880 



GLEANlKGS IN BEE CULTLmE. 



Nov. 



NEARNESS TO HAIM«OAI> NOT DETRIMENTAL. 



Last fall Geo. Stocks gave me two swarms that 

 had no stores. I fed them, late in the tail, on syrup 

 in butter-dishes, or " lioats," and put them in my 

 cellar on a bit of nntiriished wall. They were about 

 fifteen feet from the railroad fence, that being fifty 

 feet from the center of the track. The first train 

 disturbed them about as much as a good smart rap 

 on the hive would, but in three or four days they 

 did not notice the trains, and wintered all right, ex- 

 cept one which was queenless in the spring. 



Nashua, la., June 27, 1888. J. C. Stocks. 



NOTES FROM NEW SOUTH WALES. 



I dare say a few facts on apiculture in this district 

 would not be out of place. Having seen a descrip 

 tion of a frame hive in an American paper some 

 three or four years ago, we at once adopted it and 

 transferred four common boxes into them; since 

 then they have increased to 30 hives by natural and 

 artificial swarming. There is scarcely any winter to 

 speak about, and seldom any hard frosts. The 

 greatest honey-yielder is the eucalyptus, of which 

 there are a great many kinds, all flowering at dif- 

 ferent times of the year. The best honey we get 

 from the mangrove heath flowers, and a little 

 orange. On the whole, you can extract 9 months 

 out of the 1~. Since I started, several other neigh- 

 bors have gone in for box frames, mostly on the 

 Berlepsch pattern. One man has 60 hives on this 

 principle, and is a specialist. I like a frame 14 inches 

 long by 7!4 deep, on the Langstroth principle, for 

 this climate. It is impossible to keep heavy sealed 

 combs from bieaking out of larger frames in warm 

 weather. Walter E. Bagot. 



Broadwater, New South Wales, Aus., Sept. 3, 1S88. 



Thanks for your notes. In regard to 

 heavy sealed combs, you can render them 

 perfectly secure by having them wired, as 

 given in O'lr price list and described in our 

 A B V of Bee Culture, even in your warm 

 climate, we tliink. 



WILD CUCUMBER AS A HONEY-PLANT ; THE QUALI- 

 TV AND QUANTITY OP THE HONEY. 



I have sent you a package of the wild cucumber 

 seed as theygro'.v in this country; and as there 

 seem to be more than one kind I will describe them 

 as they grow here. This vine, from the time it 

 comes up till the time it blooms, can hardly be told 

 from the tame cucumber, except it grows faster, 

 and has more tendrils. The female bloom is about 

 halt as big as a tame cucumber-blossom, and 

 looks about the same. The male blossom grows 

 in bunches of perhaps 30; these are about the 

 same as the larger blossoms, except they are 

 much smaller. Each one of these blossoms has a 

 small burr, or seed. These seeds are covered with 

 thorns like the cactus, and are very bad about 

 working their way into tlie flesh. The farmers in 

 this country growl because these plants grow all 

 over the fences and cornfields. They are very bad 

 about corn-cutting season; but for my part I would 

 .just as soon see these vines grow on the fences as 

 to see the same grow up with cockle-burrs or 

 morning-glories. I have never seen any thing yet 

 that beat it in the production of honey; but the 

 bees seldom work on it after 11 o'clock a. .m. The 

 honey is as light as basswood honey, as rich, and 

 much thicker. P. C. Chadwick. 



Loring, Kan., Oct. 34, 1888. 



PROPOSES TO SELL OUT. 



For two years my bees have not made honey 

 enough to live on. I have had to feed, even 

 through June. The young swarms coming out in 

 Mayor April would have to be fed from the be- 

 ginning. The first two years I went into the busi- 

 ness it was a decided success; but I moved from 

 where I then lived to Hephzibah, a little town, and 

 here they can't feed themselves. I want to sell my 

 stock of bee-fixtures. I don't think I can sell them 

 here, as those who have bees keep them in old- 

 fashioned boxes, and believe if they use the new 

 things their luck would be gone. F. E. Tarver. 



Hephzibah, Ga., Oct. 2:3, 1888. 



The last two seasons have been remarka- 

 ble for failure of the honey crop throughout 

 almost all the United States. Very few lo- 

 calities in either season furnished their full 

 quota. It is true, your old locality may 

 have been much better than the one you are 

 now in, but probably not. We would not 

 advise you to give up bees yet. Many a 

 bee-keeper has had similar "success; but 

 another season with the bees, accompanied 

 with perseverance, amply repaid for the 

 money invested and the loss from the two 

 previous seasons^ 



OLD-FOGY NOTIONS. 



It is quite amusing here in the mountains of 

 Western North Carolina to hear the old-fashioned 

 bee-keepers talking about their bees. Here in the 

 neighborhood of Dark Ridge there are about 100 

 hives, and all blacks except some of mine. Some 

 around here think that the Italians are superior 

 only as robbers. ( )ne old man expressed his opinion 

 about honey. He said it was all honey-dew, but in 

 falling it lodged in the flowers. Another man said 

 bees gathered their wax from the fields. It is amus- 

 ing to hear some talking about the "old king." 

 There are no hives used here but the round gums, 

 with the exception of a dozen or so, which are the 

 movable frame. The honey is obtained by prying 

 ofl' the head and cutting out the honey with a knife. 

 Sometimes as much as fifty pounds is obtained in 

 this way. The smoker used is a bundle of rags. 

 Comb fdn. is almost a stranger. Feeding is not 

 practiced. No bee-journals are taken, nor bee- 

 books are read. I have commenced to try my luck 

 in building up an apiary. I am going to prosecute 

 the business until I am convinced that it will not 

 pay. I have adopted the standard L. frame; have 

 the ABC; am taking Gleanings, which I could 

 not afford to do without at any price. 



G. W. McGuiRE. 



Dark Ridge, N. C, Oct. 15, 1888. 



WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE HONEY VINEGAR ? 

 OAK SAWDUST FOR STRAWBERRIES. 



Can you or any of the readers of Gleanings tell 

 me what is the matter with our hon^y vinegar? At 

 times it "dies," or loses its strength. Should the 

 "mother," or vinegar-plant, be left in or removed ? 

 We much prefer honey vinegar to any other. Have 

 j'ou or any of your readers had any experience with 

 oak sawdust as a winter cover for strawberries ? 

 D. W. C. Matthews. 



Ypsilanti, Mich., Oct. 32, 18H8. 



Friend M., I can not answer your question 

 in regard to vinegar ; but I do not believe 

 that good vinegar, properly made, ought to 

 lose its strength. — Hardwood sawdust is 



