560 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



than others. This occurs in a year when every thing 

 seems to yield bountifully of honey. 



When we happen to have the right combination of 

 seasons, soil, humidity, and bees, we can get some 

 red-clover honey — j'es, even a surplus ; but it is sel- 

 -dom that the entire favorable combination is present. 



Taking these facts into consideration, it is easy to 

 see why there should be a difference in reports re- 

 garding the fact whether red clover yields honey or 

 not. 



Mr. Fox is perfectly safe in making his offer of 

 $100, as no bees in his locality could probably win 

 the prize; but this is not saying that the conditions 

 may not be right elsewhere for an occasional surplus 

 from red clover. Practically all strains of bees can 

 gather honey from red clover when the season condi- 

 tions and soil are right. There are other seasons and 

 soils when no bees of the Apis m.ellifi,ca can get the 

 nectar from it. — Ed.] 



Introducing by the Smoke Plan ; a Block to Facili- 

 tate Running the Queen into the Entrance 



I believe I can go Arthur C. Miller one better on 

 the direct introduction of queens. I have practiced 

 for several years the running-in of queens at the 

 entrance with smoke, but always with more or less 

 bother, and every now and then I had an escaped 

 queen in the air. After reading Mr. Miller's article 

 in which he advised contracting the entrance to 

 avoid the escape of queens, I tried the method, but 

 found the bulk of my old troubles still remained. 



I usually introduce direct from a nursery cage. 

 My practice was to watch the cage until the queen 

 started for the exit, then place the cage quickly at 

 the entrance and follow the queen up with smoke, 

 provided she went in. But not infrequently she 

 would change her mind, and the hive entrance prove 

 no temptation, and then the watching process would 

 have to be repeated, and possibly repeated several 

 times, and this just at a time when not a minute 

 could well be spared. 



I was attempting to introduce a fickle virgin one 

 day that had baffled several attempts to get her from 

 the cage. I finally plugged up the cage and started 

 for the shop, and 

 cut out the little U- 

 shaped block shown 

 herewith. I aga'n 

 gave the queenleps 

 colony a good smok- 

 ing, placed the U- 

 shaped block at one 

 end of the entrance and a retaining piece of wood 

 across the other end. I placed the opening of the 

 cage against the opening of the block; picked up my 

 smoker, and a few gentle puffs of smoke put the 

 virgin inside the hive. The U-shaped block forms a 

 passageway between the cage exit and the hive en- 

 trance. I have introduced several dozen queens with 

 it since, and they all went, and went quick, and 

 stayed inside the hive. 



Prophetstown, 111., Aug. 25. Henry Stewart. 



[The scheme here shown, of a little device that 

 adapts the mouth of the queen-cage to the entrance 

 of the hive, is all right. We use the Dr. C. C. Miller 

 introducing-cage exclusively for the purpose. It is 

 oblong and flat, so that it readily adapts itself to the 

 entrance of the hive without an adapter. — Ed.] 



The Florida Dragon-fly Not Troublesome in all Lo- 

 calities 



On page 444, June 15, the editor speaks of the 

 dragon-fly. They are very bad on the east coast, also 

 in all sections where there is heavy timber. We are 

 not bothered here at all. A couple of years ago I 

 had one apiary in thick woods by a marsh, and there 

 they bothered considerably; but I have not had trou- 

 ble since moving them out. 



The last half of saw palmetto was cut clear off, as 

 it blighted. The first part yielded well; the same 

 with the orange; gallberry was all blighted. 



The mangrove is partly blighted with a good bloom, 

 but we shall not get much honey from it unless it 

 rains. It has to have lots of rain to yield well. 



Palmetto, Pla., June 24. C. H. Clute, 



[Palmetto is just across the river from Braden- 

 town. Our neighbor Rood, just opposite A. I. Root's 

 residence, says he has had no trouble from dragon- 

 flies to speak of. We are quite ready to believe that 

 it is not a pest in and about Palmetto, as there is 

 not much timber of any sort in and around the town. 

 There is a considerable growth of low timber in and 

 about Pompano. It appears these flies get in their 

 destructive work during the month of April. There 

 is a large amount of timber, especially of tupelo, in 

 our location near the Apalachicola River — in fact, all 

 up and down the river. The dragon-flies do much 

 damage in queen-rearing operations in that part of 

 Florida during May and June. — Ed.] 



Shipping Comb Honey by Parcei Post 



My father lives at Glen Rose, Ohio, about 15 miles 

 from Cincinnati, while my father-in-law lives at New- 

 port, Ky., across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. 

 Thinking to send them some honey I prepared two 

 packages, each consisting of 8 one-pound sections 

 packed in a corrugated three-pound comb-foundation 

 package. I first wrapped the sections in waxed pa- 

 per, then laid them two deep on the bottom in the 

 middle, and closed the cover, almost, then wadded 

 newspaper along the sides tightly in order to prevent 

 side play. I finally wrapped ihe package in wrap- 

 ping paper. Father replied that his package arrived 

 with the loss of about a tablespoonful of honey from 

 one of the sections, this being within the waxed pa- 

 per. My father-in-law replied that his honey arrived 

 in perfect condition. 



Thinking to test further the parcel post I prepared 

 another package, consisting of one of your three- 

 pound foundation boxes (corrugated paper), contain- 

 ing one shallow Hoffman frame of honey, wrapped 

 in waxed paper, tightly held in place with wadded 

 newspaper. The frame was a little too long, so I 

 cut off the ends. This package I sent to a relative 

 near Hutchinson, Kas. The package was received 

 in first-class condition also, no loss of honey. 



My conclusion has been that, if sufficient care is 

 taken in packing, particularly to prevent any move- 

 ment of the individual package and sufficient cover- 

 ing to prevent the escape of liquid honey from the 

 package if comb should be broken, the same can be 

 shipped by parcel post. 



Springfield, Mo. E. T. Bond. 



[That comb honey can be sent by parcel post is 

 probably true; but we have hesitated to advise the 

 practice, because we feared that only a few persons 

 would be successful in doing so. All the rest will 

 make a bungle of it, and the result will be that comb 

 honey will be ruled out from the parcel-post privi- 

 lege as it is not now. We are taking the matter up, 

 and hope we may be able to get small packages that 

 will carry safely half a dozen sections of honey. A 

 larger amount should not be sent in this way. In 

 the mean time we wish to offer a caution against 

 trying to send comb honey by parcel post for the 

 present. We cannot afford to lose a valuable privi- 

 lege — a privilege that will be very valuable in the 

 future — by some ignorant carelessness at the present 

 time. 



A few years ago queens were barred from the 

 mails for some months just because of the inexcus- 

 able carelessness of two or three beekeepers who 

 attempted to send live bees in paper boxes. The mail 

 clerks were stung, and forthwith a ruling was issued, 

 forbidding the sending of queens by mail. What a 

 time we had in getting back the privilege! — Ed.] 



