82 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



From Dilfereut Fields. 



SHOULD DOLLAR QUEENS EVER PRODUCE BEES 

 NINE-TENTHS BLACK? 



fjRIEND ROOT:— The queen you shipped me 

 "* May Ist came all right. I removed the queen 

 — ■ from a populous stock, and introduced her in 

 a cage 48 hours, and then released her, when she was 

 received all right. I looked at her in about an hour, 

 and shut up the hive for good, thinking it all right; 

 and ten days after I found her dead at the entrance. 

 I opened the hive and found just one queen-cell, and 

 no eggs nor larvte. I ordered another dollar queeu, 

 and from her progeny there is not more than one 

 bee in ten that shows the Italian mark. Where did 

 she come from? Perhaps it is too much work; but 

 why is it not well to keep track of dollar queens— 

 where they come from, and then we would soon 

 learn who breeds for purity. I don't find aay fault, 

 but some one has got their Italians strained down 

 below par. 



It is my opinion friend L., tliat no queen 

 raised from an imported mother should do 

 as badly as that; yet the results of crossing 

 are so diverse that it may be possible, after 

 all. We have the names on a book, telling 

 where every queen we have sold came from, 

 and we have decided pretty well already 

 where Ave can not afford to buy in tlie future. 

 There is talk now of guaranteeing the pur- 

 ity of all dollar queens next year ; and if we 

 do this, queen-breeders will be pretty sure to 

 get the black bees out of their neighborhoods 

 more effectually another season. 



EAVE SWALLOWS EATING BEES. 



Theeave swallows have made havoc with my bees 

 for a few years past. They nest about J4 mile away, 

 under the eaves of the barns, over a running stream 

 of water; and to get rid of them I know but two 

 ways. One is to shoot them; the other is to take a 

 long pole and teach their young to swim before they 

 are old enough to eat bees. The old swallows catch 

 the bees to feed their young. I tried the former 

 way, and it cost me a dollar to kill sixteen with pow- 

 der and shot, and I am a good marksman too. At 

 that rate it would cost several hundred dollars to 

 getrid of them, besides my time. That won't pay. 

 Please inform me of abetter way. 



Are you positively. sure, friend L., that the 

 swallows were eating bees ? It js well known, 

 that they destroy large numbers of insects, 

 and I think we should be very careful before 

 we decide upon such a destruction of them 

 as you speak of. 



ARE BEES FOND OF PARIS GREEN? 



Is it careless to use Paris green on potato tops, in 

 the vicinity of my bees? 



I do not believe bees will ever touch Taris 

 green unless it is mixed with honey or syrup. 



UPPER ENTRANCES, AND POLLEN. 



Are bees more apt to carry pollen in the surplus 

 boxes when they have an upper entrance? 



An upper entrance would certainly make 

 it more likely to have pollen stored in the 

 surplus receptacles. 



VIRGIN QUEENS. 



Will bees accept a yirgin queen the day they 

 swarm? If so, please inform me. I introduced sev- 

 eral last season, but not one lived. 



The bees that have swarmed out will al- 

 most always accept any kind of a queen ; but 

 those that remain in the hive are just as 

 likely to refuse a new queen as if no swarm 

 had issued, so far as my experience goes. 



I went into winter-quarters with IT stands of bees 

 —one in chaff hive, 11 set in boxes packed with 

 chair, and 5 exposed to the weather, one of which is 

 frozen up solid. Zero weather here for the last 

 three weeks. Mercury 23° below zero—the coldest 

 yet. No signs of a thaw, and very short of water. 



E. W. Lund. 

 Baldwinville, Mass., Dec. 15, 1880. 



AN ABC SCHOLAR'S REPORT. 



1 commenced with 3 swarms, waich I took on 

 shares in 1877; but the story would befooling if I 

 told the ups and downs until now. I will say, If I 

 had taken the A B C or Gleanings,! could have 

 made a better report. I have sold over $100 worth 

 of bees; had last year 1000 lbs. surplus; this, 1500 (.500 

 extracted, 1000 comb;) sold for 13'/2 extracted, 15 to 

 16 in sections. I have now over 80 swarms in the 

 cellar. By the way, I have always kept my bees in 

 the cellar, in the winter, I mean, and have never lost 

 a swarm by disease, and but one in any way, and 

 that was by using an old hive with a mouse-hole in 

 it. You can guess the rest. One year ago last win- 

 ter manj' lost their bees in this vicinity. One of my 

 neighbors lost 31 swarms— all he had. I saved 31— all 

 I had. This year was a poor one with us here; no 

 surplus until about the 10th of August. My surplus 

 was all from less than 40 swarms. One made 144 lbs. 

 in large frames, my best. D. Houghtaling. 



Dimondale, Eaton Co., Mich., Dec. 26, 1880. 



ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL QUEENS. 



As friend Doolittle Is sa. ing so much about dollar 

 queens, I wish to say a word. Novv, I feel sure that 

 queens raised according to the rules in the ABC 

 are better than queens raised under the swarming 

 Impulse. Bees often swarm without having started 

 a queen-cell; the swarm finding themselves queen- 

 lass will set about raising queens from larva that is 

 ready to be capped over for a worker. The result 

 is, you have a queeu about half worker. She will 

 live about six weeks, and die. Then what is the 

 matter? Don't know. Mr. Doolittle says that the 

 queens raised according to your plan are raised by 

 old bees. I think not, for young bees are hatching 

 every day, and many of them have just learned their 

 course. Now, queens raised in the natural way, I 

 think, are often put on short rations, for the hive is 

 full of brood, and the bees have all they can do to 

 give them all a little. I shall raise all of my queens 

 according to the ABC book. I don't wan't to find 

 fault with friend Doolittle, but I don't think he 

 ought to be quite so stiff in the neck, and hang off 

 so much on one side. I don't raise queens to sell- 

 probably never shall. G. A. Wrksht. 



Nicholson, Wyoming Co., Pa., Jan. 13, 1881. 



Gently, friend W. You know friend D. 

 gets the honey, and as long as he does that, 

 he has a right to be " stiff-necked " if he 

 chooses. When we do as well as he does, 

 year after year, we shall have earned the 



