1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



611 



cars my eye caught a report of carrier pig- 

 eons owned by sporting men. Of course, 

 these pigeons were expected to be speedy, or 

 notes of their flight would not be given. 

 Fisfures were given of quite a number of 

 different birds ; and although they seemed 

 to think the results were great, none of them 

 exceeded 25 miles an hovir. But this was on 

 a test stretch of over 100 miles. Have we 

 not a sporting man among our readers who 

 is conversant with carrier pisreons V Tf so, 

 let him speak out. Do they fly 00 miles an 

 hour, or only 25 V 



PERIOD OF BASSWOOD BLOOM IN THE SODTH, ETC. 



I will answer the question on pag'c 571. We have 

 basswood bloom here from the 1st of May until June. 

 Started in the spring with 5 colonies; increased to 8, 

 and have not got any honey yet. It was so cold and 

 wet in the spring that bees could not get out to suck 

 basswood bloom — only from sawood bloom. It did 

 not rain any from the 25th of June till the 15th of 

 September; so you see bees cnuld not do much. Sa- 

 wood blooms from June 20 till August: then there is 

 nothing that will bear or yield honey till September. 

 I will send you some flowers and leaves of a plant 

 from which my bees are making lots of honey, and I 

 also send you the twig of another plant from w^hich 

 my bees are getting pollen by the pound. You will 

 please give me the names of these planti?. The lat- 

 ter is called the charet weed, but the other has no 

 name here. It blooms the first of September till 

 frost. I see much about goldenrod in your journal, 

 but I never saw a bee on the bloom here yet, and I 

 don't believe it yields honey here. 



J. A. DlLLAHAW. 



Bowman, Elbert Co., Ga.; Sept. 20, 1883. 



Friend D., your honev-plant is one of the 

 large family of asters. The one that you say 

 yields pollen by the pound is the well-known 

 rasrweed. With us. bees set pollen from it 

 only occasionally. I usually see them in the 

 morning, perhaps three or four days in eve- 

 ry season, gathering pollen from raarweed; 

 and sometimes they gather very rapidly from 

 it. Do you not mean by " sawood " what is 

 generally termed " sourwood "? 



RIVER-BOTTOM LANDS FOR BEE FORAGE. 



I live in a larse bottom surrounded by a levee; 

 and of all the places for bees, this is one. Although 

 I and my father have had bees all the time for three 

 years, we have not made much from them, on ac- 

 count of old-fogy notions; but of late T have turned 

 my attention to somethinar new, and have about got 

 father out of the "old-fogy," but not in all things. 

 He uses your smoker to perfection, and has made 

 some movable-frame hives, and reads Gleanings. 

 I have my bees all in movable-frame hives. Both of 

 us now have 130 stands, and have sold lots of honey 

 at from 15 to 20 cts. per pound — mine in frames, and 

 his nearly all in caps. Wji. House. 



Shepard, III., Aug. 24, 1883. 



Friend E,., I have often thought of keep- 

 ing bees on this low land surrounded by a 

 dvke or levee. The soil is usually remark- 

 ably rich, and furthermore it seems to me it 

 would be a verv simple thing indeed to have 

 arrangements for irrigation. Has this mat- 

 ter ever been developed ? — Don't be too se- 

 vere on old fogies. If old-fogy ideas exist 

 in our neighborhood, it is, to some extent, 



our fault. Talking is not always the thing to 

 be done: but faithful, steady work will bring 

 a reward anywhere. 



HOW TO MANAGE SECTIONS DURING THE HONEY- 

 FLOW. 



We aim to have at least one frame of sections 

 partly worked out to put in each hive when we put 

 the sections on in the spring, to Induce the bees to 

 work, which they will do if there are lots of bees 

 and honey. We tried part of our frames without 

 separators last year, but will do so no more. Place 

 the frame between cleats nailed on the bench, to 

 hold it square; drive a little wedge between a cleat 

 and one end of frame, so as to spring the latter in a 

 little; nail on your separatoi-s with four wire nails 

 in each, and the frame will stay square, and the tins 

 tight; when the little wedge is withdrawn, put in 

 your sections, and if they do not fit in tight, wedee 

 them up. This will hold the sections square, and 

 prevent the bottom-bar from sagging. 



TO GET THE SECTIONS OF HONEY OUT. 



Lay the frame, tins up, on a table; run a knife in 

 between the top-bar and sections, .iust in the mid- 

 dle; give the knife a twist; this will loosen the bar 

 from the sections the whole length. Do likewise at 

 bottom and ends; also loosen the tins where they 

 are stuck to the sections, by raising them up in the 

 middle. Now raise one end of the frame; with the 

 other hand and knife shove the sections loose, down 

 and out. by pressing in the corners of frame with 

 knife. It is too slow to get one section out first, 

 when all can be got out just as quickly. 



SUNSHINE AND HONEY. 



The bees in Simplicity hives that stand in the sun- 

 shine part of the day have maie us more honey this 

 year than those in the fbade. Is this always so? 

 who knows for a certainty? 



20 C. PER LB., 18 O. PER LB. 



Our first honey brought 20 cts. in Chirasro this 

 spring. Some old honey shipped at same time sold 

 at 18 c. Why is it quoted at 12 to 14 c? 



Penrose, III. J- Sykes Wilson. 



Thank you, friend "W., for the fact you 

 furnish in regard to hives placed in the sun. 

 T am ouite well aware that there are times 

 when letting the sun full on the hive would 

 increase the amount of honey stored ; but if 

 T am correct, there are also other timeswhen 

 this full blaze of the sun makes the hives so 

 hot that the bees are driven out, and work 

 stops. Ventilation would, however. T pre- 

 sume, fix this latter point ; and you will rec- 

 ollect we have had discussion in regard to 

 this very matter hy Jiangstroth. Grimm, and 

 others. N'ow. then, it seems likely that the 

 intelligent apiarist will have to keep a care- 

 ful watch, and guard asrainst both extremes 

 — take advantage of the sun whenever it is 

 needed, and ventilating or shadjusrwhen the 

 bees are too hot. Tt is some trouble, I know; 

 l)ut it will pav. Thanks for your fact in re- 

 Q^ard to handling sections. — In regard to the 

 honey market, in our last number you will 

 find comb quoted at from 16 to 18 cents. It 

 is comb you allude to. is it not? Perhaps 

 von retailed yours out. Of course, it will 

 bring more in that case. 



PRICKLY ASH AS A HONEY-PLANTs 



I mail you a sample of the blossom and leaf of one 

 of the best honey-producers, I think, that I ever 

 saw for this scarce season of the jjear. The only 



