1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



515 



awful cross ? This I answer by saying that, if 

 the editor ever visits me, he will have to bring 

 a bee-veil with him, as I have not had one in 

 my apiary for four years. Probably if J. Burr 

 had examined closer he would have found 

 that it was neither lack cf shade nor disease that 

 swelled the heads and throats of his ducks. 

 Rumford, Va., June 6. R. F. Ritchie. 



[Although we have had a number of reports 

 to the effect that bees and ducks do well to- 

 gether, I will never again father the statement, 

 for your testimony is a clincher. 



A. I. R. says there is another side to this. 

 In his travels in the vSouth he found that there 

 were instances where the ducks gobbled up so 

 many bees at the entrances of the hives as to 

 make a perceptible decrease in the strength of 

 the colonies. Whether those same ducks had 

 learned the art of crushing the bee before the 

 bee uses its sting, or whether they had cast- 

 iron throats, we can not determine. 



Well, now, let us put the statement this 

 way : In some instances bees kill ducks ; in 

 others, ducks kill the bees; and in still others, 

 apparently, at least, there is no gobbling and 

 no stinging, but entire harmony. — Ed.] 



A PRY, AND HOW MADE OF A PITCHFORK 

 TINE. 



I notice you often speak of the screwdriver 

 as a handy tool in the apiary. The tool we 

 like best is made of the tine of an old pitch- 

 fork. About an inch at the point is bent for a 

 hook for pulling out frames, and the other 

 end made wedge-shaped for prying frames 

 apart and prying following boards over to 

 wedge. In fact, it is the one tool we consider 

 indispensable, as it is strong enough to pry off 

 supers, or for any other heavy work. 



Our bees are swarming, and working vigor- 

 ously. We have over '250 stands. 



Mrs. Lucy C. Slease. 



Rosewell, New Mex., June 6. 



HOW TO ENLARGE AN ORDINARY DOVETAIL- 

 ED-HIVE ENTRANCE. 



I have for several years enlarged the en- 

 trances to my dovetail hives by inserting un- 

 der each side of the hive (loose bottom-board) 

 a wedge-shaped strip IS inches long by '4 

 inch thick and 1 inch wide, reduced to a thin 

 point at the rear end. This is to be used on 

 the ordinary bottom-board with a }i strip. 

 This gives you a "s entrance. At close of 

 honey season simply lift the hive at front end 

 and take it out. This gives us a '/& entrance 

 and only ^ from bottom-board to brood- 

 frames at the rear. Try it. Ham Smith. 



Ionia, Mich., June 7. 



[But you didn't tell whether you found that 

 enlarging the entrance was an advantage. I 

 assume that you do or you wouldn't write 

 about it. — Ed.] 



ing each other, so to speak. I had 12 swarms 

 from the 14th to the 23d of May, since which 

 time I have had nothing but starvation and 

 destruction. My bees have destroyed the 

 drones, to beat any thing ever seen before at 

 this season of the year. White clover, and 

 red too, seem to be quite abundant, but 

 nothing '-in it." The same was true of 

 blackberry and raspberry ; and even fruit- 

 bloom yielded sparingly. What the final re- 

 sult will be is hard to foretell; but I predict, 

 for this immediate section, failure. If you 

 can get any consolation out of this j'ou can 

 do better than I can. I can sit and see them 

 work, and go to sleep, they work with so little 

 energy. I am going mad thinking about it. 

 Last season I began with 51 moderately strong 

 colonies, and secured 2200 lbs. of honey, and 

 increased to 70 colonies. This spring I com- 

 menced with 08 colonies ; decreased to 65, and 

 up to date decreased last season's crop of hon- 

 ey 100 lbs., and I fear the worst is not over 

 yet. 



Kent, O., June 15. L. G. Reid. 



NO HONEY. 



We are having very cool weather, and but 

 little or no honey this year. My opinion is 

 that thousands of hives of bees will go by the 

 board this year, and feed for stock is very 

 scarce, and losses in this State will be very 

 large. 



Murrietta, Cal., May 30. C. C. Thomas. 



A POOR SEASON in OHIO. 



If all localities are like this I think your 

 bee-supply boom will soon be over. My bees, 

 like the workers of the United States, are eat- 



THE U. S. B. K. U. AT OMAHA. 



Editor, Gleatiings: — 



After thoroughly considering the matter of 

 the next place for holding the United States 

 Bee-keepers' Union convention, the Executive 

 Committee have decided in favor of Omaha 

 as the place, and probably early in October as 

 the time ; but the exact date will doubtless be 

 fixed by those having in charge the securing 

 of reduced railroad rates, and we are going to 

 put the securing of these and hotel rates and 

 place for the convention to meet in, etc., on 

 Bro. E. Whitcomb's shoulders, for they are 

 broad, and he is right on the ground. 



A short time ago he sent me some particu- 

 lars regarding rates, from which I take the 

 following: " Every day during the exposition, 

 tickets will be on sale from all Western Pass- 

 enger Association territory to Omaha at one 

 and one-third fare for the round trip, except 

 their rates from the following points, which 

 will be as follows: Chicago, $20 ; Peoria, .$17 ; 

 St. Louis, $17 ; Denver, S25. Tickets will be 

 limited to return thirty days from date of sale, 

 not to exceed Nov. 15. From June 1 to Octo- 

 ber 15 the passenger rates to Omaha from all the 

 principal cities and towns in the United States 

 beyond the Western Passenger Association 

 territory will be 80 per cent of double the 

 first-class fare. Tickets are good to return 

 until Nov. 15, but I'm expecting (?) lower 

 rates, for Bro. Whitcomb told the convention 

 at Buffalo last summer that, if the Union 

 would hold its next meeting at Omaha during 

 the time of holding the Trans-Mississippi Ex- 

 position, we should have " as low rates as to 



