GLEANINGS IN B K E CULTURE 



NOVEMBICR, 1920 



forgot that in the darkest hours of the late 

 war the valiant American hohliers fought 

 heroically by the side of ours against our 

 invaders. The simple and noble word of 

 your general as he set foot on French soil, 

 ' Lafayette, we are here, ' went to the heart 

 of every Frenchman. The befkeepers of 

 Ehoue and Durance wish happiness and 

 prosperity to all tlieir lirothers in Ohio. ' "- - 

 R. Bouvier, President of the Beekeepers' 

 Society of Ehone and Durance, Barbentane, 

 France. 



"Recently I found a queen-cell contain- 

 ing a queen and worker. The worker was 

 just about the size of one just emerging from 

 the cell and was very closely tucked in 

 alongside the abdomen of the queen. Heads 

 of both pointed downward in the same direc- 

 tion, which w^ould hardly be possible if it had 

 entered the cell and been accidentally closed 

 in, for I have never seen a worker bee enter 

 a cell backwards. The worker was evidently 

 raised in the queen-cell with the queen." — 

 W. H. Lewis, Edmonds, B. C. 



"During the early spring I moved several 

 colonies of bees to the mountains, setting 

 them on large flat rocks. About June 1 I 

 noticed large red ants in great numbers 

 making nests directly under the hives. I 

 tried several remedies without results. I 

 then placed two pieces of soft wood, 3 inches 

 by 4 inches, 18 inches long, under each hive. 

 These I coated with a heavy roofing com- 

 position, manufactured by The High Grade 

 Mfg. Co. of Cleveland, O., namely Gilso 

 roof paint. As it is very slow drying, and 

 has a strong odor, it not only removed the 

 ants from the hives but also from the 

 rocks." — A. F. Eexroth, Dauphin County, 

 Pa. 



' ' Instead of mosquito bar on the extract- 

 ing-tents I now use galvanized window 

 screen. At first we thought it would kink 

 and break, but we find to our surprise 

 it is almost indestructible and will last for 

 years on the tents. Where the bee ranges 

 burn off, as they do here in California, and 

 you have to find new locations almost every 

 year, it doesn 't pay to build permanent ex- 

 "tracting-houses at all the apiaries at present 

 lumber prices. The cost of building 26 ex- 

 tracting-houses would be considerable. We 

 can set up the complete outfit and be ready 

 to extract by the time the steam wnll heat 

 the knife. System is the best key to suc- 

 cess." — ^A. E. Lusher, Los Angeles Countv, 

 Calif. 



"I have a fine colony of bees that stayed 

 on a limb in the open for three years. I put 

 these bees into a hive some two or three 

 weeks ago. For several days they did not 

 want to stay inside of the hive. They had 

 but little protection from the hot sun in 

 summer, and no protection in winter except 

 a few twigs. There was no propolis or any- 

 thing over the nest. Just the natural comb. 

 The outside comb was full of sealed honey. 

 I got three gallons of nice honev out of this 



uest. The combs in the center of the nest 

 were about two feet long, and the nest at 

 the top was about 18 inches in diameter. 

 Wintering bees in the open air, without any 

 kind of protection, speaks very well for our 

 W' inters in west-central Texas, ' ' — M. C. 

 White, Kimble County, Texas. 



"The late summer and early fall have 

 been the best for making increase that we 

 have had in many years. Taking it all in all, 

 I am more than satisfied with what the bees 

 have done. In July I had some colonies that 

 had four deep supei's above an excluder. 

 Some beekeeper friends of mine on .semng 

 them wanted to know why I stacked them 

 up so. I told them just for ornamental jmr- 

 poses. But if they could have looked into 

 those hives they would have seen more 

 honey than they had ever seen in all theirs 

 put together. Some people may get along 

 with one deep or several shallow supers, but 

 if they do so during a big flow they will lose 

 a large part of it or have some unsalable 

 honey."— W. T. Rabb, Travis County, 

 Texas. 



"In conversation with A. J. Sanford of 

 Redmond, Ore., he stated that -the ther- 

 mometer went to 32 degrees below zero last 

 winter, and his annual white sweet clover 

 wintered. He secured a few seeds from A. I. 

 Root, sowed them in drills, and took good 

 care of them. So far he has gathered some 

 pounds of seed and expects the sum total to 

 be about three pounds from the few seeds 

 sent him. It is evident to us that this new 

 variety is hardy enough to stand almost 

 anything. Redmond is in Eastern Oregon and 

 subject to extremes in both hot and cold 

 weather." — E. J. Ladd, Portland, Ore. 



' ' I w'as much interested in the account by 

 E. C. Davis, July Gleanings, page 420, of 

 his experience with greasy waste as smoker 

 fuel. I have had the same trouble while using 

 a dark-colored felt hat with the Muth veil. 

 I changed the felt for a straw hat and had 

 no more trouble, altho I still used greasy 

 waste. ' ' • — Everett E. Vreeland, Bristol 

 County, Mass. 



"I am a young beekeeper, only 13 years 

 old. I have 7 colonies of bees. The strongest 

 one made 5 supers of comb honey. The rest 

 made from 2 to 3 each of surplus. I am in 

 school now writing when I get a jfew spare 

 moments. Besides bees I sell 75 papers each 

 evening, and am studying electricity besides 

 my 'Lone Scout' work. Honey is selling for 

 40c per pound for fancy and 35 for other. 

 As teacher is calling class, I will close. ' ' — 

 Forest McHose, Boone County, Iowa. 



"We are having a nice fall flow of honey 

 at present, Oct. 7, mostly cotton, and from 

 present indications it will last four or five 

 weeks yet. It gets warm down here during 

 summer, sometimes going to 120 degrees for 

 a few days, and it seems a bad time for 

 queens, tho we have them all under shade 

 here in the valley." — C. K. Forrest, Imperial 

 County, Calif. 



