1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



981 



It is my belief that lizards kill bees (page 

 658) ; but as they are timid they would rath- 

 er watch the apiarist than kill bees in his 

 presence. It could be expected that a lizard 

 would lap a bee up as quick as a flash or not 

 at all. They often take refuge in a hive, 

 and are frequently found dead there— prob- 

 ably stung by the bees. For several years 

 I have killed them on suspicion. 



On same page there is a report of two 

 queens in one cell. Frequently, when graft- 

 ing with very small larvEe, 1 could not be 

 quite sure that the larva was landed safely, 

 and another one used, which has resulted in 

 two larv£e being kept in the cell for several 

 days. While I never knew two queens to 

 mature in one cell, it is not surprising that 

 it should occur. 



Pages 687, 688, twenty-pound stones, or 

 stones of any we'ght, could hardly be as 

 handy here as to put a brick on a hive. 

 They are a convenient weight to handle, and 

 heavy enough to hold the lid. It pays to 

 have a weight on hives where only flat cov- 

 ers are used. With the wind we have here, 

 shade-boards are out of the question unless 

 the apiary is in a protected locality. 



Pryal's article, Aug. 1, reminds me of 

 some unpainted redwood hives which I used 

 for kindling four or five years ago because 

 they were an undesirable size and shape. If 

 my recollection of their history is correct, 

 the older ones were in use before the 1862 

 flood, and the newest ones were made about 

 1863, and they might have lasted 70 years 

 longer. The corners were put together in 

 ordinary box fashion, and had kept in much 

 better order than some comparatively new 

 Dovetailed hives that I once handled that 

 were made by one of the largest bee-supply 

 firms of the world. The old hives had 

 never been handled much; even the frames 

 had been at rest nearly all the time. 



Such hives, however, are not able to stand 

 the rough usage that pine can. This is es- 

 pecially true of the frames. The delicate 

 "ears" of a HoflFman frame would not do 

 at all if made of redwood. But I never saw 

 a Hoffman frame that I cared much for, any 

 way. 



HHad p. 798 reached me before I tried the 

 baby nuclei, perhaps the puzzle would have 

 been too much for me. It doesn't seem 



Eossible to make a success of them with 

 rood in the comb. 



As I had been using combs 4f X7 inches— 

 four to the hive— it was natural enough to 

 use the same comb for the baby nuclei. No 

 brood was used. So far as tried, they were 

 a success; but a more extended use might 

 change matters. The bees were confined 

 one day, and were brought from an outyard. 

 Little honey was coming in at the time, and 

 none of the ' ' babies ' ' were fed. They look 

 too contemptibly little to be worth smoking, 

 and one can almost grin so small an estab- 

 lishment into submission. 



One thing more about the little ' ' fixins. ' ' 

 As some of the bees insisted on getting in 

 the joint of the hive (my first trial was 

 from Mr. Laws' wrrite-up in the Review), I 



tried some made like a regular hive (smaller 

 of course) , and closed it by placing a small 

 stick on each side of the top-bar after the 

 frame was in place. This simplifies con- 

 struction, and suits me better in use. 

 Modesto, Cal., Aug. 29. 



SELLING AMBER COMB HONEY FOR WHITE 



clover; THE DAMAGE SUCH PRACTICE 



DOES TO THE COMB-HONEY 



BUSINESS. 



Why is it that some honey which is said 

 to be white-clover comb is of a golden yel- 

 low color? Others which I raise myself, 

 and know to be white-clover honey, is a pure 

 white. Is it true that some people feed mo- 

 lasses to their bees, and that makes the yel- 

 lowish effect? I have tasted both kinds, 

 and there is a decidedly different taste be- 

 tween them. I sold a crate to a grocer here, 

 and in a few days went in to see if he had 

 sold any, and if he had heard how his custom- 

 ers liked it. He told me that one lady 

 came back and said that she positively could 

 not eat it. I don't know why, for I surely 

 have not had any other complaints like it. 

 The grocer said that it was not white honey, 

 and showed me some from the country, 

 which was yellow. He called it white-clover 

 honey. I suppose his customers had been 

 so used to getting molasses-fed honey that, 

 when they did get the real article, they did 

 not know it. Of course, I will not say that 

 the yellow-white honey is molasses, as I do 

 not know, and am asking your advice with 

 regard to it. I know, as I said before, that 

 the honey which I raised is from white clo- 

 ver, and it also looked white too. What 

 made me angry was that the grocer said it 

 looked like paraffine comb, or manufactured 

 honey. H. F. Carl. 



Washington, D. C. 



[Regarding your question I would say that 

 white-clover honey, strictly speaking, is 

 white honey. Of course, it is not absolutely 

 snow-white, but it is as white as most hon- 

 ey. Comb honey of a golden yellow may be 

 a mixture of white clover and some other 

 source. There is a carelessness on the part 

 of dealers (perhaps it is dishonesty) in some 

 cases in selling off grades of honey as white 

 clover. People buy it, it does not taste like 

 the white clover they have had before, and 

 they conclude that it is manufactured. 



I do not believe there is any one feeding 

 bees molasses to get sections of comb honey 

 filled out. If such persons were dishonest 

 enough to do a thing of this kind there 

 would be more ' ' method in their madness. ' ' 



