GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



64? 



to incorporate it in the next batcli of ques- 

 tions we send out to our statistical reporters. 

 What we meant by an average crop was not 

 an average for the entire United States, but 

 an average for tliat locality. You say you 

 have had all the way from 2 to 92 lbs. per 

 colony. This would make an average of 47, 

 as you have it. Perhaps we will put it this 

 way : " What is an average crop with you, 

 and what do you consider a fair yield?" A 

 fair yield in your locality will be 75 lbs., and 

 an average yield 47 lbs., as stated. 



HOW TO GET THE HONEY OR CONTENTS OF A BEE 

 WITHOUT KILLING IT. 



Take the bee by both wings or thorax, the usual 

 way with your thumb aud first fluger. The bee will 

 now straighten and put out its sting. This you 

 press gently against a hard substance, when the 

 bee will spill out and hold between her mandibles 

 whatever she carries. This can be taken from her 

 best with a plnhead or small instrument, to be held 

 in your left hand. Large numbers can bee.xtracted 

 in a short time, either as they drop at the entrance 

 or at the flowers. Tf 1 do not want to retain the 

 contents of the honey-sac I press the bee against 

 the thumbnail of my left hand, allow it to swallow 

 back the honey, and let it go. C. H. Luttgens. 



Hammonton, N. J., July 34, 1888. 



swarming at sunrise, and returning 'M 



HOURS afterward. 



A swarm of bees came out Wednesday at about 10 

 o'clock. We hived them, and at night moved them 

 to the stand where I wished them to stay. They 

 were all in the hive when we mt)ved them. That 

 night it rained hard. The next morning the sun 

 shown a little while at rising, then it came on rain- 

 ing again. In the forenoon I went to look at my 

 bees, and every one was gone. They left at sunrise, 

 before I was up. I felt liad, and looked at my si- 

 lent hive the last thing last night. This morning I 

 looked again, saw quite a number of bees flying 

 around the entrance, went to look more closely, and 

 there were the bees all back again, working away 

 " as busy as bees." They came back this morning 

 at sunrise, just as they went away. I guess they 

 mean to stay now. Mrs. Fanny M. Grant. 



Center Ossipee, N. H., July 13, 188^i. 



WANTS TO GO WEST FOR A TIME ; WHAT SHALL 

 BE DONE WITH THE BEES? 



I want to go west for the summer and fall, and I 

 want to fix my bees so they will not swarm. Will a 

 hive full of foundation, under an average colony, 

 do? and will the same with one or two racks of 

 sections (30 to the rack) on strong colonies be best? 

 I think there are but few old queens. I have fed 

 SlOO worth of sugar, and some are near out, and no 

 brood, but lots of bees. E. Sanfohd. 



Nokomis, 111., July 9, 1888. 



Friend S., either plan you propose will 

 greatly lessen the probabilities or swarm- 

 ing ; but there is nothing you can do, proba- 

 bly, that will prevent it absolutely. You 

 might clip your queen's wings, and then 

 when the swarm came out they would re- 

 turn : but the season has been so poor 

 throughout the country, and yours seems to 

 be no exception, that 1 think they would not 

 swarm, even if left alone. The season is 

 now entirely over for honey. Swarming 

 hardly ever occurs to any extent unless hon- 



ey is coming in from some source pretty 

 freely. On the whole I think I should ad- 

 vise you to let the colonies remain just as 

 they are, and leave instructions with some 

 one to give them more room in case there 

 should be a sudden tlow of honey from some 

 source. VVhen honey is not coming in, the 

 bees will be pretty apt to gnaw the founda- 

 tion, and make unsightly lioles, if you give 

 them a hive with foundation in the frames. 

 Or if you give them sections, the latter 

 would become discolored, and unfit for the 

 storage of honey the succeeding year. 



THE HONEY-DEW OF OREGON. 



Fi-iend Boot:— In looking over some back num- 

 bers of Gleanings loaned me by a friend, I find 

 Mrs. M. B. Chaddock is entertaining a wrong idea 

 as regards the nature of honey-dew. I have lived 

 in Oregon and Washington Territory for the last 

 twelve years, and do not remember of our having a 

 failure of honey-dew. Its first appearance is found 

 upon all vegetation, more noticeably upon the 

 larger leaves. It is in appearance like a light show- 

 er of rain standing upon the leaves. It is of a 

 sticky nature, and in taste similar to honey. After 

 a time it becomes dry, and remains until washed 

 off by the rains. M.\- neighbors' wives voted it a 

 nuisau_,e during huckleberry-picking time. It has 

 been reported from Eastern Oregon that honey-dew 

 was there in such quantities that teamsters in har- 

 vesting had to be pried out of their seats with a 

 crowbar, often leaving a portion of their garment 

 in the seat. I do not vouch for that. I am not a 

 bee-man, and do not know whether bees work on 

 the dew or not. Goltz Manson. 



Neer, Oregon, June 30, 1888. 



preventing bees from stinging you by hold- 

 ing YOUR breath. 



Herewith I send you an item entitled, "How to 

 Prevent Stings," taken from a current publication. 

 Is there any truth in it? I did not have faith enough 

 in it to give it a trial. M. A. Kelley. 



Milton, W. Va., July 16, 1888. 



TO prevent stings. 



Nearly every one is aware that the human body is 

 covered with many thousands of tiny pores in the 

 skin, and that health depends largely upon keeping 

 these pores open by frequent bathing. From the 

 facts given by W. L. Wilder in a recent number of 

 the Science, it would appear that these i)ores are so 

 many mouths, capal)le of opening and closing in 

 unison with the action of the lungs. Mr. Wilder 

 says : 



It is a fact not generally known, that, if one holds 

 his breath, wasps, bees, and hornets can be handled 

 with impunity. The skin becomes sting-proof, and, 

 holding the insect by the feet, and giving her full 

 liberty of action, you can see her drive her weapon 

 against the impenetrable surface with a force that 

 lifts her body with every stroke; but let the small- 

 est quantity of air escape from the lungs, and the 

 sting will jjcnetrate at once. I have never seen an 

 exception to this in twenty-five years' observation. 

 I have taught young ladies with very delicate hands 

 to astonish their friends by the performance of this 

 feat, and 1 saw one so severely stung as to require 

 the services of a physician, through laughing at a 

 witty remark of her sister, forgetting that laughing 

 required breath. For a theory in e.xphination, 1 am 

 led to believe that holding the breath partially 

 closes the pores of the skin. My experiments in 

 that direction have not been exact enough to be of 

 any scientific value, but I am satisfied that it very 

 sensibly affects the amount of insensible perspira- 

 tion. 



I am very glad, friend K., that you did 

 not have faith enough in it to give it even a 



