1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



35 



came from this section. It was snow-white, 

 and came from the highland black gum. 



The honey-producing plants and trees 

 here are as follows: Maple, holly, gallberry, 

 poplar, black gum, hickory (honey dew), 

 fruit-trees, corn, cotton, cow-pea, blackber- 

 ry, goldenrod, grape, persimmon, plum, 

 strawberry, sumac, watermelon, squash, 

 pumpkin, and cucumber. Some of our large 

 truck-farms afford quite a field for the bees 

 during the trucking season. 



Currie, N. C. G. W. Corbett, Jr. 



PLACING A STORM-DOOR OVER THE EN- 

 TRANCES OF COLONIES WINTERED ON 

 THE SUMMER STANDS. 



After bees are properly fed in Septem- 

 ber, and packed with four inches of forest 

 leaves, I find it a good plan to place a small 

 box, open at one side, about 6X6 by 18 in., 

 over the entrance. This keeps out the 

 snow, and provides a place where the bees 

 may carry out their dead. It also gives them 

 plenty of air. No matter how deep the 

 snow, it always works satisfactorily. For 

 the last eight years I have removed the 

 snow in spring to let the bees fly if neces- 

 sary. 



I have some fruit-trees in my apiary, and 

 I find in every case the bees in the shade do 

 better than those exposed to the sun. 



Bracebridge, Ont. John Bailey, Sr. 



[I am not sure but this storm-door idea is 

 a good one. We proved last winter and the 

 winter before that, if the entrances could be 

 protected with loose straw or snow, bees 

 could be kept warmer in the hive. But the 

 difficulty we encountered was that snow 

 would melt over the straw, freeze up the 

 mass, and sometimes close the entrance her- 

 metically. This generally killed the colony. 

 The storm-door would obviate this, I think. 

 These could be made of small drygoods-box- 

 es that you could buy at stores, at a small 

 cost, or perhaps they could be had for tak- 

 ing them away. —Ed.] 



BEES SWARMING OUT WITH A VIRGIN QUEEN. 



Mr. Doolittle's conversation in the July 

 15th number was of special interest to me, 

 for I had just been having a number of 

 swarms come out with virgin queens in the 

 very same manner described by Mr. Muth- 

 Rasmussen. The first cases noticed were 

 from colonies from which all but two frames 

 of brood had been removed in forming nuclei. 

 Some of the bees had left the various nuclei 

 and returned to the old stand. These, to- 

 gether with those left at the time of divid- 

 ing, made quite a fair swarm. When the 

 virgin, reared from the one or more cells left 

 on the two frames of brood came out for her 

 mating-flight a portion of the bees swarmed 

 out with her. In some of these cases I 

 chanced to be standing beside the hive at the 

 time, and opened it at once. A most care- 

 ful search failed to discover any eggs, un- 

 sealed brood, or queen- cells in the hive. 

 There were only two frames that had any 



brood, and this was not only sealed but near- 

 ly all hatched. These swarms in question 

 seldom settled (though they sometimes did), 

 and did not remain in the air as long as most 

 normal swarms. In two to five minutes they 

 were all back in the hive. An examination 

 three days later showed the young queen 

 laying nicely. Later in the season I had a 

 number of strong colonies which had, by re- 

 peated attempts at swarming, lost or killed 

 their clipped queens. To some of t?iese, where 

 needed, I gave a ripe queen-cell or a newly 

 hatched virgin. On the fifth or sixth day 

 afterward the swarm would come out with 

 the virgin, then ready to mate. Some of 

 these colonies had no brood of any kind, be- 

 cause so much time had elapsed since losing 

 their old queen. Three or four days after 

 these swarms came out I would find eggs. 

 I have all my hives numbered, and keep a 

 careful record of each colony, and am just 

 as certain that these were genuine cases of 

 a swarm leaving its hive with no means of 

 rearing a queen as I am of any thing per- 

 taining to bees. F. L. Day. 

 Detroit City, Minn., Nov. 6. 



THE gallberry OF THE SOUTH AS A 

 HONEY- PLANT. 



The value of this great honey- plant is not 

 known much to the bee-keeping world, and 

 it is placed in the list of minor honey- plants 

 in the bee-books. But it should have due 

 credit for the hundreds of tons of very fine 

 honey it yields. 



As far back as I can trace bee-keeping 

 definitely (89 years) it has not failed to yield 

 a crop of honey. It is seen mostly on waste 

 land; and, although it grows only 7 or 8 feet 

 high, it is very thick. The beds never die 

 out, and begin to bloom the second year of 

 growth. It blooms about the first of May 

 (after all cold weather is over) , and contin- 

 ues for 30 or 35 days. 



I have counted 3000 blossoms on one bush 

 ^ inch in diameter. 



Its honey is a very light amber color, 

 thick and pleasant to taste. I have seen 

 but very little granulated, and that was ex- 

 tracted too soon. I have some samples that 

 are very old, and it has not changed in color. 

 This honey is not known much in the North, 

 and perhaps never will be, as there will nev- 

 er be enough raised here to fill the demand 

 in the South. J. J. Wilder. 



Cordele, Ga., Aug. 12. 



HOW TO WINTER BEES IN DANZENBAKER 

 HIVES WITHOUT LOSS. 



This is the way I winter bees on the sum- 

 mer stands in Danzenbaker hives. I take 

 off all supers containing sections about Sep- 

 tember 1, so that the bees are compelled to 

 place all honey gathered after that in the 

 brood- nest. This gives them ample time to 

 ripen it thoroughly and place it where they 

 want it. I want them to have plenty of 

 stores so that they will be in position to 

 breed rapidly the following spring. The 

 honey gathered from this time on until frost 



