GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



' ' THE HONEY-BEE. 



Dear Mr. Editor : — Some time since I pre- 

 sented a friend of mine w-ith some honey. In 

 response I received the inclosed verses. I 

 take the hberty and pleasure of sending them 

 to you for publication. I sincerely trust it will 

 be your decision to publish them. 



North vStreet, Mich. Jas. T. Reid. 



[With the greatest of pleasure. The lines 

 are good — very good. — Ed.] 



THE HONEY-BEE. 

 By Kev. Volney M. Simons. 

 The bee ! She's in and out, 

 And flits and flies about; 

 .She darts on rapid wings, 

 And buzzes, bores, and sings 

 Among the beds of flowers 

 And in the beauteous bowers. 

 In soft and sunny nooks, 

 And by the purling brooks. 

 In many a quiet spot 

 Bv us o'erlooked, torgot— 

 The honey-bee is tliere 

 And here and everywhere, 



A making honey. 

 Unlike ourselves, unschooled, 

 The bee is never fooled. 

 She sucks the blooming rose. 

 And well her instinct knows 

 She'll get, by her own skill. 

 Of the .sweet rose her fill. 

 The fragrant lily-beds, 

 A thousand thousand head.s. 

 Their richest, rarest store 

 Yield freely to her bore. 

 In stills, the plans her own, 

 By alchemy unknown. 

 With mingled suns and dews. 

 Untaught of us, she brews 



Delicious honey. 

 Who taught the bee, you a.sk. 

 The skill for her queer task? 

 Who gave her the high art 

 To fashion every part. 

 And, forming cell on cell. 

 Build all so .strong and well? 

 Who told her how to sip 

 The nectar with her lip? 

 In garden and in field 

 To find the sweets they yield? 

 Who gave her the strange power. 

 The alchemistic dower? 

 Who gave the pretty bee 

 Her power of chemLstry? 

 Who showed her how to take 

 A thou.sand sweets, and make 



Delicious honey ? 

 A moment, let us .see 

 This busy beauteous bee. 

 Behold her and her comb, 

 A self-con.structed home. 

 Each single rounded cell 

 Is builded .strong and well. 

 While all the solid walls 

 Rival old St. Paul's. 

 Unschooled, the little bee 

 Excels yourself and me; 

 Without mistake or flaw. 

 By instinct's certain law 

 She builds, and, building, shows 

 How much .she realh' knows, 

 In hives and barns and attics. 

 Of simple mathematics. 

 With never fuss nor fret. 

 She works for what we get — 



Delicious honey. 



THE NEED OF GOOD QUEENS IN JAMAICA. 



If any country requires better queens than 

 another, it is Jamaica. Why ? Well, otir 

 honey-flow is never as heavy as with you in 

 the States, but it is continuous for, say, seven 

 months, and all that time the queen is hard at 

 work keeping up egg-laying. A queen is old 

 here at twelve months of age. 



Jamaica Bee-supply Co. 



Mandeville, Jamaica, Aug. 23. 



J. H. B., Utah. — Young larvae having their 

 heads wrong end to in the cells is veiy unusu- 

 al. We would advise you to change queens. 



W. IV., Mass. — The insect that you send us 

 is what is known as the " robber-fly," Asilus 

 Missouriensis. It is common in the South, 

 but is ver}' rarely seen in the North. While 

 it preys upon bees to some extent it does no 

 great damage. It also destroys thousands of 

 noxious insects, and it is possible that the 

 good it does more than overbalances the harm 

 that it does to bee-keepers. 



J. 31., Wis. — There are two ways in which 

 you can winter your bees — out of doors and 

 indoors. If you winter outside, the spaces in 

 your double-walled hives should be packed 

 with sawdust, planer-shavings, or some porous 

 material. In the absence of any thing else, 

 dr}' leaves packed pretty solid will do nicely. 

 For directions in regard to wintering, see page 

 34 of our catalog, and also the subject of 

 "Wintering," in our A B C of Bee Culture. 



C. S., N. y. — In regard to the microscope, 

 and slides showing bees, I am now a little 

 rusty on the subject, not having done any 

 thing at it for some twelve or fifteen years ; 

 but I think there is no question but that, for 

 the money, you can get altogether the best 

 microscope from the Bausch & Lomb Optical 

 Co., Roche.ster, N. Y. Their microscopes are 

 well made, and tl^e lenses are fine. Send for 

 their catalog. WMth regard to slides showing 

 bees, I do not know to whom to refer you. I 

 have a very choice collection of my own that 

 I made, but which I should not like to part 

 with, as I sometimes -wish to show them to 

 bee-keeping friends who call here. Regard- 

 ing the price of microscopes, I do not believe 

 you can get a really good one for less than |15 

 or ^20. The more money you pay, the better 

 the instrument. 



C. A'., Tr.ras. — The amount of sulphuric 

 acid to be used in refining wax varies with the 

 quality of the wax. If it is dark and dirt}', use 

 about a pint to two or three pails of water. If 

 it is fairly clean, and needs only to be of a 

 lemon yellow, a very little acid will answer. A 

 tablespoonful to a pail of water might be suffi- 

 cient. You may have to " cut and try " until 

 yoix get about the right proportion. It is de- 

 sirable to ttse as little acid as possible to secure 

 the result ; then the melting tank or barrel 

 should be allowed to stand, covered with car- 

 pets or old cloths for a few hours before the 

 wax is drawn off. If it is a barrel it would be 

 more practicable, probably, to dip it off from 

 the top. Before dipping, the wax should be 

 cool enough to form quite a scum on top. 

 When it is allowed to stand thus, the impuri- 

 ties go with the sulphuric acid, and settle out 

 of the way by reason of their greater specific 

 gra\'ity. 



