1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



601 



WINTERING TWO COLONIES IN ONE CHAFF HIVE, 



ETC. 



As the honey season is now over, and bees pre- 

 pared for winter, I suppose I may hand in my re- 

 port. I went into winter last year with 12 swarms; 

 9 in chaff hives, 4 of which were in the upper stories, 

 3 in Simplicities, and one in an L. hive not pro- 

 tected. Those in the chaff hives wintered well, both 

 in the upper and lower stories. But as moving 

 them twice is attended with considerable trouble 

 and the loss of some bees, I shall try to have a chaff 

 hive for each swarm hereafter. Those in Simplicity 

 hives came through, but lost more bees. The one 

 without protection died, leaving me 11 to commence 

 the season. I have increased to 24, and taken 900 

 lbs. of honey, mostly extracted, which sells readily 

 at home for IGfaC, which is better than to ship it, I 

 think. I sell direct to consumers. I'he surplus was 

 nearly all gathered during September, after the 

 rains came. They got but little more than enough 

 to keep up brood-rearing during the fore part of the 

 season, but there was not a day till honey ceased 

 this fall that robbers troubled at all. On the whole, 

 it has been a very good year. C. B. Thwing. 



Hamilton, Mo., Oct. 11, 1881. 



CAGED QUEENS DROPPING EGGS. 



I have noticed, in several instances, when queens 

 were caged in hives, that, after removing all the 

 cells 4 or 5 days old, they would start other cells, and 

 have eggs in them, and would repeat their efforts as 

 often as thwarted, for weeks, and, in one instance, 

 for nearly a month, and not an egg could be found 

 in any cell in all that time. Now, where do you 

 think they got the eggs? I believe the queen drops 

 them, and the bees get them through the bottom of 

 the wire cage. If that is the case, it would be well 

 to always have a piece of paper or pasteboard in 

 the bottom of the cage, to catch the eggs. As I dis- 

 covered no signs of laying workers, I can see no 

 other way that they could have obtained the eggs. 



Oxford, O., Oct., 1881. D. A. McCord. 



Had you tested these cells to see if they 

 would surely raise a queen, friend M., your 

 experiment would have been more conclu- 

 sive. I have often found eggs in queen- 

 cells, without being able to decide where 

 they came from, and sometimes they would 

 produce a good queen too ; but I do not now 

 recollect whether they had a caged queen 

 over the frames or not. Can anybody else 

 give us light on this matter? 



GRAPE SUGAR CANDY NOT SO DEADLY, AFTER ALL. 



Last fall I had a 6x3-frame nuclei that were 

 queenless about Sept. 30th, and I united them with 

 three that had queens, taking out all the frames 

 that had either honey or brood in them, and gave 

 each hive two frames filled with brood, except what 

 honey was in them, and 3 or 4 frames of empty 

 comb, putting a chaff division-board on each side; 

 then I made two batches of candy according to your 

 directions for 5-cent candy on page 385, Oct. No., 1879; 

 put it in two trays, and laid them on top of frames, 

 expecting to see it all put into the combs in a few 

 days (they were well covered with old carpet). When 

 I went to look at them I found considerable brood 

 in the empty combs, but none of the candy stored 

 away. They had used just what they wanted for 

 present use, so 1 tucked the carpet down tight and 

 left them, and I believe theylost fewer bees through 



the winter than any other hives in my yard, and had 

 some of the candy left April 1st. C. T. Smith. 



O'Fallon, St. Clair Co., 111., Oct. 34, 1881. 



AN A B C SCHOLAR IN TROUBLE. 



This is my first year in managing bees in sash 

 hives. I have used box hives for 30 years. My bees 

 all appeared in good condition 3 weeks ago, but the 

 last 3 weeks have been, part of the time, quite cool, 

 and it rained 9 days out of 10. I overhauled part of 

 the bees to-day, and found several without brood or 

 eggs, and none with very much brood. 



Now, I want to learn from you whether bees are 

 in the habit of letting brood entirely run out under 

 such circumstances, or have the queens gone by 

 the dozen all at once? I tried to hunt out the 

 queens (if there were any), but the weather is quite 

 cool, and most of the bees are at home, and clus- 

 tered so closely and so densely that I could get no 

 satisfaction. You will do me a great favor if you 

 will give me your opinion on the condition of my 

 bees, by first mail; and if they are queenless, could 

 queens be shipped and introduced safely after this 

 time of year? W. H. Stewart. 



Orion, Kichland Co., Wis., Oct, 5, 1881. 



No, sir, friend S., your queens have not 

 gone by the dozen at all. Just let them be, 

 and don't bother them. There are certainly 

 queens there, or you would not tind so many 

 bees; but they have now stopped laying, 

 just as honest queens should this time of 

 the year, and they are so small and slender, 

 and quick withal, that it is little wonder you 

 could not find them. They are all right, and 

 better off without any brood until toward 

 spring. I am not sure but they would be 

 better off without any until April. We can 

 ship you queens almost any month in the 

 year, but I am pretty sure you do not need any. 



honey from the oak. 



At this season of the year the bees gather honey 

 largely from the oak-apples, or nut-galls, growing on 

 the live-oak. Before our late rains, the honey had 

 exuded from and candied on the surface of these 

 balls, so that two or three grains, by weight, could 

 be gathered from a single ball. It stood in round 

 drops as of dew or perspiration, arranged in a circle 

 around the ball, about a third of the distance from 

 point to stem. The ball itself very much resembles 

 a small peach. I. L. Van Zandt. 



Dido, Tex., Oct. 30, 1881. 



Many thanks, friend Y., for the valuable 

 facts furnished. Now the question is, Can 

 we grow this oak, with a tolerable degree of 

 certainty of having it bear this honey i* This 

 is the second case, if I am correct, where we 

 have heard of a plant that produces candied 

 honey. AVill some of the friends please send 

 us by mail a small twig of this oak, having, 

 if possible, one of these oak-balls on it, and 

 we will have an engraving made ? Honey 

 from the oak is reported from a great many 

 different localities, and we wish to see just 

 what kind of oak it is. If I am right, it is 

 only where certain insects pimcture the 

 twigs that these oak-apples are found, so the , 

 honey is not a normal product of the tree. 

 Now the question is, If we can get the oak. 

 will we have the insect as a matter of course V 

 and have we already the kind of oak that 

 bears the honey V 



