1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



819 



land, but I suspect it would be too expensive 

 for us. 

 Illinois. N. C. C. Miixer. 



[It seems to me. friends, that this whole 

 matter hinges on a locality or season, where 

 pollen is plentiful and where it is not. Now. 

 there are seasons when our bees seem to care 

 but little for meal, and at other times they 

 seem just crazy for it. At such times I have 

 e.xamined hive after hive without finding a 

 trace of pollen. They were actually powerless 

 to raise brood unless th.ey could find some sub- 

 stance that would answer as pollen. They 

 went to a sawmill near by until the people 

 complained that they could not handle the 

 lumber on account of the bees, and the piles of 

 sawdust were also covered with them. They 

 went inquiringly into the barns and stables, 

 and seemed to be crazy for any thing in the line 

 of meal. Hour, or chopped feed. At such times, 

 oats and rye ground together were taken with 

 wonderful avidity, and brood-rearing started as 

 if by magic. The largest honey-yield I ever re- 

 ported came after the heaviest meal feeding we 

 •ever had. and visitors from adjoining apiaries 

 expressed great astonishment to see my hives 

 so crowded with brood when theirs were not. 

 Friend Hasty speaks of solid lumps of hardened 

 meal or fiour in the combs. We found quite a 

 little in our combs during one season, but we 

 •didn't discover it until extracting time. The 

 bees seemed almost unable to get it out without 

 •cutting out the combs or excavating it and let- 

 ting it tumble on the bottom-board. That 

 spring we fed fine white-wheat flour. In feed- 

 ing oatmeal and rye I have never noticed any 

 such trouble. My answer, therefore, would be, 

 whenever there is such a state of affairs that 

 the bees seem greedy for the rye flour before 

 the natural pollen comes, and when examina- 

 tion at the time shows that their hives contain 

 no pollen. I would most assuredly give them 

 some of the substanc<'S mentioned above. 

 When, however, natural pollen comes, as soon 

 as they fly freely, or when there is pollen enough 

 in thecombs, I would not fuss to give them a 

 substitute, unless it were, perhaps, a very little, 

 ■'•just for the fun of the thing," as Doolittle 

 puts it.] A. I. R. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



'• RASPBERRY APIARY " REPORT FOR 1891: 



LEATHER-COLORED ITALIANS; HOW THEY 



ROLL IN THE HONEY. 



The hives used are " Bristol L.," and the 

 strain of bees is one cross, since coming from A. 

 E. Manum's leather-colored; and while not 

 •quite as gentle as some of the handsome, dude- 

 looking, five-banded hybrid bees so much laud- 

 ed for their beauty, yet if any one wishes bees 

 for honey I advise him to obtain some of A. E. 

 Manura, of Bristol, Vt.. as I know they are 

 good, and, as sent out by him. pure Italian. 

 April 27 I had two good colonies, two fair. May 

 11 I put upper stories with queen-excluders on 

 Nos. 1 and 2, and moved No. 3 to Barre. On 

 June .5th. all were in prime condition — Nos. 1 

 and 2 storing some new honey. On June 1.5th 

 I extracted from Nos. 1. 2. and 4. 1.50 lbs.; June 

 20th. from Nos. 1. 2. and 4. 170 lbs.; June 27th. 

 from Nos. 1, 2. and 4. 200 lbs.; July 2d, from No. 

 1. 80 lbs.; from Nos. 2 and 4, 100 lbs.; July 16th, 

 from No. 3. (50 lbs.; July 23d. from Nos. 1, 4. and 

 3, 110 lbs.; Aug. 3d. from Nos. 1 and 4. 100 lbs. 

 Total, 970 lbs. In the way of Increase I saved 



two swarms. At least three large swarms went 

 to the woods, as no one watched for swarming. 

 I clipped the old queens' wings for the sole ob- 

 ject of keeping them at work for me as long as 

 possible. Bees are now in good condition; but 

 if the fall flow fails I shall have to have return- 

 ed to them for winter, 170 lbs. 



I wintered in the cellar. Honey .sources, fruit, 

 raspberry, white and alsike clover, basswood, 

 and goldenrod. The remarkable record of 80 

 lbs. of honey as the net gain for four consecu- 

 tive days, of one queen's bees, in one hive, is 

 something which I do not remember having 

 heard of. The honey is of very good quality. 



Barre. Vt. H. W. Scott, 



[Your repoi-t is good, but we must not over- 

 look the fact that the product from a few colo- 

 nies is usually much greater in proijortion than 

 from a larger numbei'.] 



THE HONEY-CROP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE; A GOOD 

 SEASON REPORTED. 



New Hampshire has furnished the Union its 

 proportion of great men. and has done it hand- 

 somely; yet it can not show a great number of 

 " way up ■■ bee-keepers. Out of New Hamp- 

 shire's gi-anite flows an abundance of water, 

 but honey doesn't seem to flow so freely; but 

 scattered here and there over the rocks are 

 farms, and on these farms are flowers, and in 

 these flowers honey is to be found. Bees find it 

 and carry it home to their families. Then 

 comes man. with all his selfishness, and claims a 

 lion's share; and thus it is that, as I write, some 

 of the most delicious honey that flowers ever pro- 

 duced is tickling my palate, and making glad my 

 heart. Bee-keepers of New Hampshire have had 

 a very prosperous season. To be sure, the bees 

 died out badly during the winter and spring, 

 but the honey-flow has been all that could be 

 desired. Not for a good many yeai'S has there 

 been so much white clover. It has grown every- 

 where — by the roadsides, in the pastures, gar- 

 dens, in dooryards — anywhere and everywhere; 

 and that it contained honey, our bee-hives ful- 

 ly attest. Bee-keepers in this vicinity all tell 

 me that they have never known honey to be 

 more abundant: but the weather has been un- 

 favorable a part of the time. However, more 

 honey has been secured than for several years. 

 There is no purer, richer-flavored honey pro- 

 duced in any part of the United States than in 

 New Hampshire. There can not be. Perhaps 

 there is no place where honey brings so high a 

 price. The retail price is uniformly 25 cents 

 per box. and it is scarce at that. We should 

 judge from reports, that this season has been 

 more favorable than last in almost every sec- 

 tion of the country. Honey should bring a 

 good price, as it has been pretty well cleaned 

 up during the past year. A. D. Ellingwood. 



Berlin Falls, N. H., Aug. 28. 



BEE-PARALYSIS SLIGHTLY CONTAGIOUS; THE 

 SALT REMEDY A COMPLETE CURE. 



By your correspondents it appears that bee- 

 paralysis (nameless bee-disease) is very preva- 

 lent. In my opinion it is caused somewhat by 

 the quality of the honey consumed. I have 

 been troubled in past years, but succeeded in 

 curing the disease last year by the use of sugar 

 syrup with a trifle of salt in it- about half of a 

 level teaspoonful of salt to one pound of sugar. 

 If too strong of salt it will kill the bees, as I 

 found by experience. At one of my out-apiaries 

 I directed the boy in charge to feed a colonv 

 that was badly affected. On mv next visit I 

 found half of the bees dead. The feed was 

 stopped and the colony was cured. For an or- 

 dinary colony, feed a pint of syrup every three 

 days. Sprinkling with brine often gave k short 



