18S1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



605 



for the types that form it are being constant- 

 ly changed, to note every real improvement 

 in bee culture niade in this or any other 

 land. Any order can be promptly filled by 

 return mail, express, or freight, to the 

 American Xews or any other individual or 

 company ; and if orders ever crowd, our big 

 cylinder press is ready to run on them all 

 night as well as all dav. 



Though I may not be so well informed as many of 

 your subscribers, I hope you will allow me to say a 

 few words; yet I feel a delicacy In so doing, for in 

 your columns it seems that Mitchell (X. C.) is only an- 

 other name for " Humbugs and Swindles." 



THKEE-BANDED HYBRIDS. 



One of your contributors speaks of queens whose 

 royal progeny produced all three-banded workers, 

 and yet were /iii u'h to have mated with black drones. 

 How was it known? 1 am led by custom to judge of 

 bees by their bands, but I think the form of a work- 

 er bee is worth equally as much as her color, and 

 gives an almost infallible index both of the quality 

 of her Italian blood and of her honey-gathering 

 abilities. 



LEAVING SECTIOXS OX ALL WINTER IN THE SOUTH. 



The question of leaving sections oa all winter is of 

 considerable moment in the South — they must of 

 necessity be left somewhere. The time is so long be- 

 tween the period at which they should be removed 

 from the hive and the coming of winter that it is al- 

 most impossible to protect them from the moth. I 

 would add, for the benefit of your New York corres- 

 pondent, that the moth will live on new comb, and 

 even come to maturity in the bottom of the hive 

 without being on the comb at all. 



BEES WITH SHRIVELED WIXGS— CAUSE. 



Some time since, one of your correspondents re- 

 ceived a colony of bees and complained that the 

 young hatched shortly afterward had immature 

 wings, which you attributed to improper ventilation. 

 It was im}]ropcr ventilation, but not such as a colony 

 would generally receive in transportation; it was 

 too much ventilation. When the larva of an insect 

 enters the chrysalid state, the slightest reduction of 

 temperature at the critical moment of its trans- 

 formation is almost sure to prevent the perfec- 

 tion of the insect, or cause the death of the chrysalis. 

 Chas. R. Mitchell. 



ITawkinsville, Ga , Oct. 27, 1881. 



l-'riend M.,most of us know the difference 

 between Chas. li. and'' X. C.-' Mitchell, so be 

 not troubled. — The great objection I should 

 have to leaving sections on all winter is, that 

 the boxes would be any thing but nice when 

 filled with honey again. — Doubtless you are 

 right about the cause of wingless bees ; 

 since you mention it, I recall cases wliere 

 brood left some time out of the hive pro- 

 duced wingless bees. Thanks for sugges- 

 tion. 



BEES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



The past season we think has been a very poor 

 one for honey about here. The middle of August I 

 could not show a pound of sealed honey in any or all 

 of my brood-chambers, and had it not been for 

 goldenrod and wild asters this fall, my bees must 

 have all perished before New Years. I think they 

 have stores enough now to pull through passably. 

 There are but few bees kept in this region. Whether 

 It is because the honey-secreting flora does not com- 

 pare well with other parts of the country or not, I 



am unable to say. However, of late there is begin- 

 ning to be more interest shown in progressive bee- 

 keeping, and our county fair has this year, for the 

 first time, offered a premium for the best exhibit of 

 bees, hives, and implements. Whether this was in 

 part due to the "exhibits" and " statements" pub- 

 lished in the "Transactions" of Mr. Alley and my- 

 self last year, I have no means of knowing. 



BEWARE OF AXTS IN SHIPPING QUEENS. 



Do ants kill bees and queens in transit through 

 the mails? One of my neighbors, Mr. Charles W. 

 Dow, sent 15 miles for a queen. When it arrived in 

 due time by mail, it was overrun with emmets, and 

 queen and bees were all dead. Honey on a sponge 

 was the food provided in the cage. He next sent ICO 

 miles in another direction, with the same result. He 

 then sent for one by express, and it came all right. 

 He thinks the emmets attacked the bees in the Lynn 

 postotSce. 



BEES IN A CniMNEY; GOOD VENTILATION. 



A swarm of bees took possession of one of my 

 neighbor's chimneys a year ago last summer. I 

 visited them the following November. The chimney 

 contained two' Hues, each about 8 inches square, 

 without any arch or covering whatever. The bees 

 occupied but one of the flues — the one which led 

 into the spare chamber, and their combs extended 

 to within six inches of the top, when they came in 

 and out. I covered this flue with a board, stood 

 upon four bricks, and advised their 'owner to let 

 them remain till spring, when they would probably 

 be all dead, and the chimney could then be cleared. 

 But they lived, in spite of too much upward ventila- 

 tion, andsaov, which must many times have cov- 

 ered their combs, and, melting, supplied them with 

 plenty of water in winter for bi-eeding. And now, like 

 Banquo's ghost, they refuse to be laid, and afford 

 another argument In favor of deep combs, thick 

 side-walls, and upward ventilation. 



Now, Mr. Editor, you won't hurt my feelings any 

 if you don't publish this "hash." I shall take 

 Gleanings just the same, and think it the best bee 

 paper I have seen yet. Phil. R. Russell, Jr. 



Lynn, Essex Co., Mass., Nov. 9, 188L 



We have had some quite serious troubles 

 with ants in the mail, in some of the ex- 

 treme Southern States, but none have been 

 reported before from the North, as far as I 

 know. There is a very simple and easy way 

 of cutting off ants, and it is to inclose the 

 whole cage in wire strainer cloth, so fine 

 that no sort of an ant can get through it. 

 Last summer our boys lost three imported 



I queens by leaving them caged a few hours 

 before iittroducing, in an empty hive sitting 



I right on the ground. Please keep tbis in 

 mind, all of you, that caged queens will be 

 killed by ants in a very short time, if they 

 get at the cages.— I hardly tliink, friend R., 

 that it was the deep combs alone that saved 

 the bees in the chimney. It is true, such a 

 covering of combs above them would do 

 much to keep otf the cold, and as they had 

 their combs built in all solid, and nicely 

 waxed up, with a sure ventilation right 

 through, I am not surprised that they win- 

 tered, it would be a little difficult to manip- 

 ulate bees in a hive only 8 inches square, un- 



! less we worked them as your neighbor Alley 

 does the Ray State hive. — Many thanks for 

 your expression of good will, friend R.,even 

 though we should reject your articles. 



