1881 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTUKE. 



187 



half of theirs, while the one unprotected ate up all; 

 about one-fourth of the bees dead, and the rest too 

 weak to do any thing; but by careful nursing- it is 

 now all right. I owe all my success to Gleanings 

 and ABC which I have read and re-read with great 

 pleasure as well as benefit. 1 am studying the sub- 

 ject very carefully, and I do not want my name ever 

 dropped from your subscription list. 

 Greenville, Ga., Feb. 28, '81. F. M. Ledbetter. 



We are just in receipt of Dr. Chase's sec- 

 ond Ileceipt Book, from the Chase Publish- 

 ing Co., Toledo, U. The book has been re- 

 vised, in bee culture as well as some other 

 subjects, so as to bring the whole up to the 

 present time. The siibject of ''diseases of 

 women and children" has also been revised, 

 and additions made thereto. While glanc- 

 ing through it, my eye caught the following, 

 which some of you "have recently inquired 

 about: — 



LABELING ON TIN. 



The difficulty of making labels stick upon tin 

 arises from the extreme smoothness of the surface; 

 to overcome this inconvenience, roughen the sur- 

 face with sand-paper before putting on the label. 

 This is a quick process on the tops of tin boxes; but 

 for labeling upon the sides of boxes, or cans, the 

 quickest way is to have the label made long enough 

 to go more than around, the extra part being blank, 

 or without printing, to allow the other end to lap 

 over it, and all is right, even with common paste. 



"Wetting the tin with common white- wash and wip- 

 ing off, after it is dry, roughens the tin about equal 

 to sand-papering, as the lime corrodes the surface 

 somewhat. 



The price of the book is $2.00, and we can 

 mail it to any address on receipt of price. 



MOVING BEES IN THE WINTER. 



Please inform me what I can do to keep my bees. 

 I bought 3 hi%-es last fall, and moved them in the 

 winter. Two swarms have died already, and the 

 other is very uneasy, and every warm day the bees 

 come out and do not go back, but try to run away. 

 I put a screen over the box so they can not go far, 

 and they will not go back into the hive, although 

 they have plenty to eat. The other hives that died 

 had 5 lbs. apiece, so did not starve. N. Dunbar. 



Tallmadge, Summit Co., O., Feb. 36, 1881. 



It may be that your bees would have be- 

 come diseased, and died as they did, with- 

 out their having been moved in the winter, 

 friend D.; but as a great many reports have 

 been given of bees that died after having 

 been moved in cold weather, I think it very 

 likely that it often so stirs them up that it 

 gives them dysentery. It has been suggest- 

 ed that the moving causes them to gorge 

 themselves with honey at a season of rest, 

 and, being unable to tly out and relieve 

 themselves, disease results. 



Your bees came out as you describe, be- 

 cause they were diseased; and at such times, 

 trying to confine them in the hives is of no 

 avail. Bees are often moved, however, dur- 

 ing winter, without apparent harm, especial- 

 ly if moved in moderate weather. 



IMPLEMENT FOR DESTROYING THE BEE-MOTH. 



I send you a plan of a lamp, etc., that is very use- 

 ful for destroying moths. It consists of a pan of vis- 

 cid matter placed upon a stake, which is set in the 



center of the apiary. A block of wood is placed in 

 the pan, upon which is placed a lighted glass lantern. 

 The moths, being attracted bythe light, dashagainst 

 it and fall into the pan, and are thus destroyed. 

 This lamp, as above, is used in the cotton-flelds of 

 the South for the purpose of destroying the cotton- 

 moth {Leucania umpuncta), and the plan is given by 

 Daniel Breed, Washington, D. C, in his report upon 

 '•Inventions for Insect Destruction," 1876. It will 

 pay to have one burning every warm night in every 

 apiary. Try it and see. N. F. Case. 



Glensdale, Lewis Co., N. Y., March 5, 1881. 



Thanks, friend C. The plan has been given, 

 substantially, before. 8o far as I know, tlie 

 bee-moth has almost ceased to be called an 

 enemy, unless it is the trouble they some- 

 times'make with combs left out of hives. 

 They do not annoy us otherwise, enough to 

 be hardly thought of, late years. Still, in 

 some localities, the device may be of great 

 value. Without question, a great many 

 kinds of harmless millers will be destroyed 

 also, if, indeed, there are any such. Will 

 Prof. Cook please tell us if all nocturnal 

 moths and millers are of the order of injuri- 

 ous insects? 



AMBER SUGAR-CANE IN NOVA SCOTIA. 



Like yourself, I am trying to sweeten the general 

 business of life with honey, and syrup from the Am- 

 ber sugar-cane. In this I have been greatly aided by 

 Gleanings, which I have carefully read from its 

 first number to the last issued. Our household has 

 become so familiar with you and your surroundings 

 that you appear more like a near and highly es- 

 teemed neighbor than a resident of distant Ohio. 

 But, to business. Last spring we inti-oduccd the 

 Amber sugar-cane into this section. It grew well, 

 but owing to late planting and drought did not quite 

 ripen. I put up a mill— a rude one for ex;veriment. 

 The various patches planted yielded from 100 to 200 

 gallons of syrup per acre. The quality, however, is 

 not up to our expectations. It is about as good as 

 ordinary W^est India molasses, and quite as dark. I 

 want a sample of the beautiful article you mention 

 in the Feb. No., p. 60. I know the sight of it will en- 

 courage the people to persevere. G. C. Miller. 



Middleton, Annapolis Co., N. S., Feb. 26, 1881. 



toads; how to banish from the apiary. 



If they are quite numerous, Iget a dipper and go to 

 the cistern and get it full of water ; soft water is best. 

 Get some one to accompany you with both hands 

 full of salt. You go first and wet the backs of every 

 toad or frog, and your assistant comes afterward, 

 sprinkling them freely with salt. They will at once 

 start to hop off, and they hop, hop, as long as they 

 live; and when they get far enough away they stop 

 to die, if the dose of salt has been large enough. 

 This, I think, is the cheapest, quickest, and best way 

 to exterminate those " hoptiles. " 



Please publish this in Gleanings for the benefit 

 of toad-afllicted friends. Wesley Baer. 



Benmilter, Ont., Ca., March 4, 1881. 



I have no doubt but that your plan will 

 work, friend B.; but really it seems almost 

 as if it was too much like "' fun for you, but 

 death to us." Can not these poor dumb 

 friends be carried away somewhere and set 

 at something useful? It is said they are 

 splendid in a garden, to rid it of Jioxious in- 

 sects. As I see them in my mind's eye, 



