1881 



gleani:ngs in bee cultuhe. 



835 



pect her next Thursday. If they beat the Italians 

 they will prove to be the bee for the South, as the 

 climate is nearer that of their native land. 



I will mail you sample of our huckleberry honey, 

 which please test and give your opinion of in Glean- 

 ings. I think you will fina it A 1. I forgot to say, 

 that the 7 stocks worked for comb honey have given 

 me 318 lbs. surplus so far, and will make up about 

 200 lbs. more. The hive that I am using is some 

 thing like the Simplicity; holds 12 frames, 12; j wide 

 and 9 deep, tiered up 2 and 3 stories, flat cap, and 

 can use either sections or for extractor; brood 

 frames hold i sections, 4' j deep by 5 It long. I would 

 not exchange it for any other hive made. Hurry up 

 on pressed foundation, as I want a machine. 



Don't allow the Home department to go down; it 

 is worth more than all the rest of Gleanings; and 

 if you will do me the favor to send me your photo- 

 graph for my album, I will prize It more than I do 

 my best stock of Italians. W. P. Wemyss. 



Clinton, Sampson -Co., N. C, May 30, 1881. 



Why, friend W., if I had not said so much 

 about the California honey in times past, I 

 should say this was by far the most exquis- 

 ite honey that ever tickled the ])dlate of a 

 son of Adam. 1 can not well give all the 

 friends a taste, but I will explain that it has 

 an aromatic (sore of cinnamon) flavor, and 

 one faintly recognizes the huckleberry per- 

 fume, from the" odor of the honey. How 

 much have you got of this, as pure as the 

 sample sent me? I have not yet got up my 

 cabinet of samples of the choice honey of the 

 world ; but when I do, huckleberry honey 

 will occupy a prominent place, I tell you. — 

 My heart is made glad by your kind con- 

 cluding words ; and, although I have almost 

 always crossed these out, before handing to 

 the compositors, I have a sort of feeling to- 

 day tliat not many will scold, if I do let it go 

 just as you liave written it. I am very glad 

 indeed to hear of your success this season. 



ROBBED BEES GOINO HOME WITH 

 THE ROBBERS, ETC. 



^N his criticism of your ABC, in April No., Mr. 

 G. M. Doolittle asks: " Did anybody ever know 

 the bees from a robbed colony to go home with 

 the robbers?" I think I have observed a case in 

 question. 



In 1879 I had, old swarms and artificial increase, 6 

 swarms of Italians. Not more than one square from 

 me lived a man having 3 swarms of Italians, which 

 were perfectly marked with the three yellow bands. 

 They differed, however, very decidedly from mine, 

 in that they had shining black tips, without any per- 

 ceptible hair rings, while the posterior part of the 

 abdomen of my bees shows a plainly defined (nearly 

 white) ring of down at every segment of the body. 

 My neighbor's bees gave, during the summer, one 

 natural swarm, which he hived successfully. In the 

 latter part of the summer I noticed most of my bees 

 for several days in great commotion. They all 

 seemed to fly in the direction of my neighbor's gar- 

 den; and as it was in a time of dearth I soon sur- 

 mised that they were robbing his new swarm. Aft- 

 er a few days their excursions in that direction 

 ceased, and then it was that, while looking through 

 my bees, I found a good plain sprinkling of my 

 neighbor's "black tips" in nearly every one of my 

 colonies. They seemed to be perfectly at home, 



and remained theri! "for the rest of their lives." 

 I later made the acquaintance of my neighbor, and 

 learned from him that he had "lost" his new swarm. 

 How, he did not seem to know; but I knew. 



CHAFF HIVES FOR AVINTEIt. 



I wintered tj colonics in open air, in Root chaff 

 hives, with thick chaff cushions on top, and 2 three- 

 frame nuclei packed between chaff division-boards, 

 with chaff cushion on top. The nuclei were in com- 

 mon single-walled Langstroth. I left from fi to 7 

 frames in each of the chaff hives, and closed tha 

 space with a chaff division-board. All came through 

 safely, though one of the nuclei was very weak. If 

 I take into consideration that I was "caught out in 

 the cold," and left them standing entirely unpre- 

 pared during- our rigid November freeze, with sur- 

 plus combs yet on, thereby losing heaps of bees by 

 freezing in every colony; and that I was compelled 

 to move into a new house, which I had built, on the 

 27th of December, carrying the bees a distance of 

 l'/3 miles on a wagon, and sending them, of cpuise, 

 into a perfect uproar, without a possible chance of 

 a flight for about 2' 2 months afterward, I can con- 

 gratulate myself on being extremely fortunate. 



I say the chaff hives are a success ; or at least some 

 kind of chaff hives; but I am not yet full pleased 

 with the shape of your hive. 



ABNORMAL BEES. 



If the observing bee-keeper could scrutinize ev- 

 ery bee in his colonies, he would, no doubt, often 

 come across bees which arc abnormally shaped or 

 colored. I am in possession of two drones which I 

 consider quite curiously and "wonderfully made." 

 The one, I caught on a comb about 2 years ago, and 

 it is a well-developed specimen of an Italian drone 

 with a snow \i:hitc head. The other, I found strag- 

 gling in front of a hive a week ago, and, casually 

 picking it up, I at once noticed the extreme small- 

 ness of its head. Looking closer, I saw that It had 

 a veritable workerliead, with a short drone tongue. 

 It is rather smaller, and much more hairy than a 

 genuine worker-head; but in Its most prominent 

 characteristic, the eyes, it is almost perfect. I have 

 both specimens ia alcohol. 



Bees arc doing well here now on white clover. 



T. H. Kloer, 



Terre Haute, Vigo Co., Ind , June 1, 18S1. 



FRIEND BUCHANAN, AND SOME OF THE 

 IDEAS HE HAS GATHERED 



FROM VARIED EXPERIENCES, SAD AND OTHERWISE. 



^|jp|> EAR GLEANINGS:— Last summer I had eighty 

 Mm strong stocks of bees. They were in prime 



condition during the time our crop of honey 



is secured here, and we think they were handled 

 better than the average; and with all our bees, we 

 failed to secure, on an average, more than one- 

 fourth enough to carry them through. Twenty of 

 the poorest stocks were allowed to perish in the fall, 

 and the remainder were fed up in the early part of 

 September on a mixture of grape and granulated 

 sugar syrup; using one-third grape sugar, and a 

 few were fed with one-half each grape and granu- 

 lated sugar syrup. And right here I will say, these 

 were the first to sicken and die. I should have lost 

 all; but, finding they were going, I began to feed 

 candy by placing it over the cluster, and covering 

 with quilt; and In a few days they appeared to rest 

 easy, and were restored to health and quiet. I win- 



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