 paper did well, and I should want no better lettuce 

 for the table. The last sowed came up well, but the 

 cut-worm played havoc with them. Only about 

 half a dozen plants were left. I have some of the 

 former planting seeding magnificently. They are 

 " Grand," sure enough. It would make you glad to 

 see how the lettuce grows in our sunny South. If 

 no calamity comes upon the plants, I shall have 

 more seed than I need. Gleanings comes to us 

 always with much choice reading. You are doing 

 a nobler work by its publication than promoting 

 bee culture. J. H. Strong. 



Atoka, Tenn., June 19, 1888. 



THE "GRAND RAPIDS" LETTUCE, ETC. 



I see you make mention of the Grand Rapids let- 

 tuce. I sowed some seed in February that I re- 

 ceived from you. Five stalks are all that I can see 

 forming seed. They are 18 inches in diameter. I 

 tell you they are beauties. Don't you think a deep 

 pan or box, covered partly with wire, with glass in 

 front, would be a g-ood queen-trap for those who 



