37: 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



I do think that there are many bee-keepers who 

 might do much good by writing for the bee-papers, 

 and yet they seldom or never write. There is a bee- 

 keeper living a few miles from here, of whom I al- 

 ways obtain valuable hints and suggestions each 

 time I meet him, and yet he seldom writes for the 

 bee-papers. Seems to me I hear some one say, " I 

 don't have the time." Let me tell my experience. 

 I presume some of you remember the "Scraps and 

 Sketches" that I wrote a year or two ago for 

 Gle.\nings; but I don't believe any of you can tell 

 why the articles were called "Scraps and Sketches." 

 The first winter after our little twins came to 

 brigh'.en our pathway, they were certainly "trouble- 

 some comforts;" many and many a night we would 

 not get more than an hour's sleep, while during the 

 day we could just manage to do the "housework" 

 and the " chores." I could not leave home to work, 

 neither could wc afford to keep a "girl," and my 

 time was sd occupied, and I felt so " tired out," that 

 it did seem as though I should be obliged to give up 

 writing or Gleanings; but finally I placed a paper 

 and pencil upon my desk, and whenever I had— yes, 

 just oif minute, I stepped to the desk and wrote. 

 Many and many a paragraph have I composed with 

 a baby on each knee; and as soon as an opportunity 

 presented itself I would step to the desk and write it 

 down in phonography. What else could my writings 

 be but " Scraps and Sketches"? When an article was 

 finished, it was written out in long hand in scraps. 



Don't say that you haven't time, because you can 

 find time if you only try hard enough. Don't write 

 Uicnry, but give fa tm, and ».§(/!(? iii'unnation. 



W. Z. HOTCaiNSON. 



llogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Friend II.. I have just this minute return- 

 ed from almost a week's absence in your 

 State, and the pleasant visits I have had 

 have determined me to visit more of you. I 

 can think of no place I would rather visit 

 just now than your little home. 



TOO MUCH SMOKE. 



not the least disposition to be cross, that it 

 was an act of sheer cruelty. Sometimes a 

 very little smoke will answer all purposes, 

 where honey is not coming enough to keep 

 them peaceable. Another thing: Where 

 robbers are bad, smoke is the very worst 

 thing ; for where bees would promptly repel 

 robbers, and keep them entirely out of the 

 hive, if let alone, I have seen the boys smoke 

 down the inmates so they could not prevent 

 the robbers from pushing right down and 

 getting their fill, almost before they could 

 get back to defend their rightful stores. I 

 have, too, seen smoke used at the entrance 

 to drive robbers away. If you want your 

 bees to defend their hive, and take care of 

 thieves, by no means think of smoking them. 

 I believe, however, friend D., I should like 

 a lighted smoker near, to itse if needed. 

 Sometimes it greatly facilitates getting the 

 bees out of the way in opening or closing the 

 hive, and thereby enables us to work faster. 

 It is no strange thing to find bees you can 

 handle at certain times without smoke, when 

 you could not with. 



ARTIFICIAIi AND NATCRAIi SWARM- 

 ING QUEENS, ETC. 



r 



tHY not caution the ABC class often about 

 using too much smoke in handling their 

 bees? I know you have done it heretofore, 

 but I believe it ought to be repeated often. When 

 we throw awaj' fear entirely, I think smoke is of 

 little or no. use. I believe we can handle bees the 

 year round, and do it with more satisfaction and bet- 

 ter results by leaving smoke entirely out of the api- 

 ary. If instead of going to a hive, jerking- the cap 

 off, tearing off the quilt, and blowing in smoke to 

 arouse the colony to a fighting pitch, we would be 

 cautious, raising the cap easily (a cap that will not 

 come off without jarring the hive has no business in 

 the apiary), raise the quilt slowly, without jarring, 

 avoiding all quick motions, laying the quilt to one 

 side, and then pick up the frame, or, rather, com- 

 mence picking it up, draw it out slowly, I tell you, 

 sir, you will have no trouble, even with black bees 

 running over their combs scared to death. If they 

 fly in your face and alight on your hands, not one in 

 twenty will sting you if you just pay no attention to 

 them. I have discarded smoke almost entirely. 



A. H. Duff. 

 Flat Ridge, Ohio, June 10, 1881. 



There is much truth in your remarks, 

 friend D., and I have often thought, as I saw 

 somsbDdy dose with smoke a colony that had 



eN page 277 of the June No., I notice an article 

 on queen-rearing, by E. Gallup. I wish to 

 briefly notice a few points in said article. In 

 the first place, he says chat no one will deny that 

 some queens are far ahead of others in proliflcness. 

 Among what class of queens do we find such? My 

 artificial queens, as a rule, generally outstrip the 

 natural ones. As good queens as I have in my api- 

 ary were reared from brood received from A. I. 

 Hoot. As to size and appearance, no one can tell 

 the difference. I would not go to much extra 

 trouble to save natural cells. Colonies that are not 

 disturbed, frequently have queens that are just the 

 same as those reared artificially, and a colony that 

 swarmsjnaturally frequently starts cells after the 

 I swarm has left. Now, if we save all these cells, we 

 get some that are not natural. It is very easy to get 

 natural cells at any season of the year by putting an 

 old queen in a small nuclei, and feed liberally, sup- 

 ! plying cells from time to time as they are found in 

 i colonies just before the egg is deposited in them. 

 Such cells can easily be found in new swarms. I 

 never succeeded in ^^'cttlng the bees of the nuclei to 

 build many such cells; but if a dozen were inserted, 

 an egg would be found in each shorHy after. Such 

 queens are as good, but no better, than those reared 

 artificially. I agree with Mr. G., that we should 

 change our stock often, but we should be careful 

 from whom we obtain our stock, as some breeders 

 of queens are getting careless. A great many are 

 rearing queens from those that " winter well," or 

 are " good honey-gatherers," without regard to pu- 

 rity. W. Z. Hutchinson said that if he were not 

 rearing queens for sale, he would breed from a black 

 queen, just because her colon j' happened to winter 

 well I I sold a queen for 50 cents a few days ago (the 

 mother of as good a colony as I have), just because 

 she was not quite pure. I would be afraid to breed 

 ftom such, as the "bad blood" might crop out in 

 futui-e generations, as it does in breeding other 

 stock. Any one ought to be satisfied with the Ital- 

 ian bee; and while we breed for desirable qualities, 

 we should not lose sight of purity. I am satisfied 



