670 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



AiTG. 15. 



left their hive (a two-frame box ^H in. x 10 x 18 

 in. long) and clustered on the front of a hive 

 clo.se by. During the night we had a cold rain, 

 or sleet; and when I discovered them in the 

 morning they wei'e more or less covered with 

 ice. Supposing they were all dead. I brushed 

 them off and found the queen, which, to all 

 appearance, was chilled to death; but after 

 holding her in my hands a short time she 

 began to show signs of life, and in a few 

 minutes was lively. During the- same day, 

 Jan. 7, I discovered a queenless colony which 

 was very weak, and after laying the chilled 

 bees in the sun awhile, most of them revived. I 

 then put the queen and all into the weak colony. 

 It being cold again until about the 30th I did 

 not examine them until that time, and found 

 quite a lot of eggs and some capped brood; but 

 all had the appearance of drone brood. After 

 that time I examined them every warm day 

 until March 2.5th, and found that nothing but 

 drone eggs had been laid by the queen since she 

 was placed in the hive. Was the cause of her 

 laying all drone eggs the result of her being 

 chilled? R. J. Anderson. 



Palouse City, Wash., July 17. 



[You are right, friend A. The fact that freez- 

 ing would injure a queen so that she would pro- 

 duce only drones, was given by Baron von Ber- 

 lepsch. You will find an account of his experi- 

 ments in a little book called " The Dzierzon 

 Theory."'] 



PLURALITY OF QUEKNS IN ONE BKOOD-NEST. 



I have, by long experience, found out that, if 

 one queen is good, two are better: so I have 

 succeeded in placing any number of queens in 

 the same brood-chamber, all loose on the same 

 combs, and they all agree nicely. I have seen 

 them meet on the combs and caress each other. 

 I should like to hear from the bee-men, and 

 should like to know all opinions. I have one 

 colony with four queens in. and I can take out 

 enough brood to rear up all the weak stock in 

 no time. G. W. Palmer. 



Greeley, Col., June .5. 



[You are putting it too strong, friend P., I 

 am pretty sure. I have seen queens that, at 

 certain times, would behave nicely, even three 

 or four on one comb. But I have also, a great 

 many more times, seen them attack each other 

 so fiercely that one was lost before I could 

 hardly interfere. We tested a great number of 

 these encounters with a glass observatory hive 

 years ago. If you mean to tell us that you can 

 at any time put two or three queens into a hive 

 and not have them molest each other, it must 

 be something new.] 



prevention of first swarms from re- 

 swarming. 



Your ABC and all the prominent bee-writ- 

 ers have much to say about preventing after- 

 swarms; but nowhere do I find any thing about 

 preventing first swarms from re-swarming. As 

 the large bee-keepers say nothing about this 

 trouble, I conclude they do not have re-swarm- 

 ing, as I call it, and I should like to know how 

 thev prevent it. E. Benting. 



Whfte Pine, Tenn., June 26. 



[With black bees, fi-iend B., it is very seldom 

 that any sort of swaim sends out a swarm the 

 same season. With Italians, however, and our 

 foreign races of bees, svhen they get the swarm- 

 ing mania one swarm may send out several 

 during a good honey-flow and a long season.] 



pan by putting a board on each side when they 

 are small; they will then grow flat instead of 

 round. The boards should be planed; and a 

 nice way is to nail a block between each end of 

 the boards, the thickness you want to grow 

 your gourd. C. R. Ruth. 



Elimsport. Pa., July 20. 



We are having a great run on basswood 

 honey, which has been good for many years 

 without one exception. F. B. Jones. 



Howard, Minn., July 23. 



a report that is encouraging. 



Our bees, 110 old colonies, gathered over 

 12.000 lbs. surplus, and have plenty for winter — 

 all from basswood. A colonv on the scales got 

 17.5 lbs. from the 10th to the 20th of July. 



Viola, Wis.. Aug 2. M. A. Gill. 



I have 21 stands of bees, from which I have 

 extracted this season, up to date, about 2100 lbs. 

 This. I think, will beat the record, and they are 

 now storing honey as fast as ever. The season 

 is not half over. I have also managed several 

 apiaries for my neighbors. Bees are all doing 

 well here. A. B. Farrar. 



Palma Sola, Florida, July 18. 



We are now packing honey-cases and sections 

 of your make. The season is very late. This 

 is the first we could get off. and yet our hives 

 are " packed " to keep them warm. To-day 

 the thermometer declares 108° Fah. The gen- 

 eral opinion seems to be that this will be a good 

 season fot" honey, but considerably later than, 

 usual on account of the cold backward spring. 



Foster's Station. Cal.. July 1.5. J. I. Foot. 



A good report. 



My bees are doing well. I am extracting 2 tc 

 2)^ gallons from the hive, and selling at ¥1.00' 

 per gallon. I have 15 hives. I have sold 4 at 

 S3..50 this spring. I started with one hive five 

 years ago (a present), and am out, say. ^35; but 

 I have sold enough to overpay it. I had honey 

 all the time, and have the bees left as profit. 



Kopperl, Tex., July 10. Rice Maxey. 



1000 LKS. OF HORSEMINT HONEY FROM 60 

 COLONIES. 



We have had a fine honey year so far. My 

 bees, 60 stands, gathered about 1000 lbs. of hon- 

 ey from horsemint. It is very good honey. I 

 am counting on 2.500 lbs. of honey this year. 

 There are some 20 acres in horsemint in reach 

 of my bees, and may be a little more than that. 

 It has been in bloom all June. It grows on all 

 waste land in this country, among other weeds, 

 and is hurtful to any thing, and hard to get rid 

 of. I think it would be well to sow on all waste- 

 land in fall. J. F. Teel, 



Elmont. Tex., Julv 5. 



HOW TO GROW GOITRDS FLAT, THE RIGHT 

 SHAPE FOR HKE-FEEDERS. 



I notice Mrs. Axtell speaks of gourds for 

 making feeders. They can be grown flat like a 



A DROUTH IN ARKANSAS. 



A drouth is upon us, and the prospect foi- a 

 white-honey crop from our main plant (cotton) 

 is not promising. The planters will suffer as 

 well, and I hope I am not with the numb<H- who 

 say. "Misery loves company." I have taken 

 only 1100 lbs. from my home yard of 100 colo- 

 nies. The queen -trade, however, is brisk. I 

 have shipped 430 to date, and have orders foi" 

 .50 more, which will go in the next ten days. I 

 will make a final report at the end of the sea- 

 son. W. H. Laws. 



Lavaca, Ark., July 22. 



