1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



487 



cluder. This plan has never failed to save me 

 much time and labor, especially when dequeen- 

 ing to prevent swarming, or when queens are 

 to be gotten out of box hives, etc. Of course, 

 where colonies are not already two-story, a 

 hive-body can be used the same as if it had 

 been two-story already. In the latter case we 

 know the queen is in the bottom story, and 

 half the labor is saved. H. H. Hyde. 



Hutto, Tex., May 19. 



ANOTHER METHOD OF FINDING QUEENS. 



Mr. Editor : — Noticing your query in is- 

 sue of May 15, whether any method has been 

 devised for finding queens, I give the plan I 

 have followed for many years where the queens 

 were wary and the bees frightened, and in- 

 clined to run about the combs. I remove the 

 hive containing the colony a few feet from the 

 stand, and set an empty hive in its place. 

 Then, beginning with the outside comb cover- 

 ed with bees, I scan it carefully for the queen, 

 changing it to the hive on the stand formerly 

 occupied by the colony. The bees on the 

 combs remaining to be examined are thus not 

 disturbed by the bees that are in a state of 

 agitation by handling, as it is the bees on the 

 returned combs that start the disturbance of a 

 colony. In this way one can go over every 

 frame in the hive, and have no alarm except 

 upon the combs already handled. 



I seldom have to look more than once, where 

 this plan is followed, before finding the queen 

 in any colony ; whereas one comb taken out 

 and returned in the usual manner starts such 

 a rumpus with the whole colony, especially if 

 it is very populous, that the task is rendered 

 doubly difficult. There may be some better 

 way for finding queens in black and hybrid 

 colonies. If so I should be glad to know of 

 it. I have Italianized many apiaries in the 

 course of my bee-keeping experience, and 

 this method of searching the combs is the best 

 that I have in practice. B. F. AvERiLi.. 



Howardsville, Va., May 20. 



[I have tried the methods suggested by Mr. 

 Hyde and Mr. Averill, and in some difficult 

 cases may use any one of them ; but ordina- 

 rily, if the bees are Italians or hybrids, it is 

 not necessary to go to the trouble of using ex- 

 cluders or removing the hive from its stand. 

 But if we try once and fail on a colony I some- 

 times use one of the above methods. — Ed.] 



HONEY FROM FRUIT-BI.OOM. 



I notice in last edition of A B C that you 

 say apple-blossom honey is all right for breed- 

 ing purposes, etc., but of very little or no val- 

 ue for table use. Now, I fear the writer of 

 that article has never seen any genuine apple- 

 blossom honey. We often get a good flow 

 here, so we extract some, and this season we 

 have an extra good one,' and my colonies have 

 stored at least 35 lbs. each on an average dur- 

 ing the past ten days, and I call it a very nice 

 heavy-bodied fine- flavored article. 



I send you a small sample by mail, which 

 please show to the writer of the article I refer 

 to, with this letter. We have extracted be- 

 tween 300 and 400 lbs. of this the past week 



from 20 hives, leaving them with at least 20 

 lbs. in their combs, and it is all genuine apple- 

 blossom, as they were so short we were feed- 

 ing before the bloom commenced. I should 

 like your opinion of the sample. 



Colrain, Mass., June 4. W. W. Gary. 



[The item to which you refer in the ABC 

 was written by A. I. Root for the earlier edi- 

 tions, and it has stood without contradiction 

 until the last year or so. Some one else, I do 

 not now recall his name, wrote that the honey 

 from fruit-bloom was very nice, and he sent 

 us a sample as proof. Referring to the one 

 you have sent, we have all tasted of the honey, 

 and consider it light in color and fine in flavor. 

 Indeed, it emits the same aroma that one 

 smells in an orchard in full bloom. I am in- 

 clined to think you are right, and have there- 

 fore marked ' ' Fruit-bloom, ' ' in our ABC book , 

 for correction. — Ed.] 



WHY THE HONEY DID NOT CANDY. 



Can Dr. Miller tell why my honey didn't can- 

 dy last winter ? Of course, it got a little thick- 

 er, as all syrup or honey will in cold weather; 

 but there was no sign of candying, although 

 it was kept in a cold place (below 0) in Ma- 

 son jars. The honey was light-colored white- 

 clover honey, which generally candies very 

 easily. Some buckwheat honey which was 

 not so well ripened by leaving on the hives 

 candied hard as usual. E. E. Ewing. 



Rising Sun, Md., May 12. 



[Dr. Miller replies :] 



Some kinds of honey do not candy, but that 

 doesn't apply in the present case, for this was 

 clover honey. I suspect that the reason your 

 honey did not candy was because it was extra 

 well ripened. I have seen clover honey that 

 passed through a zero temperature throughout 

 a good share of the winter without showing 

 any signs of candying. It was kept in a place 

 that is very hot in summer and very cold in 

 winter — in a loft next the roof. The intense 

 heat of the sunmier had ripened it so it would 

 not candy. 



Will bees swarm without a queen, and, when 

 put into a hive with a frame of unsealed larvae, 

 raise a queen ? I mean by this, will they do 

 it when the parent colony is hopelessly queen- 

 less? M. W. Shepherd. 



Marchant, Fla., Apr. 17. 



[Yes, bees in rare cases will sometimes swarm 

 without the queen ; but the instances are so 

 very rare that we may almost say they never 

 do without one. Why, yes, if the colony is 

 queenless, and hopelessly so, and has a frame 

 of unsealed larvse, what else could they or 

 would they do, but raise cells? In fact, we 

 have always set it down as a rule that it is nev- 

 er safe to say that a colony is queenless until 

 it has built cells ; but we can not, of course, 

 go too far in this, and say that whenever cells 

 are present it indicates the absence of the 

 queen ; but if, outside of the swarming season, 

 there are no eggs and no larva;, and cells are 

 built, and if the bees indicate a sort of nervous 

 uneasiness, it is my rule to say the colony is 

 stirely queenless. — Ed.] 



