356 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



gradually disintegrate into small fragments, ard be 

 devoid of any tpecial davor. This test is not sufficient if 

 the quantity of the adulterant is small, in which case 

 the specific weight should be ascertained. 



Prepare in a tumbler a mixture of alcohol and water 

 of sufficient density to allow a flat piece of wax of known 

 purity to float on the surface, so that the upper surface 

 of the wax is level with the liquid. A small sample of 

 suspected wax is then melted to get rid of all traces of 

 air, and then placed in the liquid. If it sinks or pro- 

 jects above the surface it is certainly adulterated. 



Sometimes adulterants heavier and lighter than pure 

 wax are used, so that when mixed in proper proportions 

 the density of pure wax is obtained. In such a case the 

 following additional tests should be made: 



Put a piece of the suspected wax, the size of a small 

 nut, into a test-tube, half fill with spirits of turpentine, 

 and carefully warm over the flame of a spirit-lamp. If 

 the solution is cloudy, or a deposit is thiown down, the 

 solution is not complete and the wax is adulterated, for 

 spirits of turpentine completely dissolves pure beeswax. 



After this test, a piece of the same wax is placed in a 

 test-tube half filled with alcohol and brought to the boil- 

 ing point. 



Bee Keeping AMON& THE RociviE. 



When melting beeswax on a stove, espe- 

 cially if there is any water in the vessel in 

 which it is being melted, do not go away 

 and leave it for even a minute. If you must 

 go away, set the wax off the fire until you 

 get back. The fire may be hotter than you 

 think, or something may make you stay 

 away longer than you expected to. A pan 

 of wax boiling over on a hut stove may make 

 a serious blaze. Last year neglect of this 

 precaution cost one bee-keeper, in this val- 

 1 ey, his dwelling-house and another a good 

 honey-house with contents, including about 

 a ton of honey. 



PAPER HONEY-COMB. 



Anent the manufactured-comb-honey ca- 

 nard, a St. Louis lawyer once told me that 

 he had bought honey in that market, the 

 combs of which were made of paper. He 

 fully believed this, and I do not know that I 

 succeeded in convincing him of its impossi- 

 bility or improbability. He had presented 

 the honey to a lady, and had accepted her 

 report on it, though he had not eaten the 

 honey himself, so I could not be sure on 

 what grounds the verdict was based, though 

 probably the trouble was that the comb was 

 tough, due to having been built the season 

 before, or to a "fishbone" base, caused by 

 old or too heavy foundation. 



HAULING BEES WITHOUT CLOSING THE EN- 

 TRANCES. 



The matter of hauling bees without clos- 

 ing the entrances has been mentioned once 

 or twice in Gleanings. I once bought a lot 

 of bees sixteen miles from home. When 

 two or three miles on the way back with 



them, after having passed over some pretty 

 rough roads I noticed that some of the old 

 hives had come open to such an extent that 

 the bees were beginning to come out and 

 cluster on the outside of the hives. I was 

 alone, the team was full of life, and entirely 

 unused to bees ; and for a time I thought I 

 had a large- sized piece of trouble on my 

 hands. After a little deliberation I conclud- 

 ed to let them alone, and I drove all the way 

 home without a particle of trouble from 

 them. They were black bees. Hybrids 

 might have behaved differently. Probably, 

 though, any bees that had been confined for 

 a time while being jounced over rough 

 roads would be perfectly gentle thereafter. 

 I should not consider it safe though to start 

 out with open entrances, though a thorough 

 smoking might make it all right. 



SUBSTITUTES FOR POLLEN. 



If bees are not gathering natural pollen 

 already in your neighborhood you can prob- 

 ably help them a great deal by feeding some- 

 thing to take its place. In many parts of 

 the West there are no natural sources of 

 pollen very early in the season, and brood- ■ 

 rearing can not be carried on as well as it t| 

 might because of the lack of it. In such 

 places a little meal fed to the bees will 

 greatly encourage brood- rearing. If you use 

 bran for cow- feed this is the simplest and 

 cheapest thing for the bees. Let them work 

 it over before you give it to the cow. Place 

 it in shallow boxes slightly inclined. When 

 the bees have worked it down to the lower 

 end, reverse the box. If you do not feed 

 bran, perhaps you can get something ground 

 for them, or you can use cheap flour, mixing 

 it with a little bran so that they can handle 

 it easier. Of course your neighbors' bees 

 will get some of it, if they are as close as is 

 usual here, but perhaps you can induce them 

 to feed too. 



j^ 



HIBERNATION OF BEES. 



I had supposed that the hibernation theory 

 died a natural death long ago ; but L. R. 

 Freeman, editor of the Northu-est Farm and 

 Home, made the following statements in an 

 address at a horticultural institute, pub- 

 lished in the Western Bee Journal. "Bees 

 consume no honey during the winter in a 

 climate where it is steadily cold. This I 

 have ascertained by weighing the hives in 

 the fall, and again in the spring. There 

 would be a slight diminution in weight, 

 which is accounted for by evaporation and 

 by the death of bees. . . In a climate where 

 the cold weather is uniform, a bee hiber- 

 nates as much as does -a hornet or a wasp." 

 Evidently the proper thing to do is to put 

 our bees into cold storage to save the twenty 

 to thirty pounds of honey that is usually 

 required to winter a colony of bees. In the 

 same address we are told of a bee-keeper 

 making a gain of $1250 "about as cheaply as 

 if he had found it." What wonderful things 

 about bees we sometimes learn from the 

 agricultural and horticultural writers ! 



