1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



31 



the same hive for 13 yfears, and are not known to 

 have swarmed in that time. There has been as 

 high as 200 lbs. of comb honey taken from them in a 

 single season. At one time they built a comb 3 ft. 

 long, 18 in. wide, and 4 in. thick. They have never 

 received any care, except to rob them. 1 shall try 

 next season to get some in shape to be convenienc 

 to handle, but as near like them as possible. 



M. D. McConKi.E. 

 Cortland, Trumbull Co., O., Nov. 27, 1882. 



Friend M.. we like your letter, all except 

 one point. We are cross about that ''new ba- 

 by" because we haven't one at our house.— 

 We have heard of non-sitting hens, and some 

 time ago something was said about a breed 

 of bees that wouldn't swarm ; but no one has 

 ever offered that strain for sale, that we 

 know of. Perhaps friend Hasty and a few 

 others might buy some, if you could get that 

 swarm of bees and give us some queens 

 reared from it. Who knows V 



WIRING rR.\MES ON HOOKS MADE FROM BLIND 

 STAPLES. 



On page 61.5 of Gleanings, I notice a communica- 

 tion from C. H. Deane, regarding wired frames by 

 the use of staples. I send you the inclosed as a 

 specimen of the way I wire frames; the hooks can 

 be rapidly prepared from blind staples, and clinched 

 in the bottom of top-bars readily. This I call the 

 "Diamond frame," and it is very securely braced. 

 One staple will make two hooks. Try one frame. 

 J. L. Ellinowood. 



St. Joseph, Mo., Dec. 9, 1882. 



Thanks, friend E. Your staples work well, 

 but it is quite a little task to cut blind staples 

 in two, and bend each end a little. We want 

 finished ones, turned right out by a ma- 

 chine. If you drive them through and 

 clinch, that takes time, and it will mar the 

 appearance of the top-bar, 



OREGON. 



1 just want to say that Oregon is coming on in 

 "it)ec8?ic8S." There is an apiary in Portland City, of 

 150 stands, and it is not at all an uncommon thing to 

 find from 3 to 12 stands on a farm. Father has 12; 

 he went out to feed them one day this fall without 

 his bee-dress on. I was in the yard petting the 

 chickens when I heard him yell, and pretty soon he 

 came stamping around the house, pawing his ears, 

 first one and then the other. When he saw me he 

 laughed, and said he guessed he'd put on his bee- 

 dress. He wants to send for some things; and I 

 thought, while he was picking them out I would 

 "chip in" a word or two. A. M. Hall. 



Beaverton, Ore., Nov. 27, 1883. 



That's right, friend H. We are always glad 

 to have the young folks " chip in ;" and still 

 you do not say you are one of our juveniles. 

 Somehow there seems to be a sort of juve- 

 nile "■ twang " to your letter, after all. How 

 about honey in Oregon? Surely you don't 

 feed all the time, do you? 



VIRGINIA CREEPER AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



I notice that you have not mentioned the Virginia 

 creeper {Ampelopsis quinquefolia) among your list of 

 honey-plants. Last season my bees (natives) worked 

 on it for nearly two weeks as busily as ever I saw 

 them work on fruit-blossoms. I thought it was per- 

 haps owing to the great scarcity of honey; yet the 

 buckwheat was still in full bloom; in fact, our bees 



in this section would have fared very badly this win- 

 ter if it Were not for the buckwheat. 



Landon Hall. 

 Cowansville, Quebec, Can., Dec. 7, 1882. 

 It has before been alluded to in our back 

 volumes, friend Hall, but we have never had 

 a report before so definite in regard to it as 

 the one you give. 



HONEY FROM THE ABUTILON, OR FLOWERING MAPLE. 



This evening my wife noticed a yellow abutilon, 

 or flowering maple, which we have now in the house, 

 beautifully in bloom, and on each blossom we can 

 see a large drop of honey, which on taking off and 

 eating, is very sweet, and in a short time there is 

 another drop of clear honey. Will not this make a 

 good bee-plant? E. Edmundson. 



West Branch. Iowa, Nov. 29, 1882. 



To be sure, it will make a glorious bee- 

 plant, friend E. We have a flowering ma- 

 ple here in the office, but there isn't any 

 honey in the "•posies." Tell us how much 

 you will take for some slips from the plant. 

 Will my good sister, and other " womens " 

 who know about propagating by slips, tell 

 us how we shall go to work to get a lot of 

 themV and has anybody else got a " strain " 

 of fiowering maples that lets the honey run 

 out every little while, or oftenerV and will 

 you tell us, or have your good wife do so, 

 my friend, about how many minutes or 

 hours it is before there is another drop after 

 you have eaten one drop? Don't you be- 

 lieve I can ask questions almost equal to the 

 women folks, when I get started, ehV 



CAN A QUEEN BE REARED IN LESS THAN 16 DAYS 

 FROM THE EGG? 



You know I am one of the youngest of the A B C^ 

 class, but studying the ABC book, and following 

 it strictly. I received queens last season simply for 

 my instruction, and I must say I find nothing very 

 new in the statement of J. E. Pond, Jr., Nov. Glean- 

 ings, pages 545, 516. Last year I raised a queen in 14 

 days, counting two days in egg and 12 days more till 

 hatched out, first and last days counted in. The 

 queen was a little dark, but her progeny proved 

 nearly the best this year, and in hardiness, proliflcness 

 and as honej-gatherers, better than her imported 

 mother. On Wednesday, July 5, 1 gave to a strong 

 divided colony slices of comb with new-laid eggs of 

 the same queen (imported, 2 years old). On Satur- 

 day, the 15th of July, I mentioned to another bee- 

 keeper, that by next Tuesday or Wednesday I 

 would have a nice lot, about 20 or more, young 

 queens. Next morning, about 9 o'clock (Sunday the 

 16th of July), a swarm issued from the hive in which 

 the queen-cells were. I hived the swarm in a new 

 hive, and then opened the other to look after the 

 cells. I found a young queen just emerging from 

 one cell, and other cells open, and the little caps yet 

 on hinges. I cut out the slices with cells; and in 

 less than 5 minutes, 4 splendid young queens hatch- 

 ed in my hands. My wife had enough to do to save 

 them and place them in glasses and cups; and in 

 about an hour there were standing 18 cups and glass- 

 es on the table, each containing a perfect young 

 queen; about 8 cells hatched the 2 following days, 

 but showed symptoms of weakness compared with 

 the others, and so I did not use the same. Now, my 

 dear sir, I know you will chide me when I tell you it 



