GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A swarm large enough to fill a wagon-bed! 



Mr. Cheney, Jr., ready for work. 



bees only during stormy periods. The bees 

 seemed to relish the mixture, and I attribute 

 the steady laying of my queens during 

 stormy weather to -the feeding of this arti- 

 ficial pollen. 

 St. Joseph, Mo. 



[We have examined a sample of the candy 

 sent us by our correspondent. It resembles 

 moist loaf sugar, although it is somewhat 

 softer. We should think it might crumble 

 enough to cause some waste by particles 

 dropping down between the combs, but per- 

 haps not. It is simpler to make than the 

 hard candy describee! in the Jan. 1st issue. 

 Later. — The following came to hand 

 after the foregoing was written.— Ed.] 



Your letter of Jan. 20 is at hand. I have 

 just looked at fifteen hives having the candy 

 slabs over the frames. There has been some 



crumbling, as you suggest. The slabs with 

 the greatest amount of water crumbled 

 most ; but the slabs with the least amount of 

 water crumbled no more than the hard 

 boiled-down candy which I have used here- 

 tofore. 



I find that, if the syrup is made too thick, 

 it will " wet up " only a small amount of 

 dry sugar, resulting in a slab of candy with 

 too much water. I find tliat syrup made 

 two of sugar to one of water will wet up a 

 large amount of dry sugar; and by using 

 only enough to moisten the sugar nicely we 

 get a very hard slab which crumbles but 

 little as the bees work it. 



I have made some slabs in paper boxes 

 about the size of a cigar-box. These were 

 placed two in a hive, candy side up. The 

 bees come up between the two slabs, and 

 work the candy from the top. This is very 

 satisfactory. 



SOME SWARMS THAT DID NOT CLUSTER UP IN HIGH TREES 



BY W. L. CHENEY 



I have been reading the Aug. 1st issue in 

 regard to shinning up trees for swarms. 

 The pictures show how obliging some of my 

 swarms were. 



I have 70 colonies, all in ten-frame hives. 

 I am running for both comb and extracted 



honey. We have a fine white-clover flow. 

 I feel like telling every one to use the steam 

 uncapping-knife. I would not go back to 

 the old hot-water knife unless compelled to 

 do so. 



Mason, Mich., Aug. 4. 



