554 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



the first of this mouth. I am in hopes it will 

 escape the little black ilea that so effectually 

 cuts off our chance of raising the summrr 

 rape, in our neighborhood. 

 Oct. 4.— It is now coming up nicely. 



YELiLOW BEES FROiM A BLACK QUEEX. 



I have one colony I got out of the woods, and the 

 bees show .iust as many yellow stripes as those you 

 send me, and are a great deal larger. I never use 

 smoke nor veil when 1 handle these, but the queen 

 is black. Myself and a neighbor cut 13 bee-trees 

 this year, mostly live oak; got 116 lbs. of honey out 

 of one tree; but, about 4 gallons Is the general run. 



John W. Ross. 



Velasco, Brazoria Co., Tex., Sept. 20, 1881. 



Why, friend R., you have made quite a 

 point.' You say those bees are three-banded, 

 large, and gentle, yet you know they are not 

 pure, for their mother is black. Tliis corob- 

 orates what friend Doolittle said last month; 

 and it looks as if we really have no means of 

 proving positively that any queen is pure. 

 All we can do is to warrant a queen to pro- 

 duce nice bees, and even your black one 

 does that. It would be just "like me to raise 

 some queens from her, to see what they 

 would be like. 



A PLEA FOR GLOVES AND VEIL. 



Herewith find inclosed $ for one pair of rubber 



gloves and one bee veil; and at the same time please 

 record my solemn protest against your advice to the 

 class, about using veils and gloves— at least, in hand- 

 ling Holy-Land bees. If you could see me this 

 morning, with head enough for two men, and not 

 enough sense for one, you would certainly repent of 

 that advice. As for smokers, whew! I am only 

 watting for the bees to make me money enough to 

 order your factory chimney with perpetual-motion 

 attachment. Geo. D. Shaw. 



Thomasville, Thomas Co., Ga., Sept. ;?Et, 1881. 



I am very sorry for your misfortunes, 

 friend S., and no doubt you feel badly, and 

 are right in thinking something ought to be 

 done ; but I think you will get along much 

 better to make your bees behave, rather 

 than put on veil and gloves and leave them 

 to chase everybody else all over the neigh- 

 borhood, who don't happen to have such an 

 armor. When bees get the upper hand so 

 that they sting your hands, they are alto- 

 gether out of order; and if I could not make 

 them stop without putting on gloves, I am 

 inclined to think I would shut the hive up 

 and wait until some day when they were in 

 a better mood to be " reasoned " with. Many 

 thanks for your order all the same. I don't 

 mean to dictate, only suggest. 



BEES BALLING AND KILLING THEIR OWN QUEEN. 



I had a virgin queen killed this spring by her own 

 bees that had made the cell and hatched it — some- 

 thing that I did not know ever occurred. I happened 

 along and found her In a large ball of bees on the 

 alighting-board, and took her out and found she 

 was completely disabled. I gave them brood, and 

 they started other cells at once. She had not been 

 hatched more than three or four days. 



F. E. Gaston. 



Tyler, Smith Co., Texas, Sept. 28, 1881. 



The case is by no means rare, friend G . , but 



it usually occurs during a season of scarcity 

 or drought. As your queen was nearly or 

 quite old enough to begin to sally out on her 

 wedding trip, it may be the bees attacked 

 her as she was returning. This sometimes 

 happens, and it has been suggested it was 

 on account of the different scent she caught 

 from the drone. As far as I know% it is 

 weak colonies that mostly do this ; strong 

 stocks, in their normal condition, are sel- 

 dom guilty of such misdemeanors. Some- 

 times a colony will ball their queen, after 

 the hive has Jbeen opened, but it is usually 

 ill-tempered hybrids that do such things, if 

 I am correct iii the matter. 



TWO QUEENS IN A HIVE. 



One of my bee-keeping friends, Mr. F. E. Manches- 

 ter, has a colony of very pretty Italians. In this col- 

 ony he has two very nice queens. These two queens 

 have been in this hive since July 22, and this is the 

 first case of dual queens that ever came under my 

 personal notice. It is a verf beautiful sight to see 

 them both walking about on the same comb. I have 

 been trying to persuade him to give them to me, 

 but he thinks he will keep them to show to visitors, 

 as the stock is so very gentle and easily handled. 

 John C. Greenleaf. 



New Boston, Mass., Sept. 2, 1881. 



The case is not unusual, friend G., provid- 

 ing it is an old queen and a daughter. 

 They often work together, for nearly or 

 quite a whole season. If it were two queens 

 put together which were not related, it 

 would be something of an achievement. 



bee-stings and RHEUMATISM, etc., again. 



I read Gleanings with mvich pleasure, and in fact 

 any article I can find in books and papers relative 

 to the honey-bee. I am nothing but a student in the 

 ABC class, but I hope to know more of the business 

 some time. Lost all (3 swarms) last winter; traded 

 in June for a swarm in a box hiv^e, giving a Eoot 

 chaff hive for them; had one natural swarm, and 

 one 6-frame nucleus; the queen, ft dollar one which I 

 got of friend Van Eaton, of York, Liv. Co., N. Y., 

 proved pure. I like the Italians best. This article, 

 however, is called out since reading the communica- 

 tion of J. W. Johnson, M. D., in October Gleanings, 

 page 500, as ngaiiiM bee-stings for rheumatism, and 

 another article clipped from a newspaper, page .504. 

 I have a theory, founded upon the following: A 

 near neighbor of mine has suffered more or less with 

 rheumatism for many years. About two years ago 

 he was sick for a long time, suffering with inflam- 

 matory rheumatism. He became convinced that 

 the treatment that he was receiving was nothing 

 but a series of experiments, and he, being so much 

 reduced that, unless he got help at once, could not 

 live. He therefore changed physicians, and this 

 man, after examining him, said that his system was 

 saturated with acid, and called for soda, which he 

 mixed with water, and gave him to drink. The pa- 

 tient could not retain the first two or three doses. 

 He was sponged in soda water, then packed, and be- 

 fore they were through packing he had fallen to 

 sleep— the first sleep he had had in many weary hours. 

 This treatment was continued until he was well — is 

 well to-day, it being, I think, about two years since 

 this sickness. I imagine the acid of bee-stings would 

 not have cured him. He tells me of a person known 

 to him, who has rheumatism from an opposite 



