86 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



of many of my inventions before adopting or 

 offering them to others. To-day, as then, Mr. 

 Crane is one of the shining hghts in apicul- 

 ture. During the season of 1873 I bought my 

 first Italian queens of Mr. W. W. Cary, who 

 was then one of the leading queen-breeders of 

 America. 



To be continued. 



[I had entirely forgotten about the hook I 

 saw at your place when I visited you eight 

 years ago; but since you refer to it I do re- 

 member it. — Ed.] 



THE BUCKWHEAT FIELDS OF NEW YORK. 



Bees Hanging Out Not Indicative of Swarming. 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



The editor, after making his New York trip 

 through some of the buckwheat sections of 

 the State, gave us in a former issue some very 

 interesting notes on the subject. He spoke 

 in a general way, perhaps as detailed as his 

 flying trip would enable him to make the ob- 

 servations I am located right in the midst of 

 one of those buckwheat sections. Every 

 neighboring farmer grows anywhere from 5 to 

 20 acres or more every year. My own field of 

 8 acres almost joined the lower side of my 

 apiary this past sunmier. Buckwheat honey 

 forms a part of our honey crop every season, 

 and occasionally it is all the surplus honey we 

 have. It is thus that we are well acquainted 

 with every thing connected with the plant. 



One feature that may seem strange is the 

 fact that it does not yield sufficient honey to 

 induce bees to work in their supers until it ar- 

 rives at quite an advanced stage of maturity. 

 The fields may have reached their full growth; 

 they may be white with blossoms ; bees may 

 work on it in considerable numbers, yet no 

 surplus honey is stored. Many times I have 

 heard remarks like this: " Greiner's bees are 

 stealing my buckwheat honey," or, "My 

 buckwheat is alive with Greiner's bees," and 

 so on, but not a colony would be at work in 

 its super. After a little we would notice the 

 buckwheat scent in or near the apiary. It 

 w'ould grow stronger from day to day, until all 

 at once all colonies would be doing their best 

 in sections. 



Another point is this: It secretes honey 

 only during the middle of the day; at least, 

 bees do not work on it very nmch early in the 

 morning nor in the latter part of the day. In 

 this, buckwheat is very different from bass- 

 wood. When the latter is in its full flow, bees 

 hardly stop when night sets in; they seem to 

 be busy gathering honey until after dark, and 

 ready to work a^ain with the first break of 

 day. Not so with buckwheat. The apiary is 

 comparatively quiet in the morning and after- 

 noon, the outdoor work being done through 

 the middle of the day. We frequently notice 

 at this time that bees hang out in large quan- 

 tities in the afternoon, but not while they are 

 gathering honey. 



The editor claims, as repeatedly set forth in 

 GivEANiNGS, that "hanging out " is an ac- 

 quired habit or notion which can and should 



be broken up by proper management. I could 

 never see it in that light. I believe bees are 

 compelled to hangout by prevailing conditions 

 which we can not help, neither will this hang- 

 ing-out impair our honey crop in the least. 

 When honey can be gathered, the out-hanging 

 part of the colony is not the field workers; we 

 often see hives covered with bees when at the 

 same time section-work is rapidly progressing. 

 In very hot weather, when we have a com- 

 plete honey drouth, field bees may possibly 

 join the outsiders; but at the time of a honey- 

 flow field bees will not be idle. We could not 

 make them stay at home, loafing about when. 

 nature gives them a chance to work. 



My explanation of bees hanging out period- 

 ically in buckwheat time is this: In the morn- 

 ing, at this lime of the year, it is generally 

 cool enough so that all the bees can stay inside 

 of their hives without being uncomfortable. 

 When it begins to get warmer, toward noon, 

 the field bees begin to leave the hive, so that, 

 by the time the noon heat would be unbear- 

 able inside of the hive for all the bees, a good 

 portion of the field bees are absent, giving 

 more room for those that remain. At the same 

 time the conmiotion of the workers going and 

 coming causes a circulation of air, which pro- 

 duces a beneficial ventilation. But the buck- 

 wheat flow does not last very long. In the 

 early afternoon it dries up again. The field 

 bees gra lually gather up and crowd the hive 

 to its full capacity; then, if the afternoon is 

 hot, the only comfortable place is outside of 

 the hive, and hanging-out is the necessary 

 consequence. 



It was a rare treat to look into the pleasant 

 faces of our pioneers and authorities on bee- 

 keeping at the Buffalo convention. Such 

 names as Root, Miller, Doolittle, Elwood, 

 York, Mason, Hutchinson, Hetherington, and 

 many others have long been household auxil- 

 iaries with our families; and to see these men 

 face to face, hear them talk, and talk vdth 

 them, was alone worth more than a trip to 

 Buffalo. 



Naples, N. Y. 



[There is no doubt that hanging-out is 

 caused by conditions you have explained. 

 But I am sure some, and perhaps much, of 

 the regular hanging out can be obviated by 

 either large deep entrances, or by sep:^rating 

 hive-body from bottom-board by four blocks, 

 (7 la Doctor Miller. I have had colonies that 

 would hang out and loaf — do nothing, in fact, 

 until a larger entiance was given. — Ed.] 



MOUNTAIN PASSES. 



Getting Bees and Honey over Them ; Feats in Driv- 

 ing; Bean Fields, and Some Interesting 

 Facts Concerning Them. 



BY M. H. MENDLESON. 



Mr. Editor: — If you will allow me I wish 

 to correct a number of mistakes made by Mr. 

 C. A. Hatch in his two last articles in Gle.\n- 

 INGS; and as many new comers (" tenderfeet ") 

 are apt to form wrong ideas and conclusions 

 regarding this grand country they are excus- 



