602 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



We would not advise putting in flour if the candy 

 is to be left In the hives all winter. If we remem- 

 ber correctly, pollen candy is liable to cause dys- 

 entery: but such candy is excellent for starting 

 brood-rearing in early spring, before bees can get 

 pollen from natural sources. 



Queen-rearing and brood-rearing can be kept up 

 in September by feeding 1-5 parts of water and one 

 part of sugar by measure in outdoor feeders. Feed- 

 ers will need to be filled two or three times a day, 

 depending on the number of colonies in the apiary. 

 In the fall or late spring, no artificial pollen need 

 be given. 



In order to preserve drones, colonies, where they 

 are, should be kept queenless. — Ed.] 



Forming Nuclei by the Somerford Plan; the Kind of 

 Buckwheat to Sow. 



I was expecting to divide by the Somerford meth- 

 od. I opened one of the hives, and there was some 

 brood and lots of bees. I closed the hive up. but 

 did not catch the queen, as 1 thought it would be 

 better to have more brood before dividing. The 

 problem of preventing swarming is what concerns 

 most bee-keepers: but I wish to make as rapid in- 

 crease as possible. By the Somerford method it 

 will be possible to make four new swarms from 

 each of the old or original stands. I suppose it will 

 be necessary to feed to accomplish this. Would 

 you advise feeding before dividing when they are 

 well filled with honey above? 



If I can divide three stands and make four new 

 swarms from each, that would make 15 in all, and 

 next year the same. That would make 75 in all. 

 I am thinking of keeping 100 stands as soon as I can 

 increase them to that. ( )f course I can not get 

 mvich honey from them while making increase at 

 that rate, and I suppose it will be necessary to feed 

 some to obtain such an increafse. What would be 

 your advice in regard to keeping 100 stands of bees 

 in one place? This is a rich prairie soil. There is 

 much clover most years. In the fall we have gold- 

 enrod, sniartweed, Spanish needle, and other fall 

 flowers. There is no buckwheat raised in these 

 parts. 



Will buckwheat yield much honey if sown in the 

 corn? I suppose it would yield more honey if the 

 corn were cut up; but it is not always desirable to 

 cut the corn. 



Does it pay to raise buckwheat for honey alone, 

 without any consideration' as to the seed? Which 

 variety is best? 



What kind of wax-press do you consider the best? 



What kind of uncapping-can or device do you 

 consider the best? 



New Sharon. la., July 8. Fred Briggs. 



[In forming nuclei by the Somerford plan, feed 

 after making tlie division of the bees: but do not 

 practice feeding until after the bees have made a 

 hole through the grass and have become accus- 

 tomed to the regular entrance. Before beginning 

 the feeding, contract the entrances down to a space 

 so that only two or three bees can pass at a time — 

 not more than that at least. If you have the en- 

 trance too wide open, the bees may start robbing. 



In following out this general plan we would go 

 according to directions given by Mr. Somerford. 

 In other words, make the colony queenless at least 

 a week or ten days before forming the nuclei. This 

 is very important. 



Do not stuff the entrances of the hives too tight 

 if the weather is too hot, notwithstanding Mr. Som- 

 erford's directions to the contrary. If the temper- 

 ature does not go much higher than about 85° dur- 

 ing the hottest part of the day it will be perfectly 

 safe for you to follow out strictly the directions 

 given by Mr Somerford in regard to stuffing the 

 entrances with grass or moss. 



Another thing, when feeding give the bees about 

 half a pint of syrup daily toward night. Do not 

 give it to them during the day, as that will be like- 

 ly to start robbing. 



From the general description given of your local- 

 ity we will say that you can very easily maintain a 

 hundred colonies therein with profit. When a lo- 

 cality furnishes plenty of clover during the early or 

 middle part of summer, and then furnishes a fall 

 flow, we usually count it as exceptionally good. 

 The fall flow simply saves a lot of expense for sugar 

 in late feeding. Without a fall flow, one has to 

 make an investment of hundreds of dollars for 

 sugar. 



With regard to buckwheat, we do not know what 



it would do when sown with corn, especially in 

 your locality. You had better consult some prac- 

 tical farmer in your vicinity who has tried it. Buck- 

 wheat does not yield honey in all localities: and we 

 would advise you to try it very sparingly at first, 

 and determine whether the bees will visit it at all. 

 Another thing, in some localities buckwheat will 

 yield some years and not others. 



With regard to the kind of buckwheat, Japanese 

 is not quite as good for honey as the old-fashioned 

 gray or silverhuU. 



With reference to uncapping-cans, we would rec- 

 ommend the German wax-press and uncapping- 

 can. If you have very much uncapping to do, the 

 Townsend is a most excellent machine. For a wax- 

 press pure and simple, we know of nothing any 

 better than the Hatch wax-press. Some bee-keep- 

 ers like the Hershiser better. — Ed.] 



How Fast can Bees Fly? why Buckwheat Appar- 

 ently Yields Only in the JVIorning. 



On July 25 I sowed a patch of buckwheat. On 

 August 1 it was just up, and on the 10th I was much 

 pleased and surprised to see bees working on the 

 new bloom just starting, as I was afraid I had been 

 so late in sowing it that it was doubtful whether 

 the bloom would develop before the frost. To-day 

 lAug. 16) it is a sight to behold, and a steady pleas- 

 ure to listen to the hum of the bees. There are sev- 

 eral questions 1 should like to ask you. 



1. How long does it take a bee to fly a mile ? 



2. How long to discharge its load of nectar? 



3. Do bees take a rest between times, or keep go- 

 ing all day? 



I have four colonies a quarter of a mile from the 

 buckwheat. My neighbor has twelve colonies 1% 

 miles away. Which will get the greater benefit 

 from the honey-flow from this patch of buckwheat? 



I have observed that very few bees work on buck- 

 wheat in the afternoon, while in the forenoon it is 

 literally alive with bees. Does the nectar come fast- 

 er at night with the dew? or does the hot sun dry 

 up the honey-flow? In a cornfield adjoining they 

 work all day on the tassels. Do they get nectar 

 from the tassels or bloom of corn, or only bee- 

 bread or hone.v-dew? 



Kremlin, Wis. Mercie R. Williams. 



[1. Bees going to and from the field fly anywhere 

 from twelve to twenty miles an hour. Perhaps fif- 

 teen miles will be a fair average if there is no 

 strong head wind. This would be at the rate of a 

 mile in four minutes. 



2. We can not tell .vou just hoM' long it takes a 

 bee to discharge its load of nectar; but we suppose 

 it might require a coujjle of minutes. 



3. We do not know. 



Buckwheat yields nectar just as fast at one time 

 of the day as another. At night it continues se- 

 creting nectar, and continues till morning. The 

 bees rush on it as soon as it is warm enough, clean 

 up all the nectar, and, of course, as the buckwheat 

 can not secrete fast enough to keep them going all 

 day, there is usually nothing doing in the field 

 from ten or eleven o'clock on until toward eve- 

 ning, and generally not until the next morning, 

 when the buckwheat has had a chance to catch up. 

 If. on the other hand, there is a very large acreage 

 of buckwheat compared with the number of bees 

 to gather the nectar from it. bees might be busy on 

 it all day. No, the honey probably does not come 

 an.v faster at night than in the day time: but it 

 may be secreted faster when weather conditions 

 are favorable than when they are not. 



In all probability, bees gather only pollen from 

 corn. — Ed.] 



The Glass-section Trade. 



I have been asked by a New York firm to supply 

 honey in glassed sections. As that method of put- 

 ting up section honey is new to me please give lue 

 the modus operandi, probable cost per section, and 

 the kind of shipping cases and crates needed. 



Would it pay me to cater to that class of trade 

 when I have averaged over 12 cts. per section, f. o. b. 

 Allenville. on all grades shipped this year, and I 

 can not nearly supply the demand? We have 

 shipped about 10,000 sections so far, and are about 

 half through. 



Allenville, Ala. H. F. Hart. 



[At the price you will get for sections, we do not 

 believe it would pay you to adopt glass sections, 

 such as are used in some parts of the State of New 



