1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



149 



SMOKERS, " HOW TO FIX 'EM." 



I am eorry to see the Irritation regarding smokerB, 

 shown in the May No. of Gleanings and the A. B. J. 

 My own Quinby had Its cover all eaten off by mice 

 last winter. I procured a fine piece of sheepskin 

 lining of a shoe dealer and fitted and glued It In a few 

 minutes. It is now better than new. Cut paper pat- 

 tern to go round and lap over edges ii inch. If the 

 spring gives out make one or get one from the maker 

 but don't scold. "Book men" should keep their tem- 

 per. 



Let kerosene oil be rubbed on bee stings but keep 

 It away from bees. 



GLOVES. 



I must except to the objections to the upe of yloves. 

 Take a i)air of gaimtleis. buck or lined sheep skin, 

 worn ones will do, and cut off the end's, say half of fin- 

 gers and thumbe, and use and try, when obliged to 

 do work with cross bees, hybrids or others. With 

 the veil, one Is saveil the tears which even Nov- 

 ice «hed when pulling out stings. I had to overhaul 

 one colony last week and though they tried hard to 

 drive me away I finished my work after stopping to 

 laugh at the antics of hens and chickens near by, at- 

 tacked nnd f-tung. When honey Is coming In there is 

 no need ol protection, but there Is none here now, 

 and bees are cross. 



Now as to the tiering up that Mr. Doolittle objects 

 to. Is it not clear that the L. frame is better adapted 

 to ii than the Gallup or any deeper frame ? Besides ; 

 the first should not be lifted until nearly ready lo be 

 capped over, or partly capped. With the suspended 

 frame sections Mr. Doolittle's plan may be adopted 

 by starting in first story and lifting up ; and really the 

 two i^ inch sections are no farther above brood in 

 L. frame than one 6 inches woul<l be in G. frames. By 

 taking off promptly all finished frames, it works well. 



Charlottesville, Va., May 7th, 1877. 



We have several times known of enormous 

 yields of honey being obtained from queenless 

 colonies, or rather from colonies that were 

 rearing a queen, but we believe the contrary is 

 the rule, especially where we are working for 

 comb honey. 



We beg pardon, if our remarks about smo- 

 kers were unnecessarily unkind to anyone. 

 Where any article is made of leather, is there 

 not always a liability of getting a poor piece 

 now and then ? We once wore a pair of boots 

 through two winters, but on going to the 

 same maker for a second pair, got some so 

 poor that they broke out in holes in less than 

 a month. We took them back, but the poor 

 man looked so troubled and unhappy over 

 them that we concluded to say nothing about 

 damages, as he had evidently been unfortu- 

 nate in selecting his stock. If you get a poor 

 piece of leather in one smoker in a hundred, 

 will it not be best to repair it at home as 

 friend P. suggests ? We do not make them, 

 but suggest the measure, out of kindness to 

 Mr. L. C. Root, who we know is trying hard 

 to make them all satisfactory, and the com- 

 plaints are very few, compared with the large 

 number sold. 



We have published everything we could find, 

 favorable toward gloves but not a quarter of 

 the complaints. Do you not think they pre- 

 sent rather a poor showing? Several who 

 have paid .|2,00 or more, ofifer to trade them at 

 very low figures. 



It is such an easy matter to test the sections, 

 that there is hardly room for argument. Hang 

 a frame of them in your hive, and see if they 

 do not work handsomely. 



If you can not bring your hybrids into sub- 

 jection with plenty of smoke, you had better 

 let them alone. Where bees are in such a 

 mood that they will sting your hands, the 

 hens, chickens, and everybody and thing pro- 

 miscuously, there is something wrong that 



should be righted. Kill the queen and put ia 

 a better one, if you can do no better, aaA 

 choose a time when they are better natured 

 to do it. 



IMPORTED QUEENS. 



syj^VERY No. of Gleanings speaks of imported 

 W/ii queens as though you thought there could be 

 '•■■^rM no mistake as to their purity. Now the queen I 

 got of J. Shaw & San, ehoulil have been from an Im- 

 ported mother, as their name is marked with a *, but 

 she is certainly hybrid and a very poor specimen at 

 that. Mr. Dasher of this county who has been rais- 

 ing queens tor sale several years, last spring got an 

 imported queen of Mr. Dadant, expecting to go Into 

 queen rearing more largely with imported 8to«k and 

 succeeded in raising (lui'tris enough lo supply all his 

 stock before h« had any tested; l)ut lo ami liehold 

 every queen proved to t>e hybrid, thus cutting short 

 his expected income froji an imported mother. 



J. W. D. Camp. 

 Preble, (Jhio, May 6th, 1877. 



We fear you are laboring under the very 

 common impression friend C, that the bees 

 from an imported queen should be yellow- 

 Our own imported queen, received from Da- 

 dant, is dark herself, and hir bees are the 

 darkest Italians we have in the yard. A few 

 days ago we visited friend Dean, and we really 

 believe we should have pronounced the work- 

 ers hybrids had he not assured us they were 

 from liis imported queen. When examined, 

 we found them very gentle, and very much in- 

 clined lo hang to the combs, which ordinary 

 hybrid^ of the same color, would never do. 

 We can swing a comb of bees from our im- 

 porttd hive round our head, without a bee 

 taking wing, while bees that have the least 

 taint of black blood, will run down to the cor- 

 ners of the frame and fall while it is held still. 

 Our house apiary was stocked with queens 

 reared from our imported, and the bees this 

 spring are large, strong, handsome and much 

 lighter colored than those reared from the im- 

 ported queen ; and best of all, they seem to be 

 just as vehement honey gatherers as the bees 

 from the old hive. Queens reared from an im- 

 ported mother are by no means necessarily 

 pure ; were such the case, we should charge 

 $3,00 instead of one. It would be strange in- 

 deed, were there not those who will not be 

 satisfied with imported stock, for there is not 

 one thing in bee culture that pleases all our 

 readers. We by no means wish to intimate 

 that they are diflicult to please, but only to 

 show how great is the variety of tastes and 

 preferences. Italians, fdn., extractors, section 

 boxes. Simplicity hives, &c., &c., all find de- 

 nouncers, and we even find good pleasant peo- 

 ple who complain of the whole business of bee- 

 keeping. Shall we not have a broader charity, 

 and a better opinion of our fellow men ? Shaw 

 & Son are men who can be depended on to do 

 exactly as they agree every time, we are happy 

 to say. It is our opinion, that we should be 

 perfectly satisfied with the bees you have spo- 

 ken of, and if not too much trouble, we would 

 like to receive a few in a queen cage. 



It is too bad, that so much hard feeling is 

 engendered on account of these difierences of 

 opinion, and we can suggest at least one way 

 that bees can be sold and have everything 

 pleasant. Advertise hybrids, and then send 

 out bees that are better than you have led your 

 customer to expect. 



