1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1071 



the same as is done in uniting. As soon as 

 the bees in the upper story find they are 

 confined and queenless, give them a queen, 

 which they are in just the condition to accept. 

 After three days remove the screen and the 

 job is finished. If you are in doubt as to the 

 result, just watch the Httle fellows cari-y in 

 pollen where they before were idle— this be- 

 mg, of course, on the supposition that the 

 queen has been accepted in the story above. 

 G. A. BosTWicK. 

 Verbank Village, N. Y. 



WINTERING INDOORS IN A MILD CLIMATE. 



I have just bought 75 colonies 45 miles 

 from home. There is a good sawdust-packed 

 house, walls and all, 8 inches of sawdust. 

 They have been kept in the same for years. 



I can not be on hand to open doors nor 

 watch a thermometer. Shall I risk the 

 house for winter? I should like some one to 

 answer who has such a house. 



Hopkins, Mo., Oct. 8. J. C. Stewart. 



[I am not familiar enough with the locality 

 under consideration to advise you what 

 would be your best course; but my impres- 

 sion is that, in a climate like yours, where 

 the bees can not be looked after indoors, it 

 would be far better to winter in double- 

 walled hives outdoors; indeed, they might 

 winter all right in single-walled hives. In 

 many portions of Missouri this is just the 

 way the bees are wintered, and with fairly 

 good results. In a mild or moderate climate, 

 indoor wintering does not usually give as 

 good results as leaving the bees outdoors, 

 particularly where they can not be looked 

 after. — Ed.] 



WHY GLUCOSED HONEY SELLS; AN EXPERI- 

 ENCE IN SELLING TO THE STORES AND 

 TO THE CONSUMERS DIRECT. 



On page 833 you speak of people buying 

 mixed honey from seeing the word "Honey " 

 prominently displayed on the label. I think 

 that the cheaper price has more to do with 

 it than any thing else. 



I have personally sold honey to over 210 

 different people this season; and in several 

 places where I called I was told that they 

 could buy a whole quart of "lovely" syrup 

 for ten cents— just as good as my honey for 

 which I asked 10 cents per pound or 35 cents 

 per quart, can included. Well, I told them, 

 "Just eat your 'lovely' syrup if you like it; 

 but investigate a little, and may be you will 

 like it better. ' ' In regard to the pure-food 

 law, before it was passed nearly every gro- 

 cery in the few towns where I am acquaint- 

 ed kept extracted honey in jelly-tumblers on 

 the shelves, bought through the wholesale 

 grocery dealers. I have taken some pains 

 to see if they still continued to sell it. I 

 have found it in only one store this year, 

 and that had been on the shelves for a long 

 time. Evidently our pure-food law is of 

 some use, although the sale of "corn syrup " 

 is very large; but so long as it is sold for 

 what it is, I suppose it is all right. 



Another thing which puzzles me is, that I 

 can go to the villages where I usually sell 

 honey, and sell a lot; but the storekeepers 

 can not sell any when I leave it with them. 

 One case in point: I sold in my home village 

 eight dozen quarts early in the season. Six 

 weeks ago I left nine quarts with one of the 

 merchants, and he has sold two, although 

 several who have asked me for honey I have 

 referred to him for it. Is this common or 

 exceptional? J. A. Crank. 



Marion, O., Sept. 20. 



[Very likely the price is the determining 

 factor in the sale of these cheap glucose 

 syrups in preference to honey. I have 

 sometimes thought that, if honey could be 

 put up in such shape that it could be sam- 

 pled by intending purchasers, by taking a 

 spoonful of it, and at the same time let 

 them taste a sample of this cheap stuff, the 

 honey would outsell the other solely on its 

 merits. — Ed.] 



a NOVEL EXPERIENCE IN INTRODUCING A 

 QUEEN. 



Some weeks ago I ordered a queen of a 

 reliable breeder, and when she reached me I 

 set about to introduce her by the common 

 method as usually laid down in directions on 

 the cage; but the colony would not accept 

 her, so I concluded I would try a plan just 

 a little different. I went to another hive 

 and placed their hybrid queen in a cage to 

 give it her scent, leaving the caged queen 

 in her hive six or eight hours ; then taking 

 both queens and cages to my store door, 

 right on the floor I killed the hybrid and 

 threw her out and opened the end of the 

 cage containing the bought queen to let her 

 run out so I could grab her and put her in 

 the cage from which the other queen was 

 taken. She was too quick for me. She 

 darted out like a rocket, and was gone for 

 good, as I thought. I could hear and see 

 her occasionally for hours. Several times I 

 gave her up as lost; but she would return 

 and hover around the door, watching her 

 cage, which still contained her escort. 

 Sometimes she would be gone for half an 

 hour at a time, and then I would hear her 

 coming back, and I would take my hat and 

 try to whip her inside so as to close the door 

 and secure her, and I did finally succeed in 

 whipping her inside and catching her at the 

 window, and introduced her to the colony; 

 but she died in about two weeks. 



I feel certain that she would have finally 

 gone into the cage which was all the time on 

 the floor, her escort calling. 



Wofford, S. C. S. Cheatham. 



[There is not much doubt that the queen 

 would have returned to the cage from which 

 she made her escape.— Ed.] 



A PULLET CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF EATING 

 BEES. 



I was down looking at my bees, and saw 

 a large pullet walking around. A little 

 closer watching showed she was looking for 



