£■876 



-GLEA.NINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



251 



I send jou a plant in blossom, wbJcli is at present a 

 ^rreat favorite witli the bees. Please give us its true 

 name. It commences blossoming the last of July and 

 coiiliiuies till the ground fi-eezes. Bee-s work on it with a 

 will. More so than on ajjy other ilower at this date. 

 They are collecting large quantities of pollen from it^ 

 Tell us if it is a honey producing flower. 



My bees have done splendidly this season. I com- 

 menced in July 1873, with one new swarm of Italians sent 

 lue as a present from Hon. Joshua Lake"'s apiarj, North 

 Jay, Jiaine. They sent out a swarm Aug. 18th, leaving 

 the old stand in rather poor coiiLition for wintering, 

 the new swarm in Heddoii's favorite box hive containing 

 ITi^S cubic inches, half full of comb and bees, with seme 

 lioney. Fed on syrup and candy to supply the balance. 

 Wintered in a dry cellar. Came out this spriiig, the old 

 hive (Quinby's) weak. The new liive in good condition. 

 Commenced feeding early and liberally on sugar syrup 

 and continued till apple blossoms came. The result, they 

 both giew strong and increased in bees rapidly. The old 

 hive sent out two swarms, viz., June 2Sth, and July 10th. 

 The other, four swarms. May 21th, June 1st, June 3d, and 

 August 8th an unusually large swarm. The first new 

 swarm has swanned twice. Can you state another in- 

 stance in the North where a first swarm sends out a second 

 one V Have increased my two colonies to ten by natural 

 swarming this season. Most of them well supplied with 

 bees and heavy with honey. Now, friend Novice don't 

 say that second and third swanns or even fourth swarms 

 are not worth wintering. 



The prospect now looks good for all. I owe in part, my 

 success to the four Eee Journals of America, of which I 

 have l)een a subscriber and constant reader the past year. 

 Jeremt Lake, North Easton, 3Iass. 



We have had many reports this season of a 



1 have rode but one hobby a good while, got on be- J 

 acre Novice got off; it is the .exclusive use of the long 

 .standard hive and the honey extractor. Think I shall 

 •keei) on until it throws me oS. 



i\jid now let mc give you one word of advice. Don't 

 lor the world let Mr, James Heddon get you to exper- 

 iimeuUng with box biies and black bees. It would 

 aevohUionjze things so, and old logics would never 

 get done -rtrowiug, I see you are already letting your 

 bees do the swarming themselves, which Novice said 

 ^.somewhere in ISi.eanin'GS "never happens without a 

 aoss botli to the bees and their keeirer." 



In regard to cemb Idn,, wo got some of Mr. Long, 

 and we made a small set of dies ourselves, but really 

 1 believe we can get combs built almost as quickly 

 without their use, and worker too, if we try. But 

 ■there may be a difference in the amount of honey 

 stored; still, don't you think there is a waste going 

 on in the hive, if bees are not allowed to build comb 

 when they are gathering honey nicely? Have pa- 

 *ience, I am still your pupil. Ila Michexeu. 



Low Banks, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 11th, '76. 



Sometimes it is hard to account for die loss 

 <of queens, but we are inclined to thiuli in your 

 case, it was no fault of the bees, at least the 

 bees of that hive. Are you sure no bees from 

 any other hive got in by any cliance or mis- 

 tal^e ? Queens soinetimes die unexpectedly, 

 but not often, for they generally show signs of 

 failing and the bees have a new one at worlv 

 before tliey have fairly given up. Theories 

 seem f?adly at fault with the fdn. ; give one 

 stocli fdn. in every other frame, and another 

 one nothing, and you will quickly see how 

 much tiie Idii. is ahead. 



new swarm swarming, and our experience 

 with second, third, and fourth swarms is not 

 discouraging at all, for every thing of the kind 

 in our apiary, has tilled up nicely for winter. 

 As this season has been — at least with us — an 

 exception, we presume it would be unwise to 

 call this the rule. 



I was just on the point of writing t ) you of a gi-eat dis- 

 •coverj- 1 had made of anointing queens with royal jelly 

 when introducing. I see in an old number of Gleanings 

 that this wonderful discovery has been made before. 



You may put me down for a "Blasted Hopes" man, I 

 guess. I expected to make Sl50,00 from my one hive this 

 winter, but drought ruined my expectations as well as 

 garden, (lowers, pasture, etc., and though 1 have increased 

 to three hives and one nucleus I am without honey tor 

 the table, having only about G lbs. altogether in three 

 hives. But next year (only hope) I will have 200 lbs. per 

 hive, so help me, Jupiter Pluvius! As it is, I have 

 learned something. I have raised six queeas, lost two, 

 swapped two and introduced one other, all done safely. 



Have been stung— well— 150 times to draw it mildly. 

 Wear veil and gloves, would not go without them tor 

 anything ; every time I do, I get stung. 



Finally I have made some comb fdn., (see sample en- 

 closed), from plaster casts made from your fdn. There is 

 onl.v one great trouble with it, and that is dirty wax. 

 There is only one trouble with yotir fdn., and that is that 

 I caji't get a queen to lay in it. If I might suggest an 

 impro\'ement, the lozenge jilates are too thick. If you 

 can put it in the walls, all light. I have invented a way 

 of making sheets of wax, not patented. I roll them 

 through a clothes wringer which has been warmed in 

 Mfirra water. 



Siuce the cool weather, several complaints 

 have come that queens will not use the fdn., 

 but none before. Now in our hives we think 

 they n«e them just as well as they do natural 

 comb, but we may be mistaken. It is rather 

 difficult to get sheets a foot wide that are very 

 thiu at the bases, but we cau roll them 4 or G 

 inches in width, as thiu as may be desired. 



Has the difference between drone eggs and worker eggs 

 been proved ? If so, where can I find proof ? 



See page 124, Vol. I, A. B. J. Besides, eggs 

 have been repeatedly removed from ^Darker 

 cells and placed iu drone and they always pro- 

 duce workers. 



Has the nature of royal jelly been proved ? Where can 

 I find such proof ? 



Royal jelly has been many times analyzed, 

 but although a chemist can give you the ex- 

 act composition of many organic substances, 

 it is a pretty hard matter to decide what pro- 

 perties these substances may po.ssess. See 

 page 30 same Vol. as above. 



Didn't the bees in hives where you put a section box 

 from a live^j- hive as per your "discovery" sting those 

 introduced ? Riciiaed Feeeis. 



Belleville, N. J., Sept. 12th, "TG. 



To be sure they did not, and we have never 

 known bees thus introduced, when honey was 

 coming vl plentifully, to be molested. 



I started last spring with 20 stocks. Have now GO 

 good cues, all worker comb. 1 think I did well for a 

 novice. I have 500 lbs. extracted and 200 comb honey, 

 and more in the hive. Daniel AVukth. 



Falmouth, Indiana, Aug. 19th, 1876. 



Bees are very populous and rich in stores. Have 

 increased from 13 to 42, principally by natural swarm- 

 ing. Mks. L. Haiiiuson, Peoria, Ills., Sept. S, '76. 



