700 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1.5 



good he had received from his " little friends." 

 as he called them. He is quite anxious for the 

 case to be published, in order to ascertain if any 

 case of permanent cure has been effected by 

 bees. As for his own experience, he is quite 

 willing to answer any questions with respect to 

 it, and equally anxious to know if he may look 

 upon it as a permanent cure, or only as a 

 question of having ease for a time only; and if 

 any of your numerous readers have had a simi- 

 lar experience, he would like them to state the 

 particulars through your columns, and. in re- 

 turn, he will do what he can to satisfy them as 

 to the genuineness of his own cure, so far as it 

 has gone. — Philander Joivett, in BritisJi Bee 

 Journal, Aug. 11. 



INTRODUCING WITH PEPPEEMINT CANDY; HOW 

 THE SPIRAL QUEEN-CAGES MAY BE USED. 



I notice Doolittle's way of putting candy in 

 queen-cages when introducing queens. I have 

 this season been using small button-shaped 

 peppermint candies, such as I buy at the stores, 

 and I crowd one in between the coils of my 

 spiral wire queen-cage, and in a strong swarm 

 I put in two and even three of these candies in 

 different coils of the cage at the big end of the 

 case, according to the time I want the queen 

 to remain in the cage. The bees will usually 

 release the queen in from 15 to 48 hours when 

 only one candy is used. I have had very good 

 luck in introducing this way. When I want to 

 be certain about the time the queen will be 

 caged I use the tin cover in the coils of the 

 cage and the candy between the tin and the 

 queen, and remove the tin when I wish to, and 

 leave the candy in the cage; then the queen 

 will leave the cage, when the candy is eaten 

 through by the bees, in a quiet manner; and 

 the bees, not being disturbed by handling the 

 frames, etc.. are much more likely to receive 

 the queen, especially if this should be one of 

 those swarms that are bound to receive no 

 queen but of their own raising. In cool weath- 

 er some swarms will oall and kill their own 

 queen that has been in the colony a year or 

 more. By handling their frames I have seen 

 this done several times. N. D. West. 



Middleburgh, N. Y., Aug. 18. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS; MBS. .TENNIE ATCHLEY 

 OFFERS SOME SUGGESTIONS. 



After trying all the plans known to the bee- 

 keeping fraterniiy, or all that I have seen men- 

 tioned, I like the candy plan best; but I do not 

 like the directions usually sent out with the 

 candy plan. First, by all means do not make 

 your hive queenless until you receive the new 

 queen; then at the same operation take out the 

 old and introduce the new queen. Now. these in- 

 structions are for the inexperienced, as an ex- 

 pert will introduce safely almost any way, and 

 I had rather leave the old queen in till ready; 

 then I know your hive is queenless. But if you 

 have had your queen out some days they may 

 have some kind of queen you are not aware of. 

 hence a failure. Of course, if your hive has by 

 accident become queenless, get a queen for it 

 as soon as possible, and save them. Now about 

 the directions. Most of them say, let the queen 

 remain 48 hours, and, if not out, release her. 

 I say. do not do it, but lay the cage on the 

 frames, or in some part of the hive, and don't 

 touch that hive any more for one week; and 

 now if you have been careful to take out the 

 queen or queens, as the case may be. I will al- 

 most agree to I'eplace every queen you lose, 

 especially if purchased of me. When I say 

 queen or queens. I mean at times there is more 

 than one (lueen in a hive. For instance, a little 

 while before a second swarm comes off there 

 are from one to half a dozen queens; then at 



other times there is a very old queen and a 

 young one laying at the same time together: 

 so, now. you see we can not be too careful in 

 introducing queens. Jennie Atchley. 



Floyd. Texas, Aug. 19. 



[Our printed instructions for introducing 

 queens agree substantially with your directions 

 above. We caution our customers against 

 tampering with the hive after the cage is laid 

 upon the frames.] 



CONGREGATING OF DRONES; AN INTERESTING 



CASE. 



Having noticed articles in the bee-journals 

 this season about drones congregating, I will 

 relate what I saw about 30 years ago. While 

 out one day in August, bee-hunting, I was 

 about half a mile from our own apiary. There 

 was another apiary over two miles away; there 

 were also two fields of buckwheat. The lines 

 crossed at the point mentioned, on a ridge near 

 a piece of woods. We carried the bees to this 

 point to determine whether there was a swarm 

 there or not. About 40 or 50 feet from the 

 ground there was a multitude of drones. It 

 looked like a very large swarm of bees. They 

 were chasing each other, and having great 

 sport. They acted just like the male flies you 

 will sometimes see hanging motionless on their 

 wings, then darting at each other or any luck- 

 less worker-bee that chanced to fly near them. 

 As the lines to the two apiaries crossed, there 

 were a good many workers flying at that point. 

 It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I 

 watched them for more than an hour. They 

 were still at it when I left, although in dimin- 

 ished numbers. We knew they were drones by 

 their size and the noise they made. 



J. R. Common. 



THE OTHER SIDE ON THAT ARIZONA HONEY. 



Friend Root: — We take pleasure in handing 

 you herewith a check for $28.50. in settlement 

 of the Shel ton affair. We should like to know 

 just what Mr. Shel ton's real loss was. We want 

 to say that this is the only complaint we have 

 ever had. except from that one carload, and we 

 have sold quite a quantity. Last year we sold 

 1,577 cases; this year, so far, 1487 cases. We 

 sold three carloads besides that one, that same 

 year, with no complaint, and our honey is in 

 demand wherever sold. Perhaps it would be 

 but justice to us to say this in your journal, for 

 you gave us such a going over, and spread the 

 news far and wide. S. T. Fish & Co. sold three 

 carloads in Chicago; Thurber, Whyland I't Co.. 

 New York, sold two, and yourself sold two. 

 R. A. Burnett, of Chicago, sold the rest, except 

 a part of one car sold in Fort Worth. Texas. 



Phcenix, Ariz., Aug. 13. J. A. R. Irvine. 



"bees carrying EACH OTHER OFF;" IN.JURED 

 BROOD. 



Friend Root: — I am having exactly the ex- 

 perience that your correspondent. Wm. Miller. 

 Esq., of Emporia, Kansas, describes in Glean- 

 ings, August 15. But can't you tell us some- 

 thing more definite about the cause of bees be- 

 coming paralytic '? Those that are being car- 

 ried off are '■ shiny black." etc.. just as you de- 

 scribe the paralytics, both in your answer to 

 Mr. Miller and in A B C. under " Diseases of 

 Bees;" but in neither place do you tell the 

 cause, except in the suggestion that ■" they may 

 have been injured in the brood form." which, 

 you will adniit, is rather indefinite. Now. at 

 the risk of its being regarded as a ridiculous 

 idea. I will make the following statement: 

 Early in the spring I frequently noticed small 

 black wasps loitering about the entrances; and 



