1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



655 



lady's shoe-button hook to draw the spring 

 from the super. Thus you see you can loosen 

 the sections without any trouble or jerking 

 while on the hives. All you have to do is to 

 slip one of these springs behind the follower 

 at each end of the super. 



How I came to get the new idea, the new 

 super sent out has a spring that I consider a 

 failure, and I set to thinking for something 

 better, and I am certain I have it. 



Edneyville, N. C. John A. MERREI.1.. 



[I have seen a good many forms of super- 

 springs, but I believe you have hit upon the 

 most practical construction yet. They can be 

 easily made, and have the advantage that 

 they can be drawn out with a button-hook, 

 leaving the follower, sections, and every thing 

 else, practically loose. Indeed, we think se- 

 riously of adopting them for another season, 

 and, if so, we will see that you are suitably 

 rewarded. — Ed.] 



FI.OORS FOR BKLGIAN-HARE PENS. 



I have read with considerable interest all 

 that GivEANiNGS has to say about the Belgian 

 hares, and have visited some of the rabbilries 

 here, and asked many questions of the owners. 

 July 1, Dr. Miller asks if the pens must have a 

 tight floor. On p. 520 we are told the floors 

 must be absolutely tight. Perhaps in a damp 

 country that is true. Here I have seen them 

 made like the rest of the cage, of poultry- 

 netting. The owner said he cleaned up every 

 other day, but every day would be better. He 

 turns out some, if not doing well, into a half- 

 acre lot ; says they seldom trouble about bur- 

 rowing, but he is careful not to allow a begin- 

 ning, and promptly closes any hole begun. 

 He feeds alfalfa hay, and grain — very little 

 green feed ; pulls some weeds ; sells dressed 

 meat at 12}4 cts. The business will probably 

 find its level in time. L. W. Densmore. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., July 31. 



SOME non-swarming bees. 



Some time ago I noticed quite a lot of talk 

 about a non-swarming strain of bees. I doubt 

 if it will ever be found, but I think I have the 

 next thing to it — not a swarm in four years. 

 This colony's honey-record is 116, 70, 124, 192. 

 They are hybrids. 



Some time ago I received a select tested 

 queen, and introduced her to a colony of 

 blacks. She laid very few worker eggs — just 

 enough to keep the population of hive fair, 

 and any quantity of drone eggs. Last April I 

 introduced her to a colony of hybrids. She at 

 once commenced to lay, and has kept right at 

 it ever since — kept ten frames full of brood, 

 and her bees are now on their second 40 lb. 

 super. Will some of the older heads please 

 account for the sudden change? 



G. W. Carter. 



Jamestown, N. Y., June 30. 



AGE OF LARV.^J FOR QUEENS. 



I have 14 prosperous colonies with laying 

 queens, and hives well filled with honey, bees, 

 and brood, as the result of my efforts, all from 



nuclei, by moving the old stand and placing 

 two or three frames of eggs and brood on the 

 old stand, letting them raise their own queens. 

 I became very much discouraged with the first 

 ones on finding no appearance of queen-cells 

 that I could see ; but about the third or fourth 

 day I could see queen-cells started, and every 

 time I looked 1 could find more queen-cells 

 started for about a week. I came to the con- 

 clusion that the disorder and confusion inci- 

 dent to the removal of the old stand with the 

 queen kept the cell-building and queen-rear- 

 ing instinct in abeyance for a time, and after 

 a while it occurred to some, and still later to 

 others, that they needed a queen. The honey- 

 flow was in wasteful profusion. 



L. R. Stroud. 



Cleburn, Texas, July 12, 1900. 



[As this was more in Dr. Miller's line of ex- 

 periments I referred it to him. He replies :] 



The disorder and confusion incident to re- 

 moval would hardly account for delay in start- 

 ing queen-cells, for that would only make the 

 bees notice their queeulessness the sooner. If 

 you depended altogether on field-bees return- 

 ing to the old stand to form your nuclei, you 

 would have bees that had given up the duty 

 of feeding larvae, and it would not be strange 

 that it would take to the third or fourth day 

 to get in condition for such work. 



While you have been successful in building 

 up good colonies, the plan of depending on 

 old bees to start nuclei is not to be commend- 

 ed, and your success might have been greater 

 with a different plan. C. C. Mir,i.ER. 



Marengo, 111. 



A good report from CAI.IFORNIA. 



Our honey-flow is over for this season, and 

 for the third dry season in succession our bees 

 did well. My bees averaged 100 lbs. extract- 

 ed honey. Hon. J. M. Hambaugh'sbees made 

 the best record, so far as I know — between 

 eight and nine tons from 90 colonies, spring 

 count. Other apiaries averaged one case per 

 colony in this part of San Diego County. 

 The flow ran through May, June, and a week 

 in July, in my locality ; and in and around 

 Escondido, April weather helped a good flow 

 of white honey for that month. 



One of our grocery firms bought nearly all 

 the crops here, and now they pay b% cts. for 

 light amber and amber in lots, as it comes. 

 Water white started at six cents, and fell to 

 5>4 ; then back to 534^. So far as I know, 

 there is very little honey in the hands of the 

 producer now. 



I had a little experience with the " Draper 

 barns " this season, and, so far as I am able to 

 say, I think they will prove a success in this 

 part of California. M. D. NiCHOLS. 



Escondido, Cal., Aug. 6. 



At your request some time ago as to honey 

 surplus this season, I would say it has been 

 one of the poorest on record with me in my 8 

 years' experience with bees, and I have more 

 than I ever kept at one time — 35 colonies. We 

 have just had another rain, and hope to get 

 some fall surplus. Queen received all right. 



Cincinnati, O., Aug. 2. C. RoEbung. 



