768 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



ing the young. I have scini the beeS after the 

 old one very often when they were flying: bnt 

 they will chase I'obins or any other birds just 

 as quick if they fly across the apiary; but the 

 flight of the king-bird is of such a dilatory, part 

 stand-still kind of movement, that the bees can 

 follow them much better than swifter-flying 

 birds like the robin, which will very quickly 

 distance a bee's flight. 



COOKED NUBBINS. 



No, Prof. C there is no connection between 

 the cool weather and the small honey-flow. Some 

 of the best yields I ever saw have- been in cool 

 seasons when there was alm,ost no hot weather; 

 but it must be moderately dry, any year, wet or 

 dry, to get the best, although we see it every few 

 days something like that. The weather is hot and 

 rains abundant; the air is damp, full of elec- 

 tricity, just right for the secretion of nectar: 

 but. friends, how many of you get much honey 

 during such seasons'? or if you do it will be 

 thin and smarty, especially clover, which will 

 almost strangle a person to eat it clear, while 

 that gathered in dry weather will be smooth 

 and rich, and much more palatable than the 

 other, usually much more abundant, although 

 the flow may be short if it gets too dry. 



Now. Prof. C do quit urging every farmer or 

 fruit-grower to keep a few hives of bees, for 

 all it will amount to will be to spoil the market 

 for othei-s who have no other business, or not 

 much, and of very doubtful beneflt to the farm- 

 er, who. if he has much of a farm, will have no 

 time to fuss with or take decent care of a few 

 hives of bees without costing him, in one way 

 or another, more than it will come to. One 

 specialist in any community will furnish bees 

 enough to fertilize all tlu^ fruit free of charge, 

 and get curses enough to satisfy any man who 

 is satisfied with any thing reasonable in 

 amount. One would think that the field of bee- 

 keeping could not be enlarged enough, by the 

 many suggestions made, that eveiybody should 

 keep a few hives: and it does not look consis- 

 tent, at least, to see it. and then hear the cry 

 about glutted honey-markets and low prices 

 which we are sure to have again just as soon 

 as there is any thing like a full crop of honey. 



THAT STKAIX OF KOOTING BEES 



which J. H. Markley suggests, would not suit 

 me; for, instead of spilling the honey, I should 

 want to have them gather it up without spill- 

 ing. It might be clearer, you know. 



HONEY-DEW NOT GOOD FOR WINTER. 



Several are inquii'ing about honey-dew for 

 winter, and some of the replies are that it is good 

 if of certain kinds: and another says it is not good 

 if itison beech-trees. I will tell hereitis just as 

 bad on oak or chestnut or hickory as on beech. I 

 have had experience witli it four years at dif- 

 ferent times, with always bad to much worse 

 than bad luck every tinie. I lost 100 out of 200 

 one winter. The dew that time was on beech- 

 trees about half a mile west of my bees: and a 

 man living a mile east of me had 30 swarms, 

 and his bees were not affected. He laughed at 

 me when I told him it was dew that ailed mine. 

 Well, next fall it was on beech timber in the same 

 place, and also on some close to his, and I lost 

 120 out of 12.5. and he lost every one. of his, and 

 gave it up, and has not kept bees since. 



WOODCHOPPER. 



Blue Mounds, Wis.. Sei)t. 10. 



[Yes, but king - birds do eat workers. I 

 watched one one day catching workers on the 

 wing. Before he had fully satisfied himself, he 

 had snapped up something over a dozen bees. 

 That they were workers was evidenc(!d by the 

 fact that they were coming in from the fields 



heavily laden with honey, and they were so 

 close that I could readily recognize the differ- 

 ence between them and drones. That they are 

 very fond of drones is quite true: but they are 

 also fond of workers. See what Prof. Cook 

 says elsewhere in this issue and the preceding 

 one.] E. R. 



BEE-GLUE IN CUBA. 



ITS EFFECT ON FLAT COVERS, SUPERS, AND 

 FIXED FRAMES. 



As the merits and demerits of the Hoffman 

 frame seem to be the main tojiicof discussion at 

 present, I can say the same as others say about 

 the frame in Cuba; viz.. it is not a practical frame 

 to use here on account of the propolis, which 

 abounds in a superlative degree; and for stick- 

 ing qualities it is second to none. To give you 

 some idea of its adhesive properties. I have 

 time and again placed supers on a one-story 

 hive, and let them remain some time; and 

 when I would want to remove them, by placing 

 my foot on the bottom-board, with all my 

 strength I was not able to remove the super. 

 Now. mind you, they neither had bees in them, 

 nor stood in the sun. You know that, to do a 

 good job of gluing, you must have a space big 

 enough for a good quantity of glue to adhere to 

 the surface, to be successful. Now. the bees 

 seem to realize this in the Hoftn^an frame, and 

 I assure you they put it into practice. 



I notice on page 473, of June 1, that one of 

 our friends says he can handle the Hoffman 

 frame about twice as fast as he can the loose 

 hanging frame. We must always have a cause 

 before an effect, and I fail to see how it is, that, 

 by causing the top and end bars to be made a 

 little bit wider, it will affect their handling 

 enough to admit of their being handled twice 

 as fast as the common loose fi'ame. Of course, 

 a person may get used to handling a frame, 

 even if it is a little odd shaped and inconven- 

 ient at first, so that he can handle it with 

 ease and rapidity: but not twice as fast as 

 the loose frame. Now. the Hoffman fi'ame 

 might do if every one is put back in the same 

 place it was taken from, so the glue would not 

 accumulate on the edges so as to prevent them 

 from going close together; but that would be 

 too much like walking up hill backward, es- 

 pecially where one has to go over large apiaries 

 weekly the year round. I believe the frame 

 will do in a colder climate where less propolis 

 abounds; and the advantage of moving the 

 hives is quite an item in its favor. 



FLAT COVERS AND THEIR DLSADVANTAGES. 



Flat covers are a nuisance here. They are 

 hard to remove, for the bees keep them glued 

 down so tight it makes them unhandy to be re- 

 moved, besides there being no air-space, which 

 makes the bees rather warm. A hive adapted 

 to this climate should have a space above the 

 frames of about two inches, and also an enamel 

 cloth, which allows the air to circulate freely 

 through the tops, and the bees don't get so hot 

 ^tliat is the main kind of hive in use here. 



San Miguel, Cuba. T. O. Somerford. 



[From the evidence that has come in. we 

 shall have to admit that bee-glue in Cuba, and 

 perhaps in other hot climates, is superlative in 

 qualitv and quantity; and it is quite probable 

 that, in such climates, it would foi'bid the use 

 of fixed frames and flat covers, or covers under 

 which no cloth or enamel sheet is used. When 

 Mr. Hoffman and others said they could handle 

 the Hoffman frame twice as fast as the loose 

 frame, they meant for northern localities, or 

 where bee-glue is no worse than it is with them. 



