1881 



GLEA^^IXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Iroduced with the Pect cage. To take everything 

 into considcratiim, I think the Poet cage comes very 

 near being just the thing. I. R. Good. 



Nappancc, Ind., Jan. 10, 1881. 



EXPERIMENTS VTITH HONEY-PLANTS. 



I send you a few seeds of the Iris Lcvvujata, a plant 

 of the order of touch-me-nots, but much more beau- 

 tiful, and a great hcc-pJant. The Rural New-Yorher 

 sent me six seeds; only throe of them eame up, and 

 the bees were sucking them till the great frost in 

 November. I sowed two rows, 300 feet Ijng, in sweet 

 Basil. I have gathered over a peck of them to sow 

 next spring. They are good bee-plants. I sowed two 

 acres in Alsike clover from August to middle of Sep- 

 tember last, and turnips with the clover seed, so as to 

 come on in succession. I sowed a great many Spider 

 plant seeds from the lise plants that came up. I 

 shall sow 4 bushels of silverhuU buckwheat, begin- 

 ning, as soon as all dangerof frost is over, with ahalf- 

 bushel, and continuing with the same quantity every 

 8 days till all is sown. I sow on highlj- manured land. 

 In like manner I shall plJnt 2 acres of the great 

 Russian suntlower. I have planted out upwards 

 of a thousand Cuthbert raspberry plints, but not 

 more than 50 will be of any benefit to the bees this 

 coming year. I have sown five acres of land of Ital- 

 ian-clover seed with wheat. I have saved a great 

 many Susette Fontaine mustard seed to sow In the 

 spring. A little cousin of mine in Mississippi sent 

 me a few seeds in 18T8, in a letter. She says that it 

 Is a cross between the colewort and mustard. Be 

 that as it may, it has leaves about ~ feet broad, and 

 It grows from 8 to 10 feet high in good rich land, 

 and is the strongest mustard I ever tasted. I will 

 send you some if you wish them. On the sides of our 

 roads we have growing a plant which grows about 3 

 or 3 feet high, blooms very early, and remains 

 in bloom till checked by the frosts about the last of 

 November; we call it sheepmint. It is a great bee- 

 plant, and so is the mustard. Did you know that 

 bees gather honey from the bloom of the tobacco- 

 plant? I raise a great deal of pearl millet. When 

 in bloom it gives the largest quantity of pollen, and 

 a great deal of honey where the fodder comes from 

 the stalk. The sourwood, tulip poplars, and Judas- 

 trees flourish in great quantities on my farm. Se- 

 quoia. The viol;'t-colored l.ivender, and the broad- 

 leaf thyme, of which I sow a great deal, are splendid 

 bee plants. Well, you see this ABC scholar is pro- 

 viding magnificently for his Italians, even growing 

 five acres of grapevines in the Concords, the Dutch- 

 ess, the Lady Washington, with gooseberries, cur- 

 rants, and Kittatinny blackberries; and yet he does 

 pot know that he has a single bee living. The last 

 time I saw them was on the 16th of December. I fed 

 them well, gave them '2 lbs. of coffee sugar, A No. 1. 

 They were very lively then, and appeared like 2 large 

 swarms. That in the Simplicity hive was rather the 

 larger. I have a splendid house for them, well cov- 

 ered and inclosed; stuffed around the hives with 

 oak leaves up to thetop, with separators and cush- 

 ions in the large hive, two doors, with lock and key. 



WASHBO.A.RD BEE-FEEDER. 



I sawed a common washboard, that was not tinned 

 in two parts, each holding 1 lb. of dissolved sugar. 

 None get drowned in these. Wm. S. Fontaine. 



Reidsville, Rockingham Co., N. C, Jan. 4, 1881. 



I fear, friend F., some of your invest- 

 mcDts will be only money out of pocket. 



Our half-acre of ISIammoth Russian sun- 

 flowers hardly attracted the attention of the 

 bees at all. I have also expended nearly 

 $50.00 for raspberry plants, and got nice fine 

 plants too, but I do not believe one in ten 

 is now growing. Go carefully, boys, on 

 these new things. 



THE COLD WEATHER IN WISCONSIN. 



The mercury froze up again last night at 10 p.m., 

 and continued to be in that state until 8 a.m. to-day. 

 I think that it probably would have shown 50° had 

 we any way of measuring it. This is the coldest 

 spell ever known in this country. Since the first it 

 has not risen above zero during the day, and has 

 ranged from 30^ to 40 below every night. Can bees 

 be expected to come out alive out on summer stands? 

 Mine keep up a buzzing noise all the time, but I 

 think it will give them dysentery. Birds, fowls, 

 and pigs, are freezing to death. E. A. Morgan. 



Arcadia, Wis., Jan. 10, 1881. 



I do not think the extreme cold will harm 

 the bees if colonies are strong and well 

 packed in chaff hives, friend M. The buzz- 

 ing is all right; they always do this when 

 it is so very cold, and I do not think it will 

 result in any great additional consumption 

 of honey, if protected as above. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



The three queens which I bought of you last fall, 

 were introduced to colonies in the following manner 

 with success: Deprive the bees of their queens as 

 usual; take hive, bees, and all, indoors; takeall their 

 frames out, and place them around the hive in any 

 way so their frames will be secure. Bees will soon fill 

 themselves with honey, and begin to look up their 

 queen. I then place the cage containing the queen 

 to be introduced near them on the floor. The bees 

 will soon cluster on the cage ; then replace the frames; 

 shake the bees off' the cage in front of the hive; re- 

 lease the queen, and all will enter, apparently with 

 joy. Carry the hive to its former place; raise the 

 window and let the remaining bees go home, and 

 then the work is done. Wii. Parmerlee. 



Bean Blossom, Ind., Jan. 11, 1881. 



Taking the bees away from their hive, or 

 away from their combs, will often make 

 them accept a queen Avhen they would not 

 otherwise ; but it can be by no "means relied 

 on in all cases. Reports of such experiments 

 are valuable, inasmuch as they give us facts 

 that enable us better to understand the hab- 

 its and disposition of bees. ]\Iany thanks, 

 friend P.; but I would not advise you to 

 risk a valuable queen thus, without careful 

 watching. 



making an artificial swarm IN APRIL UNINTEN- 

 TIONALLY. 



I can't find any thing in A B C or Gleanings that 

 fits this case: Last spring, the latter part of March, a 

 neighbor had two black and one Italian stocks of 

 bees standing on their winter stands, on the south 

 side of a building. About the 1st of April the two 

 blacks were moved 10 rods away to their summer 

 stands, and the Italians left for parts unknown for 

 want of stores (too early in the season to live out 

 here.) The hive that the Italians occupied was left 

 on the winter stand, with empty combs. Bees came 

 back from the blacks that were moved to summer 

 stands, and occupied the empty combs, and I sup- 



