1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



397 



combs from spoiling, and some small puny 

 queens that did not look as if they could run 

 a small nucleus, have proved equal to the 

 best, in the amount of brood they would 

 produce. Once in a great while, we find a 

 queen that lays only a dozen or two eggs in 

 a day, but these we can hardly call laying 

 queens at all, for they never go right at it 

 and fill a comb, and such should be killed at 

 once, as we would a drone-layer. 



OUT OF BLASTED HOPES. 



My bees came through the winter without the loss 

 of a swarm; 23 in cellar, and two on summer stands, 

 packed in chaff. I like cellar best, all conditions 

 favorable. Mj- bees are all in splendid condition, 

 and have filled their hives with fruit-bloom, and 

 those on which I had placed boxes have partlj^ tilled 

 them, which is some thing- uncommon here so early 

 in the season. My best swarm last season gave me 

 240 lbs. extracted — n&arly all white-clover. Please 

 count me out of Blasted Hopes, where you had me 

 two years ago. I have had splendid success with 

 bees ever since that time. C. Butman. 



Plymouth, Penobscot Co., Me., June 8, 1881. 



SVRUP FOR FEEDING BEES. 



Will you be so kind as to give in your next num- 

 ber a recipe for making sugar syrup for feeding 

 bees, that will not grain in the comb after being fed, 

 and not hurt the bees? Some recommend one tea- 

 spoonful of cream of tartar to the gallon of syrup. 



Joseph Garst. 



Springfield, Ohio, July 8, 1881. 



My plan, friend G.. would be sugar and 

 water, and nothing more. jVIany years ago 

 we used cream of tartar and vinegar; l)ut 

 where the syrup was fed early enough so the 

 bees had time to seal it up in the combs, we 

 found it to answer just as well without any 

 chemicals. If you use granulated or even 

 coffee sugar, the bees will use it all up with- 

 out any trouble, even if it should grain in 

 the combs. Since reading friend Grimm's 

 article in the July number, I have been won- 

 dering how he feeds to do it so rapidly, and 

 how he prepares the syrup ; what feed he 

 uses, etc. Friend Grimm, will you be so 

 kind as to tell the boys a little more al)Out 

 feeding, especially feeding sugar in place of 

 honey V 



CELLARS NOT ALWAYS AHEAD. 



Host over half of what I had last winter. I win- 

 tered some in the cellar, and some out on summer 

 stands; all died that were in the cellar, but one. I 

 use American and box hives mostly. I got through 

 the spring and winter with 18 swarms, all black 

 bees. They commenced working the ITth of April; 

 commenced swarming the 12th of June; have had "> 

 young swarms, and have divided one, and have got 

 over 100 lbs. of honey in surplus boxes up to this 

 date. I like to hear from all of the A B C scholars, 

 and the older ones too. George W. Sorter. 



Wells, Tnscola Co., Mich., June 10, 1881. 



teacher and pupil, and wintering in a room. 

 You said, on page 3.3, of last Jan. Gleanings, that 

 you were afraid I had defeated any chance of "cele- 

 brating the Fourth of July, 1881," with the colony of 

 Italians I was then wintering in a room above 

 groimd. That colony stayed in that room until 

 about April 15th, and it is now very strong, having a 



great many bees, 8 frames of brood and honey (a 

 large proportion of it brood), and two queen-cells 

 started. "How is that for high?" It is better than 

 some did who were not "green hands." 



Samuel A. Miller. 

 Bloomfleld, Essex Co., N. J., June 9, 1881. 



Pretty good for '• high,'' I should say, 

 friend M., especially as your teacher didn't 

 winter his own bees at all. " scarcely.'' Now* 

 I wish you to tell me if you wintered that 

 colony all these months in a room above 

 ground, with a window in it, as such rooms 

 usually have V If so, why did not the bees 

 fly out on this window when you had days 

 warm enough for them to fly V If you fas- 

 tened them in the hive, did they not get very 

 uneasy these warm spells V 



WATER-BOTTLES FOR QUEEN CAGES. 



Please send me 100 tin water-bottles for queen 

 mailing-cages, such as used last year, by return 

 mail if possible, or as soon as possible. I have aban- 

 doned the candied honey for the present, as the i^rn) 

 hot weather, I fear, will be too much for it imless 

 put up as I described formerly. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Linn Co., Iowa, July T, 1881. 



"We too, friend F., have discovered that 

 queens can not well be sent safely long dis- 

 tances during this very hot weatlier, and I 

 must confess that it was with sadness I be- 

 gan to think again of adopting the water- 

 bottles in queen-cages. At this juncture 

 came some Feet cages from friend J. P. 

 Moore. Morgan. Ky., containing a slender 

 bottle made of light tin. much like the bot- 

 tles in our cages for bees. Ills queens were 

 always in beautiful condition ; a tiny drop 

 of water was always observable in the small 

 orifice, not unlike a drop of dew, and the 

 candy was always white and free from stick- 

 iness. I sat down and pondered on it. The 

 cause of the leaking of the bottles, and the 

 daubed condition of our l^ees, began to 

 '•leak ''into my understanding. At first I 

 had the candy in one part of the cage and 

 the Avater in the other, and, I hardly know 

 how. I got into a way of having the candy 

 come right up acrainst the side of the tin 

 bottle. The result was, that the water ran 

 by ca])illary attraction along the side of the 

 tin tube until it reached the sugar, and then 

 all the water ran out, some thing as it runs 

 out of a wash-basin when the towel is left 

 hanging in it. We are now going to put a 

 little tube across, as friend Moore does. 

 These tubes Avill cost about 2 cts. each, the 

 best I can do; but I thi!ik with them our 

 bees will he safe the hottest weather, for 10 

 days or two weeks. Elsewhere we give an 

 engraving of the latest edition of the im- 

 ]n-oved Feet cage, with the water-bottle in it. 

 Frice 7 c. each, or SO c. per doz. If wanted 

 bv mail, 3 c. each extra. 



ONE O0<lD REPORT FROM THE RrBBER PLATES. 



I have the pleasure to report, that after nearly de- 

 ciding that those rubber plates were a failure, with 

 me, I thought, this morning, the cause might be 

 hard water, so I added a little lye. The result was 

 a complete success. Tell the friends they must have 

 soft water, a pint of lye in it, or perhaps bora.x 



would do. I. B. RUMFORD. 



Bakerstield, Cal., June 25, 1881. 



