1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



557 



A NUT FOR DOOl.ITTI.K TO CKACK : DO THE 



BEES THAT GATHER THE HOXEY ALSO 



PUT IT IXTO THE fEI-I.S? 



Friend Doolittle says that the bees that gath- 

 er the honey do not put it into the comb. I say 

 they do, the same as the bees that gather the 

 pollen. Friend D.. just throw flour on the bees 

 that come in with honey, then watch through 

 the glass on the side of the hive, and you will 

 change your mind. In sending in reports in 

 regard to wintering bees, May 15th is soon 

 enough; then we know how many colonies we 

 have got safely out of the woods. I have 42 

 out of ()1. I had the first new swarm INIay 26, 

 and took off the first sections May 30. Bee- 

 keepers, there is going to be a large crop of 

 honey: and the first thing to do is to get sec- 

 tions and hives in time. Fayette Lee. 



Cokato, Minn., June 1. 1891. 



SHIPPING DRONES FROM THE SOUTH, FOR EARLY 

 QUEEN-REARING IN THE NORTH. 



I do not know that the shipping of drones 

 north in early April has ever been attempted 

 with any degree of success. If not, friend Cray- 

 craft (did you see what that dyspeptic says in 

 the Canadian Bee Jourmtl 'dboni calling friends 

 "friends"?) and myself have made a new de- 

 parture in progressive bee culture. However, 

 even if it has not been before undertaken, I 

 have no idea a patent will be applied for: but 

 friend C. deserves as much credit for his suc- 

 cessful delivery of drones north in early spring, 

 which has enabled me to rear queens much 

 earlier than by any forcing method. The 

 Adams Express Co. deserves "boycotting"' for 

 excessive and unreasonable rates on bees. 



Jno. C. Capehart. 



St. Albans, W. Va., ^Nlay 6, 



[Friend C, this matter of shipping drones has 

 been tried at different times for years back. I 

 believe, however, they do not ship very well: 

 and when they get to" their destination, so far 

 as I am informed they do not seem to answer 

 the purpose intended. If you and friend Cray- 

 craft have succeeded, let us know more about 

 it.] 



A good testimonial for THE PORTER HEE- 

 ESCAPE, 



Please allow a few words in praise of the 

 Porter bee-escape. We have tested it this sea- 

 son, and find it perfection. We use it on a 

 board }4 inch thick, with a ?^-inch space on 

 top. It cleared the bees from a super in five 

 hours. We shall not try any other, as we find 

 in the Porter all we want. 



Will some one tell us how to prevent comb 

 honey being infested by moths or worms? 



Roxobel, N. S., June 15. Barnes Bros, 



[As a rule, friends, there is but little trouble 

 from moths or moth-worms whei-e Italian bees 

 are the rule and not the exception. Our text- 

 books on bee culture discuss the matter thor- 

 oughly in reference to fumigating with brim- 

 stone. I believe, however, that few bee-keepers 

 find it necessary to do this since the Italians 

 have so extensively taken the place of the 

 lalacks.] 



THAT missing INDEX. 



Mr. Root:—l want to growl just a little this 

 one time. It will not be worth while to set 

 apart a " Growlery " on my account, for T do not 

 promise to do aiiy more after this one time. 

 What troubles me now is. I can't find the index 

 in Gleanings. May be it is a good thing to 

 make people read it all through, bat sometimes 

 I want to refer to something in a hurry. I pick 

 up Gleanings, make a rush for the index, but. 



alas I it is not thi're. I then begin to leaf it 

 over, because I have no time to read it all 

 through just then, and perhaps do not find the 

 passage readily which I wish to find: then, oh 

 how 1 wish there were an index to every num- 

 ber of Gleanings! However, if no one else 

 wants an index but me, I am willing to submit 

 patiently. So, inclosed you will find one dollar, 

 for which please send me Gleanings another 

 year, index or no index. 

 Durango, la., June 5. Jos. M. Woodhouse, 



[There, friend W., I foi- one am very glad to 

 have you talk right out plain. I told the boys I 

 knew it would not suit: but they said. "'Well, 

 let's try it and see how many people grumble." 

 Now, if you had not " growled " you see they 

 wo^ild have taken it for granted that nobody 

 wanted the index particularlv, except your old 

 friend A, I, R,] '_ 



LAP.GE BLUE MOTH. 



Mr. Root: — I send you a miller which is found 

 around the fruit- trees a good deal toward night. 

 What do you think they are about? What 

 kind of mischief ai'e they at? I. B. Whiton. 



Ithaca. Mich., June 15. 



[Prof. Cook replies:] 



The large slim wasp- like moth, sent by I. B. 

 Whiton, is Ctoiiicha inrriinicd. The larv;e 

 feed on grass, and the insects are never com- 

 mon enough to do serious harm or awaken 

 alarm. The moth has an orange head, blue 

 thorax, and black wings. It flies in the day 

 time, often in the hot sunshine, though more 

 geuei-ally later in the day. It is a handsome 

 insect, and in size, form, and coloratioiL mimics 

 our large blue wasps. This no doubt saves it 

 from attack by birds. A, J. Cook. 



Ag'l College. Mich. 



QUEENS FROM DEAD COLONIES. 



When you have queens saved from colonies 

 that die early in the spring, how do you keep 

 them till you want to use them ? 



Edmund J, Purcell. 



Clachan, Ont., June 3. 



[Friend P.. we can keep them sometimes for a 

 few days, or may be two or three weeks, in a 

 queen-cage, giving them fresh bees every four 

 or five davs. being careful, at the same time, 

 that thev'are kept in an apartment that is al- 

 ways up" to about 70 degrees. If you wish to 

 keep them longer than that time, you will have 

 to take a nucleus from some strong colony: and 

 if your bees have the spring dwindling, you 

 may lose the strong colony and the nucleus too.] 



USING DRONE COMB IN THE UPPER STORY. FOR 

 EXTRACTING. 



Would you advise the use of frames that 

 have drone comb in the upper stoiy for extiact- 

 ing, using queen-excluders? J. R. Colville. 



Coleman. Mo.. May 25. 



[Some years ago drone combs w<Me used for 

 this purpose: but I have not heard much about 

 them of late yeais. Will some of our friends 

 who work for extracted honey tell us about it?] 



EAllLY SWARMING IN ILLINOIS. 



Bees were swarming in this vicinity two 

 weeks ago. I hived a very lai-ge swarm yester- 

 dav. which gives me four colonies to begin 

 with. The bees here have had a regular picnic 

 all spring, the best in many yeai's past. White 

 clover is beginning to bloom. There are but 

 few bees kept near mv town, but the pastun* is 

 No. 1. generallv. D. A. Cadwallader. 



Prairie du Rocher. 111., May 11. 



