1878. 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



238 



H<ipcs" but have now coiielndcd to wait awhile. We 

 inay yet have a fair season for honey. I have my 

 sections on the hives, bnt the nig-hts are so cold 

 they make slow work of it. Friend lioot, are you 

 not a little hard on our friend J. M, K. of Ala., in the 

 (5rowlery Department? From his letter to you, 7 

 would take him to be a beprinner, and not pi>!<tfd in 

 fdn. No doubt, he thought it was like natural 

 comb, already built out. J. M. Brooks. 



Elizabethtown, Ind., .June 7th, 1878. 



Perhaps I was a little severe on our friend, 

 for I had no doubt but that he was a novice, 

 like the rest of us, in, at least, some things ; 

 if he so understood it. I beg his pardon. 

 Tlie moral I wished to point out is, that we 

 are often to hasty in deciding a thing or 

 l)er8on to be a humbug, just because, from 

 our point of view, such seems to be the case; 

 everv body should be granted, at least, a 

 lie^vring, before we decide to condemn them. 



I don't know that I shall tell you any news, but I 

 will tell you how 1 fixed those metal corners. I put 

 (m a few. and, once in a while, I would bulg-e <)ne 

 out a little. Thougrht T. that don't just suit. So I 

 jfot a hard wood block, and cvit a g:roove across it. so 

 that the comers go into it, with a "squeeze and a 

 grin", jufit as deep as the frame. That holds them 

 close to the wood, giving- them no chance to spring 

 av.-ay, and I don't know as 1 want any iron block. 



BLOCK FOR PUTTING ON CORNERS. 



Xow put a screw through this block, and fasten it 

 to a good solid lap board, turn it just so as to be 

 handj', then, on cold stormy days, seat yourself by 

 the stove and work just as lively as you please. 



FIXING THE SPRING ON FOOT POWER SAWS. 



mn 



I fixed the spring of my foot-power saw, 

 by cutting a slot from the hole up to the 

 top, and then putting a washer on the 

 cord, so that, when not in use, I can just 

 slip it out of the spring, and that lets the 

 spring loose. Perhaps this would not do 

 for all, but it suits me very well. 



V. W. Kernet. 



Shirland, III, Feb. 14th, 1878. 



, _ In a former circular, I spoke of 

 ■A'^ using a wooden block in the absence 

 of an iron one. A block of hard wood an- 

 swers just about as well, but of course, "VAill 

 wear out sooner. Your device for retain ng 

 the elasticity of the spring, in the foot power 

 saw, is excellent. We have been in the hab- 

 it of turning the spring the other side about 

 occasionally; but this process soon causes 

 tlie spring to break. Your plan is the bet- 

 ter one. 



CAGING queen CELLS. 



I wish to know if you can furnish cages to cover 

 (lueen cells to use instead ox' cutting them out. 



Geo. J. Elam. 

 Marlin, Texas, June 10th, 1878. 



We can furnish thepi, but I do not l)elieve 

 tliey can be made to be a success. The idea 

 1ms been a great many times taken up, but 

 always abandoned sooner or later. Unless 

 a cage is so made as to reach clear through 

 the comb and is coA-ered with another cage on 

 the opposite side, the bees will very often 

 cait it entirely out; and even then, they oft- 

 en make such excavations in the comb, in 

 tlieir efforts to remove the foreign sub- 

 stance, that the mutilation, and the brood de- 

 stroyed, is of almost as much value, as the 

 queen saved; besides, what are youjgoingto 

 do with a queen hatched, in one of these 



cages? If taken out just the moment they 

 are hatched, they can be introduced geuer- 

 ally without troid)le ; but if allowed to re- 

 main imtil they get acquainted with the 

 bees, they are. so far as my experience goes, 

 almost useless property. I have never sue- 

 ceeded in introducing a virgin que^n by 

 caging. 



REPEATED SWARMING OUT. 



I have a hive that swarmed on the 6th of June; I 

 hived the swarm, and the next day it came out 

 again. I hived it again and gave it more room. 

 The next day it came out again, but part of the 

 swarm I kept in the box by throwing water on them. 

 The rest went to the woods, and clustered on a tree 

 .•jO feet high. I cut it down; aboiit half f.f the bees 

 remained *'down", and the rest clustered again on 

 a V)ig white oak 7.'» feet high. What remained below 

 I brought home the next day, and put them with 

 the part that remained in the hive, and they are 

 now doing finely. Now what was the cause of their 

 f^oing off? One-half are still in the woods hanging to 

 the limb of that tree. William A. Roln. 



Canton. Ohio, June 13th, 1878. 



I should guess, my friend, that your swarm 

 was a second swarm, and contained several 

 young queens, as is often the case, and that 

 the bees in the woods had one of tliese 

 queens. They will rarely stay out over 

 night in that 'way, unless a queen is witli 

 them. Still, This may be a mistake, for bees 

 do, at times, act very straugely. when under 

 the swarming impulse. A irame of brood, 

 would have saved all the trouble, and I 

 should never think of hiving any swarm, 

 without first getting a frame of unsealed 

 brood, to give them a start, and to hold 

 j them securely from all such temptations. 



I BLACK QUEENS. 



! I would like one black qiieen, just as black as you 



can make her. I have seen enough of Italians; 



: think them too closely allied to the "Old Boy" him- 



I self. K. NiCKEBSON. 



New Panama, Conn., May 28th, 1878. 



When I thought of offering black qtieens 



for sale, it was with no idea that anyone 



i would prefer them to Italians ; but "sure 



: enough, we have had several customers 



i wanting just them and no other. One friend 



to whom we sent a hybrid, because we were 



out of blacks, returned her, saying she 



would be of no yalue to him, and that he 



j must have a black queen. Aren't we funny, 



I some of usV ___„ 



GRAPE SUGAR AND FDN. 



I have used comb fdn. and grape sugar, and find 

 them both good things. I don't have any trouble 

 w^th the comb fdn. sagging and biilgring and break- 

 ing down. It works splendidly for me. 



Harlan, Iowa, June 3d, 1878. W. C. Forest. 



HOW TO GET RID OF DRONES. 



The queen is received. I placed her in the hive 

 the SHh, liberated her the lith, and found her all 

 right on the i;ith of thif month. She seems to be 

 very small. I can buy black bees, in box hives. 

 How can I disp<ipe of drones, without transferring 

 until after they have STramiedV 



Elmer S. Coodrich. 



Lebanon Springs, N. Y., May :J1st, '78. 



Queens are almost always small after ta- 

 king a long joimiey, but when they have 

 been a few days in'a strong colony. I think 

 you will tind them of the usual" size, al- 

 though there is quite a dilference in the size 

 of queens. It does not alwrivs follow, that 

 the largest are the most piolitic, for, on 

 looking up queens where there is an unusual 



