240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



If your friend Dr. Peters, (for I must call any man who 

 writes with such an evident desire to get at the truth, the 

 friend of all true bee-keepers,) had kept bees in regions 

 where, sometimes for weeks together the thermometer is 

 not only below freezing but sometimes daily much below 

 zero, he would attach much, luore importance to ventila- 

 tion. Let such hives he kept close above and only the 

 ordinary passage for bees open below, and they will 

 sometimes smother the bees, by the moisture falling from 

 the bees, and freezing so as to seal up the entrance, and 

 they often become so filled with ice that when the weather 

 changes the bees and combs are fairly drenched, and if it 

 turns suddenly cold before they dry out, the bee^ ])erisb. 

 I have seen them under such circumstances frozen into 

 quite solid masses of bees and ice ! 



As friend Hedd^n has used mov.ible frames and now re- 

 turns to the old box, with supers for surplus, his reports 

 will be looked for with all the greater interest. If nil our 

 fancied improvements are onlj' "fuss and feathers," or at 

 most beneficial tj scientific amateurs, the sooner we know 

 it the better, e^en if we should be as much surprised as 

 any traveller on a first-class rail road car, would be if 

 called to give it up for a comfortable seat in an old fash- 

 ioned stage coach. Yours very truly, 



L. L. Langsteoth. 



Osford, Ohio, Sept. Sth, 187G. 



NOTES FROM OIR EXCHANGES. 



eUll Bee Journals were for the first time, 

 if we are correct, all on baud within 



three days of the first of the month; and we 

 think the people will be much bettor pleased if 

 this can be made the rule, instead of the ex- 

 ception. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Chicago, Aug. 18, 1870.— Ed. A. B. J. In answer to 

 iiamerous letters of enquiry, and for the general in- 

 formation of bee-keepers, 1 will say that ol all meth- 

 ods tried by nie to fasten comb fdn. in frames, I preler 

 to do .so with wax. I take a board f inch thick, the 

 size of inside of frame, and fasten it in flush with one 

 side of frame, and then put the fdn. in the frame lay- 

 ing on this board, fitting the underside ol top bar and 

 about 4 inch from either end piece, and say i or J inch 

 from the bottom bar. Pure bees wax wnll stretch but 

 a trifle; that mixed with paraffine stretched so as to 

 be woithless in evcr^' experiment I have tried. I 

 would not advise heavy swarms to be put into hives 

 mied only with fdn., as this weight might pull down 

 even pure bees wax, but know that if alternate combs 

 and fdn. be put in, even for the strongest swarms, 

 they will stand, as the bulk of the bees will go on the 

 ■combs iirst and a few bees will first fasten the fdn. 

 more securely, and then more bees go to work in ex- 

 tending out the cells. I would advise taking out out- 

 ride frames which arc generally tilled with honey and 

 toaking room for 2 or 3 frames witli fdn. in the middle 

 alternately, as before mentioned, in the midst of the 

 fullest brood frames. I have had about 12o thus built 

 this season. Most queens prefer new comb to lay in 

 but I had one that seemed to prefer old comb. I have 

 IS) stocks in ten 7x18 inch frame hives, near the city 

 limits ; increased from 10 ; but little surplus. I hope 

 we will have a full and candid expression from all 

 who hare used fdn. 0. O. Perkike. 



As nearly all our fdn. has been built out be- 

 tween two old combs, it may account for our 

 succeeding so Avell. In one case we filled an 

 upper story entirely, but their progress was 

 much slower, although they built "very nice 



combs l3y fiuishinj 

 tions first. 



the cells on the lower por- 



BEEKEEPERS' MAGAZINE. 

 J. W. Shearer says of buckwheat : 

 It should be sown in May and June if intended to 

 fill up the summer gaj) in tlie honey harvest. The 

 main crop is generally sown in July. The old black 

 is a better honey plant than the silver hulled or the 

 gray. The old black should be selected if possible. 



This exactly agrees with our experience of 

 the present season, and if we have made no 

 mistake, three acres sown in June, have given 

 us more than 200 lbs. of comb honey, besides 

 the large amount that must have gone into 

 the brood apartments. We shall next season 

 try to furnish seed from the piece that has 

 yielded so bountifully to our black and hy- 

 briid stocks. 



BEE ^VORLD. 



We would suggest to friend Argo and oth- 

 ers that it is quite a frequent thing to find two 

 laying queens in a hive during the extracting 

 season. So many cases of the kind have we 

 found, that we now invariably look for two 

 queens when we find an unusual amount of 

 brood. 



Our friend Annie it seems feeds her bees on 

 the alighting boards too, so that is nothing 

 new. She feeds them on brown sugar ; we 

 hardly think our bees would deign to notice 

 brown sugar this season, but from experiments 

 made last season, we have no reason to fear 

 any bad results from its use during warm dry 

 weather, and perhaps none at any season, if 

 fed to strong colonies that are well protected. 

 Our friend Davis fed a colony every week all 

 winter while packed in chafl", without injury. 



BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 



THE HEX AXD THE HOXET BEE. 



A lazy Hen — the story goes- 

 Loquacious, pert, and self-conceited, 



Espied a Bee upon a rose. 

 And thus the busy insect greeted :— 



' Say, what's tlie use of such as you, 

 (Excuse the freedom of a neighbour !) 



Who gad about, and never do 

 A single act of useful labour ? 



' I marked you well for many a day 

 In garden blooms and meadow clover ; 



Now here, now there, in wanton play; 

 From morn till niglit an idle rover. 



' Wliile I discreetly bide at home : 



A faithful wife— the best of mothers ; 

 About the fields j^ou idly roam. 



Without the least regard for others.' 

 ' Nay,' said the Bee, 'you do me wrong ; 



I'm useful, too; perhaps you doubt it, 

 Because, tliough toiling all day long, 



I scorn to make a fuss about it ! 

 ' Wliile you, with every egg that cheers 



Your daily task, must stop and hammer 

 The news in other people's ears, 



Till they are deafened with the clamour. 

 ' Come now with me, and see my hive. 



And note how folks may work in quiet, 

 To useful arts much more alive 



Than you with all your cackling riot.' 

 From the German o/Gellett, b'j J. G. Saxe. 



