GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



•P,9 



si/f tiom ' . to 1 inch s(iii;»rc, '1 inches long ; 

 ihcii ]nil in some husks; blow up a Htlk' to 

 start the tire on them, then fill up the smoker, 

 packing them down tight with your thumbs 

 and fingers, or a stick »f thumbs and fingers 

 arc not liandy. Blow up a little, or yott may 

 smother out the fire, and you will have a 

 smoke that wnll be pleasant to look at. It is 

 mild, does not make a hot fire; no sparks or 

 ashes if you keep the smoker filled up occa- 

 sionally, and packed down tight, after the 

 first fire is partly burned. If husks are a lit- 

 tle (lamp they make a greater smoke. Give 

 this fuel a good and fair trial, and I am cer- 

 tain you will like it. 



HOW TO KEKl' KOBKERS KRO^r THK CRACKS 

 OF HIVES. 



I think it was some of our sister bee-keep- 

 ers who suggested the use of a little fresh 

 paint along crax^ks in hives where robbers 

 were around trying to break one of the com- 

 mandments. A few drops of coal oil squirted 

 along and into the cracks will make them stop 

 their humming around there, and will not 

 daub or mar the looks of the hive. I have 

 usually used a bunch of wet grass at the en- 

 trance of a hive robbers were trying to clean 

 out, but not always with success. Just 

 sprinkle a little coal oil on the grass, and ob- 

 serve the results. John Craycraft. 



Astor Park, Fla., Sept. 6. 



THAT YELLOW IMPORTED ITALIAN QUEEN; 



YELLOW FEVER INTERFERING WITH 



THE SOUTHERN OUEEN-TRADE. 



The imported queen mailed us Sept. 20th 

 arrived the 2oth in excellent condition. The 

 queen and every bee were as lively as could 

 be. The queen is safeh- introduced, and is 

 laying. By the way, this is the yellowest im- 

 ported queen we have ever bought, and we 

 are truly proud of her. 



On account of the yellow fever, all trains 

 stopped running here the 16th, the very day 

 we wrote you with in.structions to mail the 

 queen the 20th. We had given the queen up 

 as lost, but luckily we had one mail train the 

 24th, and one the 2oth, and the queen came 

 tl. rough. All mail matter has to be fumigated 

 here, and we don't know how the queen es- 

 caped. Ever)- thing is at a standstill here 

 now, and we .shall have to give up the queen 

 business for the rest of the sea.son. 



Cleveland Brothers. 



Stamper, Miss., Oct. I. 



THE NEBRASKA STATE FAIR; HOW ALFALFA 

 CARRIED OFF THE FIRST PREMIUM. 



Bro. Root: — I am just home from the State 

 fair, in which the fellows from the alfalfa dis- 

 trict, in the extreme western portion of the 

 State, lugged off the premium for the largest 

 amount of honey stored by one colony — 186 

 pounds of comb honey. This is no supposi- 

 tion, but verified under oath of Mr. C. ]VI. 

 Luelling, of Beaver City, Neb. Here comes a 

 lot of bee-keepers from a district where, but a 

 year or two ago, we thought honey could not 

 be produced profitably. The Nebraska State 



fair was a very successful one indeed, and Ne- 

 braska bee-keepers are making arrangements 

 to put up a fine honey exhibit at the Trans- 

 Mississippi next year, and we earnestly hope 

 that other States will fall into line, and let us 

 see what axn be shown in honey, etc. 



E.' WiTITCOMB. 

 I'Viend, Nebraska, Sept. 27. 



HONEY-CAKE RECIPES TESTED. 



I just discovered your request on page 647 

 for tried honey-cake recipes to put in your 

 leaflets. The one I sent you, that you 'will 

 find on page 375, May 15, has been used in 

 my family for 100 years, I think. When they 

 took up the bees in the fall my grandmother 

 used to make up a year's supply of the cake, 

 so my mother tells' me. The 'cake is not at 

 its best until it is three or four months old. 



The recipe on page 407, June 1, is first rate. 

 We have tried it. It is good for immediate 

 use, but improves with age, like most cakes in 

 w^hich honey is used. E. D. HowELL. 



New Hampton, N. Y., Sept. 27. 



LOCALITY GOVERNING TASTE. 



Replying to Dr. Miller's Straw and your 

 corroboration in regard to locality ruling taste, 

 it seems to me the assertion is altogether too 

 broad, for surely locality does not govern 

 taste any more than it does quality. I find in 

 shipping honey some prefer white and some 

 dark in the same locality; and among my 

 home customers the difference is more notice- 

 able. Some prefer basswood, some clover, 

 some buckwheat, and some others fall flowers, 

 and some even the darkest and rankest-flavor- 

 ed honey-dew (when I have it); some say, "I 

 can't bear the white honey at all," and they 

 will take the darkest grades in preference, 

 even at the same price. This reminds me 

 that one time I attended the bee-keepers' con- 

 vention at Madison, Wis. When the ques- 

 tion of propolizing the hive came up, a learned 

 gentleman argued that it was governed by lo- 

 cality. My argument was that the difference 

 was in the different bees, that in ni}- ow^n 

 yard some hives were literall}' plastered with 

 propolis, while others of the same make w^ere 

 almost entirely free from it. Then this man 

 arose and said it was no such thing — that lo- 

 cality governed wholly. Of course, he was 

 away up in " G " in bee culture, so his theory- 

 was accepted by the convention as conclusive. 

 As to which was correct, many of you can 

 judge from personal experience. 



Hillsboro, Wis. Elias Fox. 



LOCATION for BEES WANTED. 



Will some of the bee-keepers who live be- 

 tween Washington, D. C, and Charleston, 

 S. C, give the best location for bees, and what 

 they gather from, say from the coast back one 

 hundred miles ? This is a favored strip of 

 country in climate, but I never see an}' reports 

 about bees. East Coast. 



[Will some one or more in the locality 

 please reply ? — Ed.] 



