1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



317 



bees, and almost our entire crop of honey is 

 from this plant. Our extracted is almost trans- 

 parent (that is, almost water-white), and of a 

 splendid mild flavor. 



My uncle (a nurseryman), from Southern 

 Illinois, was with us during the holidays just 

 past. He was something of a beekeeper un- 

 til foul brood got a start in his yard last sum- 

 mer while he was sick, and left him nearly 

 beeless. He pronounced our melilotus honey 

 as good as the best. We usually sell all we 

 get here at home, and have none for sale now. 

 Hence it can not be said that we have an ax 

 to grind because we praise it, but because we 

 think we have a valuable forage and honey- 

 plant in melilotus. L H. Gould. 



Crawford, Mass., Feb. 1. 



THOSE IDEAL PLAIN SECTIONS J BETTER 

 FILLING. 



I was fortunate enough to secure through 

 Lanetter & Co., Sydney, 1000 of your Ideal 

 sections and some fences ; and although we 

 are having a rather poor honey yield 1 have 

 managed to get some of them filled, and I 

 must tell you that all I have shown them to 

 consider them far ahead of the square section 

 so far as pleasing the eye is concerned, and 

 that has a deal to do with the selling of a hon- 

 ey or other crop. One of my best retail cus- 

 tomers in the city of Brisbane remarked on be- 

 ing first shown them, " Yes, they are much 

 nicer," subsequently labeling, " This season's 

 comb honey; perfection." The bees seem- 

 ed to fill them more readily, doubtless because 

 of the freer communication afforded by the 

 fences. J. M. Mitchell. 



Glenhope Farm, Indooropilly, 

 Queensland, Aus. , Jan. 2. 



COLOR OF CAPPINGS DEPENDENT ON SEASON. 



I have noticed that honey capped during a 

 good flow is generally whiter than that 

 capped when honey is scarce, and this Mr. 

 Crane partly acknowledges; for he almost 

 says that the upper part of a section is capped 

 white because honey was coming in plentiful- 

 ly, while the lower portion was darker, be- 

 cause honey was then coming in slowly ; and 

 in another case the middle portion was dark 

 because it was capped between two good hon- 

 ey-flows. Has Mr. Crane ever bleached eight 

 sheets of foundation and placed them in a hive 

 when honey was coming in ? I have done 

 this, and the combs have been as white as 

 snow. My reasoning on the matter is as fol- 

 lows : 



Wax, as produced by a bee, is snow white, 

 as everv one knows, and during a hasty period 

 of comb-building the combs will be pure 

 white ; but should the bees have the time and 

 labor to spare, then they color the wax to cor- 

 respond with their surroundings ; hence a 

 new comb built adjoining an old dark comb 

 will, under ordinary circumstances, be color- 

 ed by the bees, so as to keep up as much as 

 possible a uniform appearance within the hive. 

 Take another instance : 



Place a white and a b'ack comb in any 

 brood chamber, and see if the bees don't col- 



or the cappings to correspond. So you see 

 my theory in reference to getting white comb 

 honey is that we must give white foundation 

 and keep every thing within the hive as white 

 as possible, and try to have our honey capped 

 during a rich honey-flow. These things may 

 be difficult to control ; but if we know the 

 cause for certain, then we can avoid many a 

 mishap. Can not any observer of nature veri- 

 fy what I have said, when we find so many in- 

 sects coloring their nests or eggs to correspond 

 with adjacent articles? and has not nature 

 made many an insect's color to correspond 

 with its home ? If you take a frame of old 

 dark comb and cut off a portion, and place it 

 in a hive, won't the bees color the new wax to 

 correspond, where the old and new unite? 

 But as honey comes in quickly after they 

 have started to build, they run off to pure 

 white at the remaining portion of the co nb. 

 I have not noticed particularly, but I dare say 

 that bees will cap dark honey with darker 

 cappings than they do white honey, if there 

 is not a heavy flow on at the time. Ask Mr. 

 Doolittle the color of his queen-cells built on 

 light and dark combs. 



John R. V. Braham. 

 Ewarton P. O., Jamaica, March 6. 



LARGER QUEEN-CELLS. 



In reply to an article I saw in Gleanings 

 to-day, with regard to rearing larger queens 

 in large sized cell-cups, I will say that my ex- 

 perience has not panned out that way. I find 

 that bees will always contract the edges of the 

 cell-cup, no matter how large the hase; or they 

 will expand the base and then contract as the 

 cell is drawn out, even in worker or drone 

 cells. I have experimented with this plan, 

 but could see no difference in queens. A 

 queen-rearing colony depends 1 irt^ely upon this 

 condition. J. D. Fooshe. 



Coronaca, S. C, Jan. 4. 



AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW LOCALITY. 



I have just landed here 200 miles north of 

 Newhall, with all my bees, help, and appur- 

 tenances, to run two apiaries and a home. 

 My ! what a job ! Every hive carried safely, 

 and here we are in the midst of alfalfa fields, 

 with melting snow in sight on the Sierras, 

 flowing water over the fields, and leaving us 

 all the large carp and trout on the grounds 

 that we can use. R. Wilkin. 



Famoso, Cal., Mar. 30. 



IS HONEY A VEGETABLE OR ANIMAL PRODUCT? 



Will you please tell us whether honey is an 

 animal or vegetable product ? And are the 

 molecules in honey of the same nature as 

 those in the nectar of flowers? 



Herbert L,. McLallen. 



Trumansburg, N. Y., Jan. 31. 



[There is a difference of opinion as to wheth- 

 er honey is a vegetable or animal product. 

 Strictly speaking, it is of vegetable origin, and 

 should really be considered such; but the bees 

 do nevertheless change the nectar of flowers, 

 a vegetable product, into honey that has other 



