598 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JiTLY 15. 



to a queenless colony; but all are accompanied 

 by delays and sometimes exasperating fail- 

 ures. I have introduced queens at once by 

 smoking the colony on the removal of the 

 queen, sprinkling the usurping queen and colo- 

 ny with peppermint water, and at once releas- 

 ing on top of frames. This plan has met with 

 no failure at my hands, the queen beginning to 

 lay, and the bees remaining quiet, apparently 

 not noticing the change of queens. 



My 18 colonies are now in winter quarters. 

 All are in Dovetailed hives, with outside cases, 

 and packed in mineral wool. 



I am greatly pleased with the broad (one 

 inch) and thick Van Deusen m(>tal-cornered 

 frames. I shall replace all frames with them 

 in the spring. .1. B. Exos. 



Connellsville, Pa.. Nov. SG, 1890. 



[Your feeder, if made of wood, would be ex- 

 actly what Doolittle uses. It is a very good 

 feeder, by the way. Propolis may be removed 

 with alcohol; but benzine or gasoline, now used 

 in most homes, is cheaper, and about as good. 

 A weak solution of lye is recommended by Dr. 

 A. B. Mason for the same purpose. Queens can 

 very often be introduced by giving them and 

 the bees some strong scent; but. if I mistake 

 not. thei'e have; been ipiite a number of repeat- 

 ed failures with the peppermint plan. It is a 

 good deal safer to cage queens on the candy 

 plan, and then you may scent them to advan- 

 tage. See Our Own Apiary, last issue.] E. R. 



A WKT SKASOX IN MISSOUKI. 



It is very discouraging here this spring for 

 bee-keepers, farming, and. in fact, every thing 

 else, as it has been so wet. To-day is June 20, 

 and it has rained 17 days this month. White 

 clover commenced to bloom May 20, but it has 

 been too wt^t for it to do any good. It has near- 

 ly quit blooming. Bees are making only their 

 living, and I judge a good share of that is 

 bread by the amount they are carrying in. 

 There is always plenty of pollen here. I have 

 57 colonies of bees, and I don't suppose they 

 have 3 lbs. of honey apiece in their hives. 



Raymore, Mo., June 20. Wm. O. Heivly. 



over tlie tulie in box B. and covered witli wire clotli. 

 This let the liglit ill just where it was most needed. 

 After that, about the first bee that entered box B 

 was the queen, and tliere was no further trouble. 

 Those who have received the swarmers and found 

 this troulile will take the liint. It was found that, 

 the nearer the liive or decoy-box foi' catching' the 

 swarm was phieed to the entrance of tlie parent 

 hive, the better the .swarmer worked. Instead of 

 using a hive for catching tlie swarm, a box made of 

 any hght material is better. We placed a comb in 

 the decoy-box; and a day or so before the swarm is- 

 sued, the bees would commence to work into the 

 box; tlien when a swarm came off they quickly 

 liived tliemselves. Now, in order to l)ring'the l)oxes 

 A and C neai'er the parent hive, other lioles were- 

 made in the i-enter of tlie tops of them. No one is 

 obliged to use the swarmers just as they are received 

 from us. Make any change in theni toflt your hives- 

 and situation. Tlie idea should not he lost sight of 

 that, the nearer the decoy-box can be placed to the- 

 parent colony, the better. The swarmer is an as- 

 sured success. Of this there is not a particle of 

 doubt.— American Apicitlturist, July 1. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HI& 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



■SPURIOUS TOMATO SEED. 



With the large demand for the Ignotum, we 

 sold out all the seed of our own raising, and 

 were obliged to purchase seed; but it all came 

 from our bee-friends, so far as we know, and 

 from those whom we judge to be reliable. We- 

 found out, however, that some who .sold the 

 seed were very cai'cless, if nothing worse; for 

 some of our plants, when they began to show 

 the second leaf, had foliage like the Mikado. 

 These were pulled out and thrown away, of 

 course. One of our patrons complained that he 

 raised over 2000 plants, and they seemed to be- 

 from seed of every variety and description. I 

 know it is a pretty hard matter to make amends 

 for work like this; but we should prefer to do 

 what is right and fair in the matter, and we are 

 going to work right off now to try to save all 

 our seeds fi-om tomatoes of our growing, and 

 these will all be from selected tomatoes. Sui'e- 

 ly there is no excellence without great labor. 



WILL IT PAY TO KEQUEEN ? 



Will it pay me to requeen a small apiary in 

 order to get a strain of bees that is more indus- 

 trious? Do you think there is any difference in 

 bees in regard to their working qualities ? 



Olivet. O.. June 30. E. S. Mead. 



[It would not pay you unless you wish bees 

 of a more gentle disposition. While Italians 

 will gathei' more honey than blacks, they will 

 not gather much more than hybrids.] 



To date I have taken a little ovei- 17 barrels 

 (50 gallons each) of extracted bonify from 116 

 colonies, and the honey is of fair quality. 



Sterling, Ark., June 13. Ciias. II. Kincade. 



We now have frequent showers, and fine 

 weathei' for bees to work. The fields are white 

 with clover, but the bees will hardly notice it. 

 I hope it will yet yield, for my bees were never 

 in a better condition for a harvest. 



Belle Vernon, Pa.. June 17. A. B. Baird. 



alley's AUTOMATIC SWARMKK. 



We must speak of the swarmer. All the reports 

 that have come in ai-e favorable. Not one unfavor- 

 able report lias come to hand up to date. Our expe- 

 rience this season has been this: Occasionallj' a 

 queen could not find her way through the tube. 

 This was quickly remedied. A hole 1>2 inches in di- 

 ameter was quickly made with a center-bit directly 



OMON-SETS. 



We have just received the following from 

 Landreth; 



Mr. Root: — Replying to yours of the 2d inst., 

 we book your order for Pearl sets, subject to our 

 ability to supply them after tilling orders on 

 iile. The writer noticed an article in the jour- 

 nal relating to Pearl sets; and even in the face 

 of it we do not recommend them for fall plant- 

 ing, except in the South, where the winters are- 

 open. They have even been frozen out and 

 entirely killed as far south as Georgia. It is 

 the most tender onion we know of; and were 

 we to recommend them for fall planting in the 

 North it would undoubtedly bring us a number 

 of orders and a stream of complaints later on. 

 D. Landreth I'C- Sons. 



Philadelphia, Pa., July 3. 



THE southern PRIZE TURNIP. 



Friend Root: — As you put my hobby befoiv 

 the readers of Gleanings before it had been 

 properly groomed, I beg leave to state some of 

 the r(>asons on which my conclusions are based. 

 I have been raising turnips on a rathei' large 

 scale for several years, feeding them to slock. 

 I observed that oats fell down before maturing, 

 and corn grew stronger on the turnip ground 

 than on other parts of the field, when only the 

 tops had been left to decay. Twenty-five tons 

 can easily be grown to the acre, and I suppose 



