124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



bracts measure one foot across. Now I just came 

 to think of it, how nice it would be if bees could 

 store this honey without being interrupted by cold 

 weather outside! This house I saw was 100 ft. long 

 and 20 ft. wide, and the plants about 4 ft. high, and 

 literally covered with these bracts! I tell you, it 

 would do your eyes good to see such a sight, the 

 whole house ablaze with these scarlet bracts. It 

 would be a flne thing to have in bloom when other 

 plants drop olf: and as this plant stands drought 

 well, I think it can be got in bloom when other 

 plants dry up. I will try a bed this summer, and re- 

 port to you how it turns out. Have any that you 

 know of ever tried it? It yields asmuchasbasswood, 

 if not more. 



THE CAI^IFORNIA HONEY STORY. 



Inclosed you find a clipping from the Family Story 



Paper of some time ago. Do you think this can be 



true? 



Bee Rock, the highest butt* in Tulare County, Cal., which 

 was seized by bpes years and years ago, and has been used as a 

 hive by them ever since, was blasted out last week and three 

 barrelt'uls of bees, killed by the explosion, lay dead at and 

 around a comb o( honey thirty inches thick, which they had 

 contracted in their den. 



Carlstadt, N. J., Jan. 30, 1883. Fr. Holtke. 



But, friend H., are you sure the Poinciana 

 sends out a drop of honey as big as a pea, 

 every year V or is it only an accidental phe- 

 nomenon ? Who can tell us more about it ? 

 —Your bee-cave item is only an old story. 

 The newspaper man probably means a comb 

 30 inches long, instead of thick. The 3 bar- 

 rels of bees were probably so scattered 

 about, they couldn't measure them, and so 

 they quessed at it. 



^ I Wi 



CYPRIAN AND HOLY-LiAND BEES. 



HOW THEY DID FOR ME. 



EN the summer of 1881 1 bought of H. B. Harring- 

 ton an untested queen of each kind. As they 

 had been reared in separate apiaries, and proved 

 to be pure, and were very prolific, I thought they 

 would do as fair representatives of their respective 

 races. Last spring their colonies were both in good 

 condition. I could not distinguish the " Cyps" from 

 the Italians in any other way than that they were 

 crosser, and did not store as much honey as the av- 

 erage of my Italians. The Holy-Land queen and 

 bees differed widely from any thing I ever saw, es- 

 pecially in disposition. As they increased rapidly I 

 was obliged to feed in spring, which I did by provid- 

 ing a top story full of comb and honey. About this 

 time I had occasion, for the first time, to shake 

 the bees from a comb. Instead of dropping to the 

 ground, as bees usually do, they " dropped " at me 

 like a charge of buckshot. All their hostile passions 

 seemed to be aroused. I opened fire with the Clark 

 cold-blast, and gave smoke a thorough trial, as I 

 thought, but it seemed to make them worse. After 

 testing their disposition upon several occasions, I 

 decided to run that colony for — honey in the body 

 of the hive. 



In June the hive was crowded with bees, and they 

 worked strongly; but, while the Italians were all 

 swarming, and rolling in honey lively, these stored 

 no honey to speak of. Late in July they cast a 

 swarm of about a quart of bees. I heard the young 

 queens piping, and as the hive was still full of bees I 

 looked for more swarms, but soon found four or five 

 dead queens at the entrance. About four weeks later 

 they bad fertile workers. The combs were about 



half full of drone brood, some hatching, less honey 

 than I had fed them, and but few bees. 



To dispose of the laying workers, I carried the 

 hive off several rods, and put a new one in its place. 

 I tried various ways to get the bees off the combs. I 

 finally succeeded, by carrying the hive into a field of 

 standing corn, taking one comb at a time, shaking 

 the bees behind a hill, and dodging through the corn 

 to escape them. I gave the returning bees at the 

 old stand some clean combs containing eggs, young 

 larvae, and queen-cells. In one or two days the cells 

 were destroyed, and the combs were again filled 

 with egg3 from the workers. It looked as though 

 the bees had all gone to laying. My next move was 

 to supersede the old queen in the new swarm, and 

 the "closing scene" was enacted in the evening, 

 "with charity for all, and malice toward none." 

 The morning light found me with only 14 oz. of Ho- 

 ly-Land bees — dead, and strongly scented with 

 brimstone. 



While I willingly take the blame for part of the 

 above failure, I want no more Holy-Land bees of 

 that strain. Oliver Foster, 63. 



Mt. Vernon, la., Jan. 26, 1883. 



Although we have had stocks of Holy- 

 Lands that behaved much as yours did, 

 friend P., I am inclined to think you con- 

 demn them a little hastily. I do not know 

 that I have found the Holy-Lands harder to 

 manage than Italians; still, I have seen 

 them so they would mind but little about 

 smoke, after they were once out and in the 

 air. If smoked before they have got out 

 and made an attack, I have not found them 

 hard to subdue. One of our heaviest Holy- 

 Land stocks, from an imported queen, were 

 so gentle I always selected them to handle, 

 because they were the best behaved of any 

 in the apiary. Their inveterate habit of 

 having laying workers, about as soon as 

 they are made queenless, it seems to me, is 

 an objection. I have also been a little in- 

 clined to think they sometimes fail to store 

 honey when Italians do. Yours is a pretty 

 bad report, surely, friend P. ; but we want 

 to hear from all, and I am glad you have 

 given it. 



THE ABUTIIiON AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



MORE FACTS ABOUT IT. 



F LEASE let me tell you what I know of them. 

 In conducting your honey-yielding experi- 

 — ments with abutilon, I think you will find one 

 variety to be superior to all the others. This sort is 

 a white flowering one, called Boule de niege (ball of 

 snow), extensively used by florists in the cut-flower 

 trade. This white variety is a very prolific bloomer 

 and compact grower, and is quite distinct from the 

 yellow and striped varieties, which are a gaunt and 

 coarse-growing class, flowering but little, as com- 

 pared with the masses of bloom produced by the 

 Boule de neige. 



There is also an old-fashioned white abutilon, 

 which must not be confounded with the one I am 

 speaking of. The nectar produced by this variety of 

 abutilon is plentiful, and, I think, exceeds that of 

 the others in quantity; it is also an immense pollen- 

 producing flower. The yellow one mentioned by 

 Mr. Edmundson may be an exception; but I think 

 Mr. E. will find the white one better, after having 



