880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



and cut only the short one. Do you think 

 that ha 1 any thing to do with the bees balling 

 her? The whole hive seemed mad. They 

 were fighting like good fellows. To-day they 

 are all quiet. H. H. Smyth. 



Kailua N. Kona, Hawaii, Oct. 19. 



[It is quite difficult to explain why a colony 

 will sometimes persist in balling its queen. 

 I have tussled with just such bees a good many 

 times, and I sometimes feel like brimstoning 

 them on the spot rather than fuss with them 

 any longer. Those same bees will often refuse 

 to accept an introduced queen, and thtn after 

 they have accepted her (or after they have 

 raised one for themselves) will pounce on and 

 ball her the minute the hive is opened. They 

 seem to be possessed of the spirit of the evil 

 one itself. 



I can explain it only in this way : Opening 

 the hive of course causes a disturbance, and 

 the bees do not know whom to blame but the 

 queen, like the man who when his equilibrium 

 has been disturbed, comes home and "jaws " 

 his wife for something for which she is not to 

 blame ; or kicks the dog or cat on sight. I 

 have known several colonies that would ball 

 their queens just as soon as the hive was open- 

 ed. In some cases I closed the hive and let 

 the queen fight it out if she could. A week or 

 so afterward, on going to the hive I found her 

 in a little knot of bees, just as if she had been 

 balled all that time. 



Clipping a queen necessarily brings her in 

 contact with a human being. She acquires a 

 new odor, besides the mutilation, and this 

 has a tendency to cause the bees to attack her 

 when thev would not molest her otherwise. 

 In any case, when a colony balls its own 

 queen I would close the hive immediately, and 

 give it a smudge of tobacco smoke ; but be 

 careful not to overdo the matter. When the 

 bees have sufficiently recovered make the nec- 

 essary examination, and then do not open 

 the hive more than is absolutely necessary. 



Now, then, referring specifically to your 

 question, you did right, perhaps, in caging the 

 queen and then making provision for her re- 

 lease automatically by the bees ; but if you 

 had used the tobacco smoke as I have directed 

 I think it would have saved you some work 

 and quieted the bees down. Yes, I think the 

 colony would accept the queen, but I think I 

 would give them a smudge of tobacco smoke 

 at the time of caging, and perhaps another 

 smudging a few hours before the expected re- 

 lease of the queen. — Ed.] 



HONEV FOR OATMEAL AND OTHER BREAK- 

 FAST GRAIN FOODS. 



Mr. Root : — While at breakfast this morn- 

 ing it occurred to me that the bee-keepers of 

 this country could do a good thing for the 

 fraternity, not as bee-keepers but as individ- 

 uals, by calling the attention of the manufac- 

 turers of cereal products such as rolled oats, 

 wheat foods, grape nuts, and the like, to the 

 fact that these preparations can be eaten 

 sweetened with honey instead of sugar, and 

 taste better than sweetened with sugar, and 

 requesting these manufacturers to state this 



as a fact on their directions that appear on 

 the packages of these materials. 



Hundreds and possibly thousands of bee- 

 keepers are using some oi these preparations ; 

 and these requests, coming from a number of 

 parties, might induce the manufacturers to do 

 this. This certainly ought to do some good 

 toward increasing the market for honey. I 

 say this ought to be done by the bee-keepers 

 as individuals and not as bee-keepers, because 

 if this subject is broached by the bee-keepers 

 the manufacturers of these foods will simply 

 consider that Mr. Jones "has an ax to grind." 



I inclose a copy of a letter which explains 

 itself. If you consider the matter of sufficient 

 importance, please bring it before the readers 

 of your paper. Wm. Hahman. 



Altoona, Pa., Oct. 30. 



Gentlemen: — I have been using your preparation 



for breakfast for some tune, and like it very 



much. I have lately tried eating it with honey in- 

 stead of sugar, and enjoy it even more. As you are 

 doubtless avyare that honey is a far more healthful 

 food than sugar, particularly for persons subject to 

 disorders of the kidneys, I thought you might be suf- 

 ficiently interested to call attention to the fact that 



is verj' good sweetened with a good grade 



of extracted honey instead of sugar on your directions 

 for the use of this food as given out by you on your 

 circular and on the outside of the package. 



[We have been advocating this in our col- 

 umns for some time, and it is our practice to 

 use honey in place of granulated sugar or 

 other sweets on our morning grain foods. If 

 bee-keepers will practice what they preach, 

 and preach what they practice, especially 

 preach, there is not a doubt that there will be 

 a much larger consumption of honey on the 

 table.— Ed.] 



STRETCHING BEES' TONGUES BY CROSSING 

 ITALIANS WITH APIS DORSATA ; THE 

 PROBLEM OF ELONGATING TONGUES 

 MORE DIFFICULT THAN CHANG- 

 ING THE COLOR OF THE 

 BANDS. 



You ask, page 712, " Is it more difficult to 

 stretch bees' tongues than to change the 

 bands? " I answer, yes, indeed, by very great 

 odds. I have been working on this very line 

 for 15 years ; and while I can easily accom- 

 plish the one in a single season, it has taken 

 years to reach the other ; and I have bees to- 

 day that can gather nectar from the outer 

 edges of any red clover, but can not reach the 

 full sized bloom. After years of careful selec- 

 tion I have some clover seed that I will sow in 

 the spring that will produce heads the nectar 

 of the entire bloom of which my bees can 

 reach ; so you see I have been working for 

 years for just what you have been discussing 

 of late. 



In 1896 my bees gathered me 1500 lbs. of 

 pure red-clover honey, which I don't think an- 

 other man in America can say. Of this, 800 lbs. 

 was surplus, 700 in brood-chamber. But the 

 quickest way to get a bee that can gather nec- 

 tar from red clover is to cross our Italians with 

 Apis dorsata or some large bee, which can be 

 easily done. D. N. Ritchey. 



Granville, O., Oct. 12. 



[I agree with you that it is easier to produce 

 yellow bands than long tongues in bees. To 



