1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULIUKE 



187 



I furnish with honej', are going- out of it. 

 I was in a store last summer where they 

 had it in f^flass tumblers, with a small piece 

 of comb in the middle, and labeled "white- 

 clover honey." I told the grocer it wasn't 

 honey — it was g-lucose. He said he knew 

 it, and it didn't sell worth a cent. I sold 

 him 28 lbs. of comb honey, and that was all 

 sold before a week. The next time you 

 come to Maine, make me a call. 



N. Palermo, Me. G. F. Turner. 



[T made only a flying- business trip up in- 

 to your State, stopping only long enough to 

 see Mr. J. B. Mason, of Mechanic Falls, 

 and returning the same day. I thank you 

 for 30ur invitation, and will try to bear 

 3-ou in mind when next I go into your 

 State. 



Say, I should like to know whether it is 

 true in other localities that consumers are 

 getting tired of these cheap corn syrups. 

 Some of them are positively vile. Let us 

 hear from others. — Ed.] 



FINDING OUEENLFSS HIVES BY THE "HUM" 

 OF BKES AT THE ENTRANCE, ETC. 



I began the season of 1903 with 14 colo- 

 nies; and as they had done so badly the 

 year before I had to feed nearly all winter; 

 and when spring came they had to be fed. 

 But I got them built up so they began to 

 swarm about June 1, and I let them swarm. 



I bought two swarms of a neighbor for 55 

 cents each, or 10 cents a pound, and fur- 

 nished the hives; then I got three swarms 

 in the woods, where I took up bee-trees by 

 saving the brood combs, so when fall came 

 I bad 40 colonies and about 650 lbs. of comb 

 hone J'. 



In passing through the yard in the latter 

 part of September I could tell by the hum 

 of the bees which ones were queenless. I 

 found that I had five queenless, so I set to 

 work to give them queens; so when I was 

 called to take up honey for my neighbors, 

 and found a queen to suit me, I would just 

 save her; and the bees take them home and 

 run them in. 



BUYING BEES IN THE FALL THAT NEED 

 FEEDING UP. 



I got the other day in a trade, nine boxes 

 of bees, some in boxes of unnamable 

 shapes, so that the nine gums of bees cost 

 me. all together, only 75 cts., varying in 

 weight from 33 to 83 lbs.; and with a little 

 feeding they will all pull through. 



Holden, Mo. Geo. H. Wells. 



[That is a good point, friend W., about 

 finding (|ueenless colonies by just looking 

 and listening at the entrance. In visiting 

 bee-keepers I have often pointed out colonies 

 that were queenless by the action, and by 

 listening, as you state. Anj'one can learn 

 to do this pretty surely by practicing when- 

 ever he has a chance. A colony wi'hout a 

 queen, and without brood, shows a lack of 

 life and spirit, and the sound made by the 

 bees seems to be a sad and mournful hum 

 compared with the roar of a hive that is full 

 of brood and wideawake young bees. It is 



also true that, a great many times, one can 

 find bees in old boxes, that need feeding for 

 winter, where the whole outfit can be bought 

 for a mere song. In my early years of bee 

 culture I made it a point to buy out every- 

 body who wanted to quit the business; and 

 we do that to some extent even yet. The 

 beginner should be careful, however, and 

 not offer a larger price than he can afford 

 to pay. It is quite a little bother to go aft- 

 er bees, transfer them, and feed them up 

 so as to make a sure thing of wintering. — 

 A. I. R.] 



YELLOW-JACKETS DESTRUCTIVE BEE-ENE- 

 MlhS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



In your issue for Dec. 1 you reply to F. 

 W. Knoeger on yellow-jackets. You appar- 

 ently appear to think wasps are not so very 

 destructive as some make out. Permit me 

 to say that 1 have experienced considerable 

 trouble from them in the autumn here, 

 having watched them often as they boldly 

 enter the hive, in most instances being at- 

 tacked, but, so far as I could see, coming 

 out victorious, usually cutting the bee in 

 two, and making a meal of it, after which 

 they re-entered the hive unmolested. You 

 don't give them any notice as bee-enemies 

 in 30ur ABC. 



However, all that can be done is done. 

 The entrances are contracted; jars with 

 syrup are placed here and there. This 

 plan catches a lot of them, and, lastly, re- 

 wards are given to those finding their 

 nests. While writing you from a country 

 where we have a lot of rain in the winter, 

 with very little frost, and then never down 

 to zero, let me ask, is it advisable to put 

 the bees under a cheap open shed with only 

 a roof, or to leave thtm on their summer 

 stands under the rain? Geo. H Roe. 



Courtenay, V. I., British Columbia. 



MOSQUITO-HAWKS AND YELLOW- JACKETS 

 IN FLORIDA. 



On page 1010 W. H. Marshal, of Punta 

 Gorda, Fla. , writes of the mcsquito hawk, 

 or dragon- li 3', and of its destructiveness in 

 the apiar3'. I also am troubled by this 

 pest, at times, but not to the extent Mr. 

 Marshal seems to be; and my experience 

 as to their time of flight is somewhat differ- 

 ent from his. Here they fly more strongly 

 in the evening, or, rather, late afternoon, 

 and in the early morning, and but rarely in 

 the middle of the day unless it be a dull 

 cloudy one. I must admit that m3' bees ap- 

 pear to be less intelligent than Mr. Mar- 

 shal's, or more reckless; for when there is 

 any thing for them in the fields they per- 

 sist in going out for it, regardless of mos- 

 quito hawks. 



On the same page Mr. F. W. Knoeger 

 tells of an attack by yellow-jackets on his 

 bees. They have been very troublesome to 

 the bees here this fall; in fact, I have never 

 seen them any thing like so numerous be- 

 fore; but I can not find where they have 

 effected an entrance in any case. Great 



