246 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



My bees are now working on red clover. I. too, can 

 see an improvement in my stock since pnrcliasintt a 

 colony Irom Mr. Dadanl three years ago. I have 

 i)onght daughters of imported ijueens eveo' year 

 since. I have increased the present season Irom 40 

 to 80 stocks, and secured 1,0(0 lbs. ot' honey, one-hall' 

 of which is comb honey, and more is ready to remove. 

 Linden has been a failure here. Weather dry at pres 

 ent. F. A. Sskll. 



Milledgeville, Illinois. August 8, 1877. 



Do not your bees glue those small sections to- 

 gether and to the frame, so as to make it very difficult 

 to get them out ? If there is the leas: soace left, mine 

 will fill it, and if there is not they will stick them. 

 Again, do they not quite often fasten them to the sep- 

 arators, building out little scuds as if they thought 

 they needed a support ? G. H. Spkague. 



Neil's Creek, August 11, 1877. 



During the season of clover and linden, we 

 scarcely find a bit of propolis, but after the 

 season has closed, or during the fall honey, 

 bees make the honey look untidy by its use, 

 but we never have any difficulty in getting the 

 sections out of the frames. In fact, they come 

 out much easier when filled with honey than 

 when empty. This may seem a little singular, 

 until you have once tried it. 



The sheets of fdn. and the small size of the 

 sections, effectually prevent the "bnttons" you 

 mention. 



of them took their new position. Those that did not, 

 went to the hive left, and as they made rather a large 

 colony I divided them, furnishing queen cells to each 

 colony. Two or three days after I moved one of theui 

 tlie same way, and finally carried the lemaining one 

 away about two miles, bringing It back to its proper 

 place a few days later. Thus all were moved, and not 

 a hundred bees lost. 



In July No., page 180, Doolittle in an article on 

 keeping pure stock says "drone comb shonid be care- 

 fully excluded from hybrid or black stocks." Are 

 not first cross hybrids (that is, those having queens 

 reared from pure stock but mated with black drones) 

 as good as any for rearing drones ? 



J. P. SWAKTHOUT. 



Crystal Springs, N. Y., August 8, 1877. 

 All dollar queens are supposed to produce 

 pure Italian drones, no matter whether the 

 workers are pure or not, and those who have 

 doubts in regard to the matter had better send 

 for the Dzierzon theory, now published in the 

 form of a neat little pamphlet. 



I enclose you a letter 1 received from N. C Mitchell 

 to-day. I enclose it that you may know the modus 

 operandi he takes to reach bee men with his unsolic- 

 ited epistles. 1 also send you my answer, which you 

 will please mail from Medina, that he may know 1 am 

 A Root convert. Bees have done but poorly here this 

 season -, have taken up to date, but 500 lbs. from 42 

 colonies. Alex. Wilder. 



Sandwich, 111., August 4, 1877. 



Indianapolis, Ind., August 1, 1877. 



Postmaster— Dear Sir : I am very anxious to put 

 one copy of the Bee- Keepers' Directory into the 

 hands of every one who lias one or more stands of 

 bees. You will do me a great favor by writing the 

 names of all such on the enclosed i>ostal card and re- 

 turning it to me. Yours truly, N. C. Mitchell. 



per N. Barkett. 



Please send me August No. of Gleanings; can't 

 be without it. Have borrowed of my neighbors but 

 guess they are tired of it; so am I. Will become a 

 subscriber as soon as I can get the stamps. Have just 

 started in bees this soring. I love a bee if he does 

 hite occasionally. 1 fully agree that they are crosser 

 at the present time than when they are busy gather- 

 ing tneir sweet stores. Mine are on a "strike." 



E. Bright, Kalamazoo, Mich. 



The nucleus came to hand to-day in excellent con- 

 dition; not more than a half dozen bees dead, and 

 eggs that had been laid during journey. Please ac- 

 cept thanks for your prompt attention. 



W. W. Reynolds, Cassopolis, Mich., August 2d. 



There! I thought we could ship bees safely, 

 even during the hottest summer weather, if we 

 kept on trying. We have had our share oi 

 trouble in the matter I assure you, but before 

 I write an article for the A B C on shipping 

 bees, I wish to have considerable practical ex- 

 perience, and that too under all liinds of diffi- 

 culties that may be expected in the business. 



MOVING bees short DISTANCES, Elf. 



In one of the spring numbers of Gleanings there 

 was something in regard to moving bees. I will give 

 you my experience in that matter. About the middle 

 of June I found it necessary to move my bees (22 col- 

 onies) about 15 rods. They could not be moved grad- 

 ually as they bad to be taken ucross the highway; so I 

 shut them up just before daylight and moved them as 

 quickly as possible to the place prepared for them, 

 leaving one hive which was qneenless, having 

 swarmed three or four days before. As soon as all 

 were in their new location, ami while still distvirbed 

 from being moved, I let them out. As they boileil out 

 of the hives they of course saw the change, and most 



Do you think one time in a season hotter than another 

 to move bees a short distance,— say ten or fifteen rods? 

 A. N. Gbiswold, Naugatuck, Conn., June 27, 1877. 



Most assuredly it makes a difference, for it 

 you move your bees short distances in the 

 working season, you are pretty sure to lose 

 heavily, whereas if they are moved quietly do- 

 ring the winter time, or during weather so 

 cool that they will not fly for a weeli or two, 

 you can avoid loss entirely. 



My hybrids beat the nation at swarming, but don't 

 work in boxes on top of hives worth a cent; would they 

 do any better in sections inside the hive ? 



J. A. Robinson, Battle Creek, Mich., July 16, 1877. 



Most certainly, for you can make them go to 

 work in a frame of sections, as easily as in 

 one of the brood combs. Put a frame of sec- 

 tions in the lower story, or raise a frame of 

 brood into the upper story ; either plan will 

 make a sure thing of it. 



My bees are doing tolerably fair; from 13 stands I 

 have increased to 34, and have taken 500 lbs. of ex - 

 traded honey, yet this has been a very poor season 

 for honey and swarms, as we have had so much rain ; 

 at least, so ray old fashioned bee-keeping neighbors 

 say. They have had very few swarms and no surplus 

 honey, yet they will not take a Bee Journal nor buy 

 a frame hive. P. A. Riegle. 



Arlington, Ohio, Aug. 3tl, 1877. 



My bees are roaring on basswood bloom ; we have a 

 very heavy bloom this year, the little fellows come in 

 loaded so heavily that they fairly tumble into the en- 

 trance. Enclosed find $5 lor comb fdn. Send by ex- 

 press, mail, or by lightning express would suit best, 

 as I am almost dying for it. My Italians fairly dance 

 when I set fdn. into the hive lor them. 



Floyd Palmer, Hubbardston, Mich. 



Inform me if you deem it practicable for me to buy 

 honey in the comb, trim it to tit section boxes secure- 

 ly, and after it has ceased dripping, get the bees to 

 fasten it in, and seal it up, in proper shape for mar- 

 ket ? I can buy excellent comb honey in this vicinity 

 at 12 ctB. W. G. PHELP, Mllford, Del.. Aug. 4, '77. 



We have tried the plan you mention, but the 

 great difficulty is in getting comb honey of a 

 regular thickness, to produce nice looking 

 honey. Even if you should succeed in this, 

 you will find it a slow and dauby business, 

 and will likely conclude it is cheaper to let 

 the bees do it right in the first place, than to 

 have so much honey running about. Besides 

 unless the sections are given the bees wliile 

 gathering honey, they will uncap and remove 

 it more or less. 



The crop ol honey from white clover was large this 

 vear. I have manv stocks that made 80 and 90 lbs. of 

 box honey. " E. Osburn. 



Van Buren. Iowa, Aug. 4th, l!'77. 



