685 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



fasten it to a limb of a tree, a pole, or any- 

 where else. If you fasten it to a pole you 

 want to tie a small limb to the pole near it 

 for the bees to cluster on, which is better 

 then Mr. P.'s ladder. 



I have often tied a small market basket 

 to the pole, and then tied the cage so it 

 would be partly in the basket, then watch- 

 ed the bees cluster as I held it up so they 

 could find it. Watch them and you will 

 see one or two alight on the cage, and run 

 about it for a minute or two, then fly away, 

 and scon be back with three or four others. 

 Soon they are gone again, then more will 

 accompany them back, and so they go back 

 and forth until a few begin to cluster, then 

 soon the whole swarm will alight. Now 

 take them to your prepared hive; shake be- 

 fore the entrance, and release the queen 

 and you are all right. Late years I wait 

 until the bees return to the old stand, and 

 let them run into the new hive that I have 

 placed there for them, releasing the queen 

 as they enter. 



In reply to Dr. Miller's Straw, page 528, 

 you reckon 5000 bees in a pound. How 

 came you to change your estimation, for 

 you used to claim that 3000 make a pound? 

 I have counted a large colony that swarm- 

 ed, and found between 8 and 9 pounds that 

 clustered, and but a very few bees left on 

 the combs (not more then a pound), and it 

 took a little over 700 to make a quarter of a 

 pound, so there were not over 3000 bees in 

 the hive. If I had a colony that I thought 

 contained 70,0(0 bees I would count them 

 before reporting to a paper. I have count- 

 ed bees that have been starved, and found 

 that it took nearly 5000 to make a pound; 

 but we don't find bees in that condition 

 when we weigh them; for when we buy or 

 have a swarm they are filled with honey. 



J. L. Hyde. 



Pomfret Landing, Ct., June 22. 



[Your idea of a soap-shaker is good. It 

 is a handy implement that can be purchased 

 at almost any tinshop or hardware store. 



You say, " If I had a colony of bees that 

 I thought contained 70,000 bees I would 

 count them before reporting to a paper," 

 implying that our estimate as to the number 

 'of bees to a pound was overdrawn. Let me 

 refer you to Prof. B. F. Koons, of the Con- 

 necticut Agricultural College; Prof. C. P. 

 Gillette, of the Colorado Experiment Sta- 

 tion; and to Prof. Lazenby, of the Ohio Ex- 

 periment Station, for the number of bees in 

 a pound. These scientific men, all of them, 

 had at their disposal delicately adjusted 

 scales, and in one instance, at least, a pair 

 of balances that would weigh to the mil- 

 lionth of a pound. It was a remarkable 

 fact that the figures of all of them as to the 

 number of bees in a pound, under difi'erent 

 circumstances and at different times, were 

 approximately the same. Their estimates 

 were from 4000 to 5600 bees to the pound. 

 When the bees were loaded, of course there 

 would be fewer of them than when their 

 sacs were empty or when just going to the 

 fields.— Ed.] 



THE GOOD OLD HONEY YEARS HAVE COME 

 BACK. 



On my return from Florida, May 2, I 

 found that many colonies had died of star- 

 vation. They had sufficient stores to last 

 them until fruit-bloom, and built comb un- 

 der the devices, starving later. I fed at 

 once, giving them all they would carry 

 down, until they neglected the feeders, go- 

 ing to the fields. This heavy feeding paid 

 well. My bees have stored more surplus 

 than neighboring apiaries. If cool weather 

 followed the hiving of a swarm, I fed them 

 until it was warmer. 



Old settlers say they never saw before 

 such a growth of white clover. Ground is 

 white, the heads touching each other, and 

 it still continues. Basswood bloomed July 

 1, but it lasts but a day or so in the valley 

 along the Illinois River. The weather was 

 cloudy and cool, and I could see no differ- 

 ence in the honey-flow. 



During the past dozen years or more, omr 

 colonies have been growing less, the in- 

 crease less than winter losses. This sea- 

 son it is different. Last winter's combs 

 are nearly all covered. Swarming has 

 been quite erratic. Many colonies appear- 

 ed to be superseding their queens, and a 

 swarm would be divided up into several. I 

 shall soon have these small swarms in 

 good-sized colonies, feeding whenever there 

 is a dearth of honey. 



SURPLUS. 



When I saw the white-clover honey com- 

 ing in, just as it did in the good old honey 

 years, I felt like dancing for joy, even if I 

 am old and rheumatic. I got out the ex- 

 tractor, and it never threw out nicer honey 

 — light in color, thick, heavy, oily, and rich. 

 Why, it appeared as if, as soon as a bee 

 came out of a cell, it was immediately filled 

 with honey. I tied cheese-cloth over the top 

 of a jar, and it would be full and running 

 over,- before I thought of such a thing. I've 

 had many a curtain lecture about stirring 

 up those bees; "let 'em alone; you make 

 'em cross. ' ' The temptation was too strong 

 to resist. I would quietly slip away, take 

 out a few combs, and extract them, unbe- 

 known to them all. 



A good many colonies have finished cases 

 of sections, and are working on the second. 

 The good old honey j'ears have come back 

 to stay, and let us rejoice and be glad, and 

 give thanks to the Giver of all good. 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



THE SALISBURY PRESS AND THAT "ACHING 

 VOID." 



I do not laugh very often; but while read- 

 ing about that " aching void " under one of 

 Miller's Straws I so far forgot myself that 

 I laughed out loud, all my myself. If the 

 ordinary bee-keeper undertakes to make 

 our press by hand I am thinking his ach- 

 ing void will ache quite severely before he 

 finishes the machine. F. A. Salisbury. 



Syracuse, N. Y., June 6. 



