1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



685 



strips of wax and roll your knife through. It beats 

 any thing else I have ever tried. C. F. Uhl. 



Millersburg, Ohio. 



[Friend U., a saddler's knife has been suggested 

 before; but it costs a good deal more than a round- 

 pointed butcher-knife, and 1 believe a good many 

 think it not very much better.] 



r^ABELING HONEY. 



What is the law about labels on box honey— to 

 label the case or each section, when selling by the 

 case or section? Alfred Catlin. 



Charlestown, O., June 18, 1888. 



LFriend C, there is no law in regard to labeling 

 box honey or any other kind, unless it be the law 

 against adulteration. You have no right to put a 

 fraudulent label upon any article. Some bee-keep- 

 ers put a label on each section by means of a rub- 

 ber stamp; but 1 believe that the general custom is 

 to put the name of the producer on the crate only.] 



Friend Ernest:— In your remarks about bee-veils 

 and hats, you say, " Put a few large leaves of plan- 

 tain in the crown of your hat." Will you please try 

 a piece of orange-colored cloth in the crown of your 

 hat, on some sultry day, and report in Gleanings? 



River Falls, Wis., June 20, 1888. A. D. Shepakd. 



[Thanks for your suggestion; but why orange- 

 colored cloth? Wouldn't any other light-colored 

 cloth be as cool? I mentioned plantain leaves be- 

 cause they are handy and contain some moisture. 

 The consequent evaporation makes things cooler, 

 besides the protection the broad leaves afford. 

 Grapevine leaves or large leavts of any kind will 

 do equally well.] 



DOES the chestnut fdknish honey ok poi-len, 



OH both? 



Does the chestnut furnish only pollen, or does it 

 also furnish considerable nectar for the bees? Our 

 farmers here assert that the very dark honey we 

 get from the 1st to the 10th of July is obtained 

 from the chestnut, and is n<jt bug-juice at all. Who 

 will settle this important question by careful ob- 

 servation, and report? The chestnut blooms from 

 the Ist to the 10th of July. Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



New Philadelphia, O. 



[Friend T., I believe it is pretty well settled that 

 chestnut does, at least some seasons, furnish con- 

 siderable quantity of dark honey. I do not know, 

 however, just what the tiavor is like Perhaps 

 some one can tell us.] 



how bees get pollen on theik legs, as wit- 

 nessed UNDER FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES. 



I transferred my bees, and alter a few days 1 saw 

 them on the old hives, pulling and tearing wax and 

 propolis off and fastening it on their legs as pollen. 

 The wax came ofl' in small pieces, a; d the little fel- 

 lows were obliged to do their work more slowly. 

 With the front legs they took il from their mandible 

 and delivered it to their next legs; from thence they 

 kicked it (if I may use the ex pression) into the pollen- 

 baskets. Jonas E. Hershberger. 



Grantsville, Md., June 11, 1888. 



for hay and seed. It makes the best hay for milch 

 cows, known. See the ABC book for further par- 

 ticulars.] 



CULTIVATING PLANTS FOR HONEY. 



Do you know from experience that it pays to cul- 

 tivate the Chapman honey-plant for bee pasture? or 

 Japanese buckwheat? If you have had experience, 

 give us an editorial on it, whether favorable or not. 

 Is alsike clover better adapted for bees to gather 

 honey from than ordinary clover? and does it make 

 as good hay? How does it compare in growth? 



Loysburg, Pa. J S. Riddle. 



[Friend B., we do not know from experience nor 

 from report that it will pay to undertake to raise 

 any plant for honey alone. Japanese buckwheat 

 pays splendidly for the grain it yields, especially at 

 the present high prices. Alsike clover also pays 



0aR 0w]si ^pi^RY. 



CONDUCTED BY EBNEST R. ROOT. 



CONDITION OF THE APIARY. 



0N the average, the brood-nests of our 

 colonies are about two -thirds full. 

 Some colonies have their frames well 

 capped over, and, again, others have 

 perhaps not over five or six pounds in 

 the hives. In only two instances have the 

 bees gone above to store sections of honey, 

 and in these only a few sections are capped 

 over. 



OUK EXPERIENCK SO FAR WITH THE HAR- 



MER FIVE-CENT SMALL VENEER 



SECTIONS. 



When the honey began to come in, we 

 prepared some frames containing some small 

 veneer sections, described on page 242, April 

 1, 1888. J^y way of a double experiment, 1 

 thought we would try in these some llat- 

 bottom foundation. Some frames were put 

 down in the brood-nest between the side of 

 the hive, and a frame containing nothing 

 but honey. To put them next to a frame 

 containing brood would only have resulted, 

 Ijrobably, in some discoloration, besides the 

 storage of some pollen in the cells. Other 

 frames were placed in the upper story, be- 

 tween biood-franies containing but little 

 honey and no brood. Up to date, the bees 

 have not done very satisfactory work on 

 them. This is ]partly due, perhaps, to the 

 backwardness of the season, and partly to 

 the flat-bottom foundation. The latter the 

 bees did not evidently regard with favor. 

 In some cases they tore it down and rebuilt 

 combs : in other "instances they remodeled 

 it considerably before they began to draw 

 out the cells. I believe, however, if there 

 had been a rusli of honey they would have 

 taken hold without hesitation. I>ut as the 

 nectar came in very slowly indeed, they had 

 ample time to tinker and fuss with some- 

 thing that was not exactly according to their 

 pleasure. 



I am well aware that this experience does 

 not agree with that extensive and practical 

 bee-keeper, P. H. Elwood, of Starkville, N. 

 Y., as told on page 160, March 1. I shall 

 therefore be the more ready to be corrected 

 if wrong. I think it is quite likely that his 

 locality f luiiishes enough nectar to cause the 

 bees to go into the super with a rush, and 

 consequently they are ready to accept any 

 thing that will make comb. 



Aside from the flat-bottom foundation, 

 the bees seem a little averse to working in 

 such snnill sections. They very much pre- 

 fer to work out full sheets of foundation in 

 L. frames, rather than to fuss with little 

 dribs. But this may likewise be attributa- 

 ble to the meager flow of nectar. If I re- 

 member c'oirectly. friend Ilarmer thinks the 

 bees take hold of the foundation in these 

 small sections just as readily as a full sheet 

 of foundation. Perhaps further develop- 

 ments this season will reverse and change 

 materially the present aspect of things. 



