400 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



HUNGARIAN BEES. 



As some ol' my customers have an idea that the 

 Hungarian bees are marked similar to the Italians, I 

 want to say, lor the benefit of such, that the Hunga- 

 rian bees are quite dark,— the hairs, or down, on 

 the workers give them a whitish or very light gray 

 appearanee. Some of the <]uecns show muddy 

 whitish bands; the queens are larger than those of 

 any other race of bees I have; very prolific, and their 

 worker progeny very gentle, and line honey-gather- 

 ers. Those who want fancy-colored bees had better 

 not order them; but if bees are wanted for business, 

 try the Hungarian. I do not raise or ad\ertise pure 

 Hungarian bees for sale. Every queen of this race 

 will be fertilized in my apiaries where my Italian 

 and Cyprian bees are kei)t. I consider this hybrid 

 race as good as any in the world. H. Allev. 



Wenham, Essex Co., Mass., July 18, 1881. 



But, friend A., where did these bees come 

 from, and when did they comeV ^Ve know 

 all about Italians, Holy-Lands, and Cypri- 

 ans, but we have no record, that I know^_9f, 

 of any bees from Hungary. If they are any 

 better bees than Italians, all things consid- 

 ered, of course we want them ; Init it is pret- 

 ty expensive trying so many new kinds that 

 differ so little from those we have. 



INTRODUCING A QUEEN TO A HIVE HAVING A LAY- 

 ING yUEEN. 



We are having a good season for bees in this sec- 

 tion of Iowa— perhaps the best we ha^•e had for 

 years. You ask, in July No. of (J leanings, if any 

 one has ever introduced a laying queen into a hive 

 having a (lueen, so that both would continue laying 

 side by side. I united a colony of bees last October 

 with a swarm in one of your chaff hives; both 

 swarms had good laying queens, and I did not hunt 

 up the queen, as I could not use her. In April I 

 opened the hive and found both queens laying side 

 by side, as well contented as could be. In a few 

 days I took out one of them and put in another 

 hive, and they both proved to be splendid queens. I 

 have had several old queens and their daughters 

 laying in the same hive. M. M. (Lvllen. 



Moravia, Appanoose Co., Iowa, July 14, 1881. 



STARTING queen-cells WHEN THEY HAVE A QUEEN. 



This morning I found a queen lying on her back 

 on the porch of the hive to which I introcuced fie 

 queen from Hutchinson two days before. This is a 

 new swarm six days old ; in three days they had 

 queen-cells started on the foundation. I supposed of 

 course they had lost their queen. They have no eggs. 

 This is a second swarm from the hive, and thej' may 

 have a virgin queen. I opened the hive and found 

 a nice queen. Now, what "gets me" is, would they 

 start queen-cells if they had a queen of any kind ? 

 The bees are hybrids, and whether the queen they 

 now have is Hutchinson's or one of their own, I do 

 not know. Can you enlighten me any ? 



JoH.N F. Nice. 



Williamsport, Pa. , July 18, 1881. 



It may be set down as a rule, that a colony 

 that starts queen-cells from brood given it is 

 queenless, although there may bo occasion- 

 ally an exception . It should be remembered, 

 that queen-cells are produced by two or 

 more different causes, or impulses, as it 

 were. One is from or under the intluence of 

 natural swarming, a!id the other, the start- 



ing of cells when suddenly deprived of a 

 queen. IJesides these two, liees sometimes 

 seem to be displeased with a queen, and 

 start cells to replace her. In deciding whetii- 

 er or not a colony is queenless, it is well to 

 iiKjuire Avhether either the lirst or last may 

 not have caused the starting of cells. When 

 you find a colony without brood, and see no 

 queen, some brood suitable for starting cells 

 should be given it at once ; and after about 

 48 hours, if we lind queen-cells, we are al- 

 most absolutely certain tlie colony is queen- 

 less. If no cells are started, we are equally 

 sure there is a queen of some kind present, 

 which should be hunted un. 



f^IUEOPENING HIVES. 



I was induced to go in for American hives on ac- 

 count, as I then thought, of easy operating; but I 

 want, and will have, after this winter, hives that I 

 can get out the last frame without having to tak(; 

 out all the others. You say you used them once on 

 a time. Did the bees ever boil out when you took off 

 the side to open it? Mine do sometimes, and then it 

 seems as though I would like tobe inmy otticestudy- 

 ing out some intricate law problem, rather than try- 

 ing to lay down the law to those bees. 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Attleboro, Bristol Co., Mass., July Jl, 1881. 



I woiddif t wonder if they did sometimes 

 " boil out," friend P., as you say. I used the 

 side-opening American hives five years en- 

 tirely, when I first commenced ; but I then 

 transferred all of my bees liack into the L. 

 frames again, where they were originally. 



UI'S AND DOWNS OF AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



I will try to give you a bit of my experience as a 

 bee-keeper. Mj' first experience with bees was 

 about Cor 7 years ago. I got a swarm that settled 

 on a peach-tr(!e in our garden. It was hived in a 

 box hive. I had many up^ and downs, but more 

 downs than ups for about three years; I didn't 

 know, scarcely, any more about bees than an old 

 hen, until I received a copy of Gleanings. I then 

 began learning my A B C's. I made frame hives, 

 and transferred my box hives. I have now been 

 using frame hives for three years, and was making 

 good headway when the past cold winter swept 

 them all away but ^stands. As I told j-ou in the 

 March No., my hopes were not blasted, and never 

 will be as long as I have a stand left; but, more en- 

 couraged, I set our with renewed vigor, increased 

 my stands to C, giving each new swarm a two-story 

 hive with 20 fxames of comb each; Italianized each 

 swarm, and have taken, to date, 430 lbs. of basswood 

 and clover honey. They are doing well. Now, I 

 don't know where they get their honey, unless it is 

 honey-dew, which I think it is. I believe I never 

 told you how I liked the extractor I got of you last 

 year. Well, sir, I don't believe that I ever invested 

 $7..50 in any thing that I was as well satisfied with. 

 It works well. I have mine screwed to a bench, 

 about 30 inches from the ground; this bench has a 

 small leaf, hinged underneath the honey-gate, with 

 lU-inch auger-hole for the strainer to hang in, and a 

 button to hold the leaf. I like this arrangement the 

 best, especially when working in the apiari*. I can 

 pick up the extractor, take it from one hive to an- 

 other, set a can or bucket under the strainer, and 

 go to work. The strainer is never out of place. 

 When working among the bees I hardly ever use a 



