246 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



THE POSTOFFICE OF MR. J. M. JENKINS 

 CHANGED TO HONEYSUCKLE. 



Please change my address from Wetump- 

 ka to Honej^suckle, Ala. I have not moved 

 — still doing business at the old stand; but 

 a new postoffice has been established right 

 on our premises, and we are now able to 

 get Gleanings, our letters, orders, etc., 

 about two hours earlier, and have one hour 

 longer to work before the mails are closed 

 to go out. We hunger and thirst for our 

 mail, for we want to work it up and ans- 

 wer promptly, and this change will help us 

 greatly in our efforts to be prompt. As it 

 was, the train passed within 30 feet of us, 

 going to Wetumpka station, thence nearly 

 a mile in a push-cart to the postoffice, and 

 when all the mail for the town was distrib- 

 uted, registers written up, etc., by using 

 a bicycle the boy could get ours to us by 

 and by- About two hours later we had to 

 send over what we had ready, and the rest 

 of it next time. I made application for a 

 postoffice, stating the facts as they exist, 

 and asking for investigation of same. The 

 Department was fair enough to see the dis- 

 advantages a growing business was labor- 

 ing under (to say nothing of any near 

 neighbors), and gave us the postoffice, with 

 two mails per day. So when you come to 

 see us again, get your ticket to Wetumpka; 

 but when you write us, remember we shall 

 receive it hot from the track at Honeysuckle, 

 Ala. J. M. Jenkins. 



Wetumpka, Ala., Feb. 21. 



[When I visited Mr. Jenkins, nearly two 

 j'ears ago, it seemed to me a little strange 

 that all his mail matter, which might have 

 been unloaded within a short distance of 

 his factory, had to go two miles across the 

 river, then back again, making hours of 

 delay. Mr. Jenkins is to be congratulated 

 on the change. If I remember correctly, 

 the honeysuckle is a prominent plant in 

 his neighborhood. — Ed. J 



GOLDEN and LEATHER COLORED BEES COM- 

 PARED. 



In Gleanings for Feb. 1, page 1, I notic- 

 ed that the lea^/ier-colored bees are spoken 

 of as "probably the better bees;" and my 

 experience of a good many years is that the 

 leather-colored bees for honey-gatherers 

 are the best, but they do not build as white 

 comb as the goldens. Three seasons ago I 

 had in mj^ bee-yard, in Georgia, a golden 

 queen selected out of 24 from J. B. Case, 

 and also the leather-colored " red clover" 

 queen from your apiary, and in the spring 

 they started oflf with the same conditions; 

 but the red-clover colony produced several 

 pounds more than the golden, but capped 

 dark and greasy-looking, while the golden 

 colony produced the most beautiful section 

 honey I ever saw. Neither colony showed 

 any disposition to swarm. These were the 

 two finest queens I ever owned. I have 

 purchased a good many queens from differ- 

 ent breeders, directly and indirectly, and 



out of each lot some of them always proved 

 inferior, except the lots from J. P. Moore, 

 which always made a good average, though 

 none of them ever came up to your red-clo- 

 ver queen or the one extra one from J. B. 

 Case. All points considered, I think this 

 Case queen the finest I ever owned; but she 

 was an exception to most goldens. 



Wewahitchka, Fla. D. R. Keyes. 



[We are glad to get this good word for the 

 Italian queens, even if it is a good adver- 

 tisement for some of our friends. — Ed.] 



ROBBING OUT THE BEE-TREE. 



On page 155 you say that J. A. Macdon- 

 ald secured no honey from the tree. Why 

 couldn't he set his bees to robbing the stores 

 in the tree, after all the brood emerged? 

 In a cherry-tree near my yard is a colony 

 I have planned to kill next fall, and then in- 

 troduce a pint of iny bees to bring the honey 

 to my hive. Would not that plan work 

 well and safely? 



I like Gleanings first rate, and am so 

 new at the business that nearly all is in- 

 structive to me, but perhaps the questions 

 and answers are most so. 



Reading, Mass. N. A. Sparhawk. 



[Yes, certainly, the bee-tree could be 

 robbed out providing there were no young 

 bees just hatched to defend at the entrance. 

 —Ed.] 



alsike; does it yield every year? 



Will alsike produce honey every year? 

 If so, would not that when raised for seed 

 with white clover, red clover, catnip, and a 

 sprinkling of other honey-plants in the 

 fall of the year, make a locality among the 

 best as a honey-producing one? 



Can bees be sent by fast freight in spring, 

 with safety? O. H. Townsend says they 

 can. What do you think about it? 



Eeland, 111. F. W. Morgan. 



[You can set it down as a rule that no 

 honey-plant will yield honey every year, 

 and the clovers are no exception unless 

 perhaps it be the alfalfa in the irrigated 

 regions, where conditions are largely under 

 the control of man. Alsike affords one of 

 the best artificial pasturages there is 

 known. But you might sow acres of it, and 

 still not be able to make any perceptible 

 increase of honey in your hives ; but when 

 farmers all around you sow red clover or 

 alsike largely, then you will be able to get 

 some surplus. But there ought to be at 

 least 50 or 100 acres of it within range of 

 the bees. 



If a number of colonies are to be sent at 

 one time, by all means send by freight, fast 

 or slow, but send a man along with them. 

 It is not practicable to send bees by ex- 

 press, except in nucleus or one-colony lots. 

 Bees go at a rate and a half, and they do 

 not have to go very far by express before 

 the express charges more than equal their 



