S8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jak. 



black; and in the meantime I had raised two queens 

 from it which also proved to be black. Could it be 

 possible that a queen would live that length of time 

 alone among empty combs? There was no new 

 swarm at the time. I did not see the queen when 

 they were divided. There was no change in the old 

 hive till September, when I found a dead queen ly- 

 ing in front of it. Shortly after, I had bees of a dif- 

 ferent color. My bees came out very well this 

 spring, considering the condition they were in the 

 fall previous. Most of them are very light. Six of 

 them died from starvation, leaving 23 alive. About 

 one-third of them did not swarm this summer. 1 

 have 43 this fall, mostly in A'ery good condition. 

 One-half of them will average 80 lbs. ea'ch, and I have 

 taken 300 lbs. of box honey. I keep them in a cellar, 

 ranging from 25 to 50 degrees. 



Francis Graham. 

 Delhi, Delaware Co., N. Y., Dec. 15, 1880. 



Why, friend G.,I am really ashamed of 

 yon. Your "parody" on winter was very 

 fair if you "hadn't went and gone" and up- 

 set it all in such an out-of-place way, and 

 right before all this august company too. 

 Just take a look at us,— sober, staid, and 

 respectable as we are. No wonder you 

 turned it off, and wanted to know where 

 your black queen came from. So far as I 

 can see, the black queen must have come 

 from some other hive, and got in there l)y 

 accident. Did not a small swarm of blacks 

 unite with them, shortly after your division? 

 It would seem such must have been tlie 

 case, if you found freshly laid eggs within 

 three days. The change in September I 

 should explain by saying the queen was su- 

 perseded, and her daughter had met an Ital- 

 ian dix)ne, and thus produced Italians. An- 

 other explanation would be, that they had 

 two queens in the hive all this time; but 

 that is quite improbable. A queen would 

 live in a hive alone without bees, scarcely 

 24 hours. 



NOT "BLASTED HOPES" AFTER ALL. 



We expected to go into Blasted Hopes this year, 

 but we had quite a "boom" during the fall months. 

 We took off all the surplus the latter part of July, 

 which amounted to but little. Upon examining 

 them again, about three or four weeks ago, we f oinid 

 the hives to contain from 25 to 65 lbs. of very nice 

 honey, and lience we feel encouraged to persevere. 

 Where the honcj' came from is a mystery to me. 

 There was no buckwheat within two miles of us, and, 

 besides, the honey is much lighter colored and better 

 flavored than that obtained from buckwheat. 



M. C. Stevens. 



LaFayette, Tnd , Nov. 20, 1880. 



PLANER SAWS. 



The planer saw I got of you last week cut very 

 nicely, but is entirely too slow. I got it for cutting 

 off sections so they would do without planing. I do 

 not like to buy a thing and then return it iniless the 

 person I bought of is perfectly willing to take baclt 

 again; if you are, please tell me what you will al- 

 low me for it in trade ; I do not want you to take it 

 back at the price I paid you for it, but am willing to 

 lose something for your trouble. T. FOOTER. 



Cumberland, Md., Dec. 13, 1880. 



The above seems to be the general verdict, 

 that they cut too slowly, and we have taken 



back nearly every one we have sold. They 

 are also quite difficult to file, compared with 

 the coramon saws ; but in spite of these two 

 objections, there are many places where a 

 planer can not be used, where a planer saw 

 comes in beautifully, and on this account 

 Mr. Gray says he would not think of run- 

 ning a bee-hive factory without at least one 

 on hand. In regard to taking goods back : 

 I am always glad to take back any staple 

 goods that are in good order, you paying all 

 expenses both ways, where it will be an ac- 

 commodation. Goods made expressly to 

 your order would be of no use to us. I make 

 no charge for trouble. 



A GOOD SUGGESTION ON INTRODUCING QUEENS, ETC. 



My bees did very well as to honey this year, al- 

 though I had but one swarm from 13 stocks, and lost 

 the parent hive. It become queenless after the 

 swarm left it, and, being in a box hive, I did not find 

 it out until it was too late to save it by transferring. 

 I made 3 stocks by dividing; have now 15—12 in Sim- 

 plicity hives, 3 in box hives; were all blacks until 

 August. I got 3 untested queens of W. P. Hender- 

 son, of which I lost one in introducing, saved the 

 other two, then sent for three more and safely in- 

 troduced all of them. They are all the Italians that 

 are near here. I have never showed them to any 

 one that had ever seen any before. The plan I suc- 

 ceeded with the best in introducing, was to feed well 

 while the queen was in the cage; then when I went 

 to release her I poured about a gill of strained honey 

 along on the tops of the frames, and when every bee 

 in the hive got his "bill" into it, I let the queen out, 

 and she ran down on the combs, and I suppose she 

 went all through the hive before she was noticed, as 

 I could not find the bees paying any more attention 

 to her than if she had been " native to the manor 

 born." My idea of it is, that by running through 

 the hive she gets the scent of all the rest, and is ac- 

 cepted as a matter of course. J. L. BuGG. 



Fredonia, Ky., Dec. 16, 1880. 



'i^pMi fnf OMmgmg. 



^gmOOKS arrived this morning. Thanks for 

 JSjQ& j) promptness. We began season with 19 colo- 



onies; took 84T!i lbs. comb, 530 lbs. honey, 



11?^ lbs. wax, increased to 47, which arc well packed, 

 warm and comfortable at present. 



Mrs. E. M. Parsons. 

 Terry Station, Bay Co., Mich., Dec. 20, 1880. 



good report from red CLOVER. 



As 1880 is coming to a close, T will hand in my re- 

 port. The season opened about ten days earlier 

 than last season. The yield from fruit-bloom was 

 the best that we have had for a long time. When 

 the locust was in bloom, bees commenced swarming; 

 we had several swarms during locust-bloom. Our 

 hopes were then high, but they were soon to be 

 blasted; for white clover was an entire failure in 

 honey, and almost in bloom. Basswood furnished 

 honey enough to start brood-rearing. The 20th of 

 July I had a report ready for Blasted Hopes. Hark ! 



