1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



509 



^EplTORiAC 



^ C.R^ROOT 



THERE is something that possibly may in- 

 terest you on page 491. 



THE HONEY SEASON FOR 1899. 



So far reports are very meager, and such as 

 have already come in do not indicate any very 

 great show of surplus for most localities. 

 There will be more of a crop than last year, but 

 even then probably below the average. The 

 season seems to be late everywhere, and bass- 

 woods are only just beginning to open in 

 many places. So far reports seem to indicate 

 that Colorado will more than hold her own. 

 In California there will be a very light crop — 

 less than a quarter. We have received letters 

 from Wisconsin, Iowa, and Tennessee, indi- 

 cating no hone}' ; but for Wisconsin, at least, 

 it is a little early to forecast the crop. In 

 New York, reports indicate that there will be 

 a fair crop of clover and basswood, which 

 will, no doubt, be followed by the usual flow 

 from buckwheat. From Michigan we have 

 some bad reports as well as good ones. N. E. 

 Doane, of Breckeniidge, Mich., writes that 

 willow-herb has " about had its run," and this 

 is usually one of the unfailing sources of hon- 

 ey. Byron Walker, of Evart, Mich., writes 

 much more encouragingly. The nectar flow 

 in and about Medina, while better than last 

 year, will be rather light. Mr. Burt will get a 

 super of comb honey from each one of his 300 

 colonies. 



The conditions in the latter part of May and 

 early part of June, while very favorable, have 

 been rather unfavorable during the last two 

 weeks of June. We have had quite hot weath- 

 er followed by too many cool days and nights, 

 and there is not liable to be a nectar secretion 

 in cool weather ; although this morning, June 

 30, when the temperature was .^s low as 55 by 

 a tested thermometer, the bees were working 

 lively on the basswoods in front of my house. 

 At this writing, bees are gathering honey from 

 both clover and basswood, and if they only 

 hang on we shall have nothing to complain of. 



A COLONY BETWEEN THE WALLS OF A DWELL- 

 ING-HOUSE - , HOW TO GET THEM OUT. 



The question is often raised, how to get 

 colonies of bees out from between the clap- 

 boards and the plaster of a house. A corres- 

 pondent, Mr. A. D. Hopps, of La Moille, 111., 

 tells how he succeeded in getting bees out of 

 the dead-air space between the two walls of a 

 brick house. With a small syringe he says 

 he threw in carbolized water all through 

 the sides; and as carbolic acid is very ob- 

 noxious to bees, in a short time they came 

 out, when he hived them. A cloth dampened 

 with carbolized water is reported to have been 

 placed over supers filled with sealed honey, to 

 drive the bees out, and I believe I have seen 

 it stated that the fumes of the acid will drive 

 all the bees, in the course of a few minutes, 

 out of the super into the brood-nest. I have 



never tried the plan; but I do know that, 

 years ago, when we sprayed our combs with a 

 carbolized solution, it was difficult to get the 

 bees to go on them again, as they dislike the 

 stuff as a dog does the smell of ammonia. 



APIS DORSATA HERE AT MEDINA AT LAST ; 

 GIANT BEES FOR SALE. 



Yes, we have them, and great big beauties 

 they are. Talk about golden Italians — they 

 are noway to be compared with these beauti- 

 ful giant bees. Yellow? Well, I hardly know 

 whether Doolittle would call them yellow, or- 

 ange, maroon, or what not ; but to my notion 

 they are the handsomest yellow bees I ever 

 saw. Why, they look like great big yellow 

 Italian queens, and might almost be sold for 

 such. They came by express all the way from 

 Bombay — not a bee missing, and evidently 

 they are in just as good order as they were the 

 day they left our missionary friend Mr. W. E. 

 Rambo. 



No doubt a good many of our subscribers 

 would like to get these bees ; and as our sup- 

 ply is limited we are going to make arrange- 

 ments so that at least a few can have them. 

 No, we are not going to sell queens, but we'll 

 sell bees put up just as Mr. Rambo sent them, 

 and charge 10 cts. apiece. Can't help it if you 

 do want more ; and in order to make the sup- 

 ply hold out we can let only one bee go to a 

 customer. How shall we put them up ? Ex- 

 actly as Mr. Rambo has put up our supply. 

 They will not be sent in a queen- cage, but 

 will be placed in a little vial of alcohol, packed 

 in a mailing-block. 



Lest some of you may have inadvertently 

 gotten a wrong impression (through no fault 

 of mine), I will state that the shipment was 

 not an aggregation of live bees, but dead ones 

 put up in a bottle of alcohol — perhaps two or 

 three hundred. This is the package of which 

 I spoke on paye 499, and which I thought 

 might be live bees. 



These bees are about the size of those shown 

 on page 501, only the}' appear to be more 

 pointed. The half-tone does not give a fair 

 representation of these beautiful bees. 



THE A B C OF BEE CULTURE IN THE PRESS, 

 AND ITS REVISION. 

 This work, comprising some 475 pages (the 

 last edition being entirely exhausted a few 

 weeks ago), is receiving a very thorough and 

 comprehensive revision. The work is more 

 than half revised, and already 150 pages have 

 been entirely rewritten. If the revision con- 

 tinues at the present rate, the work will be 

 largely rewritten by the time we expect to 

 have it out, some time in September. The 

 subjects of "Apiaries " and " House-apiaries " 

 have been recast. "Crimson Clover" is a 

 new subject. The subject of "Bees" has 

 been enlarged to take in Apis dorsata and other 

 races of bees. "Comb Honey," as well as 

 " Comb Foundation," has been rewritten from 

 beginning to end, besides considerably more 

 being added. The subject of " Hive-making " 

 is entirely recast. In the former editions, 

 only one hive was described in detail. This 

 was followed with matter showing how to 



