1034 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



domestic bee, also provides a large quan- 

 tity of honey and wax. It is almost black 

 in color, and has wings longer and broader 

 than the bee of the hive. Its temper is 

 fiery, and its sting very venomous. It usu- 

 ally builds its nest under the projecting 

 ledges of rock, and steep overhanging preci- 

 pices, in a situation usually inaccessible ex- 

 cept to the most daring native. 



Advantage is taken by the collectors to 

 rifle the nests when the prangos is fully in 

 flower, when the bees have plenty of honey, 

 and are in their most amiable mood. When 

 the hot season or time of dearth comes, 

 then the wild bees are very irritable, and 

 difficult to approach, their honey-sacs be- 

 ing but partly filled. 



It is interesting to note, too, that the hon- 

 ey of the wild bee of the Himalayas, if 



gathered before the month of March, is 

 fully equal to that of the domestic bee; 

 but if in the following month it is said to 

 produce intoxication followed by insensibil- 

 ity. This effect is due, probably, to the wild 

 bees feeding on the flower of a species of 

 aconite which is then in bloom, and very 

 plentifully, high up the mountains, beyond 

 the range of flight of the domestic bee. 



Botli the honey and the wax of both 

 kinds of bees form valuable articles of ex- 

 port down to the plains, and lielp to swell 

 the revenues of the little states or kingdoms. 

 There is a great demand for the wax, which 

 is run down and treated for the composition 

 of candles, in particular for those burning 

 before the many different shrines of the 

 many various gods of India. 



Thundersley, Raleigh, Essex, England. 



A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR AND HIS BEES 



BY CURTIS C. GROOMS 



While in my apiary the afternoon of 

 October 11 I found aster honey coming in 

 very briskly. At one time I noticed seven- 

 teen bees in the grass in front of one hive 

 so heavily loaded that they had failed to 

 reach the entrance. I do not know when I 

 have felt so good over anything, for I had 

 extracted from two to six combs from each 

 of my brood-chambers during September, 

 fully expecting some flow from aster; but 

 up to the 28th of September none had come 

 in. Toward the end of the month there was 

 a gffod rain, altho it was cold. Soon, how- 

 over, the weather warmed up, and the 

 honey has been coming in nicely ever since. 

 Mrst of my colonies had plenty of stores 

 to last thru the winter. 



Last spring I purchased 50 colonies of 

 bees in ten-frame hives with five empty 

 hives for $200. I increased them to 85. 

 Three colonies were almost destroyed by 

 European foul brood, and four were queen- 

 less. Treating the diseased colonics and 

 doubling up the queenless ones leaves me 

 with 78 good strong colonies. Tv/o of them 

 that had the disease last spring I transfer- 

 red and cleaned the hives out after charring 

 the inside and the frames, and placed new 

 swarms in them. These I examined a few 

 days ago and could not find a cell of disease 

 anywhere, nor in the colonies that I took 

 out of these hives and put in other hives. 



I sold $237 worth of honey from the bees 

 this year, and have a small amount left, 

 which is selling rapidly. I sold the comb 

 honey at 18% cts. per section in lots of six; 

 in smaller lots for 20 cts. straight. I sold 

 the extracted for ten cents a pound if the 



custonier furnished the cans. Several ask- 

 ed me how I could afford to sell it at that 

 price. One man came back the second time ; 

 and when I told him the honey was all 

 gone he said, " Why don't you charge more 

 for itf I think I shall charge 121/2 cts. 

 for the extracted honey another year. I 

 had a little over 770 pounds, and sold it in 

 one month's time. I did not have to go 

 out to sell it, for my customers all came 

 to me and asked for it. 



VALUE OF FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION. 



Referring to the trap for destroying- 

 drones on page 743, August 15, this cannot 

 help being a detriment to the worker bees 

 going in and out. I believe in preventing 

 drones from being reared in such large 

 quantities by using full sheets of comb 

 foundation. If a swarm is put in a hive 

 having only starters there may be fully half 

 drone comb built if there is a good honey- 

 flow on. The drone-cells are likely to be 

 in the lower half of the combs; and as the 

 honey is stored in the upper half the queen 

 docs not have enough room to lay worker 

 eggs, therefore there is nothing but a small 

 force of old worker bees left in the fall. It 

 costs only about 60 cts. to put full sheets of 

 foundation in a ten-frame hive, and it takes 

 only three to five days for a swarm to fill 

 such a hive with brood, eggs, and honey. A 

 swarm hived the latter part of June on full 

 sheets of foundation gave me a surplus of 

 56 sections (four of these at 15 cts. each 

 would pay for the foundation used), while 

 a swarm I hived at the same time on start- 

 ers never so much as entered the super at all. 



Bradford. Ohio. 



