510 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



that thoy visit only the sanip blossoms, or blos- 

 soms of thfi same color, which id^a in the main 

 is correct, or very nearly so. Regarding this 

 point I will say that, in gathering pollen, I 

 never saw a bee change from one kind of flower 

 to another, except on the clovers. I have seen 

 bees gathering pollen from white, red, and 

 alsike clover at the same time; but those clo- 

 vers gave the same-colored pollen. When we 

 come to honey. I liave seen bees tly from a 

 gooseberry -bush to a currant-bush, and froni 

 clover to raspberry- bloom, and vice versa. I 

 have also seen them go from the red variety of 

 I'aspberry to the black, where the different 

 kinds of bushes were planted side by side, or in 

 alternate rows; still, all that does not prove 

 that bees gather honey pi'omiscuously, for I do 

 not believe they do. It will be observed that 

 all of the above, except " from clover to rasp- 

 berry," were of the same species of plants, or 

 nearly so. Teasel and basswood bloom at the 

 same time; but never, in all of my watching, 

 did lever see a bee go from teasel to basswood 

 or from basswood to teasel. 



"3. A swarm came out one day. clustered, 

 and was hived. In the evening they swarmed 

 out and went back into the old hive, leaving a 

 small bunch of bees in the hive; these remained 

 six days, when they swarmed out. I found the 

 queen with them. What made the most of the 

 bees leave their queen and go back?" 



Answer.— The above is one of the most per- 

 plexing things which occasionally happen in 

 the swarming season in a large apiary. The 

 general cause is, that a few strange bees from 

 another swarm or elsewhere go in with the 

 swarm, and for this reason the queen is balled 

 for safe keeping, or for some other purpose; 

 just what. I never knew. Where the queen of 

 a newly hived swarm is thus balled, the bees 

 seem to think that they have lost their queen, 

 and so return to the old hive, all except a few 

 which are near the ball of bees. If they are 

 stopped from going home they will try to go 

 into other hives. I used to get a large propor- 

 tion of them killed in this way. by their trying 

 to go into other hives, or else I had to let them 

 go back, until I learned how to keep them from 

 going back. At first I hunted out the queen by 

 smoking the ball of bees until they released her, 

 when she was caged and placed between the 

 combs, or hung down from the top -bars of the 

 frames when no combs were used. In about a 

 half of these cases this satisfied them, while at 

 other times they would ball the cage, so it did 

 no good. I now secure the queen as before; but 

 instead of using a common round cage I make 

 a large flat one to reach clear across the frames. 

 Into this I put the queen and lay it on top of 

 the frames, when the bees can get at her 

 through the wire cloth between every frame in 

 the hive, which satisfies them. The next morn- 

 ing I let her loose and remove the cage, when 

 all goes well. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., June 14. 



MAKING YO UR O WN FLOUR. 



AN IMPltOVEMENT SUGGESTED ON THE WILSON 

 MILL. 



I'erhaps some of the readers of Gleanings 

 have felt the need, as I have, of a family grist- 

 mill. If they have, and have nuide any attempt 

 to find one, they know that little attention has 

 been given to the manufacture of such ma- 

 chines. I am confident that a pi'actical hand- 

 mill can be made, costing, perhaps, twelve or 

 fifteen dollars, about the size and weight of a 

 farm corn-sheller, with gearing and balance- 

 wheel similar to the same, that will grind 

 wheat fine enough so that the entire product, 



minus, perhaps, the coarsest bran, may be mad(> 

 into light bread; and which will not recjuire an 

 excessive amount of time or labor to operate. 

 If such a mill is manufactured, lean not find it. 

 The nearest thing that I can find to it that I 

 have discovered is Wilson Bros'. No. mill. 

 This mill, costing about five dollars, is sent out 

 without legs, and is designed to be bolted on a 

 bench and operated by a handle on the rim of 

 the balance-wheel. If any of the friends have 

 one, they know that the time and labor neces- 

 sary to grind any thing fine is so great that the 

 tnill, as made by the ma:;ufacturers. is practi- 

 cally limited to coarse corn meal and cracked 

 wheat. They also know that the number of 

 turns of the crank required to do the work 

 wearies the operator more than the resistance 

 of the mill, even if the resistance were some- 

 what increased. Having purchased one of 

 these machines to produce graham flour fine 

 enough for bread, and feeling that it was not a 

 success in this respect, as it stood, I set about 



incK'asing its spe(>d at the expense of power. 

 The accompanying illustialion will show quite 

 clearly the manner in which this was done. It 

 is not a diltictilt matter to find two cog-wheels, 

 related to each other as one to three or four, 

 the smaller of which must fit the j J inch shaft 

 of the mill. A piece of old shafting, fitted (by 

 a blacksmith) with a crank, and fastened into 

 the larger cog-wheel, and the whole connected 

 with the smaller cog and fastened to the bench 

 with wooden boxing (if iron boxing can not be 

 found), completes the machine. One turn of 

 the crank gives four of the mill, and the in- 

 creased speed causes the balance-wheel to assist 

 in the operation. Those who own these mills 

 will be well paid for the money and time re- 

 quired to gear them as above; and how they do 

 crack corn for the chickens! But, best of all, 

 we now transfer wheal from the bin to the 

 gem - pans and bread - pans quite frequent- 

 ly, and with comparatively little time and 

 labor. If every one knew what sweet nice 

 bread this fresh new flour makes, there would 

 be a notabh^ falling-ofT in the use of white flour, 

 and tlu^ feed-mill manufacturers would be lying 

 awake nights devising a perfect family grist- 

 mill. Millers, also, instead of offering you, as 

 they do, nothing but graham flour a year old, 

 or that made of musty or grown wheat, would 

 be taKing some pains to furnish something nice. 

 Green Spring, O., May 23. N. E. Loveland. 



