374 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



AuCf. 



HONEY-DEAV FROM THE CLOUDS. 



ANOTnER STATEMENT OK ITS FALLING FIIOM THE AIR 

 IN A MIST. 



M EKIENJ) sends the following, clipped 

 ^^^ from a newspaper. .Vs the town is not 

 —^^^ given, we have no means of knowing 

 whether we ha\e subscribers in that county 

 or not; but if we have, or if anybody else 

 whose eye meets this, can put us in commu- 

 nication with this John Kee, we will consid- 

 er it a great favor :— 



HONEV-DEW IN GEORGIA. 



Mr. .John Kee, of Talbot county, is responsible for 

 the following-: " it was early Sunday morning-. My 

 claugtiter was cngng-ed in sweeping off the front 

 porch, when her atrention was attracted by the 

 plaintive cries of young- chickens and the distressed 

 clucking of a hen. The sound came from a pile of 

 leu ves under some poplar-trees in the yard, and hur- 

 rying to the spot, She found the little chicks all 

 stucK up with leaves, rolling about trying to free 

 themselves, and two of the little sufferers were stuck 

 together. She picked these two up, and, coming to 

 the house, called nie. On examination we found 

 them covered with a sticky substance, which seemed 

 10 have come off the leaves, and. tasting, I was sur- 

 prised to find it honej'. On looking around, I could 

 see it glistening in the sunshine like diamonds on 

 every itatlet, and on the porch for two or three feet 

 were splotches of it. Several neighbors dropped in 

 during the day whom 1 told of the honey shower, 

 supposing it had been general, but they were in- 

 creuuluus until shown evidences of it. Jn the even- 

 ing of the same day I noticed a mist between me 

 and the sun, and a closer examination disclosed the 

 fact that we were having a repetition of the phe- 

 nomenon, which was witnessed by a dozen people. 

 While it did not rim off the house either morning or 

 evening, it covered the leaves of the trees and 

 shrubs, and was, without doubt, honey-dew, and 

 that, loo, from a cloudless sky."— Cof. Times. 



The above, it will be noticed, is given by 

 those who seem to have no interest in bees ; 

 and, although startling, it seems to have 

 about it an air of truthfulness. I would al- 

 most make a visit to Georgia to' have an op- 

 portunity of witnessing such a sight. 



HOlil-liAND BEES; CANDY FOR Ul'EEiN" 



CACJES, ETC. 



HAVE shipped queens all over the United 

 States and Canada this summer, and all I have 

 lost were two that were sent in your old bottle 

 cages. I use granulated sugar, with honey enough 

 added to make it stick together, for feed; how do 

 you like it? I think you are mistaken when you say 

 the Holy-Land bees are not as hardy as the Italians, 

 or that you do not think they will winter as well. 

 My experience last winter with them tells me that 

 they stand the winter much the better. Last fall I 

 had about 100 colonies of Italians, and about 60 Holy- 

 Lands and 37 blacks; out of the Italians I saved 

 about 10 very weak colonies, and out of the Holy- 

 Lands I had some 40 odd left, about 15 in splendid 

 condition ; the remainder weak, and not a black col- 

 ony survived the winter. The blacks, I bought and 

 got for nothing late in the fall. 



There are a few things about the Holy-Land bees 

 I do not like. They are crosser than the Italians, 

 and will not stick to their comb in handling like the 

 Italians, and the queens are more timid, and not as 

 easily found as the Italians; but then, there are 

 other points I like about them. They will go to 

 work earlier in surplus boxes, and with less bees in 

 the hive, than the Italians; the queens arc very pro- 



lific; are proof against moth worms and robbers; 

 they will not attack a person to sting, as long as left 

 alone. Please do not condemn any thing without a 

 thoi-ough trial. "Prove all things, hold fast that 

 which is good." 



Tell neighbor H. he had better luck with his light- 

 ed smoker in the buggy than A. P. Blosser, who had 

 his entire buggy-box, with a fifty-dollar h^irness, 

 burned by leaving his smoker with fire in it in the 

 buggy over night. _ I. R. Good. 



Nappanee, Elkhart Co., Ind., July II, 1881. 



The queen and bees came through on the 

 granulated sugar, wet up with honey, in 

 splendid trim. The mixture is put into an 

 auger-hole, adjoining the cage, witli only a 

 small passMge through the wood into the 

 candy. The bees crawl in and get the food, 

 and then crawl back again. I think there is 

 but little question now, but that sugar is 

 safer food than honey alone ; but it is quite 

 likely that both the sugar and honey are 

 what we want. Eriend >S. D. McLean, of 

 Culleoka, Tenn., has just sent us a lot of 

 queens, one half of which were put up with 

 candy and water, and the other half with 

 honey. lie asked us to report which were 

 received in better order, as he wanted to 

 know which kind of food is the safer. Those 

 with water and sugar were in decidedly the 

 better order ; and as they came Saturday 

 night, we had to keep them over Sunday. 

 ]\Ionday morning the bees in the cages with 

 honey only were nearly all dead, while the 

 others seemed as fresh as when they lirst 

 came. In wintering we have about the 

 same result. Granulated sugar is very much 

 better for winter stores than the various 

 kinds of honey (especially fall honey) that 

 are collected here and there. 



ONE MORNING'S WORK. 



fCAN not resist the temptation to report what I 

 have just done. After breakfast, at fi:;iO o'clock, 

 — ' I pounded some sugar corn, and fed my German 

 carp; gathered an armful of the best smoker wood; 

 lighted my smoker, and opened a chaff hive, and 

 took out 10 frames of sections, 72 ready for market, 

 the other 8 about half filled. I did not kill a bee nor 

 get stung. I will give you my reasons why I think 

 this was so quickly and well done. 



1. The upper and lower frames come close to- 

 gether; over the lower frames I put a piece of c<,)t- 

 ton cloth, eaten full of holes by the bees; the holes 

 give free access to the brood frames, which are so 

 close that there are no ladders or bridges built. 



3. The wide frames, bees, etc., are, as fast as taken 

 out, set in an empty lower story ; 5 are put in this, 

 then an upper story is placed on the first, and the 

 other 5 frames put in it and covered with a cloth. 

 The bees in the hive were then given a feeder, full 

 of sugar and water, in place of the wide frames, 

 and the cover put on next. Began smoking the 

 wide frames by turning up one edge of the cloth; 

 as soon as a frame was clear of bees it was carried 

 to honey-room; in a few minutes all the frames 

 were sitting oti my honej'-table. I carried in 10 bees, 

 and had to scrape wax from only one bottom-piece. 

 I did not spill one drop of honey. After attending 

 other things, and writing this, it is 8:30 A. M. 



Pewec Valley, Ky., July 25, 1881. A. W. Kayk. 



