42G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CL'LTURE. 



June 1. 



was a man grown I saw no beauty in a flower 

 or a fine sunset. A. I. Root's love for flowers 

 seems to have come much later. God painted 

 with exquisite touches the commonest leaf, 

 painted it for our enjoyment, and he who does 

 not see its beauty should pray that God may 

 open his eyes. 



To PREVENT STINGS, anoint the hands with 

 a mixture of finely powdered naphthaline 

 with twice its weight of melted vaseline. — 

 Bulletin d^Avesnes. [If the bees make a sud- 

 den onslaught as when the hive is jarred, or 

 something comes loose with a bang, no prep- 

 aration of any sort will prevent them from 

 stinging ; but I have found that carbolic acid 

 reduced 500 times in water, and smeared over 

 the hands, will prevent the bees from feeling 

 around to get a good place to sting ; but it 

 will do nothing to prevent a sudden dart, and 

 two-thirds of the stings are received from bees 

 that make a shot right at one. — Ed.] 



Pfarrer WeygandT, in Inikerschule, asks 

 whether I am correct in saying in Bee-keepers' 

 Review that the finest wax can be got from 

 old combs by treating, a week before melting, 

 in a solution of sulphuric acid. That must 

 have been another of the numerous Miller 

 family, friend Weygandt, who said so ; I don't 

 know any thing about it. [Whether you or 

 somebody else was responsible for the state- 

 ment, there is just a mere shadow of truth in 

 it. The dirtiest kind of wax can be rendered 

 a bright lemon color, beautiful in tint, and 

 aromatic in smell. A solution of sulphuric 

 acid in water raised to about 180 degrees F., 

 will purify every bit of dirty wax. — Ed.] 



Are you sure, Mr. Editor, that " bees get 

 but little if any honey " from dandelion? 

 One spring I shook (not extracted) out of the 

 combs of one colony one or two pounds of 

 very thin honey or nectar at a time when I 

 thought they were working on nothing but 

 dandelions. Dadant's Langstroth says it yields 

 honey, and I have always supposed it yields 

 much. [Since you raise the question, I am 

 not so sure, doctor ; and yet during this spring 

 I watched the bees quite closely on the dande- 

 lions that are so thick about my house. They 

 seemed to be getting only pollen ; but perhaps 

 they were also taking a little honey. In look- 

 ing up authorities, I see there are some who 

 claim that bees do get honey from dandelions; 

 but the amount, even then, is admitted to be 

 small. — Ed.] 



A. D. Shepard thinks the time of taking 

 bees out of cellar should have a fresh airing. 

 He suggests that, if the mortality of the last 

 20 days of confinement is four times as much 

 as the previous mortality, it might be a saving 

 to take out earlier. That depends. The ques- 

 tion is not whether the last is so much worse 

 than the first part, but whether it would be 

 better or worse out than in. If perfectly 

 healthy, they may live better by staying in 

 cellar ; if troubled with diarrhea it may be a 

 saving to hustle them out. Something de- 

 pends on weather, much on locality. A local- 

 ity in Wisconsin may have a winter milder on 

 bees than one further south. But a fresh air- 

 ing of the subject may do no harm. [If this 



subject is to be "aired," it had better be aired 

 along next January, then bee-keepers can put 

 the matter to a practical test a little later, 

 when the subject is fresh on their minds. — 

 Ed.] 



The editor of Le Rncher Beige gives this 

 instructive item : Feb. 19, bees flew in a rain 

 and fell to the ground chilled. After 24 hours, 

 50 of them carried into a warm room revived 

 in 10 minutes, and flew in 30 minutes. After 

 48 hours, 30 were picked up, and all but 3 re- 

 vived. After 7 2 hours lying on the wet ground . 

 with one night's freezing, 22 were found, and 

 8 of the 22 flew after 5 hours' warming. [This 

 is a very interesting series of experiments. 

 Some years ago a bee-keeper at the Ohio State 

 convention, held in Columbus, stated that he 

 had some bees that had collected on a window 

 in the wood-shed, had become chilled, and re- 

 mained in that condition all winter, and that, 

 when it warmed up in the spring, those same 

 bees revived. Of course, we all laughed at 

 him ; and while I do not believe for a moment 

 bees will stand a freeze of three months, yet 

 we need not be surprised to learn that they 

 can survive a chill of six days. This might 

 be an interesting experiment for an experi- 

 ment station to take up. — Ed.] 



^icKiisrGS 



\l/'/lOMOU/l NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 



Hot and dry the weather is. 



Nectar now is failing ; 

 Bees are hunting all around, 



Their short stores bewailing. 



BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 

 The editor is asked if honey infected with 

 the germs of foul brood is dangerous to the 

 human system. He says it is entirely harm- 

 less so far as man is concerned, but death to 

 bees. 



A correspondent in Wales reports the first 

 sealed honey April 28. The editor says it was 

 probably from gooseberry -bloom. That seems 

 remarkable for a country lying north of the 

 United States. 



Mr. Chas. Benhaligow, in Devon Co. , Eng- 

 land, had three swarms on Sunday, April 22. 

 To-day, just a month later, none have been 

 reported in Medina, we believe, and yet we 

 are ten degrees south of the place mentioned. 

 \b 



Mr. Walton, writing from Weston, England, 

 April 28, says, " About ten or twelve days ago 

 nature awakened with a rush. Plums, peas, 

 dandelions, gooseberries, currants, etc., are 

 all in full bloom, and the bees are reveling to 

 their hearts' content." 



One man in England has been sticcessful in 

 growing hyacinths. Mr. Belderson says, "I 

 certainly wish him every success, for my bees 



