74 



GLEAJq^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 



bars of the frames if we wish. Simply 

 scrape the top bars clean, and when you 

 close the hive, make all the bees get off 

 them by pushing them along with your fin- 

 ger, on the outside, over them; then put 

 on your chaff cushion to keep them from 

 pushing the sheet up again. As this takes 

 considerable time, I think I would let them 

 build bits of comb just high enough to keep 

 the sheet from pressing on them, when it 

 is put over the frames. 



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•'Si* 



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[This department is to be kept for the benefit of 

 those who are dissatisfied; and when anything' is 

 amiss, I hope you will "talk rig-ht out." As a rule 

 we will omit names and addresses, to avoid being- 

 too personal.] 



f|HE following card, suggested the start- 

 ing of this department. 



No use in humbugg-ing- any more about it. I have 

 your receipt, dated March 1.5th, 1877, for $1.10. I was 

 to have Gleanings for one year. You g-ot me out 

 of Feb. No. for 1877, and now, accDrding- to your 

 statement, you intend to do likewise for Feb. 1878. 

 "Dance up to the music," and when my time is up I 

 will decide the matter. J. C. B. 



We have passed the above all round, 

 friend B., but noue of us have the remotest 

 idea, what called forth your complaint. If 

 any of the clerks have written crustily or 

 unkindly, perhaps we would better have 

 tlvnn in this department. We would, by 

 no means, keep back a single No. that is 

 due our subscribers, for after we have all 

 worked hard to make a good Journal, we 

 take great pleasure in handing them over to 

 you promptly. If a number is lost in the 

 mail, or even if it is lost after it comes into 

 your posession, we always make it a rule to 

 replace it without charge, it you will only 

 apprise us of the fact. With the heavy 

 mails we now have to get through with dai- 

 ly, it would be almost impossible for us to 

 have a "spite" against any particular one, 

 if we felt so disposed. 



We may be awfully awkward friend B., 

 but I am sure none of us ever try to steal. 



FERTILIZATION OF THE QUKEN. 



A FURTHER DEVELOPMENT. 



HAVE not witnessed the meeting of a queen 

 honey bee with a drone, but last Augrust I wit- 

 nessed the meeting of a queen hiniil)lc bee and a 

 drone of that species, and if we consiilcr how closely 

 their habits in other respects resemble those of the 

 honey bee, we, probably, will not be very far amiss, 

 if we conclude that their habits in this respect are 

 similar. W^hile busily at work on the porch at hon- 

 ey, my attciitiim was ai-rcsted by two bumble bees, 

 one in close i)ursuit of the other. 'I'hev ai>peared to 

 be nearly cxhiiusted, and attempted to' lit:ht on the 

 posts to the poich se\ enil times, but fiiilinu- would 

 fly around and make the attt'nipt over, wliieli, owing 

 to the close pursuit of the drone, and the i)erpendic- 

 ular surface of the posts, was each time a failure. I 

 soon saw by the light colored down on the forehead 

 of the one in pursuit, that it was a drone, and be- 

 coming- iiUerested, observed their actions closely. 



The drone kept \ cry close to the queen, and when 

 she att<'n)pted to iight, struck against her with such 

 force as to cause her to loose her hold on the post, 

 and fall several feet, when they would resume their 

 flight again with the same results. After se\-eral 

 failures, while circling round, they struck my back 



and fell to the floor, where they mated and remained 

 for a few moments, when they slowly resumed their 

 flight coupled together. After they bad risen 4 or 5 

 feet from the ground, the queen by a series of revo- 

 lutions of her body released herself from the drone 

 and flew off. The drone continued his flig-ht for a 

 few rods, and fell to the ground dead, and in the con- 

 dition in which drones of the honey t>ee family are 

 said to be found under similar circumstances. 



It does not look reasonable that a queen bee, whose 

 wing-s are no more than sufficiently large to sustain 

 her own weight conveniently, should be able to mate 

 with a drone in flig-ht. The probabilities are, they 

 mate while at rest, and release themselves from the 

 drone by rolling themselves rapidly over, several 

 times in succession, when a few feet from the ground 

 on their return home. 



Queens seldom become fertile before the 7th or 8th 

 day, and f have no doubt that they can be fertilized 

 in confinement, if taken at about that age, and 

 placed with drones under a frame a ftw feet high 

 and covered with gnuze sufficiently strong- to confine 

 them. It should l>e placed where the stimulating 

 rays of the sun will fall on them, and be protected 

 from all drafts of air. ProbaV>ly a feed cf)mposed of 

 honey mixed with peppermint essence given to the 

 colony containing- the young queen, on the day pre- 

 vious" to the one on which the attempt is to be made, 

 would help to bring- about the right condition. 



Jerome Wiltse. 



Rulo, Nebraska, Feb. 14th, 1878. 



I am inclined to think the above gives us 

 the correct solution of the manner in which 

 the queen frees herself, although it seems 

 none of those who claimed to have witness- 

 ed the meeting, ever suggested as much. 

 If you allow a hee to sting your hand with- 

 out molestation, he releases himself, in pre- 

 cisely the way mentioned, by revolving his 

 body around the point of att.ichment ; and 

 it looks quite reasonable to suppose this is 

 the mode that instinct teaches both queens 

 and drones. 



I have no faith, my friend, in fertiliz-ation 

 in confinement, for all the conditions you 

 and others have mentioned, have been most 

 carefully complied with, in hundreds of in- 

 stances, by our most careful experimentoi's. 

 Let them fly, as God intended they should. 



CARIilN'S FOUNDATION CUTTER. 



OAN you make me something- like the cut below, 

 for cutting fdn., and if so what is it worth"' 

 The cutter to be round, of steel, thin and very 

 sharp. The cutter to turn when cutting so as not to 

 draw the fdn. as a knife sometimes does. To be the 

 size you think will best answer the purpose. 



C. R. Carlin. 

 Shreveport, La., Feb. 11th, 1878. 



CARLIN S FOUNDATION CUTTER, 



Heigh-ho! friend Carlin, the machine 

 works to a charm, and it does not need 

 soap, slippery elm, nor starch either, on the 

 cutter. Within an hour after your letter 

 was received, we had made one, of a round 

 piece of tin punched out with a round 

 punch, flattened and sharpened with a file 

 at the edges, put into a clieai» wooden 

 handle, and found that fdn. could be cut 

 as fast as you could wheel it around the 

 sheets. If you will allow ns to manufacture 

 them at 10c. each, I will pay you $10.00 for 

 the idea. 



Now I think I have made an invention 

 in connection with the cutter, and here it 

 is. If you wish a great numuer of small 



