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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



WINTERING IN THE DANZENBAKER SHAL- 

 LOW HIVE IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



I wish A. I. R. would tell us how his two 

 colonies of bees in the Danz. hive wintered 

 in Bing-ham. I have always considered the 

 Danz. hive too shallow to winter successful- 

 ly in this latitude, especially on summer 

 stands. A. A. Hardy. 



Boon, Mich. 



[Friend H., if you want my personal 

 opinion in reg'ard lo the matter, I would 

 say, stick to the L. frame. Since I began 

 bee-keepingf, every little while somebody 

 gives his reasons for thinking the L. frame 

 is not the best shape or size, and more or 

 less follow him; but in due course of time 

 the new kind is dropped, and we get back 

 to the standard L. There aie not only 

 more bees in the world on this size of frame 

 than all other sizes together, but I am not 

 sure but there are ten times as many. Per- 

 haps I am not posted, and up to the times; 

 but I very much doubt whether there is ad- 

 vantage enough in a shallower frame to pay 

 to use another than the L. In answer to 

 your question, one of my colonies wintered 

 perfectly out of doors on its summer stand, 

 with no protection except filling the super 

 (where the honey was stored last year) 

 with forest-leaves. The other one was win- 

 tered in the potato-cellar I described on 

 p. 5.^9, June IS. They both wintered well. 

 I have not been able to notice any difference. 

 As the cellar under the barn was pretty 

 cold, perhaps the consumption of honey was 

 about the same as in the hive that remain- 

 ed outdoors. — A. I. R.] 



♦ — • 



IS IT POISONOUS HONEY? IF SO, WHAT? 



I have about 80 colonies that are making 

 us a great deal of fine honey. I began 

 selling it here, and the people commenced 

 to get sick and send for the doctor. They 

 claim the honey was poison; in fact, it made 

 my wife sick, and I began to think the doc- 

 tor would call at my house. Of course we 

 don't eat any more, and I do not want to 

 sell it to my neighbors, and I am afraid to 

 ship it. I want you, Bro. Root, and the 

 readers of Gleanings, to tell me what to do 

 witii m3'^ honey. You know I hate to lose 

 all of it. L. L. Knight. 



Glennville, Ga. 



[From what you write it would seem as 

 if the bees gathered nectar from some poi- 

 sonous plant. The only ones of this country 

 that are known to produce poisonous honey 

 are the mountain laurel of Virginia and the 

 yellow jessamine of Georgia. I should pre- 

 sume that this latter is growing in your vi- 

 cinity, and is causing sickness among j^our 

 friends and patrons such as you describe. 

 The symptoms tally very closely with those 

 that have been previously reported, and I 

 would, therefore, suggest that you ascertain 

 whether there is a yellow bell-shaped flow- 

 er by the name of yellow jessamine growing 

 in your vicinity. If so, I think you may 

 rest assured that your trouble is from that 

 source. Any of our subscribers who live in 



the vicinity who can offer any information 

 are requested to tell us of their experience. 

 —Ed.] 



mixed swarms. 



While we are on the mixed-swarm theme, 

 for the benefit of the brotherhood I may just 

 as well give the way on which I proceed 

 when I have to face such cases. My queens 

 are not clipped. When two or more swarms 

 come out and get mixed I take as many 

 bodies of hives with frames as there are 

 swarms. These hives, piled up on one 

 bottom-board only, are raised in front; the 

 lower, say 2 in., and the others y% inch. 

 A sheet covers the whole in the form of an 

 awning. Then the bundle of swarms is 

 dumped at the lower opening. In about an 

 hour, even less, all the colonies are divided, 

 and each one occupies its own hive. 



Francois Benoit. 



Notre Dame-des-Neiges, Canada. 



[I should not have supposed that one big 

 swarm made up of several would break up 

 into separate clusters in separate hives as 

 you describe. I can't understand it even 

 now. Perhaps some others of our sub- 

 scribers have had similar experience, and 

 can explain the reason. — Ed.] 



a five-year- OLD QUEEN WHOSE BEES HAVE 

 NEVER SWARMED. 



In Gleanings for Feb. 15, page 159, W. 

 W. Brockunier states he has a colony whose 

 queen is over three years old, and has not 

 swarmed. I have an Italian queen here 

 whose bees have not cast a swarm for five 

 years — on that point I am certain. She is 

 a dark queen, with one wing clipped, and 

 the inside one on the ooposite side. I have 

 been for some years, by careful selection, 

 trying to breed bees that would not swarm, 

 and I think I have reached the goal. The 

 last three years I have been breeding from 

 her, and my average has been about one 

 swarm in 12. Her bees are not the hand- 

 somest, but are nicely marked; but I put 

 honey-gathering qualities first. Her hive 

 contains plenty of drones each season, as I 

 allow her a certain amount of drone comb, 

 and her bees are wonders at honey-gather- 

 ing. G. D. Parker. 



Crookwell, N. S. W., Apr. 7; 



the long DROUTH OF 1791. 



I find a report of Mr. J. D. Bixby, of 

 Guilderland Center, N. Y. He says, " This 

 is forty- five days without rain — the longest 

 rainless period since 779/." I wish to say 

 that I lived in his section. Oak Hill, Greene 

 Co., N. Y., in 1854, and I believe I make 

 no mistake when I say that no rain fell be- 

 tween May and September that summer. 

 I have heard old men s,a.y, who lived in that 

 town, that they did not remember such a 

 drouth as that. John McKeon. 



^ Dryden, N. Y., June 10. 



[We had such a season here in 1854. — 

 Ed.] 



