74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



usually inclines at an angle of about 45 degrees, 

 leading away from the entrance of the hive, and 

 consequently drifting snow passes over it and does 

 not drift into it or close it. If we have a wind- 

 break in front of the entrance, snow will swirl and 

 drift back, closing it. 



Greenwich, Ohio, Dec. 9. R. .J. Wililams. 



Some Experiences with Queenless Colonies Gath- 

 ering Pollen; Will Bees Gather Pollen with- 

 out Queen or Eggs ? 



About the 10th of April a chicken caught a queen 

 from one of my hives. I saw the chicken catch it, 

 and thought it was then a good time for the bees to 

 work on the pollen. On the 20th, ten days later, I 

 opened the hive. Of course there were no eggs, but 

 a good colony of bees for the time of the year. On 

 the 10th I dequeened two other colonies. They also 

 were examined on the 20th. I found no eggs in 

 either hive, and I had cut out all queen-cells, which, 

 of course, left them in the right condition for a trial 

 on the pollen question. About the 23d the black- 

 oak trees began to bloom, and they furnish more 

 pollen than all other bloom combined in this country. 

 They were in full bloom for over two weeks, and 

 the queenless colonies gathered about the same 

 amount of pollen as the other colonies. They all 

 went at it with a rush, and kept it up during that 

 time; but after that was over, Nos. 1 and 3 began to 

 slack off on the pollen. No. 2, however, brought about 

 as much as the other colonies. 



I gave brood to each of the colonies for a month 

 or more. I supplied each with brood of the same 

 strain, and No. 2 did not let up on gathering pollen, 

 but broiight in about as much as those colonies with 

 queens. 



About six weeks after taking the queens I tried to 

 introduce one to each hive. I failed on 1 and 2. I 

 tried again and failed again. I then put a queen 

 between the tops of the frames, and they were both 

 accepted and are strong colonies now with hives full 

 of honey and pollen. 



There is a great difference in the strain of bees in 

 gathering pollen. No. 2 had the most solid frames 

 of pollen I ever saw. I swapped pollen for honey 

 with other hives so as to equalize. These bees are 

 hybrids, five or more times crossed up with Italian 

 and brown German. They are just bees — that's all. 



BROWN LEGHORNS STUNG. 



I have White and Brown Leghorn chickens run- 

 ning in my bee-yard, and the bees will sting the 

 Browni Leghorns, but they will not sting the white 

 chickens at all. E. C. Frazier. 



Central City, Ky. 



More About that Peculiar Disease 



You invite information, pp. 547, 548, Aug. 1, 

 regarding a peculiar disease appearing in Colorado 

 and California. I have noticed this trouble in this 

 vicinity for the last two years, but have not thought 

 much about it until this year, when it appeared in 

 two out of tive hives which I keep in the back yard. 

 The young bee,s hatch all right, but crawl around for 

 a while and finally get out in front, never to return. 

 Also the old bees bite the cappings and carry out 

 bees all the way from one with just a little color in 

 his head to bees that are ready to hatch. 



I examined some of the bees that were carried out, 

 and caught some as they left the cells, and found 

 that some hatched without wings. Others had a 

 part of the cocoon so tightly stuck to them that it 

 was impossible to remove it without killing the bee, 

 and some seemed normal. All bees that were old 

 enough were left alive and kicking outside. 



Now, I don't think this is chilling, poisoning, or 

 paralysis, as it doesn't correspond to the symptoms of 

 these. I fed my bees for six weeks on the best of 

 sugar sywip without the least change, and there was 



no honey in the hive and none outside to gather, so 

 it couldn't be poisoning. There is no spraying of 

 fruit-trees here either. The trouble commenced in 

 May, and lasted three months, stopping suddenly. It 

 weakened two colonies until I had to unite them, 

 and exterminated another. It doesn't appear to be 

 contagious, as no other colonies caught it. I hope to 

 .see more about it. 



Corona, Cal., Nov. 12. Dale Rycraft. 



Alfalfa Honey Varies According to Locality 



Mr. Chadwick seems to think that honey-plants 

 furnish the same grade of honey in all localities. My 

 experience with sage and alfalfa is that they do not. 

 When keeping bees near Bakersfield, Cal., a few 

 years ago I had two apiaries just four miles apart. 

 One was in the district known as the " Weed Patch," 

 where the soil was very sandy and the water was 

 from twelve to eighteen feet from the surface. The 

 other was on the Bloomfield ranch, where water was 

 close to the siirface, soil heavy, and with much alkali. 

 Ninety per cent of all the honey gathered in either 

 district was alfalfa. The honey gathered in the Weed 

 Patch, to quote an enthusisustic friend, was "White 

 as milk, and sweet as a sweetheart's kisses." The 

 honey gathered in the lowlands was amber. The 

 taste of the two rroneys was different, and the dark 

 honey probably had a higher percentage of water, as 

 it was much easier to throw it from the combs with 

 the extractor. In-fo Co., Cal., on the east side of the 

 Sierra Nevada, furnishes a water-white alfalfa honey, 

 as does the country nbout Keno, Nev. In Imperial 

 Co., Cal., and Yuma Co., Arizona, alfalfa honey is 

 dark. It is no use saying that the dark honey has 

 been mixed with honey from weeds, etc., gathered at 

 the same time. Bees do not put different grades of 

 honey in the same cell, and at my Bloomfield apiary 

 I never saw as much as one cell oi white honey; yet 

 the bees got alfalfa honey, as thousands of them 

 could be seen working on the blossoms of the great 

 fields of that plant about them. 



Yuma, Ariz. W. G. Hkwks. 



Honey a Cure for Erysipelas 



I am going to tell of an incident that happened 

 in our family last spring. My husband's uncle, who 

 makes his home with us, was afflicted with erysipelas 

 in his face so that it was swollen very much. Out 

 physician advised us to get strained honey and apply 

 by spreading on a soft cloth and covering the pa'ls, 

 removing every two or threi' hours, bathing the ptrts 

 in warm water, and apph'ng a fresh cloth prepared 

 as before. This we did, and in a short time the 

 erysipelas disappeared, and there has been no more 

 trouble with it. 



Our physician, in talking about it said, " I was 

 called to attend a young lady having a bad case of 

 erysipelas, and did every thing I could to relieve her, 

 but with no success until I thought of strained hon- 

 ey. I spread some on a cloth and applied it to her 

 face, which was so badly swollen that all the features 

 were obliterated. On leaving I told them to keep the 

 application on ; and next morning, when I called, her 

 eyes were partly open. We continued the honey 

 until we had a complete cure. 



" Some time after, I was called to Cleveland to at- 

 tend a man who had been under another doctor's 

 care. He had a trained nurse who thought that I 

 was a cross-roads doctor who did not know much ; 

 and when I told her to put on the honey she openly 

 smiled. But I told her to do what I said, as the 

 man was in such a bad state that I was afraid I 

 could not save him. However, after three days he 

 was so much better that I left for home, telling them 

 to keep me advised as to his condition. He was 

 cured, so I feel that honey is a sure remedy for 

 erysipelas." 



Warren, Ohio. Mes. W. T. Daeby. 



