18<t2 



(iLKANlNGS IN BEE CU LTU KK. 



'.m 



loon. Is it not prohiihlt' iliiit (iod is also iiul 

 /»/?}/ on the side of llic ifformcr w iio iii't,'lcrts 

 "to be strirtlv"tiiitlifiir.' K. M. Kkynolds. 



East Sprinirtii'ld. ().. Nov. 7. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



HKKS M.\K1NG TIIEIK HOME IN AX OUANGK- 

 TRKE. 



I thoiifilit I would write and tell of a rathci' 

 unooinnion swarni of hccs 1 found i,lu> other day. 

 No one afouiid heic lias heafd of it l)(^for<>, al- 

 though you mention it in your A B C as some- 

 times happening in California, so I thought 

 you might like to hear about it. I was work- 

 ing in my brother's grove: and as I pa.ssed an 

 orange-tree I heard a loud buzzing noise. At 

 first I thought it was tH(>s. but ]ook(>d in the 

 tree and saw a large piece of honey-comb about 

 a foot long and half a foot wide, hanging from 

 a branch. At first I could not make it out: 

 but I soon found that the bees had pieces of 

 comb in other ])arts of the tree. A lot had 

 dropped down and caught on a lower branch. 

 The bees were working on it. and seem to be 

 doing pretty well. They seemed to be very 

 tame, and did not try to sting at all; in fact, a 

 man put his hand in and pulled some bad comb 

 out from underneath, without disturbing ihem 

 at all. The tree was a star orange- tree, which 

 grows thick right to the ground. It was about 

 8 feet high, and was almost in the center of a 

 <)0-acre grove which has had no flowers in 

 it for eight or nine months, and so had no spe- 

 cial inducement for them to stay. Judging 

 from the amount of comb, they must have been 

 there about three months, and it is a wonder it 

 was not found before. We (my partner and 

 myself) hived it last Tuesday. At first the 

 bees were rather wild, and tried to sting; but 

 we soon smoked them quiet. I think tliere 

 must have been robbers there before we came. 

 The bees stayed in the hive all right, but we 

 shall probably have to feed them, as they did 

 not have much honey. W. M. Frith. 



Lane Park, Cal., Nov. 12. 



HOW TO MAKE SUGAR SYRUf THAT WILL NOT 

 GRANULATE. WITHOUT HEAT. 



Mr. Rout: — In response to your letter in re- 

 gard to making syrup by tiie cold process. I beg 

 to state that I make the syrup for Mr. Dcar- 

 dorff, as well as all we use here in the store, by 

 that process, as it is by far the most satisfactory, 

 since it does not granulate nor sour. Go to a 

 druggist and get a half-gallon percolator and 

 fill it with granulated su^ar; then pour on 

 water, and allow it to percolate. You will find 

 this to produce a hcdvy syrup, and superior to 

 any made by the boiling process. 



Canal Dover, O., Nov. 7. Cha.s. Haas. 



[We are not acquainted with a percolator, 

 but would be of the opinion that it would be too 

 expensive for the average bee-k(!eper. We 

 once recommended feeding bees with a syrup 

 made by pouring cold water on sugar. It 

 answered very well; but we obtained better 

 syrup by the use of hot water, and we believe 

 all bee-keepers now pretty much agree with us.] 



FIELD CLOVER. 



Prof. A. J. Cook:— I send you herewith a 

 branch, root, and bloom of a weed to be named. 

 It grows from two to three feet high, and blos- 

 soms in October, and some years furnishes quite 

 a little amber honey of good body and quality. 

 Tell us through Gleanings something about 



the plani. Here it gni'> under several lociil 

 names. It can l)e found growing all through 

 our high yellow nine lands. A. V. Bnu\\ n. 



Huntington. Flii., Nov. 5, 



I'rof. Cook replies: 



This is a very interesting plant. It belongs 

 to the pulse U)r bean and clover) family, l)ut 

 looks very much like an aster, or composite 

 plant; It is known in the botonies as " field 

 clover," or Petalofitetniin corymbosris. Gray 

 says, "In Southern pine barrens, it is a very 

 pretty plant." It resembles the asters so close- 

 ly that I had hardly a doulH of its alTinities 

 until I showed it to Prof. Wlieeler, when, upon 

 looking at it. I found, as Prof. W. told me, that 

 it was really a leguminous plant. A.. I. Cook. 



Ag'l College, Mich., Nov. l(j. 



i)t> bees gather honey fkom more than 

 one source at once? 



I have seen it asked in your juuiutil, "'Do 

 bees caiTy in honey from different kinds of 

 flowers at once? " This last summer I was in a 

 potato-patch, just as it was in blossom, and I 

 noticed a bee gathering honey. It would lly 

 from the potato- blossom to the wild mustard, 

 and so on till it at last flew off in the direction 

 of the apiaiy. I am sure from this that bees do 

 carry in honey from different kinds of flowers 

 at a time. William Peckham. 



Solsville, N. Y., Nov. 26. 



[When honey is scarce from all sources, bees 

 are pretty apt to get their nectar where they 

 can. If basswood is in full bloom, and the blos- 

 soms are yielding well, the bees will notice 

 nothing else, as a rule. A few will be found 

 working on clover, simply from force of habit, 

 even though more honey could be obtained 

 from the basswood.J 



BEES AND FRUIT. 



We clip the following from the Query depart- 

 ment of the San Francisco Examiner of Nov. 3: 



Tothe Editor of tilt Exami)icr— Sir: 1. Will honey- 

 bees puncture tliroug-h the skin of sound grapes to 

 gain access to the nectar ? 2. Why were laws passed 

 compelliiifr bee-keepers to move their bees outside 

 the limits of fruit-gTowing- districts V 



East Riverside, Cal. A. F. Unterkiuchek. 



The editor of the Exdiniiier replies: 

 [1. No. Tiiey have no insti-ument tliat will puncture 

 grape-skins. If you doubt tliis, try the experiment 

 of shutting bees up with sdund jirajii's. They will 

 be unal)leto get any nouiisliment iimn the g-rapes, 

 and will starve to death if kept there long. ;i. A 

 case of misintiirmation. The grape-growers have 

 seen bees emjity giapesof their juice, and, without 

 investigating further, have decided that the bees 

 broke the skins ] 



(QUEENS TO AUSTRALIA. 



We clip the following from the Too woomba 

 Chronicle. Atistralia: 



A few days ago Mr. Ale.\. Main, of Eton Farm Es- 

 tate, who is an enthusiastic bi-e-keeper, received an 

 Italian queen from Mr. A. I. Root, the famous bee- 

 keeper of Medina, Ohio, U. S. A. The royal insect 

 was carefully pjicked in a ncal little wooden palace, 

 with 4(J wo7'kers as C(jitipanioiis, and suiM'lied with a 

 store of candy- Tlie journey from Ohio to Too- 

 wo<imba occupied ;J7 days, and the queen arrived in 

 |)erfect health, but 27 of her companions died on tli<> 

 trip. Mr. Hani hopes to have some Italian colonies 

 in operation this year. 



Will bees smother if left under a snowdrift, 

 with hives out of sight, sealed covers, and fly- 

 hole open clear across, and ground descending 

 enough for good drainage when the; snow 

 melts? M. Nevins. 



[Probably not, but we should prefer to keep 

 the entrances clear. Melting snow might maki; 

 an entrance sealed with ice.] 



