390 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



think the pre-eminence of your journal lies in these 

 small things, so fully explained that all can under- 

 stand them. J. G. Fitzgerald. 

 Brookston, Tox., May 18, 1883. 



CLUSTERING BEFORE GOING OFF, AGAIN. 



I generally calculate they will cluster; but last 

 season I had one swarm come out one day and clus- 

 ter, and I put them back and gave them combs that 

 were empty, and made more room for them. The 

 next day or two they came out again and worked oil 

 to the south over the cornfield, nearly out of sight, 

 before I concluded I'd better walk after them, and I 

 had to walk pretty fast for a while to get even; then 

 I thought I would scatter some dirt among them, as 

 I was on soft plowed ground, which I kept up for 

 some little way; but they still persisted in trying to 

 make off. They went some 60 reds, when, coming to 

 the end of the field and some bushes, they had got 

 pretty well confused, and alighted in three or more 

 places. At first I shook and jarred the smaller clus- 

 ters, and finally got the most of them together in 

 one place; then I found the queen, took her back in 

 my hand, and left them to come when it should be 

 their good pleasure. This may Qot hit the case; but 

 the next day or two a first swarm came out, made 

 off against the wind, and I let them get quite a start 

 across the cornfield, about as far as the others, and 

 I just did my best to stop them for quite a way, 

 when they turned off to the west and alighted on a 

 burr-oak bush, and I caught that queen and brought 

 her back in my hand, the same as the other. This 

 swarm had not been out, to my knowledge; but 

 that they came out of hives at this time, I know, and 

 they acted as though they were going a long way to 

 cluster, any way. I was working In the yard, and 

 saw them myself. V. W. Keeney. 



Shirland, 111., May 10, 18^3. 



QUAKING-ASPEN FOR SECTIONS. 



Have you ever tried aspen, or what we call quak- 

 ing-aspen wood, for sections? It is the whitest wood 

 1 know of; is of very fine grain, and soft. J believe 

 G. M. Doolittle calls it " popple;" others call it pop- 

 lar; but it is not liriodendron. 



I went into winter with 22 colonies in good fix:, 

 came through with 23, but one was queenless, and 

 one a drone-layer. The rest are in splendid condi- 

 tion ; plenty of brood in all stages, and lots of drones 

 with come flying. 



I sold all my honey last year at 30 cts. per lb. ; some 

 in sections, IV2 lbs., and some in large boxes holding 

 from 30 to 38 lbs. ; no difference on that account. I 

 will try extracted honey this year. 



Green II. Shirer. 



Adamsville, Ohio, May 10, 1883. 



I have never tried the aspen, for there is 

 not enough of it near us to make it any ob- 

 ject. I have seen some blocks split oiit for 

 stovewoocl that were wonderfully white. In 

 localities where it can be found in abund- 

 ance, it might be an object to collect for 

 choice sections. 



giving bees A FLY IN WINTER. 



Your contributors often speak of giving theirbees 

 a "nice fly." It seems to be done by placing the 

 hives in the sun, and creating a summer tempera- 

 ture for the time, during which the bees come out, 

 this is questionable. Some of these bees, probably 

 a large per cent of them, are chilled by the cold at- 

 mosphere without, and never get back. The loss 



may be serious. Is it necessary that bees have a fly ? 

 It is said the queen never flies but once. Do the 

 workers in the hive ever fly? I have some hives so 

 located that, when their occupants are made lively 

 by natural heat, and come out, they find it warm and 

 pleasant everywhere. I like this plan better than 

 locating in the sun, in the early spring. The sub- 

 stance with which the twigs are coated, and birds 

 "stuck " by the feet, is called " birdlime," and is de- 

 scribed in the cyclopedias. I mention this, as you 

 seem incredulous. Dr. J. W. Thomas. 



Abbeville, S. C, May 30, 1883. 



It is questionable, friend T.,when the bees 

 fly out, and don't get back ; but if 1 am cor- 

 rect, a good healthy colony of bees will be 

 pretty sure to get back whenever they can 

 be induced to fly out. Where bees are badly 

 demoralized with the dysentery they will 

 often fly out in great numbers, and not come 

 back at all, and I do not know but that they 

 would die just about the same, if they were 

 not allowed to fly at all. We have good rea- 

 son to think, many times, that a fly saves 

 the life of a colony ; and a recent report 

 seems to furnish very conclusive evidence 

 that this is so.— Thanks for your suggestion 

 in regard to birdlime. 



WATERING AND SALTING BEES; ANOTHER DEVICE. 



If you want to keep nurse, or feeder bees, from 

 bothering your neighbors' pumps and old soggy well- 

 buckets, just place in some convenient spot a trough 

 made out of some old soggy wood, but clean. Pill it 

 partly full of water; dissolve a table-spoon heaping 

 full of salt to throe gallons of water; it may have to 

 be stronger than this to draw their attention to the 

 trough; but when once they have found it, a spoon- 

 ful to three gallons of water is enough. The bees 

 greatly prefer this to common water, and I believe 

 that the brood that is reared is superior in strength 

 to that where this is not done. Vet the best part of 

 this economy is to save the loss of your nurse bees 

 that have to go to pumps and wells for their wa- 

 ter; and, in Jieu of salt, must =uck from manure- 

 heaps in the barnyard. J. B. Hartenstine. 



Mattoon, Coles Co.. 111., Miy 6, 1883. 

 Thank you, friend 11. We have many 

 times tried to get our bees to using salt 

 water, but without success. Perhaps it was 

 because it was itsed too strong. 1 would by 

 all means keep up such a device, if the bees 

 would use it, and your idea seems to take 

 into account the fondness bees often seem to 

 show for wet sawdust or wet sand. 



BROOD-REARING LATE IN THE FALL; ARE WE SURE IT 

 IS TO BE DESIRED? 



I lost 15 colonies out of 18, from dysentery. Chaff 

 packing and Hill's device would not save them. If 

 winter had held on one or two weeks longer, I should 

 have saved but one, and that one had an Italian 

 queen chat could hardly be stimulated to laying suf- 

 ficiently to keep up an ordinary supply of bcea. All 

 the rest had more or less brood in all stages the last 

 of Nov., when the thermometer ran down to zero, 

 and very soon afterward they began to die. Has it 

 occurred to any of our old " vetcra«s," that so much 

 brood in the hive at the beginning of winter might 

 produce it? I. D. Pearce. 



Kirks ville. Mo., May, 1883. 



While you speak of it, friend P., it occurs 

 to me that I once had a queen that Avould 



