162 



GLEANINGS LN BEE CULTUEE. 



May 



Whether they are the cause o- not, for my part, "I 

 shall fight it but on that line, If it takes all summer." 



I put 19 stocks in \N-inter trim, but, ha\'ln>r moved 

 them October 1st, losing- about \i of them, they 

 look now quite scaly. I see some honey in sections 

 and "prize cases." I am perfectly astonished that 

 bee keepers, who take so much pride in getting 

 honey in nice shape for market, are so very taste- 

 less in the section itself. Their sections look as if 

 gotten out with a broad ax. Wm. H. Kirk. 



Waterbury. Conn., Feb. 20th, 1878. 



The matter you have mentionetl, has been 

 several times suggested, but I am quite con- 

 fident that it is all a mistiike. to suppose the 

 stings have an>i:hing to do with the troubles 

 mentioned. Bee keepers have boils, paraly- 

 sis, aches and pains, and sometimes have to 

 submit to amputation; but do you thmk they 

 have more such troubles than the rest of 

 humanity? Our best physicians say the stings 

 have the same effect "as blistering by the 

 agency of Spanish flies ; acute, but inflicting 

 no i>ermanent inj luy . Some mineral poisons 

 leave in the system a foreign matter that 

 may become the cause of very stubborn 

 maladies, but I think nature has"^ wisely ar- 

 ranged it, so tliat this shall not be the case 

 ■with stings and the bites of insects. They 

 sometimes produce death by acute inflama- 

 tion, but I think leave no lasting poison in 

 the system. 



HOW DID SHE GET THERE? 



About two weeks ago, I examined all of my bees, 

 and found the Italian queens all right, also the 

 blacks. In about a week, robbing commenced in 

 good earnest, and we have had more than enough of 

 it. They commenced on one of my swarm^ of blacks, 

 and got into the hive before I was aware of it. I 

 could do nothing but watch and wait for night. 

 About three o'clock, however, in the afternoon, they 

 dragged the queen out, dead, when I went for them 

 in dead earnest. I drove out all that I could, into 

 another stronger swarm, and when I had taken the 

 racks all out, in one corner of the hive, in a bunch of 

 bees about the size of an orange, I discovered one of 

 those nice Italian queens you sent me, last summer. 

 Now, the question is, how came she there. The rob- 

 bers came from a neighbor's, 20 rods off. His hive, 

 with a nice swarm of young Italians, was 30 feet 

 away, with brood all the way from eggs to hatching. 

 I escorted his queen home' and all was well. Nt)w, 

 I wish to know if your Italian ladies are in the habit 

 of taking up their bed and board in some other 

 ladies' home. She looked rather sheepish and very 

 yellow to be caught awav from home. 



Wm. L. King, Sodus, Mich., April 6th, 1878. 



I can only surmise that she swarmed out, 

 and the bees clustered on the robbing hive, 

 and followed in with the general melee; as 

 soon as the bees lost sight of her, they 

 mostly went back to their own hive, and she 

 staid in the knot in the corner, until you 

 found and released her. The case illustrates 

 the general demoralization that ensues when 

 robbing gets once started in an apiary. 



Mr. 



CONVENTIONS. 



says, the proceedings of the National 



Convention ought to be so%vn broadcast, especially 

 among small bee keepers, wiio have but little honey; 

 for they throw their honey on the market for just 

 what they can get, and, in that way, spoil the mar- 

 ket for large producers. 1 think the market which 

 a small bee- keeper can spoiL is a poor one for a 

 large bee-keeper. I wonder if these large bee-keep- 

 ers were not small bee-keepers, at one time. I think 

 that 1 got just as much per lb. for my small lot of 

 honey, as some of the large producers did for theirs; 

 and perhaps more than some did. The man who 

 wants to buy hcmey does not look at the bee-keeper, 

 but at the honey; and, if the honey is good, it will 

 bring a good price; it does not matter where it 

 comes from. I, for my part, set my price from 20 to 

 2.5 cents per lb., and if "they do not want to pay that. 



I keep it until they do pay it. Had I kept my honey 

 at home, I would have got 2,5 cts. per lb. instead of SX) 

 cts. I hope you are not afraid of small bee-keepers. 

 John Boerstleh. 

 Gllead, Calhoun Co., Ills. 



I assure you, my friend, I am not afraid of 

 small bee keepers, neither am I afraid that 

 the conventions will do any serious harm, 

 even if they do waste a great deal of valua- 

 ble time in tjilking. I confess it does seem 

 a little funny, to hear of their reports, decis- 

 ions and resolutions, in regard to the fdn., 

 when tlie bee keepers of almost the whole 

 world are using it successfully year after 

 year. After every body has forgotten that 

 the matter was ever discussed at all, they 

 will probably swing round laboriously, and 

 resolve that it is a success. Now I think of 

 it, I am wasting my time, forgetting that the 

 tons that are now being manufactured and 

 sold, speak louder and plainer, than all the 

 fine addresses or printed effusions could pos- 

 sibly do. 



THE NEW FEEDER. 



When I noticed the feeder represented in the last 

 No. of Gleanings, 1 supposed that I could lay my 

 hand upon a similar one that I have used several 

 years. All the difference is that mine is square in- 

 stead of round. The step on which the bees stand to 

 feed, is just wide enough, and deep enough, to fill 

 the entrance of the hive, so as to exclude robbers, 

 and to shut the bees in the hive, if desired. I think 

 the square form is most conrenient, as it is just as 

 easily mule as the round one, and occupies less 

 room. Who the inventor is, I can not say. It was 

 introduced into Michigan in connection with Gil- 

 more's patent bee house and hives, and I am confi- 

 dent that the same arrangement was also introduced 

 into your state. I have not used it for some time 

 past, and the children have mislaid it. 



Now I shall not hesitate to use it, whenever I need 

 it, even if the unnamed gent should secure a patent, 

 or have it take on his name. Your offer of .?10. is 

 very liberal, but I am quite sure you can manufac- 

 ture, sell and use the thing, and keep the SIO. in 

 vour own pocket. L. W. Bodwell. 



Ann Arbor, Mich., April 4th, 1878. 



I quite agre€ with you, my friend, and I 

 knew the style of feeder was not new ; but 

 the one showTi was particularly easy to 

 make, and I wished to reward our friend 

 for calling my attention to it. The idea is 

 not patentable, and any one can make and 

 use either form, as much as they choose. 



warning to beginners about exchanging hives 

 IN the S-\me yard. 



I saw it stated, that, if bees were moved to a new 

 stand during very cold weather, they would not get 

 confused, lost, &c. So during a pretty heavy snow 

 for this climate, in Jan. last, 1 exchanged places 

 with 4 of my hives, trying to get them in passa- 

 ble order and arrangement: for Novice is always 

 crying out for good looks in the apiary. I had differ- 

 ent sizes and shapes of hives, and wanted to get all 

 of a sort in a row. It turned warm in a few days, and 

 the bees killed one another considerably, in spite of 

 me; and when I came to examine them, three or 

 four queens, which were there a short time before, 

 were missing. The exchanging of hives did it, and I 

 have learned one lesson. My best queen, Italian, 

 was lost. 



Again, I had 2 hives, 6 feet apart from north to 

 south, and moved them westward 2 feet each day, 

 for several days. I noticed that a few Italian bees 

 from one of the colonies moved, got into a hive of 

 blacks, and they still are with them. The black 

 queen was laying properly before the moving, but, 

 when examined 3 or 4 days afterward, she was not 

 there, as 20 queen cells and the absence of eggs 

 pro\-ed. The strong Italians had killed her. 



I have adopted the Langstroth frame, and Sim- 

 plicity hive, &c., and think 1 will hold on to it. I 

 have tried 3 or 4 other kinds. N. C. Steele. 



Kossuth, Miss., March 15th 1878. 



