;^!)4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



From Different Fields. 



HONEY fROM WILLOW ROOTS. 



MO bees here, and very few in the State. A few 

 swarms near Canon City, on the Arliiinsas 

 River, are said to have done tolerably well. 

 One man, A. Pickerell, who, at my siig-gestion, sub- 

 scribed for Gleanings, and who lived at Beulah, in 

 Pueblo Co., had about 40 swarms of Italians in the 

 fall of 1870; but they all died with dysentery before 

 spring-. He thought it was caused by some unhealth- 

 f ul juice they g-ot in the fall from the roots of wil- 

 lows growiuj^ on the banks of the 8t. Charles Creek. 

 He lived on the bank of one branch of that little 

 stream. W. M. Spalding. 



Gunnison, Co)., June 8, 1881. 



AVell, I declare, friend S., that is a queer 

 idea of honey from roots. How did they 

 get at the roots, and where did the juice 

 come from? I wish your friend would en- 

 lighten us a little. 



CLOSED-TOP FRAMES. 



I am keeping bees in a hive made in such a way 

 that the frames of It are made forest touching each 

 other so that the bees are considerably jarred in 

 taking them out. Will you please inform me whe- 

 ther it is the fault of the frames in this respect 

 that makes my bees so uglj', they l)eing handled in 

 other respects all right? Upon taking out a frame 

 from this hive they Hy all o\er me. The bees are 

 partly Holy-Laud (or Cyprian), I don't know which, 

 and Italian, with an Italian queen. I have a Ncllis 

 hive with Italian bees, >vith which I have no trou- 

 ble in opening. C. A. Wood. 



Tarrytown, N. Y., June liO, 1881. 



It is my opuiion, friend AV'.. that the clos- 

 ed-top frames will not work very well with 

 Holy-Land bees. AVilh tlie constant han- 

 dling we are obliged to give our combs in 

 queen-rearing, we want llie frames to touch 

 nothing, as nearly as it can be secured. 

 AVhere hives are worked only for comb hon- 

 ey, closed-top frames have some advantages. 

 It may be well to remark, that the metal 

 corners seem to be coming more and more 

 into favor each year. By far the greater 

 part of all the frames we now sell ai'e of this 

 kind. With the lloly-Jjand l)ers, when no 

 honey is coming, it is of the greatest im- 

 portance that they be handled without jars 

 or knocks. 



ROBBING WHEN FIRST SET OUT. 



1 had 1 poor and 13 good colonies this spring. 

 Pretty soon it was 10 li\e ones only and then down 

 to .t; and what made them dwindle so is hard to tell, 

 unless it was robbing. 1 set them out one warm day 

 about noon, and such another mess — a regular free 

 tight, and then to robbing, and they would rob in 

 spite of me. I contracted the entrances, and shut 

 some of them up for four days, and then they would 

 rob. 



CAN A BEE EXTRACT THE STING IF LEFT ALONE ? 



We know how many bees will get their sting out 

 if left alone when they sting. I have had one, and 



that is all, and I think that I have tried it fifty times, 

 but did not keep count, but wish 1 had so as to be 

 sure. C. H. Angell. 



Clarksville, Tenn., June 25, 1881. 



If I am correct, friend A., there is some 

 tiling wrong when bees rob at such a rate in 

 the early spring. If I mistake not, friend 

 (xrimm, with his hundreds of colonies, has 

 no such troubles, and the only reason 1 can 

 give is, that each one is so strong and full of 

 bees it can not well be robbed. 1 he Italian 

 or foreign bees seldom allow any sucli work. 

 I hardly think I should prove martyr enough 

 to let them sting me tifty times, friend A., 

 even in the pursuit of science. 



WHAT A POUND OF BEES WILL DO. 



I iiurchased of you 1 lb. of bees and (jueen, which 

 came to hand the 15th of last October. They have 

 increased to 4— first swarm. May 17th, about half a 

 bushel of bees; at any rate, they filled a ten-frame 

 hive in 6 days, and commenced storing in the box- 

 es. I have 2 hives of blacks, very strong in bees 

 —have not swarmed. I had 3 colonics last fall, in- 

 cluding your dollar queen, which proves to be p\irc 

 Italian. I wintered on summer stands in chaff 

 hives without loss. Noah Deaton. 



Carthage, Moore Co., N. C, June 22, 1881. 



My friends, you can get a little glimpse 

 fron'i the above of what the trade in pounds 

 of bees is destined to amount to. 



superiority of sugar over natukal stores 



FOR winter supplies. 



As we have passed through the worst winter and 

 spring for bees that have hirP-ned for years, the 

 question arises as to the cau.>c. Three yards last 

 fall came under my observation, and as I assisted 

 in putting them in the cellar, 1 will give a brief re- 

 port as to their condition as they went in, and dates. 

 One lot of 160 was taken in Nov. Hilh and 17th. This 

 lot was not fed, and had natural stores to pass 

 through an ordinary winter. Thc.\' were removed 

 from the cellar April iUh, about lUd, which dwindled 

 down to 40 by the !Uh of May. 



Lot No. 2 was put in cellar Nov. 22d, was dug out 

 of the snow, and was filled with frost; taken out 

 April 22d, and out of 170, lost 10, and the rest were 

 in good condition. They were fed up late on best 

 granulated sugar, >vhieh, when put in, was not 

 sealed. 



Lot No. ;i was put into the cellar D;'c. 7, and taken 

 out about April 20th. This was a small lot of 20 in 

 large hives, and ver.^- heavy with honey; in fact, so 

 heavy that it was necessary for two to carry them. 

 Losses, one, and the rest in first-class condition. 

 All these lots were put into very dry cellars, which 

 have been proven by successful wintering hereto- 

 fore. I think if we had taken all of the honey away 

 last fall, and fed sugar, best granulated, we would 

 not have had the losses we now have. I hope some 

 of our successful bee-keepers will agitate this ques- 

 tion of proper food for successful wintermg, along 

 with the rest of theories advanced. 



Chas. G. Feukis. 



Mohawk, N. Y., July 3, 1881. 



HOW AN ABC SCHOLAR SUCCEEDS. 



I have kept bees for the last 13 years in box hives. 

 Last winter I lost 12 out of 15, and now I have 4 colo- 

 nies, all in movable-frame hives, manufactured by 

 John Smith, of Morpeth, to whom I am indebted for 



