1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



803 



I obtained a good crop of hopey this year. The 

 amount was 7000 lbs. Wm. M. Streader. 

 Millwood, Va. 



I had 19 colonies, spring count, and I have 43 now; 

 plenty of honey. I have sold some honey at 15 cts. 

 per lb. J. W. Taylor. 



Ozan, Ark., Sept. 26, 1888. 



56 LBS. PER COLONY. 



Honey crop on the average was good. I think the 

 main harvest is over. I have taken off 56 lbs. per 

 hive so far, and could have secured more, but was 

 short of section supers at the proper time. 



Emmons, Kan., Sept. 24, 1888. Thos. B. Evans. 



HONEY FROM THE POLYGONUM. 



I had 20 colonies, spring count. I obtained 30 

 gallons of exti-acted, and 100 lbs. of comb (linden) 

 honey, and 100 gallons of polygonum extracted, and 

 I don't know yet how much section honey from the 

 polygonum. Daniel E. Robbins. 



Payson, 111., Sept. 24, 1888. 



HONEY CROP UNUSALLY LARGE AND NICE. 



My honey crop this year is unusually large, and of 

 fine quality. I gathered in June and July not less 

 than 700 lbs., about half comb and half extracted 

 honey, from 8 colonies, spring count. These were 

 increased by natural swarming to 14 colonies. My 

 honey is chiefly white clover, though I think tulip, 

 poplar, basswood, and sumac contributed to it 

 somewhat, but it is all very white and attractive. 



Media, Pa., Sept. 15, 1888. F. M. Potts. 



FROM DISCOURAGING TO ENCOUR.\GING. 



I started in the spring with 26 stocks. Some were 

 weak, and some ve7"y weak. In the fore part of the 

 season they seemed to devote all their time to 

 brood-rearing and swarming. I had but little sur- 

 plus from white clover and linn, and had concluded 

 our cake would be dough again this season. I had 

 fixed in my mind a rest for September, when all at 

 once the boom came. I had to go to work and " turn 

 up my spoon." Result, 56 hives, all in good condi- 

 tion to go into winter quarters. Honey is stacked 

 around in different places and shapes, which "she" 

 says is better this season than it has been for years. 



Garden Grove, la., Sept. 28, 1888. Lewis M. Kob. 



\mE^ WJ) QaEi^iE^. 



1888. 



THE GREAT STORM OP LOUISIANA. 



I HE decennial storm of Aug. 29th injured our 



" young queens somewhat. Perhaps 100 were 



lost that were to be tested for spring. These 



decennial storms occurred as follows: Aug. 



10, 1856; Sept. 28, 1867; Sept. 1,1879; Aug. 29, 



They are always fearful, doing great damage 



to crops, etc. The cotton is half destroyed. Cane 



is flat and corn is ruined. There is rain daily— not 



rain, but ^oods of water. J. W. K. Shaw & Co. 



Loreauville, La., Sept. 6, 1888. 



[I am inclined to think tliese storms occur just 

 about so often, rather by accident than because 

 there is any thing periodical about it. Did you not 

 have many other storms pretty nearly as bad, aside 

 from those you have mentioned during those thirty 

 years?] 



SCRAPING SECTIONS. 



The best way to clean sections is in the case, if 

 they fit the case as tight as they should. 

 Rio Sta., Va., July 37, 1888. Jos. Griffin. 



THAT BEE. 



About tliat bee tliat visited 204 blossoms of clover 

 before he got a load, you asked me if I was sure 

 be liadn't visited some before I liad seen him. I am 

 pretty sure lie liadn't.— It lias been the poorest 

 lioney season here that I have ever seen. 



Calvin C. Phelps. 



East Windsor Hill, Conn., Sept. 18, 1888. 



MORE ABOUT THE GRASSHOPPER BEE-EATER. 



Yes, grasshoppers do eat bees, for I saw one eat a 

 whole bee. The grasshopper stood on the liive near 

 the entrance until it had eaten the bee. Whetlier 

 dead or alive when the grasshopper commenced, I 

 can not tell. Joseph Mason. 



Wallace, De Kalb Co., lU. 



[I think Prof. Cook will have to take care of that 

 gi'asshopper. It is rather out of our line, and I 

 think the grasshopper was certainly "out of order."! 



DRONE comb for STORAGE. 



What makes bees build drone comb in the section 

 honey-boxes? I have about 500 sections that were 

 built with drone comb in the last ten days. 



Liberty, Mo., Sept. 1, 1888. S. W. White. 



[Bees are apt to build drone comb when the inflow 

 of nectar seems to be gi-eater than their capacity 

 for comb-building. The drone-cell is the natural 

 cell for storage, and unless we use worker founda- 

 tion they oftentimes run to the drone. Most bee- 

 keepers prefer to have section honey built in 

 worker-cells.] 



EARLY AND LATE MADE COMB. 



Why is the comb made during the last half of the 

 honey-flow so much heavier than that made the 

 first of the season? There is a marked difference. 

 I mean suprlus comb. J. A. Golden. 



Reviersville, O., Aug. 14, 1888. 



[Friend G., I had never thought of this matter un- 

 til you suggested it; but I believe you are right, 

 that the bees build heavier combs— that is, they use 

 more wax late in the fall than in June and July. I 

 can gi\'e no reason unless it is that the cooler 

 weather makes it more difficult for them to draw 

 the comb out thin.] 



A FLAT, OR V-SHAPE TOP-BAR FOR BROOD-FRAMES 

 —WHICH ? 



Which is preferred in brood-frames, as a rule, by 

 the majority of bee-keepers— those with flat top- 

 bar, or those having triangular top-bar? 1 have 

 seen some trouble this summer here with frames 

 having a flat top-bar, owing to their breaking down 

 when tilled very heavily. In such cases the top- 

 bar sags down, and at last the comb breaks loose. 



Dallas, Tex., Aug. 11, 1888. A. Branshaw. 



[No doubt, friend B., the V-shaped guide adds 

 strength to the top-bar; but it occupies a good deal 

 of valuable space that might better be devoted to 

 the storage of honey or to brood-rearing. Where 

 the combs are wired, as a great part of those that 

 are vised are now made, there is no sagging of the 

 top-bar, unless the diagonal wires are broken.] 



CHLORAL as A REMEDY FOR BEE-STINGS. 



We copy the following from the Cincinnati En- 

 quirer: 



MoNTPELiER, Ind., Sept. 28.— A fifteen-year-old 

 son of James Alexander, nine miles north-west of 

 this place, was stung by a bee. A short time after- 

 ward he went to Poneto, three miles west. When 

 the boy got to town the sting hurt him so that he 

 went to a doctor, wlio administered chloral, seem- 

 ingly without effect, until five doses had been giv- 

 en, when the youth dropped off the chair on which 

 he had been sitting, and expired in a short time. 



[There, friends, I think you can see pretty clearly 

 that my advice of letting a bee-sting alone would 

 liave saved a life in at least one case. Think of 

 killing a child with chloral because the pain of the 

 sting was hard to bear for a little time!] 



