186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



institute last year, and I may have another 

 paper at the next meeting, on "Honey — its 

 Food and Medicinal Value." I find the insti- 

 tute people willing to listen to discussions on 

 apicultural affairs. Fred A. Parker. 



Lompoc, Cal. 



[It is only too true that the general public 

 is painfully ignorant on the subject of bees 

 and honey, and much good can be done by 

 presenting the truth at such meetings of in- 

 telligent, up-to-date farmers. Honey will 

 become more of a necessity and less of a lux- 

 ury when more is known about it, and when 

 fewer people believe that comb honey is 

 manufactured; that our extracted honey of 

 to-day is the same as the strained honey of 

 1850; that all liquid honey is adulterated be- 

 cause it "turns back to sugar again," etc. 

 Yes, intelligent people believe these things, 

 and more too. 



Then such a paper read at a farmers' in- 

 stitute will nearly always be published, and 

 more good will be done. The one mention- 

 ed by our correspondent was published, and 

 a copy of the paper sent us. It was along 

 the right lines, for, though full of suggestions 

 to beginners, it could not help being intei'- 

 esting to any one. And, what is more im- 

 portant, such papers always stimulate the 

 demand for honey.— Ed.] 



BEE-KEEPING IN ALASKA. 



April 14 I started from near Beaverton, 

 Oregon, with nine hives of bees. I went on 

 the cars to Seattle, Wash. The combs in 

 one hive broke down, and the bees died, on 

 the way to Seattle. The remaining eight 

 hives 1 took on a steamboat to Seward, Alas- 

 ka. Jn one of these the bees starved before 

 I took them out of the warehouse. I open- 

 ed the remaining seven hives and let the 

 bees have a fly. May 11 I took the bees on 

 a steamboat for Kenai, where we arrived 

 May 13. On May 14 1 got a place to set the 

 bees, and opened the hives and let them fly 

 out and work. The seven stands are all in 

 fair condition, and the bees are working 

 nicely on willows, which are in full blossom. 

 MoRRELL E. Warren. 



Kenai, Alaska, May 15. 



A BEE VEIL AND SHIRT COMBINED. 



I am a bee-keeper in a small way. I have 

 always dreaded going to work among my 

 bees, and the consequence has been that I 

 have many times put off from day to day 

 work that 1 knew ought to be done. I have, 

 till now, been unable to protect my neck 

 from being occasionally stung, and also my 

 thumbs and first fingers where I have cut off 

 the gloves to facilitate handling comb^. But 

 1 have now perfectly protected my neck, and 

 reduced the stings on my hands to a mini- 

 mum. I make an overshirt of denim or 

 overall cloth; but instead of fastening it 

 around my neck I continue it up so as to cov- 

 er my hat-brim like the ordinary veil. The 

 shirt is made to reach the knees, being put 

 on over the head and tied around below the 



waist. For seeing, I use a piece of black 

 veiling with meshes as large as can be hati 

 without giving passage to bees. This veiling 

 is about 3X5 inches, and immediately below 

 this I have a piece of wire cloth about 4X4. 

 such as is used in screen-doors. This is for 

 ventilation. The gloves have a small piece 

 cut out over the balls of the thumbs and fore 

 fingers so that the exposure is as small as 

 possible. The above may not be new, but 1 

 have never known a dress so made. E. M. 

 Auburn, N. Y. 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN OF BUILDING UP 



WEAK COLONIES; USING WIRE CLOTH 



FOR THE FIRST 48 HOURS. 



I tried the Alexander plan of building up 

 weak colonies last spring, on one weak colo- 

 ny — i. e., one very weak and one very strong. 

 Instead of using the queen-excluder between 

 the two colonies the first 48 hours, I used 

 wire cloth; and then when I did put the ex- 

 cluder on, every thing was fine — no fighting, 

 no bees returning to the old stand, nothing 

 but peace and harmony. 



I tried the plan on one colony last spring 

 to see how it would work, and was so well 

 pleased with it that I will try it on a larger 

 scale next spring — i. e., if I have any weak 

 colonies. But I will use the screen first. 



LET EVERY MAN USE THE FRAME HE LIKES 

 BEST. 



There has been a whole lot in Gleanings 

 about which is the best frame to use, which 

 is the best way to shake bees off^frames, etc. 

 What I should like to see is, after you have 

 harvested a fine crop of comb honey, a way 

 to keep the moths out of it. I don't see any 

 need of so much argument as to which frame 

 is the best. If any one wants to use the loose 

 hanging frames, and space them by guess, 

 let him do so; but let him quit writing long 

 articles in their favor. As for me, I know 

 what kind of frame I want to use better than 

 he can tell me. I have never used anything 

 but the self-spacing Hoffman, and I intend 

 to stay with it. John O. Hightower. 



Excelsior Springs, Mo. 



AN UNFAVORABLE REPORT OF CAUCASIANS, 

 FROM JAMAICA. 



I have made a thorough test of the Cauca- 

 sian bees in several localities, and have found 

 them unsuitable for this climate. Being very 

 gentle, the red ants and other pests destroy 

 them; moreover, they are very poor honey- 

 gatherei's. At one of my apiaries I had 50 

 colonies of them, and during the rains I lost 

 nearly all, while the Italians in the same 

 yard all survived. F. A. Hooper. 



Hope, Jamaica, Aug. 16. 



FASTENING SUPER FOUNDATION. 



I fasten my extra thin foundation with a 

 Daisy foundation-fastener. This year I dip- 

 ped the edge of each piece in wax to give a 

 better hold. Robt. T. Montague. 



Christiansburg, Va. 



