84 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



We have been asked to express an opinion 

 in regard to the following : 



(THrsnrxo ghapes for bees. 



A coi-rcspondont of the Solano Weekly ItepuMicau rcf- 

 onimemls the feeding of jrrapes lo Iiogs and hens, both of 

 which ])roved very successful, fatteniivj: the hoss and ma- 

 kiuK the hens lay. He say.s : "My experience in feeding 

 the juice of the grape to befis his l)een more limited, as I 

 liad but nine stands, and of less il(;finitc conclusions, but 

 of this I am fully convinced by the great quantity trans- 

 ferred to their hives, that in freshly expressed grape juice 

 the trouble of the apiarian is solveil as regards forage for 

 his bees. 3Iy wife's unde crushed from twenty to thirty 

 IX)unds of grapes daily during the grape season for our 

 Iwes,' and they stored it all in the shape of honey, except 

 the hulls and seeds, and that made excellent food for hogs. 

 The honey made was of a purple tint, but of most excellent 

 Ilavoi', comparing favorablj' with the much esteemed 

 white clover of tlie Atlantic States. Here again is anoth- 

 er source of profit Ijy the cultivatioTi of the grape. 



Wc have no reason to doubt tlie statement, 

 but would suggest ;that it may be a safer ex- 

 jierimeut, so far as the health of the bees is 

 concerned, in the climate of California, than 

 in our own. Even if it is a success, would it 

 not ]iay better to sell the grapes, than to go to 

 so much trouble ? 



EDITOR GLEANINGS :-()ne question, please, in re- 

 heard to di-ones from unfertilo or drone laying queens. Arc 

 such drones capable of fei'tilizin? virgin queens ? 



This to me is an impovtant question, since I have a (me 

 virgin queen that I reared last October from one of Mr. 

 Datlant's imported queens, and have brought through the 

 winter thus far, for the jmrpose of raising early drones, 

 (of which several nro flying to-d:iy). but to my chagrin 

 here eomes one 5Ir. .1. M. Hicks, publisher of the "North 

 American Bee-Keeper's Guide,'' and says— in speaking of 

 •Irenes produced by a virgin queen, "I hold it as a fact that 

 all drones that are thus produced are wholly worthless ; 

 and are .a perfect set of neuters, neither male or female." 

 (Page .58 of his work). But if he reasons from nature 

 alone, may he not be in error in this as in the following 

 which he assimies to be true V chapter G, page 46 of the 

 same work, he says, "It is essential from the creation up 

 to the present time, that nil created beings in all nature 

 have two parents, a mother, and a father," which crtw vot 

 be true of my drones, they being the offspring of a virgin 

 queen. A. B. Keeper. 



Ou page 140, Vol. T, A. B. .7., a record is giv- 

 en ofavej'y careful experiment made by the 

 Baron of Berlepsch, showing that such drones 

 (tre as good as any. Since then there has been 

 much arguing over the matter, but very^few 

 practical experiments. We suggest that you 

 give us the result of your experiment. The 

 work, or pamphlet rather, that you mention 

 savors too much of the Mitchell style to be 

 considered authority on any subject. 



I have not sold all my past season's crop of extracted 

 honey as yet, but have sold one grocer in our cmnity town 

 five Jind one-half barrels. That is pretty well I think for 

 ii home market. J. F. Lote. 



Cornersville, Tcim., Eel). 23d, 187<1. 



A neighbor has found a .stone weighing about one pound, 

 which looks as if it had once been a i)icce of comb honey 

 broken and doubled over. It ijresents the cells in diller- 

 cnt shapes. R. S. Eecktell, New Buffalo, Mich. 



The Stone is without doubt the work of a 

 species of the coral insect. We think geologists 

 agree that honey comb has never as yet been 



found in a state of petrification ; yet many 

 specimens like the one you mention, so much 

 resemble it, as to be usually tenned petrified 

 honey comb. 



I see from your January number, j-on thirjk bees separ- 

 ated from the cluster won't stand a hai-d freeze. Now 1 

 want to tell you that a young healthy bee, full of hone.^'. 

 will lay in the snow fifteen hours with tbo thermometer at 

 zero, and then if taken into a warm room, \vi\\ come to 

 life and fly about the room. This 1 hare known by actual 

 experiment. 



If our friend had stopped there, we migl^t 

 have thought it possible his b§es would sur- 

 vive a zero freeze, even if ours do not ; but he 

 "puts his foot in it" so badly in his next, that 

 we fear he has made some big mistake all 

 round. 



On another point I disagree with the big bee men. It is 

 said that queens fly ont, or rnate with drones but once in 

 their lives. I have seen the same queen fly oiit three 

 times in one week. Whenever yon sec your bees agitated 

 and flying ont and in the the hi\'c, you may know that the 

 queen is on the wing. And it is surjirismg how soon they 

 will quiet down when the queen passes in. Also, I think 

 I saw a queen that mated with a drone the second time. 

 A neighbor had a stand of black bees ; he fed and watched 

 them very closely, and in the spring noticed they had no 

 brood; he feels sure it was the same queen that he got 

 with the swarm, yet after the early drones began to Ily. 

 his quecTi commenced laying and the yonng bees were hy- 

 brids. IMd she meet an Italian drone ? 



.1. R. Lee. Oxford, ( ). 



It may be difficult to tell just how the latter 

 state of aflfairs came about, but we can rest as- 

 sured, that a queen reared in the fall is never 

 fertilized at so late a date as the spring follow- 

 ing. Young queens often get into the wrong 

 hive, and sometimes are accepted, and the 

 reigning queen killed ; this might account for 

 the case mentioned, or their (jtieen might not 

 have commenced to lay until quite iate, as 

 sometimes happens. Thousands of careful bee- 

 keepers agree that laying qut^ens never leave 

 the hive unless it is to lead out a swarm ; 

 while once in a great while some one, who we 

 fear isnot a careful observer, claims that he has 

 seen them flying out as you mention. Of course 

 we do not doubt your word, friend Lee, we only 

 think you have made a mistake somewhere, 

 just such ones as we often make. The worst 

 part of it is, we are all very apt to be so posi- 

 tive we are right that we fail to examine into 

 the matter closely. 



How much alsike clover seed is rcqnired per acre ? 

 How much seed per acre is a lair crop ? Is it difHculi 

 to clean ? yVbout what can be obtained for it at whole- 

 sale? L. Bkckwith, Berlin, Wis. 



About four lbs. per acre is required for seed. 

 The yield is quite variable, but usually about 

 the same as red clover. It is very much like 

 red clover in its habits, and the operation of 

 cleaning is aljout the same. A good clean ar- 

 ticle of seed sells readily at from §12.00 to 

 $15.00 jier bushel, and the demand seems to in- 

 crease faster than the supply of seed. Black 

 bees work on it as readily as the Italians anft 

 the honey seems as accessible as that in the 

 common white clover. 



I had 10 colonies last spring. I built up to '2"2. \\\- 

 tractcd about 100 lbs. honey. Sold .«omc tiuecns an'i 

 Italianized all mv colonies. 



T. M. MclvmiAX. New nioomficld. Pa. 



