i34 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



MAft. 



From Different Fields. 



^ COMMENCED last spring with one stand, and It 

 Wl increased to seven by natural swarming. One 

 swarm came to me and threw out another, 

 which makes me 9; two are rather late. I shall have 

 to feed them, which will start them to rearing 

 brood. Will bees winter (especially those that hatch 

 now) without pollen? I want to increase my bees 

 next summer as fast as possible. I don't care for 

 honey till after I get plenty of bees. My bees are in 

 the cellar, the honey-board off, and the frames cov- 

 ered with baize. They seem to be doing well. You 

 can consider me a subscriber for your journal right 

 through, whether I make any thing from bees or 

 not. I shall keep a few for amusement. I have 

 been a bee-hunter for several years, but never have 

 been situated for keeping them till now. 



E. C. EAGIiESPIELD. 



Poy Sippi, Waushara Co., Wis., Jan. 26, 1883. 



Why, if you keep on at that rate you will 

 have plenty of bees for a beginner, in about 

 one year, friend E. I am glad to see your 

 enthusiasm ; for if you hold to it, you are al- 

 most sure to succeed. In fact, I have some- 

 times thought old bee-hunters are, as a rule, 

 good bee-keepers; for a man who has the 

 grit to hunt bees will be pretty sure to hang 

 to them when he undertakes to keep them. 

 I believe it is generally agreed, that bees 

 winter as well, or better, without pollen. 



BITTER HONEY. 



I visited bee-men In Wilkes, Alexander, Caldwell, 

 and Catawba counties in July, 1883. All gave reports 

 of bitter honey. Some of them have since lost heav- 

 ily in bees. From what source do they obtain the 

 bitter honey? There was a little of it here, but not 

 much. H. A. Davis. 



Moretz Mills, N. C, Jan. 8, 1883. 



Several conjectures have been made in re- 

 gard to the plant that furnishes the bitter 

 honey, but I believe we have nothing very 

 positive. It seems as if some one suggested 

 the honey might have medical virtues, like 

 quinine, bnt I don't recollect just now where 

 it was. 



BEES BY THE POUND TO UTAH. 



Last season I sent for a queen and M lb. of bees. 

 Twice they arrived nearly all dead ; the third time 

 they came to hand in fine condition (too late to 

 gather honey, but made a good stand of bees). There 

 was a small comb in thin cage, attached to the center, 

 which I think is a very good idea. They built, as I 

 suppose, a small comb on each side of it, which I 

 found to contain eggs. W. W. Taylor. 



Lehi City, Utah Co., Utah Ter., Jan. 16, 1883. 



I am very well aware, friend T., that bees 

 should be put up so they will build comb, 

 and have the queen lay eggs on the way; 

 but I have been trying almost ten years to 

 manage so as to give food and drink in such 

 a way we can do this every time, but we on- 

 ly now and then hit if. In your case we 

 gave water on one side, sugar candy on the 

 other, and a section with a stout comb in it, 

 partly filled with honey. If we could al- 

 ways get plenty of these partly filled sec- 



tions with good strong comb in them, with- 

 out costing too much, I believe it would be 

 just the thing. 



wind-breaks, etc. 



In regard to wintering bees, T read of so many that 

 have taken their bees out of the cellar with the dys- 

 entery, I was always afraid to try the cellar. I will 

 tell you how I winter my bees. I have them on a 

 south hill-side, and I put a solid board fence around 

 them, 6'/2 ft. high, which breaks off the cold north 

 wind, and I have fruit-trees set inside of fence, as I 

 think in a very appropriate way for shading, aside 

 from the value of fruit. I always winter on the 

 summer stand, with good success. I scarcely lose 

 any since I have learned to look after them in the 

 fall. My bees paid me first rate this season. I sold 

 $206 worth of honey, and I could have sold more, 

 but I did not like to rob them very closely. I had 

 last spring 20 stands; 1 now have 33, all in good con- 

 dition. S. W. SUESBEBRY. 



Steeleville, 111., Jan. 30, 1883. 



heart's-ease as a honey-plant. 

 The bee-plant of this place that I rarely see spo- 

 ken of, I rank first. It is the heart's-ease, or heart- 

 weed. The kind that yields so much honey grows 

 from 2 to 4 feet. There is a kind that grows 6 or 7 

 feet high, but the other is the best for honey. It 

 blooms from about July till frost, and the honey is 

 about as good in taste and whiteness as white clo- 

 ver. It grows in corn-fields, and in the small grain- 

 fields after the grain is cut, till frost. There is a 

 small annual shrub, or weed, I think it is called cas- 

 sia, that grows very plentifully in places that the 

 bees work on finely. They seem to work on the 

 stems or branches where there are small blisters, 

 nearly or quite as much as on the blossoms. 



extracted at lOC, OR COMB AT 18C. ; WHICH? 



Which will pay me the better, to extract my honey 

 and sell it at 10 cents per lb., or work only for sec- 

 tion honey at 18 cents? 1 never used an extractor. 



John Haskins. 



Empire Prairie, Mo., Jan. 24, 1883. 



Thank you for the fact of bees getting 

 honey from the stems and branches as well 

 as from the fiowers, friend H. I should 

 advise you to raise comb honey, at the 

 prices you quote ; but there are many who 

 would think differently. 



how far bees fly. 



1 see in your comments upon friend March's 

 article in Dec. Gleanings, you ask, " Can a bee fly 

 90 miles an hour?" P. H. Elwood gave, at our N. E. 

 Convention several years ago, how bees had been let 

 loose from a train of cars moving 30 miles an hour, 

 and they, describing circles, kept up with the train, 

 which would make 90 miles an hour. I think I have 

 given the statement somewhere, and it is probably 

 what friend M. refers to. If you will turn to page 

 152, Vol. 3, Gleanings, you will see how you have 

 been converted from a " doubting Thomas " to a be- 

 liever. G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Dec. 4, 1882. 



I knew you had something somewhere in 

 regard to the matter, friend I)., but it did 

 not occur to me at the time. 1 own up, and 

 beg your pardon ; but for all that, I must 

 still hold that our bees do not, as a rule, fly 

 more than about three miles, or at least 

 they did not when we had the first Italians 



