.50G 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Oct. 



nUTTER-WKED. 



Inclosed please find a package of seeds which we 

 call butter-weed. It grows in abundnnce on our al- 

 luvial meadows, blooming in the fall, and is the 

 greatest honey producer thiir we have. 



Hknrv IUssf.'ct. 



Salem, N. J., Sept. n, 1881. 



I received a quocii in place of the missing one 

 nil Friday last. T have her in the hive now: 

 she was a beauty. I ha<l good lutk this titn(.'. 1 

 lost but one out of the dozen. Thcyare laying finely. 

 I feed the bees a little while introducing, andlthink 

 it reconciled them a little; but the Peet cage, T 

 Think, had more to do with it. I think it is "boss." 



J. D. HOTC'HrNSON. 



Windsor, Mercer Co., N. Ji, Sept. V). 1881. 

 ^(Ur can't always teia. by the i.uOks how kau 



A TOAD CAN .lUMP. 



The last queen that you shipped mo arrived in 

 good order, and I was very much pleased with her. 

 The queen that I did not like turned out to be a very 

 fine (inc. She has her hive full of as line bees as I 

 ever saw. The last one has young bees also, just as 

 good as I want them. I was too hasty in saying that 

 the first one was a hybrid. It won't do to judge 

 them by their looks. John W. GntniB. 



Gainesville, Allen Co., Ky., Sept. 7, 1881. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



I saw In Aug. Gleanings that you were short of 

 silverhuU buckwheat for seed. If you should want 

 any from Canada, I think I could send you about one 

 hundred bushels, or perhaps more, for about 70 cts. 

 per bushel, bags included. It is all from the seed 

 I got from you two years ago. .1. R. Tennant. 



Richmond, Oxford Co., Ont., Can., Aug. 15, 1881. 



[Wo think the freights and duties would prevent 

 our using the buckwheat, but perhaps some of our 

 readers may be glad of it. 



The bee-keepers in this vicinity have again "niUied 

 to the standard " since the great fatality of bees 

 last winter. Many wh^lost all their "seed"' have 

 not yet given up the ** ghost." Those who love the 

 beautiful in nature have purchased colonies to take 

 the place of their predecessors. Of the 30 colonies 

 which brought sunshine and recreation to our home- 

 stead the previous season, but one lone colony re- 

 mained to tell the story; and its family record 

 was ''blurred " with the words, " Dead, dead, dead." 

 With careful attention, we have increased to four 

 tiy natural and artificial swarming. 



E.J. HlNSHAW. 



Lynn, Uandolph Co., Ind., Sept. 10, 1881. 



<iUEEM LAYING. 



U'e have an Ohio lady settled on our island at 



last. She reached here Friday, Sept. 2, at t p. >[. 



Hers was a funeral cortege, as her escort was dead. 



Her ladyship was the only survivor. At once I 



placed her in a queenless colony. Next morning, 



Saturday, found her out and balled. Kecaged her 



and fastened cage firmly to comb with transferring 



wires. Sunday yet in the cage; Monday morning 



^jf'her bees in the cage, but no queen. I soon found 



r whose majestic step showed ^er royal lineage, 



■*' showing a great fondness for their new mother 



■ i persistent eSort to be near her. 



JAS. A. >y)liTE. 

 orgiana, Brevard Co,, Fla., Sept. 5, 1881. 



IMPHOVEMENT IN APPEARANCE OF QUEENS AFTIR 

 INTRODUCING. 



The queen came all right, but the bees with her 

 were dead; have got her introduced all right, and 

 she io a beauty. She is one-third larger this morn- 

 ing than she was yesterday morning when she came. 



Pitt^ton, Pa., Aug. 13, 1881. J. 11. Mo,si«R. 



[[ have given the above to induce some of the 

 friends not to be loo hasty in condemning queens 

 when tirst rccei\cd, especially after a hard trip.l 



PROMPTNESS. 



I don't know that I want to be put into the Growl- 

 cry, but I can't have any patience with those who 

 advertise, and then are so very slow about filling 

 their orders. 1 have ordered of five different par- 

 ties who advertise in Gleanings, and in only two 

 cases have they been decently prompt in filling their 

 orders. I don't inlnd their keeping iny order one 

 week; but where the time lengt hens Intof our weeks, 

 there is certainly something wrong. Either they 

 should not advertise, or they should keep a stock so 

 fcey could fill their orders. Geo. A. Deming, 



- Amboy, 111., Auti: Hi, 1881. 



One of the queens was pure, the other hybrid. I 

 bought five queens this season — rJ from you, as 

 above, "i each from two other men. Four out of 

 five hybrids. How docs it come? Are queen-rearers 

 careless, or are black bees in the ascendency? Bees 

 seem to be gathering honey fast, notwithstanding 

 the drought. I think they get it from smartweed, 

 iis there seems to be no other source. 



S. C. LyilARGER. 



(JangfS, Ohio, August ™'j, ISHl. 



II am sorry to hear so many dollar queens prove 

 hybrids. Those wo haAC bought and tested in our 

 own apiary seem to turn out more hybrids this year 

 than ever. It is somewhat owing, perhaps, to the 

 way In which every thing in the shape of ii bee-hive, 

 that wintered thrnu>jh, has been saved and made 

 the most (if.l 



K(iGS THAT NEVER HATCH. 



I send you a fine Italian queen; she began to lay 

 on the 10th day, .Tuly 1st, 1881, in full colony, and has 

 been layiug ever since, but iii)f an rua 'i<i« ''i.rr 

 hatrlutl. There are no drones in the hive. J. B. 

 Brogan raised several queens of same kind last sea- 

 son. S. W. MOHRISON. 



Oxford. Pa., Sept. 12, 1881. 



[Such queens are found once in a great while, and 

 have been noticed in our back numbers. I do not 

 know that we ever had more than one, and her eggs 

 had a rather shriveled appearance. It seems a lit- 

 tle strange that your neighbor should have had sev- 

 eral of that kind. Absence of drones should pro- 

 duce only drone-laying queens.] 



My bees beganabout July 20 bringing in pollen of a 

 greenish-yellow or yellowish-green color. The hon- 

 ey smclled very strong. Just at night we could 

 smell it 20 or 30 feet' from hives. They worked on it 

 through the first week in this month. From the de- 

 scription, what do you think they are working on'/' 



[I can not suggest what your bees were working 

 on. friend H.; but If I were you I would follow them 

 and find out.] 



Does a queen that hatches 1' 9 days differ in 



shape from one that hatches "or longer? 



[A queen hatched from lai . j old before It is 

 started for a queen, has much more the appearance 

 of a worker, and we sometimes find them so nearly 



