500 



GLEAI^INGS m BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



doing a " smashing " business this season; has had 

 S7 swarms, all doing well. Some of his hives have 

 already given a surplus of over 100 lbs. to the hive. 

 A part of this luck has come through the ABC and 

 Gleanings; however, he is one who attends strictly 

 to business. 



The mesquite, I must say, produces the best- 

 flavored honey that I ever tasted. It is far ahead of 

 linn or white clover. If you want a start of the 

 shrub I will send you a package of the beans. No 

 trouble to get them to grow anywhere. It is a spe- 

 cies of locust. W. Lancaster. 



Washington, "Wash. Co., Utah, Aug. 23. 1881. 



Many thanks, friend L. Perhaps a num- 

 ber of the friends would like to try the mes- 

 quite, and I presume you will send them to 

 any one who will inclose a stamp or two for 

 postage. From your statement, I should say 

 your locality would compare favorably with 

 almost any of ours. 



ROCKY - MOUNTAIN BEE - PLANT IN ITS NATURAL 

 HOME, ETC. 



I was going to write you that I thought it was all 

 nonsense to use any smoker at all with Italians; that 

 is, I did handle mine all summer without any smoke 

 at all; but the last few days they are behaviug very 

 ugly, and so I think I had better try a smoker. We 

 have any amount of Rocky -Mountain bee-plants 

 growing wild here, but I never see any bees working 

 on them— only wasps, bumlile-bees, and the like 

 frequent them. (!. A. St(1RZ. 



Stonewall, Las Animas Co., Colo., Aug. 11, 1881. 



We have them in our garden every year ; 

 and although we see some bees on them, it 

 is never at all like the roar on its near rela- 

 tive the Spider plant, just at the break of day. 



QUEENS FIGHTING IN THE AIR. 



I have thought for some time I would give an idea 

 about the loss of queens on their bridal tour. I am 

 satisfied that they meet each other in the air, and 

 there kill each other. Now in future, when j^ou lose 

 a queen under these circumstances, if you will no- 

 tice carefully, either you or some of your neighbors 

 have lost another queen. A. S. Smith. 



Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 3, 1881. 



You may be right, friend S.; but it seems 

 to me " all out doors " is almost too large for 

 the small number of queens any iieighbor- 

 hood might send out at the same hour in the 

 day. Drones, you know, go out in thou- 

 sands, and they, too, instinctively seek and 

 go after the queens. I should hardly think 

 queens would seek each other ; for if they 

 did, nature would seem to be defeating her- 

 self. Nevertheless, we are glad of the sug- 

 gestion. 



GETTING A YOUNG QUEEN TO TAKE HER BRIDAL 

 TRIP. 



Did you ever try, when having a young queen that 

 was slow about getting fertilized, taking out the 

 frame she was on and holding it to the sun to get 

 her to take a flight? By holding her to the sun from 

 5 to 10 minutes I have never failed to get them to 

 take a flight, if they are old enough; and if they 

 have bad wings, or can not use them well, they will 

 mostly jump off the frame and try them. I had a 

 nice young queen that could not fly at first, and by 

 practicing two or three times I succeeded. 



A. H. Duff. 



Flat Ridge, Guernsey Co., O., Aug. 19, 1881. 



I have noticed the same thing, but I do 

 not know that I ever put it into practical 

 use, as you have done, friend I). T have 

 often seen young queens take wing when 

 the comb is lield up in the sun, as you sug- 

 gest. Sometimes it will be noticed, by their 

 nervous movements, that they are inclined 

 to fly, for some little time before they take 

 wing ; and when introducing a fertile queen, 

 I often see by these same movements when 

 she is inclined to fly, and prevent it by hasti- 

 ly getting the comb back into the hive. 



THEY "SWARMED AND SWARMED AND SWARMED I" 



My bees have done pretty well in the honey line 

 this season, but not near so well as they would have 

 done had wo not had so much bad weather through 

 the clover season. They got into the notion of 

 swarming, and they swarmed and they swarmed and 

 they swarmed. I had the queen clipped, and I put 

 them back and put them back, and it did no good. 

 They killed some of my best queens, so I had to put 

 some of them in new hives. It's no use in trying to 

 keep bees from swarming when you are trying for 

 box honey. Jonathan D. Hutchinson. 



Windsor, Mercer Co., N. J., Aug. 18, 1881. 



It is not much use to try to keep them 

 from swarming by putting them back, I dare 

 say, friend II.; but there are ways of prevent- 

 ing swarming pretty well, if you are on hand 

 and ready for them. JMany "times it may be 

 best to let them swarm, and go into a new 

 hive ; but after they get fairly to work, give 

 them their old combs, with their unflnished 

 boxes. Above all things, do not let them 

 get the swarming mania in the flrst place, if 

 it can be avoided. Promptly removing all 

 finished boxes just as soon as" they are filled 

 will do a great deal toward it. I do not be- 

 lieve i)utting swarms back ever helps mat- 

 ters very much. 



another idea on candy for QUEEN-CAGES. 



We clip the following from the Indiana 

 Farmer: — 



Many of our friends seem to have difficulty In 

 making a candy for queen-cages which will carry 

 them safely for any length of time Avithout water. 

 We make ours as follows, and have not had a single 

 loss during the season, from this cause. We have 

 part of a barrel of granulated honey, by digging 

 down in the center of which, that around the sides 

 of the barrel becomes very dry. To some of this we 

 add sufficient of " C " sugar to make a very stifi: paste 

 or candy. We add sugar so long as it will hold to- 

 gether. " A " sugar will not do so well, as the grain 

 seems too hard and dry, and seems more inclined to 

 run, and to daub the bees. 



You see the above comes ]>retty near the 

 Viallon candy; and as it is made Avithout 

 heat, it is a xery simple and easy thing to 

 do. Oliver Foster suggested the candied 

 honey, after being drained, but the addition 

 of the sugar, I think doubtless an improve- 

 ment. To make it stay fast in the cage, it 

 will probably need pressing into auger-holes, 

 open at one side, similar to those in our 

 latest Peet cage. 



1!EE-STINGS AND RHEUMATISM. 



My age is 49; handled bees 8 years; had no rheu- 

 matism before engaging in the business. My opin- 

 ion is, that bee-stings make my rheumatism worse; 

 indeed, I have thought it was the cause of it, and 

 came near giving it up at one time on that account. 

 I get several hundred stings during the season. I 



