448 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



tions as samples, and to have filled for our fairs; 

 but I suppose j'ou could not send many by mail, and 

 express is unhandy for us. I would like to see some; 

 none were ever used in this countv. 



H. A. Davis. 

 Moretz Mills, N. C , July 2, 1881. 



I am not sure that I can answer the ques- 

 tion for you, friend B. ; but I would tal^e 

 care of the pollen, if it were my case, by get- 

 ting bees enough to work it all "up into brood. 

 We rarely, if ever, have a surplus of pollen 

 here ; but for all that, our bees do not seem 

 to winter better than other localities. If you 

 keep them rearing brood right along through 

 dull and dry seasons, by sugar feeding, would 

 they not use it up in raising young iDees ? — 

 Sections can he sent by mail ; but as it costs 

 about one cent eacli for postage it is rather 

 expensive, unless for only a few for some 

 particular purpose. 



close it again until they will. When you 

 find them bringing in loads of pollen, you 

 may be pretty well assured that every thing 

 is all right. The two combs you give them 

 should have but very little unsealed brood, 

 or it will likely be lost. 



WASHING HIVES BEFORE PlTTTINfJ IN A SWARM. 



In reply to bees leaving- after swarming, most 

 likely you washed yoiu' hives before putting them 

 into it. I have seen hives washed, and never knew 

 them to stay in them. If Mr. N. L. Wood washes 

 his hives, I do not think the bees will stay in them. 

 One of my neighbors washed a hive, and called me 

 to help him, and the bees refused to go into it; and 

 I asked him if he washed it, and he said he did. It 

 is a good idea to sprinkle them with water to make 

 them go into the hives at such times. 



Claremont, Ont., Can. E. Birrell. 



Friend B., it seems tome this whole busi- 

 ness of washing is rather behind the times. 

 I can remember when my motlier used to 

 send for some hickory leaves, with which to 

 wash out the hive, so the bees would stay ; 

 but I do not know that I have heard of any- 

 body doing the like since, unless it was to 

 wash out the hive with honey and water, 

 which would be just the thing to start rob- 

 bing, if any were so disposed at the time. 

 We hive hundreds of new sAvarms, divide 

 them into several parts, set them ip the sun, 

 and do any thing we want to with them, but 

 we always have that frame of luisealed brood 

 we have said so much about, with every 

 colony, no matter whether it is a handful or 

 a half-bushel ; and I have never had one so 

 prepared go off, that I now recollect. 



WHAT TO DO WITH A QUEEN AND J4 Lli. OF BEES. 



I have received the queen and ?.i lb. of bees. I 

 have had a great deal of trouble with robbers, hav- 

 ing taken a frame of brood from one of my other 

 hives with sealed honey at the top, and the hive I 

 took it from carried the honey all back to their own 

 hive. The queen is a fine one, and my neighbors 

 say so too. C. W. Callear. 



Pittston, Pa., July 31, 1881. 



If you should get a queen with only i lb. 

 of bees at a time when the bees are getting 

 so little honey they are disposed to rob, you 

 will have to be a little careful. First pro- 

 cure about two combs of brood, having 

 young bees just gnawing out of their cells. 

 Let the bees and queen loose on these. If 

 robbers are buzzing about, I would close the 

 hive a few hoitrs. Now open it so only one 

 bee can come out at a time. If the bees 

 cluster about the entrance and defend it 

 from robbers, all right ; but if they do not, 



drones with colored eyes. 



I send you by to-day's mail a curiosity in the shape 

 of a drone with yellow eyes, from a mismated Ital- 

 ian queen. J. M. Hyne. 



StowartsviUe, Posey Co., Ind., July 33, 1881. 



I have l)efore mentioned having a colony 

 of bees whose drones always all of them had 

 eyes of a cherry-red color. The one friend 

 II. sends us as above has eyes of a beeswax 

 yellow ; in fact, it is hard to think his eyes 

 are not lumps of bright yellow wax. Others 

 have reported drones with white or pink 

 eyes. From all these facts we would infer 

 that nature seems to have a special propen- 

 sity to sport on the eyes of drones. Do you 

 not remember that friend Hasty said corn is 

 inclined to sport in the construction of the 

 tassel, but not in the ear? There seems to 

 be a strange feature here, giving a glimpse, 

 as it were, behind the curtain, of the won- 

 derful processes by which God has builded 

 np these wonderful creations. JMany thanks, 

 friend H., for the curiosity. As tlie odd- 

 looking insect seemed lively, we introduced 

 him to a hive in the apiary. 



A yUEEN that STINOS WORKERS. 



Queen to hand all right; bees all dead; think she 

 must have killed them, as there was but little of the 

 candy used. When I opened the cage she ran her 

 sting out and frisked aboiit as if she meant business. 

 I introduced her the same evening as directed. 



T. (J. H. JONES. 



Nicolaus, Cal., July 38, 1881. 



We have occasionally found a queen that 

 would pounce upon and sting workers, and 

 I have sometimes thought if we could de- 

 velop a race of queens tierce enough to make 

 her way into any hive of bees, it might be 

 quite a relief in introducing. I remember 

 one friend who took the broad platform 

 that a queen that could not take care of her- 

 self when let out among any bees, was not 

 worth having. 



HEES ON ONIONS. 



Talk about bees working, you ought to see them 

 on the onion flowers which I have out for seed. 

 They work from daylight until dark. I do not find 

 any flavor of onions in the honey as yet; they also 

 work on carrots, parsley, and radish. It has been so 

 di-y that they have not worked on white clover 

 of any account, but I have taken off a fine lot of 

 white honey. J. H. Mvers. 



Saratoga Springs, N. Y., July 26, 1881. 



Thanks, friend M.; it would seem, from 

 the above, that even onions do not yield 

 honey alike in all localities. When at Fer- 

 ry's seed gardens, we found the bees quite 

 cross, just at the close of basswood, although 

 acres upon acres of onions were in bloom. 

 This was much owing to their being hybrids. 

 I presume, however. With an apiai-y all of 

 pure Italians, you will usually get honey, and 

 not stings, even if basswood has just failed. 



