98 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



BITTER HONEY. 



I send you a sample of bitter honey which 

 my bees have been gathering ever since the 

 10th of July, and up till now. They have 

 gathered this honey from a plant that we 

 call bitterweed. The bloom resembles the 

 dog- fennel bloom, except it is yellow. This 

 bitterweed is one of the greatest honey- 

 plants in this country. It begins to bloom 

 about July 1, and blooms till frost kills it. 

 While this bitterweed is blooming, an ordi- 

 nary colony of bees will gather, in about 40 

 days, enough honey to fill 12 L. frames. If 

 this weed would make sweet honey, the bee 

 business would pay big. The only time we 

 have any good honey is from March until the 

 first of July, and the first of July we take 

 off all the good honey, if there is any, and 

 prepare for the bitter honey. This season, 

 up to July, my bees hardly made enough 

 honey to do them; but as soon as the bitter- 

 weed came in it was not long before they 

 were well supplied with honey. 



I should like to know if there is some way 

 to take this bitter taste out of the honey. 

 If there is I should like to try it. I have 

 tried boiling, but the bitter stayed there. 

 The only thing I see that it is fit for is win- 

 ter feed. This bitterweed surely has got 

 me discouraged with the bee business. I 

 have invested $140 in it this year, and have 

 sold $4. 05 wor th of honey. Isn' t that * ' fine ' ' 

 for a beginner? 



I have sent you a sample of bitterweed al- 

 so, but I would advise you to be careful not 

 to drop any seed ; for if the bitterweed gets 

 a start in your locality your bees will make 

 bitter honey, and your cows will give bitter 

 milk. Cows eat the weed like grass, and 

 the milk will be unfit to use. 



Chas. Moeller. 



Florence, Ala. Nov. 22. 



[Friend M., the plant you inclose was sent 

 to the experiment station at Wooster, but 

 Prof. Selby, the botanist, says it was not in 

 determinable shape. But he was able to 

 make out that it belongs to the Composite 

 family. 



This matter has come up several times in 

 years past. There is no method of taking 

 the bitter taste out of the honey. Getting 

 it thoroughly ripened, either in the hive or 

 by artificial means, greatly improves it. 

 Where the bitter taste comes from hoar- 

 hound the honey has been sold as a cough 

 remedy at the drugstores. Do not be dis- 

 couraged about your bitter honey. It makes 

 the very nicest kind of honey cakes; and if 

 J ou offer it to any baker who makes honey 

 cakes or jumbles he will tell you it is just 

 what he wants. When made up into cakes 

 the flavor is not unpleasant. On the con- 

 trary it has a distinct aromatic taste, and I 

 think you will find it all right for your bees 

 to winter on.— A. I. R.] 



In 1903 the bee-inspector of this county in- 

 spected my bees and found a number of dis- 

 eased colonies. I gave him two queens and 

 a card of diseased brood, about three inches 

 square, which was sent to Prof. Moore, of 

 Cornell University. In examining the combs 

 left I found them in a foul condition, although 

 the hive was full of bees. Not deciding im- 

 mediately what to do, I left them a few days, 

 intending to burn them, but decided to let 

 them rest for a while. In the mean time I 

 had two small swarms of bees from other 

 hives. I put one in each diseased hive and 

 they made me some surplus honey. I could 

 not continue my line of work in the winter 

 of 1903, and so several of these colonies 

 died. I should have said that, when I put 

 swarms in the hives, the bees cleaned the 

 combs very nicely. 



I would say, in conclusion, that I think 

 the disease is leaving us in this section the 

 same as with Mr. Alexander. He is only 

 about ten miles from me. From 45 colonies 

 I was reduced to 7, but now I have 100. 



A. L. Fisher. 



Central Bridge, N. Y., Nov. 6. 



THE DOUBLE-GROOVE-AND-WEDGE PLAN OF 

 FASTENING FOUNDATION; THE LESSER 

 WAX-MOTH. 



I note what Delos Wood has to say, p. 1083, 

 about the double-groove-and-wedge plan of 

 fastening foundation in the frames. That's 

 funny! I have yet to find the frame that 

 suits me better than the thick-top-bar Hoff- 

 man frame with the double groove; for when- 

 ever you have to put in new foundation it 

 is very handy to pry out the wedge and clean 

 out the groove, and then it is ready again. 

 In fact, it it the only frame I use. 



Regarding the smaller wax-moth, I will 

 say that I never saw one here until this year. 

 They evidently came with some ItaUan col- 

 onies that I had shipped from Texas. This 

 moth has been the most persistent this year 

 of any that I have ever seen. 



J. L. Barkley. 



Bargain, Miss., Oct. 20, 1905. 



B. W, ALEXANDER'S PLAN OF CURING BLACK 

 BROOD INDORSED. 



I have just read the article of E. W. Alex- 

 ander on the cure for black brood, p. 1125. 



CATCHING SWARMS BY PUTTING DECOY 

 HIVES IN TREES. 



We now have 80 colonies of bees. We se- 

 cured 42 of these colonies by placing boxes 

 in the trees. We have practiced this for 

 three years. We simply fit up boxes as we 

 would for hiving bees, with a support for 

 the comb and honey. Many bees are un- 

 cared for and glad to find homes, and we 

 sometimes secure prime swarms. It might 

 be well to add a little foundation. This may 

 prove of interest to our bee-keeping friends. 

 We consider it of value to us. In this way 

 we can run our bees for honey and still in- 

 crease our swarms. Seven colonies have 

 been secured this year. 



Williams, Neb. Mrs. Jos. Lamb. 



[This plan of catching swarms in decoy 

 hives will work in some localities, and where 

 it succeeds bees can be procured very cheap- 



