GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



escope cover will not blow off if the rim 

 sticks on two inches, and allows | inch of 

 play all around.— Ed.] 



HOW TO GET DRONES FOR MATING QUEENS 



FROM BABY NUCLEI AT A SPECIAL 



MATING-YARD. 



A valued correspondent desires to make 

 some definite crosses with different races, 

 and writes: 



" What I want to ask you is this: How can 

 I best manage the drones for the mating- 

 ground? I shall endeavor, of course, to 

 have the mating-ground immune so far as 

 undesirable stock is concerned. I propose 

 trying the " baby- nucleus" plan for the 

 queens. Would it be necessary to take a 

 whole colony of bees to the mating-ground 

 in order to get the right drones, or could I 

 trap out enough drones and unite them with 

 the nucleus the day before, and feel reason- 

 ably certain that all would be well? You 

 see the little nuclei are very easily handled 

 in an ordinary buggy, but a colony is a dif- 

 ferent proposition." 



In reply I should say, subject to emenda- 

 tions and additions of the editor, that there 

 is no absolute necessity of having a full 

 colony if drones are taken as proposed with 

 the baby nuclei. They will be cherished by 

 any nucleus until its queen is fertilized. Of 

 course, in proportion as a smaller number of 

 drones if taken with a nucleus will there be 

 a greater chance for delay and possible fail- 

 ure. 



A possible compromise suggests itself, 

 providing the same kind of drones may be 

 continued on each mating-ground: Take a 

 three-frame nucleus of queenless bees, well 

 stocked with drones, and keep it in heart by 

 an occasional addition of fresh brood. 



If, however, only one mating-ground is 

 contemplated, with different drones on differ- 

 ent days, then it will be better to take the 

 chances with drones as part of the outfit of 

 each nucleus taken. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. * 



"GO WEST, YOUNG MAN;" A CHANCE FOR A 

 HOME-SEEKER, 



The interesting notice of a new bee- tamer, 

 Feb. 5, in the Root family, and Pres. 

 Roosevelt's good words on "home and fam- 

 ily," combine to arouse my dormant soul to 

 get up and speak out. Yesterday I found a 

 bee-tree. Is that strange? Yes? Where 

 I live is called the freeless, trackless, arid 

 plains of the Rocky Mountain slope. I went 

 three miles to the creek to get some fence- 

 posts, and a little black bee licked the posts 

 and started home. 1 followed, and found 

 its nest in a large cotton wood- tree, 17 feet 

 from the ground. There they are, slick- 

 looking and wild. What shall I do with 

 them ? Let them alone and ask you to send 

 me a gentle bee-tamer to teach me the 

 science, and she shall have my interest 

 (100 per cent) in bees, trees, choice claim 

 on tnej finest of government lands, and all 



the benefits that go with new countries and 

 pioneer home-building; yes. and bring her 

 best fellow with her. I am not a young ro- 

 mantic bachelor, as you may suspect. No 

 false alarm would I give; but to the youth 

 and the mature man or woman, the new 

 West still offers as good opportunities for 

 willing hands to become real home-builders 

 as it ever did— not all the same conditions 

 that once existed, but sufficient variety to 

 enable energetic youth or middle-aged per- 

 sons to become real home- owners, rather 

 than join that hopeless class of hoboes who 

 seek only the gauze of wordly pleasure, as 

 they call a life without an object. Who 

 will be the lucky one to come and claim the 

 new bee-tree, the new homestead, and the 

 greatest of American honor, a free home- 

 owner ? This great valley plain where each 

 day the wild antelopes chase each other over 

 the few new farms, and the prarie-dogs 

 chatter in surprise to see the daring pioneer 

 stir the native sod, is destined to be densely 

 peopled and intensely cultivated; and here 

 the honey-bee will gather wonderful stores 

 from alfalfa, which, like Samson's lion, 

 yields both "meat and sweet." 

 Byers, Col., Jan. 22. J. I. Brown. 



A JUG FOR A BEE-FEEDER. 



I hereby send description of a bee-feeder 

 that I think beats all others. It is just a 

 jug with a lip on one side of the bottom, 

 turned up with the exit-hole just below the 

 surface of the lip. All you have to do to fill 

 it is to stop the hole with the finger and fill 

 the jug and cork it tightly. I got a potter 

 living here to make it. H. C. Simpson. 



Catawba, S. C. 



[Such a jug would make a very good bee- 

 feeder, with the advantage that it would 

 not rust, and would last indefinitely; but 

 they could not be sold by the supply-houses, 

 for the simple reason that heavy freight 

 and breakage would make them out of the 

 question. Tin or wood is about the only 

 material that can be used. 



Those who are not located near potteries 

 could drill a hole through the bottom of any 

 ordinary jug, then mold around the hole a 

 lip made out of Portland cement. — Ed.] 



THE poppy in Bohemia; does it yield 



HONEY? 



In regard to the poppy, we have some- 

 times fields of it of 50 acres and more. The 

 bees gather only pollen from it. It has no 

 bad effect on bees. In Bohemia it is grown 

 for the grain. It is used partly as food and 

 partly to make oil; but we do not raise it to 

 make opium of. R. Strimpl. 



Networitz, Bohemia. 



ruberoid for hive covers. 

 I notice in Gleanings, Mar. 1, Dr. Miller 

 asked if any one has used ruberoid for hive- 

 covers. I send two pieces that have been 

 on hive-covers eight years, ^have'^ never 

 beenjpainted, and^ it ;.will_last _eightJ2niore 



