216 



GLEAXINGS IN BEE CULTIJEE. 



Au<3, 



allowing them only the empty hive, smok- 

 ing them severely Vvith tobacco, etc. ; and 

 although all these remedies answer well at 

 times, I think it just as well to keep the 

 qneen caged, providing she has plenty of 

 food in the cage and the bees are not al- 

 lowed to hatch a new queen in the hive ; for 

 if they once get a young queen of their own, 

 it is out of the question to get them to ac- 

 cept any other mitil she is removed. 



The only objection 1 have lieard to this 

 plan of introducing, is that the queen may 

 riy away ; but to prevent tliis I would always 

 have one wing clipped. To sum np, I would 

 say let the bees have the queen just as soon 

 as they will receive her; it may be at once, 

 in 24 or 48 hours, or it may be a week. I have 

 within a few days taken a laying (pieen from 

 one hive and had her laying in another 

 within two hours aftenvai'd. If you have a 

 queen that you do nctt value, it will be an 

 excellent plan for yon to practice, by seeing 

 how many stocks you can introduce her to 

 without caging. 



• — » » 



ALBINOS. 



You seem to think the Albinos are nothing- more 

 than lig-ht colored Italians. If you will rear a queen 

 from vour imported stock which will pi-oduce bees 

 like iiiv Albinos, I will give you for the same ten 

 dollars («10). D. A. Pike. 



Smithsburg-, Md., July 14, 1877. 



In reply I would say that I Irave purpose- 

 ly uncovered the hive of albinos, almost 

 every time I have had a visitor well versed 

 in Italians ; after they had examined them 

 and said nothing, I have asked if they dis- 

 covered anything peculiar about the bees, 

 and no one has yet been able to say there 

 w^as. When I declared they were albinos, 

 and told them to notice the wliitish fringe, 

 some would agree there was a slight differ- 

 ence. Several queens have been reared, and 

 they are remarkably yellow, in fact yellow 

 all over. Those wiio have a liking for yel- 

 low queens liad better send to friend Pike. 

 The bees are certainly in no way remarka- 

 ble as honey gatherers, and I think they 

 hardly equal darker bees; a farther test, 

 however, may show differently. The drones 

 are, all w^e have seen, precisely like other 

 drones. 



I HAVE this month 2227 employers, 

 will conclucle to keep on hiring me. 



I hope you 



CLAMP FOR MAKING SECTION BOXES^ 



AVe omitted to say in regard to the clamp for mak- 

 ing section boxes, on page 223, that it should be made 

 to hold an even number of strips, say .50, 75 or 100, 

 that you may be able to get out the number wanted 

 without laborious counting, or a Uabiiity of making 

 mistakes. If the sections are is thick — we usually 

 make them a little more — ^your clamp would hold 

 about an even hundred if made so as to enclose 1* 

 inches. Ours are made of iron, ^i by one inch ; the 

 screw should tune a strong deep "thread, and the 

 washer, B, shoul<] bo riveted over so as to turn freely 

 against the shoulder on the end of the screw. Your 

 blacksmith should charge you about 75e. for a good 

 one. 



TOO MUCH HONEY, ETC. 



I am pleasetl with the fdn. you sent me, both white 

 and yellow ; my bees taking to it and working upon 

 it beyond my expeetatioas. I have built up second 

 swarms with it so that they are strong and ready for- 

 work upon buckwheat, which will blossom with us 

 in a few days. The lai-gest swarm I had this season 

 came out from a first swarm, on the Irtthof Julv, and 

 are working well. I have now 9 swarms; had two 

 to start with in the spring, and with the aid of your 

 fdn. succeeded in getting them in pretty good condi- 

 tion, and have taken some comb honey. What shall 

 I do with a hive of bees that have filled the brood 

 nest almost full of honev ? I have no extractor. 



H. H. SOHWiLLY, Yorkville, III., July 22, 1877. 



Take (^ut some of the heavy combs and 

 put in their places fi~ames tilled with fdn. 

 The queen will till them with brood even 

 though no honey is coming in at all. 



After the part of the journal containing 

 " Humbugs and S\\indles" was printed, the 

 following came to hand. 



Since writing to you I have received a letter from 

 Mitchell, saying th it ho has been away from home, 

 and that he does nit S"ll hives withiut first selling 

 the right. He returned my money, so I was a little 

 hasty in my condemnation. H. M. Mohris. 



Rautoul, Illinois. 



If Mr. Mitchell has really commenced a 

 different way of doing business, we shall be 

 most glad indeed to make it known, for the 

 complaints in regard to him have been one 

 of the most unpleasant features of bee cul- 

 ture for years past. This is the first time 

 we have ever heard of his having returned 

 money, or anything else, more than prom- 

 ises that were never kept. 





" BE IT EVEU SO HUM15LE, THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE IIOJIE. 

 Very likely the Lawn bee hive in the distance has much to do with making the humble homo of our 

 "big eyed" friend so especially pleasant, and perhaps the heavily laden bees that do tumble around the 

 entranceat niuhtfall, with the' ilrci()i)iiig branches of the evergreen so conveniently near, may be an addi- 

 tional "tie" that endears that partieular vicinity. If history tells us ariuht we believe the owner of said 

 hive finally, once upon a summer's eve, dispelled all tlics(> fond r 'veri"-;, aiiil de.iii>lish?d " home " and con- 

 tents just because of a slight "onpleasmtness" between the t(iad and the bee-;. One would have thought 

 " wh-dt is fun for you, is death to us," would have been remembered, by so near a relative, but alas, it seems 

 it was not, and so he died. 



