418 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



hive, and never satisfactory. A piece of 

 wood heavy enough to hold the apron in 

 place should be nailed to the lower end of 

 the same. K. D. Chappell. 



Vassar, Mich. 



A CONVENIENT SEAT. 



Here is a description of a tool to be used 

 when you are looking through your apiary. 

 If you try it you will find it a time-saver. It 



beats sitting on lids or toes. It's just an or- 

 dinary milking-stool strapped to the waist. 

 It is made as shown in cut. 

 Los Olivos, Cal. M. D. Whitcher. 



[Our artist could not resist sending the 

 drawing, which is here reproduced. — Ed.] 



A queen stings a worker. 

 I read with great intei'est Jay Smith's arti- 

 cle, page IWZ, 190G, headed, "Do bees sting 

 queens ?" I say yes. I also say queens sting 

 bees. Last summer, during the queen-rear- 

 ing season, a neighbor a few miles away 

 gave me an order for four queens, and want- 

 ed me to come and introduce them. I had 

 laid one of these cages down, wire cloth up, 

 while I opened the hive to look for the queen; 

 and when I picked the cage up I noticed a 

 black worker on the outside of the cage, 

 from some one of the colonies in the yard, 

 for they were all pure blacks. The Italian 

 queens were lighting through the wire cloth, 

 and they were both stinging too. I watched 

 to see the end, and it was very interesting to 

 me. The end was that the queen stung the 

 outside worker bee to death, the queen being 

 pretty badly stung in one hind leg. I then 



went ahead with the introducing part. I do 

 not know whether she ever recovered or not. 

 I suppose she did, as I told the man if she 

 died I would replace her. 

 Ravenswood, W. Va. T. L. McMurray. 



fall honey candying in hives before 



spring; sumac as a honey-plant; 



source of green honey. 



On page 1375, Nov. 1, Grant Stanley says 

 his bees get their winter stores in September 

 and October. If his bees get their honey 

 then from asters and goldenrod, as mine do 

 here, next spring his hives would have most 

 of the combs filled with honey candied solid, 

 and he would have to shave them down to 

 the base of the cells to get it out of them. 

 He must save July honey for winter, and ex- 

 tract fall honey. 



Page 1377, Nov. 1, G. A. Stone wants to 

 know what green honey comes from. Sumac 

 yields it here. Get the light to strike it right 

 when running from the extractor and it is as 

 green as a leaf. In clear glass it has a green 

 shade. It is as light as white clover, and 

 next to it in flavor. I think it the best hon- 

 ey-yielder in this part of the country. I 

 think it never fails entirely. I have taken 

 it by the ton when the basswoods were full 

 of blossoms, and I thought sure I should 

 have basswood honey. When I extracted I 

 could not taste basswood, but the sumac was 

 there every time. The sumac is better than 

 basswood, so I don't worry about it. 



New Hampton, N. Y. E. D. Howell. 



RATS AND MICE; POISONING THEM W^ITH 

 STRYCHNINE. 



Put a quantity of dry flour in a shallow 

 dish or pan, and crumb a quantity of strych- 

 nine into it I usually pulverize the poison 

 between my thumb and finger. I consider 

 this method of poisoning safer than putting 

 it on some bread or meat, as nothing will 

 eat the dry flour but mice and rats, and they 

 seem to be very fond of it. The drowning 

 method given will not work in the winter 

 season unless you put the kettle and water 

 in a warm place, as it will freeze. 



Filion, Mich., Jan. 14. I. S. Tilt. 



[We thought when we first got hold of 

 "i-at biscuit " it was going to do the business, 

 but either the rats have learned what it is 

 or it is not so well made as at first; for lately 

 they don't touch it at all. If they will con- 

 tinue to eat the flour after strychnine has been 

 added, it will be a grea^t boon. Of course, 

 every one who handles such a deadly poison 

 will exercise the greatest care. — A. I. R.] 



COOKED POLLEN FOOD. 



Have you any publications or reports of any 

 thing that has been done in any way of ex- 

 periments in the line of cooked food for bees, 

 perhaps to take the place of pollen, in 

 winter, or for other ends in view? I notice at 

 times some of the bees seem to eat almost 

 any thing liquid, and I wonder if any thing 



