1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



691 



keeping them queenless till the new queen arrived 

 from you, they might be then in a humor to admit 

 a queen peaceably. If they still persist in denying 

 her, I think I will try your plan of taking combs of 

 hatching brood and shutting her up with them. 



H. D. Cooper. 

 South Pittsburg, Tenn., July 30, 1888. 



Friend C, one reason of your failure, and 

 perhaps the only one. in introducing the 

 queen mentioned, was because you tinkered 

 with the bees too much. If you will turn to 

 your directions for introducing you will see 

 that we recommend letting the bees alone 

 as far as possible after the cage has been 

 properly fastened to the combs. Too fre- 

 quent handling is bad. It not only disturbs 

 the bees, but it invites robbers, and this in 

 itself will make introduction a failure. 

 Though, in the first instance, you did right 

 in removing the queen, yet you should have 

 immediately recaged her on the comb. If 

 the bees cling very thickly over the cage vou 

 should not think of letting her loose. This 

 is a sure indication of their hostility toward 

 her. We introduce hundreds of queens, 

 and yet we scarcely ever pull the cage off 

 the comb to release the queen. Let the 

 bees do it themselves. 



EVAPORATING IN THE GARRET, AGAIN. 



The following letter was forwarded by 

 C. C. Miller to us. As it corroborates the 

 doctor's statements, we give it entire. 



C. C. Miller:— I have this moment read your article 

 in last Gleanings concerning the evaporation and 

 ripening of honey. I wish to add my experience in 

 favor of keeping honey under a roof. I had partly 

 filled sections left from last year, which were stor- 

 ed under the roof, and this spring I was surprised to 

 find the honey liquid, even in combs which had not 

 been sealed at all by the bees. I never had comb 

 honey candy or crack, kept in that room. 



The past has been a poor season with us. I have 

 only 3300 lbs. of comb honey. We did not have a 

 drop of rain during July, but to-day it is raining a 

 little. J. H. Larrabee. 



Larrabee's Pt., Vt.. Aug. 4, 1888. 



THE SWEET DEPOSIT ON LEAVES SOMETIMES AN 



EXUDATION, NOT FROM INSECTS, BUT PROM 



THE LEAVES THEMSELVES. 



The following question and answer I got from 

 the Atlanta Constitution: What is the sweet sub- 

 stance found on leaves in early summer, called 

 "honey-dew," and how does it come there? 



Ans.— It is a substance similar to sugar, which is 

 formed inside the leaf, and exudes upon Its sur- 

 face as a waxy matter is thrown out on the sur- 

 face of some leaves. It has nothing to do with 

 dew— is not deposited on the leaf from any outside 

 source. 



The Constitution has a " Farmers' Question-Box," 

 and answers many questions every week. It 

 seems that there are still various opinions in re- 

 gard to what honey-dew really is. 



Some years we have no honey-dew. Once in sev- 

 eral years we have a pretty good crop, as we had 

 this year. Our honey (some of it) was quite thick 

 with sugar, even before it was sealed, so much so 

 that we could not extract it. Some say the honey- 

 dew was the cause of it. Why, then, did not all the 



hives have sugar! Some hives had none at all. 

 Can you account for it? J. M. Harris. 



Fish, Ga., Aug. 16, 1888. 



Friend H., it is true, that a good many 

 plants yield honey or sugar from the surface 

 of their leaves ; that is, tliey do occasional- 

 ly ; therefore 1 should say the above answer 

 may be perfectly correct. You will see, by 

 consulting the matter of " Honey-dew," in 

 the ABC book, liowever, that a good deal 

 of the honey-dew consists of exudations 

 from insects. 



HONEY PROM CUCUMBER-VINES. 



Do bees gather honey from cucumber-bloom? If 

 so, why not plant a large patch for them? I notice 

 them busy all day on the bloom. I see that they 

 do not gather pollen from the bloom. 



J. G. Wilson. 



Adamsville, Tfeun., Aug. 3, 1888. 



Friend W.. bees do gather honey from 

 cucumber-vines, as well as from melon, 

 squash, and pumpkin vines; but instead of 

 raising cucumbers for the honey the blossoms 

 produce, I would raise tlie cucumbers for 

 pickles, and then your honey will cost you 

 little or nothing. Better still, move your 

 apiary to some locality where cucumbers are 

 extensively raised for the pickling business. 

 The proprietors of the cucumber-farms will 

 be glad to have you do so, when they under- 

 stand things. I have never heard of a 

 cucumber- farm being utilized in this way ; 

 but the expense will be much less than rais- 

 ing cucumbers expressly for the bees. 



HOW TO RAISE PURE ITALIANS IN AN APIARY OF 

 BLACKS ; DUMMIES IN CONTRACTING. 



I have three hives of Italians and also fourteen 

 hives of blacks, on L. frames. Do you think I 

 could raise my own queens from the three Italian 

 queens (all the workers from each are three- 

 banded), by using the drone and queen trap, with 

 any assurance that they would meet Italian drones? 

 I see in a good many bee-journals that contraction 

 is advocated. Now, I can not see how, with the 

 Simplicity hive, you can control and use the Moore 

 crate or T-super without filling the space between 

 the division-board and hive, with something to pre- 

 vent the bees from going into the empty part. 

 Please explain. 



There will not be much hone}' here this year? Ear- 

 ly in the season the prospect was never better; but 

 we had a long June drouth, and there was nothing 

 for the bees to work on. Fifty pounds is the most 

 comb honey I have taken from one hive yet. 



Lester Judson. 



East Sidney, N. Y., Aug. 1, 1888. 



Friend J., you can 1-aise queens from 

 Italian queens of your own, successfully. 

 By the use of the drone-trap, as suggested, 

 you will probably obtain pure queens. 

 With three or four good Italian queens you 

 can Italianize your whole apiary. The 

 progeny of some of the queens, in "spite of 

 you, may produce hybritls ; but these im- 

 purely mated queens" you may easily weed 

 out, and by selection secure nothing but pure 

 Italian queens. — As to the matter of con- 

 traction, although not expressly stated in the 

 bee-journals and text-books, they have as- 

 sumed that the space between the division- 

 board and the hive should be filled with a 



