1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



637 



kill queens, refuse to build worker comb, 

 and even fail to build queen-cells on larv;e 

 g^iven when queenless; yes, and swarm 

 without any queen at all. I feel often, of 

 late, like saj'ing, "I don't know," with 

 Dr. Miller. G. M. Doolittlk. 



Borodino, N. Y., June 16. 



[We did \.vy, come to think of it, some- 

 thing- similar — raising cells in upper sto- 

 ries over perforated zinc. It worked dur- 

 ing a honey- flow, but not after. — Ed.] 



colonies, you had better give up bee-keep- 

 ing as a business. — Ed.] 



THE POISONOUS FUMES OF THE HIVE; KEEP- 

 ING HONEY IN TIN CANS. 



I read of persons being- poisoned by g-ases 

 from hives. I think this can be remedied 

 bj' uncovering- for a while the hive to be 

 manipulated, before one works it. This 

 will allow the ventilation of the hive, which 

 carries oft" most of the gas. 



Please let me know if keeping- honey in a 

 common tin Novice extractor for a long- 

 time will injure it, say two months. 



Albert D. Warner. 



Warsaw, Va., June 13. 



[There is onlj' about one person in fifty 

 thousand who is at all affected by the 

 fumes of bee-sting poison from a strong 

 colon}'. Leaving the hive open for a few 

 minutes might possibly allow the vapor or 

 gas to pass off. But if one is so sensitive 

 to the poison as this, ventilation probably 

 would not help very much. In cool weath- 

 er, when a hive is open bees will elevate 

 their stings; and if you watch closely you 

 will see a tiny drop of the poison on the 

 end. If there is a pungent odor given oft" 

 from this poison, the mere matter of venti- 

 lating possiblj' might disperse it some. 



Honey can be kept in tin vessels for a 

 great length of time. It prevents corrosion 

 of the metal, and the honey itself will keep 

 indefinitely. — Ed.] 



ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 



I have been keeping bees for four years 

 and have never been able to have them 

 make any surplus of an}' kind. During 

 this time I have studied the trouble thor- 

 oughly, and have decided that it is in the 

 pasture, so I will have to plant some or quit 

 bee-keeping. I should like to have you give 

 me some information on the subject of pas- 

 ture for this section. I don't know of clover 

 being grown within one hundred miles of 

 me, and the people say it won't grow here. 

 What shall I plant? W. H. Patrick. 



Bamberg, S. C. 



[There is no artificial pasturage that will 

 pay you just for bees alone. "You would 

 have to put out hundreds of acres, and even 

 then you might not get enough to supply 

 the bees with any more than their daily 

 consumption. If there is not natural pas- 

 turage suflicient to give your bees a surplus 

 from year to year, and that is a condition 

 that is very unusual in the case of a few 



FORMALDEHYDE FOR BEE-MOTH. 



After reading the articles in Gleanings 

 on the use of formaldehyde gas for the treat- 

 ment of foul brood, it occurs to me that the 

 eggs of the bee-moth might be treated in 

 the same way. But in making the gas 

 strong enough to kill the worms, would not 

 the larviv and eggs of the bee be destroyed 

 at the same time? W. L. Short. 



"Vicksburg, Miss., June 12. 



[What would kill the one would kill the 

 other, undoubtedly; but as long as there is 

 eggs in the combs they would, of course, 

 be in the custody of the bees. If they had 

 any Italian blood in them there would be 

 no danger from worms. The only combs 

 that would require fumigating would be 

 those that were empty or out of the care 

 and keeping of the bees. As a matter of 

 precaution it would be good policy to fumi- 

 gate with the formaldehyde all combs in 

 the fall of the year. This would disinfect 

 them of foul brood as well as kill any eggs 

 of the moth-miller that might be in them. — 

 Ed.] 



gleanings SATISFACTORY AS IT IS. 



I notice the criticism on pages 552, 553, 

 regarding advertisements in Gleanings, 

 especially numbering the advertisement 

 pages and keeping them separate; but I 

 should be very sorry to see it done. I also 

 save the copies, putting them together as 

 soon as I get them, having them bound at 

 the end of the year. But I want the ad- 

 vertisements hound with them so that I may 

 have them also to refer to. 



I like Gleanings very much. I took it 

 eight months before I got my bees. I hard- 

 ly know which part I enjoy most, from 

 Stray Straws to the notes by A. I. R. ; but 

 I think those two are excellent, and I 

 should miss either of them very much. I 

 also enjoyed the writings of Rambler, and 

 it seemed like the loss of a personal friend 

 when I heard of his death. 



I think Gleanings is about perfection, 

 and that you understand both the bee busi- 

 ness and running a bee-paper 



Stephen J. Griffen. 



Bridgeport, Conn., June 19. 



picking up queens to clip. 

 I was much amused at the description 

 given in Gleanings, of catching and hold- 

 ing a queen to clip. Why not lift her at 

 once with the thumb and fore finger by 

 the thorax, and as you raise her from the 

 comb pass the middle finger under her, re- 

 moving the index finger? then you have her 

 in about the position you describe, thus 

 avoiding not only the delay of transferring 

 the queen from one hand to the other, but 

 of lifting the scissors, which, with this 

 method, are placed in the right hand in 

 position before the queen is lifted. Some 



