1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



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tall box hive; iu the spring- I transferred them to 

 the L. hive, and took 20 lbs. of honej'. They swarmed 

 in about two weeks. In 6 days I divided them into 

 o more, giving to each a ripe queen-cell. This I did 

 on Monday. The next Friday they cmst a second 

 swarm, notwithstanding the dividing. I returned 

 this swarm and gave them a comb containing eggs, 

 and they swarmed no more. Now, I tried last win- 

 ter to winter 12 colonies in L. hives, and 2 in box 

 hives; one was the above colony; the other I bought 

 at a sale for one dollar, and carried them home on 

 my shoulder more than a mile last November. 

 They were weak in numbers, and also in stores; but 

 both box hives had an empty space above the 

 brood-chamber for a surplus box. Both box hives 

 came through the severe winter all right; but 11 of 

 the 12 in L. hives went " where the woodbine twin- 

 eth;" 10 of those had 7 inches of chaff on top, and 9 

 had one foot of straw packed all around, except in 

 front; box hives had no protection. This has been 

 a noble season with us. I believe that tons of honey 

 went to waste in the fore part of the season for 

 want of bees to gather it. But the drought cut 

 short the l)uckwheat and golden rod. 

 North Robinson, O., Oct. 3, 1881. J. H. Ebv. 



I believe Doolittle is right when he says thai some 

 <iugens produce all three-banded workers, whether 

 said queens mate with black or Italian drones. 

 Three j'cars ago I purchased a queen of H. A. Burch. 

 It was late in the season, so I raised only two 

 queens from her, and both of them produced all 

 thrce-banded workers, and there were no Italian 

 drones within 12 miles. I raised .")0 queens the next 

 season; they all produced three-banded workers. 

 But I had plenty of Italian drones then. Mr. Burch 

 has some very nice Italians now. I purchased a 

 queen from him this fall. She proved to be tiptop. 

 I have got 8ti colonies. They did first rate in the 

 fore part of the season, but the latter part was too 

 dry. S. M. Newman. 



Glenn, Allegan Co., Mich., Sept. 1, 1881. 



alley's stock of ITALIANS. 



1 see by Sept. No. of Glbanings, Mr. O. E. Coon 

 wishes to know where he can get Italian queens 

 that will p'-oduce yellow drones. Mr. Coon can get 

 (jueens of Henry Alley, Wenham, Mass., that will 

 produce yellow drones and yellow bees with three 

 bands; no two-banded bees among them, and the 

 worker bees are workers, as good as the best. They 

 are very docile (can be handled without bee-veil), 

 and are very hardy. I have had Italian queens from 

 Mr. Alley since 1878, and have never known a queen 

 to produce a dark -colored drone, and the worker 

 bees need not be put on a window to show their d 

 bands. They will show them when empty. 



Oakdale, Wis., Sept. 7, 1881. C. J. Alden. 



The wrapper on mj' August Gleanings stated 

 that the time for which I had paid expired with this 

 number. How short the years appear ! It is said 

 an aged spinster complained that they didn't make 

 looking-glasses as good as they used to, and it ap- 

 pears to me the years are not as long as those of 

 former times. WeU, I inclose another dollar, with 

 the hope that the coming year, if short, may be a 

 happy one. 



Bees have not done remarkably well in this sec- 

 tion this season. The flow of honey from locust and 

 basswood was large, but the white clover, though 

 abundant, yielded little or nothing. One time last 



month neighbor Sherwood and I noticed our bees 

 were working vigorously on something to the S. E. 

 of us, and were told by a man that he had seen bees 

 in immense numbers on a field of red clover at the 

 foot of the mountain I14 miles from us. 



A HANDV SCBAPER. 



I have just found a section of a mowing-machine 

 knife a very handy thing for cleaning hives, frames, 

 and sections. After these sections are worn to a 

 point they are worthless on the ni achinc, and are 

 just right for our work, with a little grinding to 

 straighten the edges. Turn one edge down to scrape 

 toward you, and the other to scrape from you, and 

 hang it up by one of the holes when your work is 

 done. The dull edge is handy for cleaning the table 

 or bench on which you work. Try one, and if you 

 like it, recommend them to the boys. 



Jas. E. Dean. 



Fishkill, Dutchers Co., Y. Y., Aug. 19, 1881. 



WATER FOR BEES; A REQUEST. 



In the Sept. No., under the head of "The Experi- 

 ence of a Novice in Bee Culture," I find an article of 

 more than usual interest to me. In his closing re- 

 marks he says, " If any one should wish to have my 

 method in giving water to bees in winter, and how I 

 have managed to get 275 lbs. of honey ia sections, I 

 will give it in Gleanings, if the editor will give 

 room." Give room, give room, Mr. Editor; wc want 

 to know it all, for water is as cheap a bee feed as 

 grape sugar or any other sugar. 



J. Patterson Watt. 



Duck Creek, Mercer Co., 111., Sept. 5, 1881. 



BUCKAVHEAT MAKING BEES STING. 



I see no letter from here in Gleanings. Tell your 

 ABC child it was buckwheat that made the bees 

 sting the horses and men. They ought to have used 

 the whip, if there was no other way to get them 

 away from there. Then, fighting the bees called 

 the others there, and made it ten times worse. Bees 

 have done the best here this year I ever knew them 

 to. Bees almost all died here last year. There were 

 about 200 swarms in this town that I know of; 13 

 were left this spring. Bees pay me the best of any 

 thing. I have 11 now; 8 last fall; lost 3; sold 1 this 

 spring; left 4. F. P. DattOxV. 



Cobmoosa, Oceana Co., Mich., Sept. 3, 1881. 



taxing bees. 



I send you a paper containing references to the 

 laws of Iowa on taxation of bees. It was written by 

 a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Iowa. 

 Now, you are asked, "Are bees taxable property?" 

 You answer, like a moralist, " They ought to be." 

 Now, what ought to be, and what (V, do not always 

 coincide. Better say, "Don't know," when such is 

 the fact. The general theory is, that all property 

 should bear its proportion of taxation. But the law 

 does make exemptions, and the question comes, 

 What is exempt? I have a lot of Clydesdale colts, 

 valued at $100 each. They are exempt. It may be 

 wrong, but I am not a law-maker, and can not alter 

 facts. Is it not wiser to exempt bees than colts? 

 How can an ordinary assessor tell the value of a 

 swarm of bees on first day of Jan., the day in Iowa 

 for setting values? Jesse Oren. 



La Porte City, Black Hawk Co., Ia., Sept. 8, 1881. 



Thanks, frieutl O. Perhaps I should have 

 said that it seemed to me bees ought to be 

 taxed. My only reason for saying this was, 



