1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



141 



to be produced by their rubbing their back legs to- 

 gether against the sides of their bodies. By holding 

 them between the thumb and finger, so that they 

 could work their legs freely, it was easy to see how 

 the squeaking was produced. I have two specimens 

 now in a cabinet. 



THAT PLAN FOIl A HONEY-HOUSE. 



You are right when you say that no one plan will 

 suit all bee-keepers any more than any one plan 

 for a dwelling will suit all persons. You were also 

 perfectly safe when you said you would give a hun- 

 dred dollars for a honey-house plan that would 

 "just suit you." I saw the "ketch" at once, and 

 therefore did not spend much time on it; but it 

 seems all did not see the " point." A hundred or a 

 thousand plans might be sent you, and it would 

 be an easy matter to say that not one "exactly 

 suited you." I never considered it as a real bonor 

 fide offer of a honey-house plan as it read. 



A. A. Fbadenburg. 



Port Washington, O., Feb., 1883. 



Thanks for your fact in natural history, 

 friend F. I believe insects, many of theni, 

 utter notes of distress or alarm in a way 

 similar to the one you indicate, and yet they 

 are as truly tokens of their feelings as if 

 they did it with their mouths. Bees indi- 

 cate anger or joy by the hum of their wings, 

 and I presume other insect tribes do their 

 talking in other similar ways, or, if 1 may 

 be excused, in whatever way they have 

 found, by long ages of practice, to be 

 handiest. — I assure you, friend F., I had not 

 the remotest intention of having any 

 " ketch "in what I said about honey-houses, 

 although it is true I did not expect to pay 

 anybody just now for plans and specittca- 

 tions. I simply used the expression to indi- 

 cate how much I thought Ave needed some- 

 thing of the kind, it seems to me that 

 none of us know now just what we shall 

 need. When we do I am ready to pay even 

 more than that, to have an architect work 

 it out. 



ABUTILON, AGAIN. 



1 see you inquire about flowering maples, so I will 

 try to give ycu my experience. My brother's wife 

 has two large maple-trees, full in bloom. I don't 

 know the full name. The leaves are green and yel- 

 low spotted, very attractive to the eye. One day 

 she came to visit me, or, rather, say family, and 

 brought me one of those beautiful maple flowers 

 along. She knows I am very fond of flowers, and 

 so she did that to please me. After my inspection 

 or examination I found it to contain about 3 bee- 

 loads of juice, or secretion, which had the finest fla- 

 vor, or the nearest taste to natural honey, I ever 

 saw. I think it a very fine honey-plant, if we only 

 had enough of them. Please say what you think of it. 

 Now, friend K., I have one question for you to an- 

 swer: My hives are all facing the south sun, so you 

 see the noon sun strikes the front of the hive very 

 heavy by this time of the year. Monday last was a 

 very clear daj', but the wind has been so heavy and 

 cold that most of the bees which left the entrance to 

 any extent, were checked by the cold wind, fell 

 down on the snow, and there they are sleeping yet, 

 fully two swarms, I believe. That is interesting, 

 boys, isn't it? Some of the stocks haven't been out 

 for quite a little time, so I concluded to let them go, 

 providing they were out every week or so. I think 



I should have shoveled up the entrance with snow, 

 to make it dark inside. If convenient, answer soon 

 how you would proceed under such circumstances, 

 as I might get in such a fix again, ere long. You 

 never answered me many questions. I will see 

 what you will do this time. D. E. Best. 



Best's, Pa., Feb. 14, 1883. 



I am very glad to hear you corroborate the 

 good report from abutilon, friend B. It 

 seems to indicate that it is a regular habit of 

 the plant to secrete nectar in this way.— As 

 a rule I do not believe bees get out and get 

 lost in the way you mention, very much, 

 when they are in a state of health. This be- 

 ing the case, I have not very much faith in 

 shading the entrances, or fastening them in 

 their hives. Shoveling snow over the en- 

 trances might cool off the hive so they 

 would not come out, or it might do a better 

 thing by furnishing them the water they 

 were going out after, and thus reduce them 

 to quietness.— There are several reasons why 

 I do not try to answer all the questions sent 

 me ; but the greatest is, that it is beyond ray 

 power, without neglecting other matters 

 that I can not neglect conscientiously. The 

 questions I pass over are, for the most part, 

 because I don"t feel as if I could give any 

 valuable light on the matter, like the one 

 you have just asked, friend B. I have just 

 now been thinking of a shorthand writer; 

 but they usually command great pay, and I 

 am afraid they would not write just what I 

 wanted said, even then. Thanks for your 

 gentle reminder, friend Best, all the same, 

 and I will try to do better. 



ANA B C SCHOLAR AVITH 83 COLONIES TO START WITH. 



I am an A B C scholar in bee-keeping. Last spring 

 I took on shares from a bee-keeper who was about 

 to move to Colorado, 83 swarms— Italians, hybrids, 

 and blacks, ail in chaff hives. I never saw the inside 

 of a hive before. I bought a second-hand ABC 

 book, and borrowed Gleanings from a friend. As 

 long as I keep bees I must have Gleanings. The 

 past season was very poor for bees in this locality; 

 but very few swarms issued. Instead of having an 

 increase I went into Avinter quarters with only 70 

 swarms. Inexperience, starvation in spring, and 

 moths, was what caused the decrease. I got about 

 1000 lbs. comb, and 600 lbs. extracted honey; sold 

 the extracted honey for from 10 to 121/2 cts., and the 

 comb, from 15 to 20, per lb. Honey was mostly from 

 white clover. 



HANGING OUT. 



A great many of my swarms in hot weather last 

 August would hang out on the entrance-board, in 

 big bunches, sometimes almost covering the front 

 of the hive. I supposed they were going to swarm, 

 but they did not. Whenever they hung out I took 

 off the cover and set it crosswise of the corners of 

 the top of the hive. If they could have been made 

 to go to work it would have greatly increased the 

 flow of honey. If an entrance were made in the up- 

 per story, in front or behind, would it not have al- 

 lowed sufiicient ventilation, so that they would have 

 gone to work instead of " loafing "? 



A "dummy" on the UPPER STORY. 



In putting on an upper story, nine section frames 

 do not fill it, so I put in one brood frame, which fills 

 the space. Now, suppose I put a division-board in, 

 instead of the brood- frame, would not the bees store 



