340 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



HONEY-DEW IN ORECiON. 



SN regard to your inquiries about honej'-dew in 

 Oregon, I can say that there are many localities 

 here where honey-dew falls in great quantities. 

 The locality you speak of in Gleanings is one of 

 the favorite parts for honey-dew. It is principally 

 confined to the foot of the Cascade Mountains, and 

 on the coast. I have seen honey-dew hero in Ore- 

 gon where I could easily dip a teaspoonf ul up at one 

 dip. These were favorite spots. Some years there 

 is much more than others. Here on the coast we 

 are favored with more or less honey-dew every year 

 through June, July, and August. I am quite sure 

 that, 20 years ago, there was more honey-dew than 

 at the present time. Then the country was com- 

 paratively new, and there were but few bees and a 

 great field of tlowers; but since that time great 

 wheat fields and sheep pastures have been opened, 

 in my opinion cutting the resources of honey-dew 

 short. However, here on the coast there is a great 

 amount of " sallal,"* of which the common black bee 

 can not reach the nectar; thus such a great amount 

 of honey evaporating accounts for our honey-dew 

 on the coast. I think if the Italians were introduced 

 here, it would cut the honey-dew crop short, as it 

 would take but a trifle longer tongue to reach the 

 nectar, although there is some honey gathered from 

 this shrub by the black bees, and from the dwarf 

 blooms. W. E. McWiLLi. 



Collins, Benton Co., Oregon, May 4, 1881. 



We can hardly agree with you, friend M., 

 tliat the honey evaporates from tlie flowers 

 and condenses in the form of honey-dew; 

 but it may be we are mistaken. If lioney 

 ever falls from the atmosphere, or from the 

 clouds, as some of the friends have claimed 

 in our back volumes, it might be, I suppose, 

 that it rises up from the flowers. The mat- 

 ter seems still clouded in mystery. Many 

 thanks for the trouble you have taken to 

 furnish us these valuable facts. 



REPORT FROM NORTHERN NE^V JER- 

 SEY FOR THE PAST ^VINTER. 



ARE LATE-GATHERED STORES LESS WHOLESOME? 



fj|WO-THIRDS of the bees in this locality are 

 dead. The following include tlie loss to date 

 — in my immediate neighborhood: E. Bellis had 

 70, lost 51; J. Weller 30, lost 20; I. Smith 5, lost 4; 

 P. Cowel 9, lost 9. There are others who have lost 

 heavily; but as 1 have not heard from them in a 

 fortnight I am unable to give the exact amount, but 

 think that I may safely affirm, that PaOf all are dead, 

 and the loss may reach 4-5 of all. The above were 

 all in box hives.. There arc but very few frame 

 hives in this locality. 



I went into winter-quarters with 14 swarms— 11 in 

 Simplicity hives, and 3 in Gallup hives; they were 

 left on their summer stands. Each of the Simplicity 

 hives had 8 frames, with division-board packed with 

 buckwheat chaff, with space between cover and mat 

 filled with chaff. Those on Gallup frames were left 

 with the whole of the frames with caps filled with 

 chaff. Of the 11 Simplicities, 6 are dead; of the 

 Gallup, 1 is dead, leaving me 7 out of 14 alive. 



CAUSE OF THE MORTALITY. 



I do not think that the loss can be attributed to 

 *We aie in doubt about this word, and print it just as it loolis. 



the cold weather alone. It may have helped to aug- 

 ment it, but I believe inferior stores, with an over- 

 plus of pollen, to be the main cause. What would 

 seem to indicate that the stores were mainly in fault 

 is this: That of the 7 that died, 6 were young, and 

 one old swarm, and that I believe to have been 

 queenless in the fall. Of those alive, there is 1 

 young, 6 old ones. My theory is, that the old swarms 

 had a surplus of old honey, or stwres, gathered in the 

 fore part of the season, which were better for win- 

 ter than that gathered later in the season; hence 

 they wintered much better. 



All of the swarms that died had from 5 to 20 lbs. of 

 honey, and of the central frames of each, half of the 

 cells contained pollen with sour honey on top, and 

 as thin as water, so that it ran out of the cells and 

 down on the bottom-board. 



The latter part of March I thought I would try an 

 experiment with 2 diseased colonies. I went to my 

 old swarms and took one frame of good stores from 

 each of four of them ; put them in a clean new hive, 

 and brushed the two weak colonies in on them to- 

 together; placed a division-board on each side of 

 them; filled in the empty space with chaff; put 

 chaff over the mat, and shut the hive up and left 

 them for five days; at the end of which time I no- 

 ticed that they did not fiy any, but robbers were go- 

 ing in and out; so I thought I would take a peep 

 and see how they were coming on, when lo! all were 

 dead. J. D. Brands. 



Delaware Station, N. J., April 19, 1881. 



While stores gathered early in the season 

 are doubtless the most wholesome, I do not 

 think this is the whole of the matter. Well- 

 ripened, sealed stores are, without doubt, 

 safer ; and I believe clover and basswood 

 honey is, as a rule, most wholesome ; but if 

 I am correct, the greatest point of all is, to 

 have old thick combs, containing the co- 

 coons of many generations of brood, to keep 

 the bees warm. New colonies seldom have 

 these, and they are ahnost always the first to 

 suffer. 



REPORT FROM MR. AND MRS. AXTELIi. 



SOME GOOD HINTS FROM OLD AND SUCCESSFUL 

 HANDS. 



3!" THOUGHT I would write you, and let you know 

 I our success in wintering. We had 134 colonies 

 — ' (I think that was the number) that we wintered 

 out of doors with chaff packing, but they averaged 

 weak in the fall; 43 are alive; 23 are now good col- 

 onies. The rest will save their queens, and perhaps 

 build up good after awhile. I think I will give them 

 the parent stocks in swarming time. 



We had 95 in cellar; all were alive when taken out 

 on the 18th, 20th, and 22d of April, except one; 3 

 were queenless; united with weak ones. Many col- 

 onies were suffering with dysentery; combs wet and 

 moldy — so wet that some hives, on tipping up, a 

 dirty, watery honey would run out of entrance; only 

 a few so bad as that, and those that were weak in 

 bees. The strong ones that were good in fall were 

 mostly dry and clean. We took out all the combs 

 but just what the bees could cover densely. The 

 queens began to lay immediately, and fill every 

 comb full of brood; then we extracted the unsealed 

 honey from the combs, and have been adding one or 

 more as they could care for them, eveiy few days. 



