GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July i. 



ing- piiri)oscs, coiiUiiiied in Title 33 of the Revised 

 Statutes, and 1 liu ;R't of Marcli 3, 1883; and the reg-u- 

 lations applicable td otlicr animals were modified as 

 to bees so as to dispense with certain requirements 

 on their importation as to inspection. 



In other cases, where the production of statutory 

 evidence was impracticable, and the importation 

 came clearly within the spirit of the law, such evi- 

 dence has been waived, as in the case of works of 

 American artists, imported after their decease, on 

 tlie ground that the law does not require impossi- 

 bilities. ' ,, ^ .. 



Tlie Department is therefore of opinion that it was 

 not the intention of Congress to change tlie practice 

 ill the matti'i- of the free entry of queen-bees import- 

 ed for breeding purjioses. and that (jueen-bees of 

 I'ecognized breeds may properly he admitted to free 

 entry uiidei- the provisions of paragraph 483, with- 

 out re(iiiiiing the certificate of record and pedigree 

 specified therein. 



You will therefore lie governed accordingly. 

 Respectfully yours, 



O. L. Spaulding, 



Assistant Secretary. 



[Now, the question naturally arises, " What 

 shall bee-keepers do who have already paid 

 the duty on their imported queens?" It will 

 do no harm to write to the Collector of Customs 

 as above, reminding him of the decision, and 

 asking whether a rebate on shipment upon 

 which duty has been paid can not be made. 

 You will see by Our Own Apiary, elsewhere, 

 that we I'eccived an importation of fifty qtieens, 

 and paid duty on the same. We shall at once 

 ask for a rebate on the duty.] 



llADlES' G0bl¥ERSAZ10NE. 



STONES ON HIVES. 



SOME IMl'OKTANT MATTERS DISCUSSED 15Y MKS. 

 AXTELL. 



When we began keeping bees we thought it 

 very necessary to put a stone on top of each 

 hive, as we have very high winds sometimes, 

 especially in summer; but because of the trou- 

 ble and hard lifting we left them off and have 

 not used any for 15 years or so. I can't remem- 

 ber of having the covers blown off, (except six or 

 eight at two different times, which did no harm 

 to the bees or honey. 



I remember writing to the late Moses Quinby 

 (as we got our first hives of him), and telling 

 him we should have to put a very heavy stone 

 on the top of eacii hive, or stake them to the 

 ground, or the wind would blow them all to 

 pieces, because the sides and ends were not 

 nailed, but clasped together and dovetailed at 

 the bottom-board; but we have never had a 

 hive blown over or even moved by the wind oft' 

 its foundation. 



LARGE UOUKDS AND SQUASHES Foil BEE- 

 FEEDERS. 



I notice that gourd seeds are advertised by 

 Christian Weckesser, of Niagara Falls, N. Y., 

 that will raise gourds that will hold from four 

 to ten gallons. I wonder why they would not 

 make first-class feeders, both for feeding out of 

 doors and in the hives. The inner walls of the 

 gourds would be so rough that the bees could 

 readily climb out; and the pulp, when dry, 

 would act as a float; but possibly it would be- 

 come too soft, and would need to be scraped 

 out and something else substituted as floats. A 

 small opening at the top of the gourd could be 

 cut out, and deep grooves or notches could be 

 cut in, and the whole covered up with a cloth 

 if fed in the hives, or they could be halved and 

 used as feeders, and they would not leak or dry 

 up as wooden feeders often do. 



Last fall I picked a summer squash and laid 

 it up to get thoroughly ripe before saving the 

 seeds. 1 forgot to attend to it until sevei'al 

 months after, when 1 found it had dried np so 

 hard thafi could not cut it with a knife, and 

 had to take a hatchet to cut it open. I thought. 

 "Why would they not make a good bee-f('ed- 

 er?" The pulp was dried hard, like shavings 

 or chips; also the flesh was dried up. Nothing 

 remained but a hard dry rough shell, inside and 

 out, One side is large and flat; the other is 

 small, so that it would readily stand up and not 

 tip over. A lid could be cut oft' the top, and 

 deep notches cut in, so that the bees could 

 crawl in when covered over with a cloth, and 

 there would be no leakage nor drowning. The 

 greatest objection to such feeders would be, it 

 would raise the honey-boards too high above 

 the frames. It would leave much air space 

 (cloths could be tucked in around them), but it 

 would not make so much difference in the fall 

 when all the brood was hatched out, and would 

 not make more empty space than section cases 

 would. 



FEEDING OUT OF DOORS. 



The way we are feeding our bees just now 

 (fearing some colonies would starve before we 

 could teed them and some being too weak to be 

 exposed in feeding in the hive), we put two long 

 shallow boxes in a little room at the out-apiary, 

 the ends of which came up to the little window 

 that is taken out, and a board fitted into the 

 window, making a shelf for bees to alight on. 

 Cool days the feed was poured in warm, and 

 the room warmed by the stove in the back end 

 of the room. The bees All themselves and fly 

 straight to their hives, and do not alight on the 

 tops of the hives, and chill, on cool days, as 

 th(^y do when fed out of doors; and it is but 

 slight labor to feed thus 250 or more colonies of 

 bees compared with having to feed in the hives, 

 and seems tons a better way early in the spring, 

 if there are not too many bees of the neighbors 

 within a mile. If any are very near, so their 

 bees get the beneflt of the feed as much as 

 the one who does the feeding, he ought to be 

 willing to bear his proportion of the expense of 

 the sugar fed. 



When night comes on, and the bees do not 

 g(>t it all taken out, it does no harm, as they 

 will And it the next warm day and take it all 

 up, working at it leisurely with little or no rob- 

 bing or loss of bees, and it makes the bees 

 pleasant to work with. We do not feed regu- 

 larly, and then the bees do not hang around the 

 feeders like a cat for her morning meal; but if 

 they can fly out at all, the first tew bees seem 

 to tell the rest quickly. If one will put a little 

 resin into a dish, and melt it as hot as can be, 

 until it smokes profusely, it will attract the 

 bees very quickly to the feed. Honey fed in 

 this way would make them too excited and 

 wild. The syrup should be diluted much thin- 

 ner than if fed in the hive or honey-house. 



Just before I wish to work with bees 1 likc^ to 

 till the feeders, and then I have no trouble with 

 robbing if I do not needlessly expose combs of 

 honey while opening hives. 



Later in the spring, when bees can fly nearly 

 every day, sorghum syrup is just as good as 

 sugar if one has it of his own make, using but a 

 little at first, and increasing until they can use 

 half sorghum; but as sugar is now so cheap 

 there is nothing saved by buying sorghum. We 

 thought this spring we would feed in the hive, 

 as almost everybody else does; but it is so littk^ 

 trouble each day to feed out of doors, and it 

 works so nicely, we can't see but it is much the 

 cheapest and best way for us. Others who 

 have neighbors near who have bees and would 

 not be willing to bear their share of the ex- 

 pense, could not do so unless their time were 



