828 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUNE 15 



BEE- KEEPING IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Last season was a poor one here. Most 

 bees are going to die from starvation except 

 those who have them in standard hives and 

 have given them proper attention. I have 

 a few colonies of blacks and Italians in fine 

 order, but I had to take supers from the 

 Italians and give to the blacks, for stores. 

 Italians go far ahead of blacks for me. 



I had a few colonies of Italians in 1904 

 which filled three supers of fine honey. My 

 neighbor had some that did the same. He 

 was taking Gleanings, and we tried to keep 

 posted on our bees. While our bees were 

 doing this, others around us got scarcely any 

 surplus. , I lay it all to reading the plans 

 laid down in Gleanings, and a good strain 

 of Italian bees. Bee culture is in its infancy 

 here yet; but I think it is growing nicely. 

 We have a good market for all the surplus 

 honey we can get, right at home. We get 

 from 10 to 15 cts. per pound, according to 

 color and quality. The finest and most sur- 

 plus we get is from the sourwood, a noted 

 tree with us for its fine-flavored white comb 

 honey. We think it the finest honey in the 

 world, although it does not give us a crop 

 every season. 



Honey plants and trees of this secti m are 

 maple, poplar, blackgum, holly, persimmon, 

 fruit-trees, blackberry, grape, plum, sumac, 

 and various other small plants. The pea is 

 gettirg to be quite an item here for bees in 

 a late fall crop. Monroe Moose. 



Stony Point, N. C., Jan. 22. 



does feeding pay? 



As the bee business is still new to me, 

 answers to the following questions would be 

 a great help : 



1. When a queen's wings are clipped, and 

 a swarm issues from a hive, the queen will, 

 of course, fall to the ground in front of the 

 hive. Now, suppose the bee- keeper were 

 away, perhaps to be gone four or five hours; 

 would the queen, after the bees had return- 

 ed to the hive, find her way back, or would 

 a part of the bees cluster about her and take 

 care of her, or would she be apt to be lost 

 or die? 



2. In feeding for the purpose of stimulat- 

 ing brood rearing, how would it be to take 

 a thin board the size of the hive (outside 

 measurements), and cut a round hole in the 

 middle just large enough to admit either a 

 pint or quart pepper-box feeder, then tack 

 two narrow pieces of tin across the hole 

 each way? Now fill your pepper box feed- 

 er; put the board on top of the hive in place 

 of the cover, with tin strips next to the 

 frames. Put the feeder, top down, in the 

 hole, and the tin strips will hold it a bee- 

 space from the frames. Now put an empty 

 super on, and a cover over all. Then every 

 day you can take the cover off and quickly 

 change the empty feeder for one with syrup. 

 I have never tried this; in fact, I never fed 

 bees in my Hfe; but I should just like to 

 know if you think it would work all right 



and if it would be as good as any other kind 

 of feeder for stimulating brood- rearing. 



3. In the A B C of Bee Culture, page 160, 

 under "Feeding and Feeders," it says, 

 ' ' Whenever possible, feeding should be 

 avoided. ' ' Does that still hold good, or do 

 you think feeding a little every day in the 

 spring will pay? or is it better to keep the 

 bees warm and let them take care of them- 

 selves as far as feeding goes, if they are 

 fairly strong and have a good supply of 

 honey? Norton C. Miller. 



Girard, Pa., April 9. 



[1. In the great majority of cases the 

 queen will find her way into the hive. If 

 hives are set flat on the ground, or on low 

 hive-stands fitted close to the ground, with 

 an inclined runway to the entrance, the 

 queen will be very sure to find her way back. 



2. The plan you describe is essentially the 

 one we have used for years in our own bee- 

 yards, with this difference, that we do not 

 make use of the strips of tin, for the ordi- 

 nary pepper-box feeder as put out by sup- 

 ply-dealers has a bee-spaced rim of tin so 

 that, when the feeder is set down on the 

 frames, it will be held a bee- space above 

 them. 



The advice still holds good; but you must 

 take into consideration seasons and circum- 

 stances that are present at the time. In 

 the spring, stimulative feeding, if not prac- 

 ticed too early, will generally be found to 

 be profitable, especially if the bees are not 

 abundantly supplied with stores. Unless 

 the bees have stores in super, or more 

 honey in the brood- nest than is usually 

 found, stimulative feeding in the spring pays 

 and pays well. As Doohttle has pointed out, 

 a colony that is not * ' rich in stores ' ' will 

 curtail brood-rearing. 



Yes, avoid feeding where you can. It is 

 a far better practice to give combs of sealed 

 stores laid away from the previous season 

 than to stir up a colony by giving it liquid 

 food if the nights should be at all cool; or if 

 the weather should be variable when bees 

 can not fly, feeding should be avoided, be- 

 cause it excites and stirs up a colony, often 

 resulting in over- stimulation, causing brood 

 to be chilled,— Ed.] 



is it safe to buy southern queens for 

 northern apiaries? 



On p. 498 I notice Mr. Coggshall advises 

 uot to bring bees from the South, as they do 

 not stand this climate, etc., and your advice is 

 the same. Now, is this not positive proof that 

 northern bee keepers should not buy south- 

 ern queens? As Mr. Coggshall brought his 

 bees to this State from Georgia about the 

 first of June, every thing was changed by 

 fall except the queens; and as the queens 

 were Italians reared in the South they were, 

 without doubt, of the common Italian stock 

 of the South. The result would be the 

 same, according to this, as in buying south- 

 ern queens. C. L. Todd. 



Hartwick Seminary, N. Y., May 10. 



