460 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Aug. 



work until I picked up your A B C, as you practical- 

 y explain things. I seem to now understand that 

 money can be made. What I want is tools for mak- 

 ing frames, section boxes, and comb fdn. My boxes, 

 I think, will answer, if I can use frames, as they are 

 the exact size of L. boxes. W. L. Shankle. 



Omega, Madison Par., hx., June 29, 1883. 



Well, I declare, friend S., you are a novel- 

 ty. .Just imagine, boys, a man with 121 very 

 large colonies of hybrids, getting honey out 

 of the upper storfes, and then pressing it out 

 of the combs by means of a press ! .Just 

 think of it, and then imagine the difference 

 our friend would find after having used the 

 best modern honey-extractors. Surely, friend 

 8., there is a chance for you to improve 

 some, it seems to me. No doubt you get a 

 pretty large crop of wax, whic^i may net you 

 something at the present prices. 



HONEY AN ANTIDOTE FOR MOSQUITO-BITES. 



Several years ago I discovered that liquid honey 

 applied to mosquito-bites cured them effectually; 

 every subsequent trial gave same result. Being 

 aware that most remedies produce different effects 

 upon different individuals, I should like to have the 

 bee-fraternity test this simple remedy upon the 

 stings of this national foe. On my flesb, mosquito- 

 bites swell and itch for C or T days, unless cured 

 with honey, while bec-f^tings affect me scarcely at 

 all. A. C Kendel. 



Cleveland. O., Juno 21, 1883. 



You may be right, friend K. ; but you 

 know I am a little skeptical in regard to an- 

 tidotes. It may be, however, that honey 

 has some property for neutralizing the poi- 

 son of the mosquito-bite. I presume that this 

 season is the part of the year when many of 

 our friends can give the matter a test with- 

 out very much trouble. 



WHITE-HEADED DRONES, ETC. 



I find something strange. I have had some white- 

 headed drones that I can not account for. I should 

 be glad to hear from you about them. I took 13 

 queens from one stand last Saturday that was just 

 hatching. I had a fine time with them. I made 

 some division-boards, and put them into some of 

 my strongest hives. I lost 4 of them. 



Pisgah, Ala. F. M. Davidson. 



Friend D., your white-headed drones arc 

 nothing new. The matter has been report- 

 ed and commented on several times in our 

 back numbers. Not only do we occasionally 

 fmd drones with white heads, but we find 

 them with heads of a cherry-red color ; again, 

 of a bright green, and at other times yellow. 

 I confess there is something very wonderful 

 and mysterious to me in this matter. Why 

 queer old dame Nature should decide to sin- 

 gle out the heads of drones to sport with in 

 this way will, it seems to me, be a pretty dif- 

 ficult matter to explain. Why should this 

 peculiarity show itself in the drones more 

 than in the queens and workers V Again, 

 why should Itcads be the subject of these 

 bright rainbow colors V Is there really any 

 purpose or design in it V or is it just because 

 it happened so ? I presume there are few 

 among our readers but will say there is a 

 purpose and a design in it ; and the next 

 thing is to decide why it should be so. Here 

 is a question for scientists. A queer feature 



in regard to this whole matter Is, that we 

 find many of these colored drones in one 

 hive ; that is, where you find one red-headed 

 drone in a hive, you will probably find more; 

 and a queen that produces them once will do 

 so again. If I am not mistaken, I have 

 seen hives where all the drones were colored 

 in this strange way ; and their heads were 

 all alike — of one color. 



INTRODUCING ITALIAN QUEENS TO LOG GUMS. 



We all agree that we want the Italian queens; but 

 as we use round gums about 2 feet long, with no con- 

 veniences to get out the old queen, we want some 

 more advice on the subject, if it can be done; if so, 

 how? Or can we use the Italian bee to any advan- 

 tage with such gums? There are as many bees in 

 this neighborhood as anywhere, I reckon; but they 

 are put in gums, or boxes, when they swarm, and 

 that is about the last attention they get. 



Bentonsville, N. C. W. B. Javnes. 



Friend J., I think you will have to trans- 

 fer your bees before you can use Italians to 

 any advantage. It "is true, you can drum 

 out the swarm and hunt up the queen, and 

 you might possibly succeed in introducing 

 your Italian queen; but the chances are so 

 slim of your getting her introduced without 

 any trouble, that I think we might practic- 

 ally call it an impossibility. By all means 

 get your bees into movable - comb hives. 

 Without them a bee-keeper is, to my mind, 

 as helpless as a woodman would be in going 

 into a forest to get out logs without an ax or 

 a crosscut saw. 



BEES HANGING ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE HIVE. 



In reading ABC this morning I came across this 

 counsel of yours in capitals, at the head of a para- 

 graph: " Never allow bees to hang outside the hive." 

 It reminded me of a circumstance which may be 

 worthy of record in Gleanings, and certainly would 

 prove valuable, if confirmed by larger experience. 

 A colony in an old box hive had been clustering 

 for a long time on the outside. As the weather was 

 exceedingly warm, the thought occurred to me that 

 they lacked ventilation. The front of the hive was 

 therefore raised H or 73 in., and they have not clus- 

 tered outside since. J. A. G. 



Tuscaloosa, Ala., June 28, 1883. 



Thank you, friend G. I think it very like- 

 ly that we often lose heavy yields of honey 

 by giving new swarms insufficient ventila- 

 tion. I have observed the same thing that 

 you mention. I have seen bees go into hives 

 and go to work, after doing nothing more 

 than simply giving them plenty of air. This 

 is one reason why I prefer the Simplicity 

 hive with a loose bottom. You can in an in- 

 stant give any colony, no matter how strong, 

 all the ventilation they can possibly require, 

 by moving it forward on the bottom-board ; 

 or if that will not do, raise it up as you sug- 

 gest. Two years ago we had a first swarm 

 weighing over 11 lbs. that gathered over 18 

 lbs. of honey in a single day from basswood- 

 bloom. Had such a powerful colony as this 

 been put into a hive with a small entrance, 

 the whole body of bees would have been 

 very likely to have clustered on the out- 

 side, idling away their time. Thus you see 

 how IS lbs. of honey a day may be lost, from 

 so simple a matter as ingufficieiit ventilatioji. 



