1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



597 



build one or more cells. In this case it is 

 quite possible, and I might say probable, 

 that there was one or more cells built, that 

 escaped j'our notice. I have seen cells cap- 

 ped over, the ends of which were but a 

 little more than flush with the combs, 

 which could very easily escape scrutiny. 

 I am of the opinion that, if you had not in- 

 troduced a queen, you would have found 

 later a virgin in the hive. — Ed.] 



HOW TO CONVERT A CIDER-PRESS INTO A 

 WAX-PRESS. 



I read Mr. Salisbury's description of his 

 wax-press with interest. 1 will suggest an 

 improvement. When I made my first ship- 

 ment of bees from the South, some years 

 ago, I had a lot of broken combs. I made 

 100 lbs. of wax, which was pressed in a 

 cider-press. I got most of the wax out, but it 

 made a mussy job. Two years ago I had a 

 bottom, circle, and follower, made out of 

 beech wood, that looks exactly like Mr. Sal- 

 isburj-'s cut. I made 150 lbs. of fine wax 

 during my spare time in two days. I placed 

 a blanket over the press to keep the heat in. 

 Bee-keepers having a cider-press can con- 

 vert it easily into a wax-press. 

 . West Bend, Wis. H. C. AhlerS. 



PLURALITY OF OUEENS FROM SUPERSEDURE. 



I have a colony of bees that superseded 

 their queen. Instead of finding only one 

 queen about their hive they hatch from I 

 found thirteen nice queens. A few were in 

 the cells j^et, ready to crawl out. I counted 

 the cells that had queens in, and found 

 some 30 in all where queens had hatched 

 out. Now, what is the cause that so many 

 hatch out, and the bees do not kill them 

 when the first one is hatched out? 



Wm. I. F. HOFFA. 



Womelsdorf, Pa. 



[The circumstance you relate is nothing 

 so very unusual, except that there were 

 more than the average in the case of a queen 

 that is superseded. Hybrid bees, or Ital- 

 ians crossed with Holy Lands or Cj'prian, 

 might raise thirty or more cells when they 

 were superseding an old queen if she was 

 about played out. — Ed.] 



CURING A BEE-STING BY THE APPLICATION 

 OF A SLICED ONION. 



I noticed in A B C of Bee Culture that 

 nothing but hot or cold water is any good 

 for a bee-sting; but I was stung on the face, 

 and it swelled up in my head, and down 

 to my shoulder, and it kept swelling for 

 twenty-four hours, and I bathed it in cold 

 water, and then went on with my work. 

 My mother looked in a doctor book, and 

 that recommended fresh-cut onion above all 

 others. I tried it, and the swelling started 

 to go down at once. 



Ethridge Webber. 



Tolland, Mass., June 15. 



[You will pardon me, but I question very 

 much whether the application of the onion 



had any thing to do with the reduction of 

 the swelling. The poison from a bee-sting 

 is injected through the skin through a very 

 minute opening. The very fact that swell- 

 ing took place shortly after, goes to show 

 that the virus had been dissipated locally 

 in the tissue to such an extent that no rem- 

 edy of any sort, applied from the outside, 

 could possibly neutralize the poison in such 

 a way as to reduce the swelling as you 

 describe. Heat relaxes, cold contracts. 

 The only thing that would be of any value 

 after swelling takes place is hot or cold 

 water, preferably hot. In the one case it 

 would reduce congestion of the parts; in 

 the other, it would reduce the fever. Al- 

 ternate application of hot and cold water 

 would be more beneficial than either alone. 

 —Ed.] 



young bees necessary to encourage 

 the flight of oueens. 



As a general thing I do not like to offer 

 any advice; but in the matter of mating of 

 queens in confinement, I am sure that you 

 will always have trouble trying to get 

 young queens to go out where no young bees 

 are allowed to fly. With me such a thing 

 would be worse than folly. Not having suf- 

 ficient young bees is the main cause of 

 the section-box nuclei being a failure. 

 They encourage and direct the young queen 

 more than you think. Remember, I know 

 this from trial and close observation. 



Vigo, Texas. J. E. Chambers. 



[There may be something in your sugges- 

 tion. — Ed.] 



FEEDING back FROM BELOW. 



Have you ever tried feeding from below 

 when feeding back? I fed this way last 

 year, and had such good success that I 

 shall try it again this season. The honey 

 finished in this way was as nice as any I 

 had. Steen Freeman. 



Cedar Mills, O. 



[The usual plan is to feed from above. I 

 have never had any experience in feeding 

 back, and could not form an opinion as to 

 the merit of the plan you speak of. Per- 

 haps some of our subscribers who have, can 

 give us their experience. — Ed.] 



rambler's STRAINER. 



What back numbers of Gleanings con- 

 tain a detailed description of Rambler's 

 strainer? Is the improved strainer on the 

 market? L. J. Utt. 



Pala, Cal., May 5. 



[Rambler's strainer was described and 

 illustrated on page 683 of our issue for Sept. 

 15, 1899.— Ed.]_ 



a cheap hive-tool. 



A good hive-tool is apiece of buggy-spring. 

 You can find plenty of them at an}' shop 

 where they repair buggies, already broken 

 in two, and sharpened at one end flat. Some 

 are square on the flat end, and some round. 



Clinton, 111. Henry Wilson. 



