1448 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



PACKING HIVES WITH STRAW. 



To pack my bees I make a frame similar 



to that shown in the cut. When this is set 



over the hive, 4 or 5 inchesj-pace is left on 



the sides and back I pack straw in this 

 space, leaving the front open as shown. 

 Hull, 111. Henry Nye. 



[This arrangement we would consider to 

 be very liad, unless the straw could be kept 

 dry by some sort of roof. As here shown it 

 would hold water, and freeze. The straw 

 can be laid to shed water. — Ed ] 



DUAL PLAN OF INTRODUCING; THE CAGED 

 queens do NOT LIVE. 



You say you have caged virgin queens in 

 small nuclei, to be re'eased when the other 

 queen is ready. What kind of cage do you 

 use, and what kind of feed? I find a great 

 many queens dead in cages, even in queen- 

 less colonies. Hatching out cells, queens die 

 in 48 hours. A. H. Kanagy. 



Milroy, Pa. 



[The kind of cage and the kind of bee-can- 

 dy are not important. We use the ordinai'y 

 introducing-cages and what is known as the 

 Good candy — a food prepared by mixing 

 powdered sugar and honey into a stiff dough. 



In order to make this dual plan of intro- 

 ducing a success, the second queen should 

 not be caged more than two days prior to 

 the removal of the fii'st one. In our early 

 experiments we succeeded in working th:s 

 dual plan by putting queen No. 2 in a short 

 time after No. 1 was placed in the hive; but 

 we afterward found that this necessarily 

 made too long a confinement for No. 3. Un- 

 der normal conditions one can easily deter- 

 mine when No. 1 will be ready to lay. If he 

 knows her age, and if he looks her over })e- 

 fore caging No. 3. he can tell about when she 

 will begin to lay. He should then plan to 

 put in No. 3 about two days before No. 1 is 

 taken out.— Ed.] 



HIGHER PRICES OF HONEY. 



Now of all the times is the time to boost 

 the idea of higher prices for honey. The 

 crop is short, and the pure-food law is in 

 force now. If the honey-producer doesn't 

 "ask," who will? Honey production to-day 

 is a science. An intense and continued study 

 is needed to keep pace. The same study ap- 

 plied in any thing else would be considered 

 a profes"-ion. Honey ought to be paid for. 

 There is no package on the market to-day 

 (as sightly as a sectinn of honey) that sells 

 as cheaply. Great cleanliness and care must 

 be given to all forma of honey: and it ought 

 to bring the price, and would, if bee-keepers 

 in general would think so. Instead of mak- 

 ing it compete with the cheapest food prod- 

 ucts, even with glucose, raise the standard 

 and the price. Every thing else has. Why 

 not honey? M. C. Long. 



Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 19. 



GOLDEN ITALIANS STAND THE SPRING BET- 

 TER THAN THE HYBRIDS OR BLACKS. 



It has been stated that the all-yellow bees 

 do not winter as well as the blacks or the 

 dark-colored bees, and that they would dwin- 

 dle worse in the spring. I am rather in- 

 clined to think this is a mistake. Last spring, 

 which was the worst one in twenty years for 

 bees, I had the all-yellow bees alongside of 

 hybrids and blacks. My all- yellow bees were 

 far ahead of any thing else I had. They 

 were raising brood, and getting along finely 

 with but little feed. I fed the same amount 

 to the black or dark bees, and they raised 

 no brood, and were at the point of starvation 

 all the time. Cyrus Lafollette. 



Craig, Ohio. 



THE A. I. ROOT CO. S EXHIBIT AT THE OHIO 

 STATE FAIR. 



The A. I. Root company of Medina, O., had 

 one of the finest and most attractive exhil.'its 

 we have ever seen on the grounds. The ex- 

 hibition of bees in observation cases was 

 catching and of much educational value. 

 Apparatus and other materials of interest 

 made up a unique exhibit, in the center of 

 which was a monument designed out of bees- 

 wax. — American Agriculturist for Sept. 14. 



