1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



543 



are willing' enowerh to work; but what can they do, 

 50,000 of them, in a hive 12 inches each way, with an 

 entrance one inch wide, and no other ventilation? 

 No wonder they swarm to exhaustion ; I would do 

 the same in their place. If your readers will try 

 this rule, ventilation enough to kce/p aU the bees inside, 

 T will warrant they will find it good. 



C. P. Dadant. 



Hamilton, Hancock Co., 111., Aug. 25, 1883. 



You are right, friend D. The sized pails 

 you mention are perhaps a little more like an 

 ordinary pail, having the cover to cover the 

 whole top and slip over the outside, than 

 the Jones pails, although the latter can be 

 used as a pail also ; but. having the cover 

 smaller than the top of the pail, it is a little 

 troublesome to get the goods out of them. 

 Friend Jones suggests, however, that he has 

 something more in the way of pails when we 

 get up to Toronto. Thanks for your sug- 

 gestions in regard to ventilation. 



$€l^^ and §mrle4. 



SYRIO-ITALIANS. 



¥0U ought to see some workers of large yel- 

 low Italians in my yard mated to Syrian drones. 

 'Twould do your old eyes good to look. And 

 Syrian queens mated to Italian drones make a worker 

 just beautiful; yes, and they «re workers too. I 

 don't expect to ever have to feed again with such 

 stock. I had 2 natural swarms this forenoon of the 

 above mixture. W. P. Henderson. 



Murfreesboro. Tenn., Aug. 18, 1883. 



[Friend H., wehavequitealotof those half Italians 

 and half Syrians (or Holy-Lands); and although they 

 are very nice bees, they are not storing honey now— 

 at least, not enough so but that they would have to 

 be fed if they hadn't old stores enough to take them 

 through the winter. I have occasionally found col- 

 onies of this cross that get honey where the full- 

 blood Italians did not seem to get any.] 



DRONE FDN. FOR COMB HONEY. 



Drone fdn. is not nearly as good as worker fdn. for 

 sections. My experience in drone fdn. is about like 

 friend Green's on page 446, Aug. Gleanings, 1883. 



Hill Church, Pa. H. M. Mover. 



The 11th line in my communication, page 485, Aug. 

 Juvenile, should read: The whirlpool is one mile 

 below the railroad Sufpenslon Bridge, and the rail- 

 road Suspension Bridge is two miles below the Falls. 



St. Davids, Ont., Can., Aug. 22, 1883. Will Ellis. 



I extracted 40 lbs. of honey from one hive 11 days 

 ago, and to-day I extracted 80 lbs. more from the 

 same hive. That is not very bad. My bees are all 

 working like tigers. Basswood is in full blast just 

 now. J. G. Partridge. 



Newmarket, Ont., Can., Aug. 8, 1883. 



BEES sometimes LEAVE WITHOUT CLUSTERING. 



I see some doubts in Gleanings in regard to bees 

 leaving without clustering first. I will add my mite, 

 by saying that one swarm did, anyhow; one of mine 

 came out and left in less than three minutes; and, 

 what hurt me, it was an imported queen that went 

 with them. S. H. Milligan. 



Portland, Ind., July 25, 1883. 



You think that bees working on lilac is uncommon. 

 Our bees worked lively on them this year. 



Elmer Schbiftebknecht. 

 New London, Ohio. 



parsnips. 



I had about a half-acre lot next to my garden that 

 got set in parsnip seed. I suppose from the garden^ 

 It was thick. The other day I started to cut them 

 all down, and, to my surprise, found thousands of 

 bees busy gathering honej' and pollen, so 1 left 

 them. They come up every year, but I don't know 

 what kind of honey they make. Jos. Perkins. 



Mechum's River, Alb. Co., Va., Aug. 16. 1883. 



[Thank you, friend P. I do not think we have 

 ever had a report before of honey from parsnips. 

 Our market gardeners who raise parsnips for seed 

 can probably tell us something about this.] 



EXPRESS AGENTS WHO SAY GOODS ARE NOT THERE. 



I delayed sending to you to trace up our basket 

 of things, because we sometimes find them stored 

 away in the depot. We believed ours was there, and 

 sent twice for it, and finally, after writing to you to 

 have a tracer sent after it, it was found stored away 

 in the express office. I am very sorry to make you 

 the least unnecessary trouble. Bees are O. K. 



Sarah J. W. Axtell. 



Roseville, 111., July 14, 1883. 



[It seems to me, friends, it is time some sort of a 

 vehement protest were made against this state of 

 affairs. It some penalty were decided on by the ex- 

 press companies that their employes would have to 

 stand when they throw one out of the use of his 

 goods that he has paid for, perhaps such cases would 

 be less frequent.] 



caution about INTRODUCING WHEN THE BEES ARE 

 DISPOSED TO ROB. 



I think I have lost two more queens. I looked to- 

 night; the bees were out of the cage. I found some 

 queen-cells started, but it was too dark to look for 

 the queen. It is not safe to open a hive in the day 

 time. They got to robbing the other day when I was 

 looking for a queen. I think that is the reason I 

 have had such bad luck. When I find how many I 

 have lost I will try my luck again. 



Wm. Fowler. 



Geneseo. N. Y., Aug. 20, 1883. 



[Friend F., I presume a great many queens are 

 lost in just that way. It is very bad to have the bees 

 get to going like that. When they do, you want a 

 bee-tent, or else you want to work by moonlight, as 

 I have directed in the A B C] 



honey FROM COTTON. 



I am sorry that I did not tell you to put a little 

 of the cotton honey I sent you in some water, but 

 suppose it is too late now. When put in water it 

 makes a very delicious drink, as it has a very pe- 

 culiar acid — more like citric acid. The flavor is 

 caught better in water. J. D. Fooshe. 



Coronaca, S. C, Aug. 20, 1883. 



[Many thanks to you, friend F., for the sample of 

 cotton honey. But to tell the truth, it was not ad- 

 mired very much at our table. The color is rather 

 dark, and the flavor rather rank; and I remember 

 now there was considerable acid taste — nearly 

 enough, no doubt, to make fair lemonade. If you 

 will send some more I will try it in a glass of water. 

 By the way, does cotton yield honey ever year, or is 

 it only occasionally? There has been quite a little 

 discussioa la regard to the matter. 



