10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan 



VARlOl S ITEMS. 



"ikX'iTf^' ''• -^^ ^^ -^LKER. quotes prices for honey in A. 

 JJWM| D.J. I'rice lor wliih' clover in boxes ■M^-lii. 

 **/■—•• Strained S((' 1(>. Quot.uions in N. Y. Times, same 

 for box honey, hiit for straineil VKq IP. Quotations hi 

 N. Y. Wi/ness, white clover, box, 25i«i2« ; extracted (calls 

 it by its ii.;ht name) l.'ifelS. 1 should like to know what 

 is the c.iuse of this great variety in prices, especially of 

 extracted honey. 



J. H. Mautin, Hartford. N. Y., Dec. 21st, 75. 



Huniauity, as %ve all know, has a queer way 

 of tftkhiL' sides on almost every question that 

 arises, and queerest of all, they many times, 

 in an argument, strenuously adhere to a course 

 that does themselves injury, and no one else 

 !400d. We fear our friends are, some of tlieiu, 

 doin.i; this in roi;ard to honey ; honey Ijuyers 

 certainly know the diflerence between strained 

 and extracted, and they must know that the 

 transactions in the hitler are assuming a mag- 

 nitude the former has never known. Friend 

 Carlin took the troul)le, w'hile in N. Y., to vis- 

 it tlie markets, and from his statement we 

 gather that nice honey brings by the barrel, 

 jnst about what the Witness quotes it, and that 

 it is retailed at o~) to 50 cents ; oftener near the 

 latter. 



Ths old bees, like old men. can't stand much cold, and 

 are kept on the. outside of the cluster, the young ones are 

 in it crowding the old oid. 1 have known young bees, 

 those that look their lirst lli,!;iit in March, to be frozen 

 solid for a week, aiid when carried in and warmed, tliey 

 all c.im-.; to life and Hew about the room lively as ever. 

 Old bees chilleil over night will never come to life again. 

 'I'hiside.iwill give vou a cine to s])rinn' dwindlinsr. 



J. L. Davis, Holi, iUich., Dec. 20lh, I'u 



Now friend D., you certainly have made one 

 mi.stakc if you mean to say that any bee can 

 ever come to life alter having been really fro- 

 zen. A single bee will live from 24 to 48 hours 

 in a dormant state, to all appearance dead, if 

 the temperature does not go lower than some- 

 where l)Ctween iJO and 4(J«. If they are not 

 Avarmcd up and fed at the expiration ot about 

 tills time, or should remain out dnring a 

 freeze, they are dead past all human power of 

 resuscitation. Now when bees are massed to- 

 gether in a cluster they keep up an animal 

 heat that keeps the wliole cluster above free- 

 zing, and this Iieat is kept up some iiours, even 

 after they have exhausted all their food and 

 tire to all appearance dead ; and they wdl even 

 stand a ztro freeze in this condition and many 

 .of them revive. But life is not entirely extinct 

 as is proven ])y the fact that if they are left too 

 long in this condition, say as much as three or 

 four (.lays, they arc hopelessly dead. This is 

 our opinion after making some experiments to 

 test tlie matter ; if we are wrong, our readers 

 will doubtless correct us. 



Htiv?! you ever in your experience had queens that laid 

 woikcr eggs and halched worker l>ees in drone cells. 1 

 liad one tliis year that laid in top story and lUk'd it with 

 brood, and two-thirds of iho brood in the drone cinub was 

 wor.ier. I liad, several years ago, two (pieens Unit did the 

 .sani ■ Lhiug on a .smaller .scale, in the lower story or brood 

 aijartiTient, as tlh'i'o was not much drone coinli in either 

 liive ; bin ihis smnmer tliree-fourlhs of the upper story 

 was drone conil) and nearly all, as well as tlie lower story, 

 tilled with brood. 



R. R. MUKPUY, Fulton. Ills.. iJtc. -Jlst. 75. 



We have never had such a queen, l)ut tliey 



have l)een reported; we would like some of 



that kind amazingly. Tliey would be equal to 



the breeds of poiiitry that never sit. 



My lii-es worked on itijie on Ih.- seventh instant. Rape 

 stands frost best <! any honey plant I know oi.'j.y -'" 

 J. I'UAir, aiiUlot Ureek, .Uedina Co., O., Dec. 21st, 75. 



I have baen informed that if bees are artificially divided 

 without any attention being jiaid to queen cells, then^ will 

 be no dang(!r of after swaniis, provided there are not more 

 1 1 lan Oao square inches of comb in eaeli part. Is this to 

 bo depended on, or is it even usually so V 



As black bees arc smaller than Italians, will there bo 

 an.y danger of their raising drones on wax ccjmb founda- 

 tions made for Italians V 



Henry A. Spkague, Charlotte, Mf.ine. 



Your rule is certainly not to be depended on ; 

 in fact reducing the size of the hive would be 

 apt to make tliem swarm all the sooner, if they 

 should l)ecome crowded with bees, and even if 

 this did prevent swarming, you would cripple 

 the powers of your queens by keeping them on 

 so few combs. 



There is so much diflerence in the size of 

 drone and worker comb, that there will be no 

 danger whatever from the wax foundations. 

 The latter are so much more regular in size 

 than any natural combs, that they really fur- 

 nish no cells as large as many usually found 

 in almost every frame of worker comb. 



How soon will bees kill a queen after she is released 

 from her cage, if they do not except her 'i 



They may sting her instautly, and they may 

 enclose her in a ball of bees, in which condi- 

 tion she may live 24 hours or more ; and some- 

 times they get through this ordeal and do good 

 service, even after being deprived of a wing 

 or leg. 



Will returning bees kill the queens if two hives arc ex- 

 changed y 



Sometimes, but not often if they are busy 

 gathering honey. 



AVhen we cause bees to gorge themselves with honey, 

 ^^hat becomes of it 'i Do tliey return it to the eomljs V 



They return it usually; but at times, as lu 

 natural swarming, circumstances may cause 

 them to retain it until it is all used to sustain 

 life. As a rule, we may say it is put back in 

 the combs in a very short time. 



Do .YOU consider a queen hatched from an Italian c-'g 

 and nur.sed by black bees, as good as one nursed by the 

 pure Italians / "Wilson Harvey, Drownsburgh, Pa. 



We think it is now generally agreed that the 

 nursing bees make no more diflerence, than 

 does the hen that hatches eirgs given her. 



Would nn.v nmn haYin,:r eyes to see, sow clover seed that 

 was full (f sorrel seed, on clean soil and afterward give 

 to.iX) to have the land rid of the sorrel 'i 



I will not criticise friend Loehr's article more at pres- 

 ent, but w ill sa.v that I sowed one-half peck of your alsiko 

 seed last spring ; S. S. Pontious, sowed one-half peck, and 

 Ely Strom;-, one jieck. This seed i)roved to be clean and 

 good. Nicer .voung clover was never grown in this ]iart of 

 the countr.v. I think the .sand.v soil of Palesthie must be 

 well adapted to sorrel, or my friend could not liave gath- 

 ered two bushels in live wcL'ks after sowin,:.-. With us it 

 would not have more ilian sjirouted in that lime. I live 

 within ten miles of Palesiine. and am well acquainted 

 with the surrounding country, if he will j.ublish yon in 

 all tlie Journals, wo as a company, will ))e livel.v on his 

 track. ' Abraham Pontiol's, 



Si'UNCER Strong, 

 Ely Strong, 



Akron, Ind., Dec. 11th, 75. S. S. Pontious. 



Many thanks kind friends, but pray do not 

 be too hard on friend Loehr ; he is onlj' mista- 

 ken, as we are all liable to be now and then. 



Alsike clover seed, even Avhen perfectly ri- 

 pened, is of difl'erent colors, that is, a part of 

 the seeds are of a dark green, and others of a 

 much lighter shade, very often giving the 

 impression that there are two kinds of seeds. 

 We have several times had complaints on this 

 score before. A magnifying glass will readily 

 show which arc foul seeds. 



