1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



607 



ARE rOREIGNERS MORE INTEMPERATE THAN AMERI- 

 CANS? 



In Aug-. Gleanings, page 405. you say, " Although 

 a foreigner by birth, he was free from all these 

 vices." Do you wish to be understood as saying 

 that profanity and intemperance are the rule, not 

 the exception, among foreigners, or was that a 

 "slip of the pen"? My father was a Scotchman, 

 and so was my mother (they are both dead now), 

 and I was born in Scotland, which makes me a 

 foreigner, does it not? Now, sir, don't you think 

 that, out of a given number of my countrj-men, I 

 can find more who neither chew tobacco, drink rum, 

 nor swear, than you can out of the same number of 

 Americans? I can find more who attend church, 

 and Sunday is better observed by the Scotch than 

 any other nation on the earth unless It is the (out of 

 respect to your feeling) American. 



DELAYS IN the QUEEN BUSINESS. 



And while I am about it, I would say that a man 

 who takes my money for a queen, and keeps me 

 running to the postolHce two or three times a week 

 after it, is little short of a highway robber. I sent 

 my money to a dealer who advertises in one of the 

 bee papers, and for 4 weeks regularly he wrote me 

 that he would ship the queen on a given day; but 

 instead of the queen I would get a postal card read- 

 ing something like this: " Sorry to say that I could 

 not get queens to fill your order tc-day, but will have 

 one for yRu next week." The queen cost me a 

 dollar, and I spent at least three half-days of val- 

 uable time getting it, which was worth a plump $3.00 

 more, saying nothing of the colony being queenless 

 for so long a lime. Xow, all this could have been 

 avoided by writing in his advertisement, that no 

 queens would be ready to send out before the 1st of 

 July. To be sure, he would not have got my dollar, 

 but he would be nearer heaven than he is now. Do 

 you suppose I would order another queen of that 

 man? "Not much." The man who fills my order 

 " on the spot," no matter what it is, is the man for 

 me every time. "Wm. Cairns. 



Rockland, Sull. Co., N. T., Aug. 8, 1881. 



I did not mean to make any insinuations 

 against our friends of foreign birth, friend 

 C, and I presume I sliould not have used 

 the expression 1 did. Very likely, you are 

 right. Will you forgive me V— In regard to 

 delays on queens : It is a great and most 

 trying evil. I have published a good deal 

 on the matter, but unless it is cure(i we must 

 keep the matter stirred up. I do not know 

 but that we shall have to let the names of 

 the slow ones come out in print, for we liave 

 quite a number of queen-rearers who have 

 always been so prompt, after they have x>iii 

 out an adcertisement, that no one has ever 

 complained of them. 



out, the old bees came out of the hive and went to 

 parts unknown. Hq examined one of the queen- 

 cells, and found a queen in it that would have come 

 out in a few days. What greatly puzzles my friend 

 is, that the old bees would leave the colony without a 

 queen. He says he is sure the colony was queenless. 

 Cau you explain the freak? E. Crompton. 



Rosemont, Out., Can., June 3, 1881. 



Although bees do perhaps, sometimes, 

 come out and go off without a queen, it is a 

 very unusual thing. In the case you men- 

 tion, I should be inclined to think some 

 stray queen got in there, and went out with 

 the bees; but in that case some of the cells 

 would be very likely to have been torn 

 down. Jf the bees starved, and went off 

 and united with some other colony to avoid 

 starvation, the case would not be a very un- 

 usual one ; but, if I am correct, you are 

 sure such -was not the case, friend C? 



FRAMES OF CANDY FOR WINTER FEEDING. 



In feeding sugar candy in frames, you say, be 

 careful that they do not build comb in the frames 

 after the candy is taken out; now, whstt is the harm 

 if they do? A. A. Amig. 



Buck Creek, Richland Co., Wis., Aug. 3, 1881. 



Friend A., it takes about 20 lbs of sugar to 

 make l lb. of comb, if done in that way ; 

 whereas, by the use of fdn., we get much 

 nicer combs at a cost not exceeding, say, 4 

 lbs. of sugar. Besides, the bees seldom 

 build a nice full coinb in the place of the 

 candy, but only a piece that must be broken 

 out and melted up into wax, which brings 

 only about the price of 2 pounds of sugar. 

 Again, the bees seldom take all the candy 

 from a frame, especially in cool or cold 

 weather. It is left at the corners and lower 

 edges. With the candy bricks, or round or 

 oval cakes of candy placed right over the 

 cluster, wc get it used up, every particle of 

 it. Frames of candy is a quick way, and 

 does very well for warm weather, if you look 

 out for this one feature of comb-building. 

 Give the bees frames of fdn., where you 

 want more combs, then put your candy in 1- 

 Ib. bricks, right over the cluster, and they 

 will build out the fdn. beautifully, and with 

 but little loss of material. 



BEES absconding WITHOUT A QUEEN. 



A friend of mine is very much puzzled over a 

 caper that some bees which he recently divided have 

 cut up. He divided a colony containing twelve 

 frames of brood and honey, and strong in bees. He 

 took six frames, together with the queen, and young 

 bees, and put them into a new hive, leaving the old 

 hive on the old stand, without q leen. There was 

 plenty of young brood, fven eggs just laid, left in 

 the old hive, and the old bees which remained there 

 commenced to build up some queen-cells, and sealed 

 them over, but before any of them were hatched 



GOOD REPORT FROM ONE HIVE IN THE SPRING, ETC. 



From one colony in the spring I have increased, 

 artificially, to nine, and are now in good shape for 

 winter. Also I have taken 127 lbs. of honey from 

 that colony and its increase; 70 lbs. of comb honey 

 from parent stock ; the rest extracted from increase, 

 and did this durmg white-clover and basswood bloom. 

 We have no fall honey, on account of dry weather. 

 I use the American open-top frame'with no wire at- 

 tachments or any thing of the kind; so, please do 

 not say too many hard things against the American 

 frame, for I think I have done well. What think ye? 

 Do I deserve a head-mark in my class, the State of 

 Indiana? I believe we are all spvelling for the head, 

 anyhow. A. Cox. 



White Lick, Boone Co., Ind., Nov. 8, 1881. 



I have never intended to convey the idea, 

 friend C, that as good results could not be 

 obtained from the American as any other 

 frame ; very likely, nearly as much honey 

 would have been stored in a nail-keg or a 



