162 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



ker sent us, bothers just as much by going 

 out as the Quiuby, and it is a very coarse awk- 

 ward piece of machinery. The leather is sheep- 

 skin, the wood Avork rough and unpainted, 

 and the tin tube fastened to the bellows with 

 only a bit of twisted iron wire. In its praise, 

 we can sav that the tin case is much larger 

 than the Q., and a strong plate of iron substi- 

 tuted for the frail wire cloth. We are very 

 iclad indeed to get a favorable report from the 

 !?1,00 smoker, as we feel sure that is the price 

 they are destined to be sold at, but why in the 

 world do you or Mr. King call it a Quiuby 

 smoker? Our manufacturing Yankees can 

 surely give us something strong, handsome, 

 and efficient for |1,00, and with the present de- 

 mand, some one will surely do it very soou. 

 Meanwhile purchase whatever kind you choose 

 and let us all try to be pleasant about it, no 

 matter what turns up. 



The Kert river valley is said to be a line country for 

 l)ee culture. However, in this latitude cotton is king, 

 and it is almost impossible to draw the public mind 

 irom this all absorbing question to matters of minor 

 importance. Occasionally here and there we lind an 

 individual who takes an interest in bees, and is wil- 

 ling to gather inlormation on the subject. My noigh- 

 l>oi', W. C. Gordon, has :>'j stands. He with I>r. ^V. K. 

 Marshall, are two ot the most enterprising bee men 

 known in thia section of the country. Dr! Marshall's 

 apiary consists of 100 colonies. His honey crop for 

 the year just past, was nearly f>000 lbs. 



The market for the sale of honey here is by no 

 means good. The fact is, the people have to be cda- 

 i-a(ed to eat honey. Man is a creature of habit, he is 

 loth to give up his Louisiana molasses and look to 

 the honey bee for a purer and more <lelicious diet. 

 Cees have wintered with ns as usual on their suaimer 

 stands, though the winter has been extremely severe 

 for this climate. I have heard of the loss of" but few 

 colonies, and that occurred frcm starvation or rather 

 a want (jf proper attention. 



We have the Italian bee, it does well in this coun- 

 try; as a worker the hybrid is the favorite, it never 

 tires, and in it, we have combined the good qualities 

 of each type, even to the farthest extremity when 

 slightly elongated. Yes, the hybrid stings. I would 

 not have a bee witliout a sting. There is Ijnt one 

 bee without a sting, and you call him "a drone." 

 Honey is valuable and the armed warrior must pro- 

 tect his stores. 



With due deference to "Old Fogy," let me say. no 

 bee man is on the road to success without movable 

 comb frames. -• L. L. Tommes. 



i^hreveport, La., March '20th, 1S77. 



DISTURBING BEKS IN WINTER. 



Have lost a number of swarms liy shoveling snow 

 around the hives in Dec. and Jan. ; ('> of them boileil 

 out into the snow in consequence of getting too warm 

 and all but one of these dwindled awav. 



W. H. S. Gkoit, Poland Centre, N. Y., Apr. 21, '77. 



We are but beginners in bee culture, liaving com- 

 menced one year ago. We liave 23 stands of black 

 anij hybrid (mostly heavy) in the " Lietsinger" hives. 

 We packed in chaff iind all wintered till the last of 

 March when we had cold damp weather with a heavy 

 fall of snow, and before the warm davs came on wc 

 lost a niimber, I think Irom dysentery. We are wil- 

 ling to work and anxious to become really bee-keep- 

 ers. Those around us with the box hives have lost 

 uearlv or quite all their beea. Kobeut Foijman. 



JSorth VVolcott, N. Y., April 2Sth, 1877. 



MOVING BEES 8U0ET DISTANCES. 



I thon?l>t l>est to irivc you some account of my success 

 in moving l:)ees. I received a postal from T. G.'McOaw, 

 .stating that 1 could move them with safety a mile, but 1 

 h.ad them all moved before gettiuir his card. Au'.l now. 

 brotlier bee-keepers I am satislifd there is no danger of 

 bees going back to their old locality and staying. The ex- 

 citement in moving causes thein to tu.'irk iheir new loca- 

 tion if let out before getting quiet. I do not believe I lost 

 a dozen bees by their going back. I let thorn out as fast 

 as drawn but ufiiie went back. When 1 got nb::ut two- 

 third-j the way home with a loud, the bees would meet me 



and gather round the hives following me home. Now my 

 idea is that bees after havimr been move<l wili not go very 

 far from the hive until they have thoroiighi'y marked all 

 the surroundings ; they will venture but a short distance 

 at a time and then return to the hive. My last year's 

 crop of honey was extracted except 150 lbs. 



6RAIN BAGS INSTEAD 0¥ I>rCE. 



Do you know whether l^ees will gnaw grain bags or 

 not, if used for nuJlts-? If they will answer they are 

 cheaper than the duck .you speak of; with my size of hive 

 I can get five quilts out of one l>ag. Oh, I forgot to say I 

 wintered 39 swarms in the cellar without the loss of one 

 or a queen, but after moving ibein, one swarm deserted 

 its hive and united with another. I>. Gardner. 



C'ai'son City, Mich., April ISth, 1877. 



You neglected to state friend C, how far 

 you (Ud move the bees. It may be that the 

 idea of letting them out just as soon as sax, 

 down, is quite an important one, for we have 

 known them to go back in large numbers and 

 cluster on the ground and bushes, when moved, 

 say less than half a mile. Perhaps the season 

 of the year has something to do with it. 



We have never used grain bags to any ex- 

 tent, but since you have mentioned it, we will 

 make the trial. We find the stuff is not nearly 

 as firm and strong as the duck, but it may for 

 all that do very well. We should be some- 

 what afraid of the loose ends that are found in 

 the bagging ; after the bees once get a habit of 

 pulling at these, they very soon get to biting 

 holes through. 



EARLY DRONES, FERTILE WORKERS, *C. 



Some of my colonies batched out young drones 

 about the j5th or 2uth of March. Why so early? 1 

 never knew of such proceedings before. Then 1 have 

 a colony that seemed rather weak, and on examina- 

 tion could find no qneen, but found 1 or 5 queen cells 

 complete and cappetl over, also two queen cells par- 

 liallv built, with the larvre or young queen considera- 

 bly developed. Now, if there was no tjueen, whence 

 came these queen cells with the brood in them ? Anil 

 if there was a queen whv at tliis season of the year m 

 there no other brood in the hive ? These are new de- 

 velopments to me. SiMSON Stapi'. 



Hope, Ind., April 11th, 1877. 



If the colonies that are rearing drones are 

 full of worker brood, it is without doubt, only 

 because they are in extra good condition. 

 From your description of the one having queen 

 cells, we should think it contained a lertile 

 worker and that the colony had been queen- 

 less a long time. The queen cells in that case 

 contain only drone larvie, and will never pro- 

 duce anything. Fertile workers are always 

 an indication of carelessness on the part of the 

 bee-keeper, for he should always know that 

 every colony contains a qeeen, and not guess 

 anything about it. If you are led to think 

 something wrong, you should be able to look 

 into the hive and see whether they have work- 

 er brood or not, in about one minute ; this you 

 can do with a plain siini)le liive, every time, 

 but with some of the patented ones, it might 

 take you a half hour. 



I would like to know if the "Tennessee Hive" is 

 patented. It claims to have been patented Dec. lUlh, 

 1871. The man here I think has sold in this county 

 $1(100 worth of rights, charging $12,00 for a family 

 right. I bought 94U, 00 worth of hives after paying Sl5. 

 Jor a right and am now transferring my bees into 

 "Simplicities" and oflering the Tennessee at a re- 

 duction. It is too much of a bee trap for me, and I 

 would not liave one now after seeing the Simplicity. 



J. L. Caldwell. 



Marlir, Texas, May loth, 1S77. 



Why does it matter whether the hive is pat- 

 ented or not? Neither you nor anyone cNe 

 wants it. Is not such about the case witli all 

 of the patent hives V 



