1883 



GLEAKINGS in bee CULTtTBE. 



583 



and raised a peck. "Bress dc Lord, got what me 

 started wid ! " 24 hives, not a single swarm. They 

 are rousing good ones. J. H. Burrow. 



Lynnville, Tenn. 



127.00 PER COLONY FROM AN APIARY OF 5. 



I commenced the season with five colonies of bees; 

 have increased to 15, and taken off 400 lbs. of honey. 

 I have sold down to Ave colonies again. My in- 

 crease brought me $65.00; my honey sold at an 

 aver.ige of IV'/i cents, or $70.00, making $135 for five 

 swarms of bees, or $37.00 per colony — not a hf(j re- 

 port, but one I am saiietled with. Of course, this is 

 not net profit, for the hives, sections, and fdn.,are to 

 come out of this. 



INTRODUCING TO A COLONY THAT HAD A yUEKN. 



I had a colony queenless, as I supposed. As I 

 wanted to introduce a queen, [ took the precaution 

 to give them a frame of eggs and hatching larvte; 

 they started queen-cells immediately. Thinking 

 that was evidence enough that they were queenless, 

 I tried to introduce a queen after she had been cag- 

 ed in the hive 48 hours. I released her, and she was 

 immediately bailed. I then caged her 12 hours 

 longer. This time the bees seemed to accept her. 

 I looked her up in half an hour, and found her run- 

 ning over the comb all right; and the bees not offer- 

 ing to molest her, I looked again in an hour, and 

 she was still all right. I then went to my day's 

 work. When I came home at night I found her 

 balled on the bottom-board. I again cagod her for 

 24 hours. When 1 let her out the bees did not molest 

 her; but 20 minutes afterward I found her balled; 

 and in looking her up this time I found the largest 

 queen I ever saw; so, of course, that put an end 

 to my introducing a queen to tliat swarm. Now, I 

 had a queen-cell hatch in that hive about two weeks 

 before this; and about a week before. I looked the 

 hive over thor(.ughly at three (iiffereiit times, and 

 could find no queen, so I supposed she was lost on 

 her wedding 11 ght; tut to make a sure thing of it I 

 put in the frame of brood with the i,bjve result. 

 Now, is this an exception to the rule, or do you oc- 

 casionally hear of such cases? I should like to know 

 more about this; for in this instance it nearly cost 

 me one of Doolittle's best queens. H. H. Pease. 



Kingsville, O., Oct., 18f3. 



Friend P., your report is a very fair one. — 

 I have several times had trouble in intro- 

 ducing queens, just about such as you de- 

 scribe ; and a careful search has almost in- 

 variably resulted in finding a queen of some 

 sort present. You did not tell us whether 

 your large queen commenced laying or no, 

 although we presume she did. It was 

 probably a case of retarded fertilization, so 

 that the bees likely started queen-cells be- 

 cause their queen was so long in getting 

 down to business. It may be, however, that 

 this large queen got in by accident, and be- 

 longed to some other hive. I should sup- 

 pose that she had just got ready to lay when 

 you found her, and she may have been quite 

 small and inferior looking when yon first 

 hunted the liive over for Iter, which would 

 account for your not finding her when first 

 looking. 



UPWARD ventilation. 



I bought two swarms of bees last fall in the old 

 American hives; packed them in boxes with about 

 three or four inches of chips from the planer, all 

 around, except the bottom ; kept the entrance-way 



open so they could go out and in when they pleased, 

 the top bars being tight, and the places for the bees 

 to enter the surplus boxes having a board nailed 

 over them, and everything all glued down tight. 

 After reading about upward ventilation, I watched 

 them closely. All I did to them was to keep the 

 entrance-way open. I found, by using the search- 

 ing-rod, there were no dead bees, and they were 

 growmg stronger. Early in the winter and in spring 

 they were strong, and I got through swarming be- 

 fore my ntighbors began, who packed after the 

 modern plan. Now, if it is a fair question, why did 

 my bees do so much better than theirs, if upward 

 ventilation is necessary? I. B. Whiton. 



Ithaca, Mich., Oct., 188;5. 



Friend W., if you will excuse me, I would 

 suggest that the reason why your bees 

 wintered so well witli all upward ventila- 

 tion closed in the manner you mention, is 

 because the American hives, as I know 

 them, are so full of cracks and crevices that 

 the bees had abundant ventilation after you 

 had covered the places where they got into 

 the surplus boxes. The hive has a movable 

 side, which leaves an open crack at two 

 corners, and the entrance is usually quite 

 large, so your planer-shaving packing was 

 just about the thing, under the circum- 

 stances. 



DOG-FENNEL AND BITTER HONEY. 



Bees have not done extra well this season in this 

 locality. We have had a very dry summer; but a 

 few rains in September brought out the bloom on 

 many wild flowers, and these bid fair to give us a 

 good flow of fall honey. The vacant lots and road- 

 sides are covered with a yellow flower, very similar 

 in general appearance to what is commonly called 

 " dog-fennel" in the Northern States. It produces 

 bitter honey. 



THE MACARTNEY ROSE, AND A QUEER IDEA IN RE- 

 GARD TO IT. 



Can not some of the friends tell us more about the 

 single white Macartney rose {Rosa bracteata)? In 

 "Gardening for the South," the author, after rec- 

 ommending it for a hedge, says: " I see but one ob- 

 jection to it. It is in summer alwaj-s in bloom, and 

 therefore attracts all the bees in the neighborhood. 

 In my fruit-garden I have thought that the injury 

 done to peaches and grapes by wasps and bees has 

 been much greater since the hedge has grown up 

 th?.n before. It is a fine honey-plant." Think of the 

 objection, from a bee - man's standpoint! After 

 working with bees in this State for several years, I 

 am satisfied there are two native varieties — the 

 black and the brown. My best colony is a cross be- 

 tween the brown and Italian — a large and gentle 

 bee, and very active. W. S. Gerow. 



Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 15, 188:5. 



Friend G,, we should think the author of 

 " Gardening for the South '' ought to extend 

 his knowledge a little more ; or, at least, it 

 would have been well for him to have sub- 

 mitted the proof of his work to some intelli- 

 gent apiarist before sending it out to the 

 world. The idea that a flowering plant in 

 tlie vicinity of an orchard or fruit-garden 

 would make the bees worse is ridiculous. It 

 might attract bee-men to establish apiaries; 

 and then if bees did molest fruit, they might 

 be troublesome in the fall of the year. Can 

 anybody tell us any thing more about this 

 " fine bee-plant " ? 



