270 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTQRE. 



Aug. 



I admire your zeal and spirit in chasina: 

 your run-a-way swarm ; but I think you had 

 better leave the looking glasses at home 

 next time. 



P<iaP,)IiriON OF HYBRIDS AMON-T THE DOLLAR 

 » QUEENS, Ere. 



I wish you, queen raisers, wouUl let us know in 

 your advertisements what per cent of your queens 

 are pureU fertilized. I have d 'stroyed hybrid 

 queens enoui^h this summer (in dm tiling- up swarms) 

 to <ro into the dollar queen business myself; but, if 

 otluTS are not more Cirtain of ^'•(-■ttinf.'- <iueens pure- 

 ly fertilized than I am, the tc'tuii,'' business wouldn't 

 lie protit:ible. Every body keci>s bees here. Box 

 hives and black bees are the rule. I made one ef- 

 fort to Italianize my bees, and they are all hybrids 

 now. 



Tell our friends, if they want an extractor, to buy 

 one ready made. I bouKht Kearin^ from you and 

 had one put up here; it c ist me^ibout eleven dollars. 



\Vc are havin'g- a g-reat harvest of honev dew. 



Aullville, Mo., July 10th, 1878. A. S. Davison. 



Large apiaries of ])ure It-;ilian bees, I pre- 

 sume, will give the largest proportion of 

 l)ure queens. Of the queens we have bought 

 not more than one in ten have proved hy- 

 In-ids ; I think those reared in our own api- 

 ary will average still better. 



work as upon the white clover. The honey seems 

 to be secreted on the inner surface of the large tulip 

 shaped flower, from which he licks the honey a'* 

 your cow would lick the bottom of her salt troiig-h. 

 There is not emus^h to be visible to the eye, but it 

 is distinctly perceptible to the ta^te ; so I hardly 

 think the bees would g'et a table spoonful of honey 

 from one flower, as stated in Aug. Gleanin<?s, 1877, 

 pag'e 218. It does not contain even a drop, much 

 less a spoonful. So much for my observations du- 

 ring' the present summer ; onlj% for oug-ht that I 

 know, it m vv not alwavs be so. G. W. Haven. 



Blooming-d!ile, Mich., July 10th, 1878. 



P. S. In building' your new f,K;tory fail not to put 

 in a "central stairway." G. W. H. 



I think the statement that a single flower 

 would furnish a spoonful of honey should 

 have read, a spoonful in a season. It is quite 

 certain that the quantity of honey is some- 

 times greater than you have mentioned, for 

 I have heard of tlie children gathering th^ 

 flowers expressly for the honey they con- 

 tained. I have seen a single Ja])an lily 

 which contained several quite large drops of 

 honey, sparkling on the inner sides of its pet- 

 als. May not such be the case witn the tulip 

 flower V 



I will try to remember the "stairway.''' 



SCISSORS FOR CLIPPING QUEEN'S WINGS; AN IM- I 

 PROVEMENT SUGGESTED. 1 



My neighbor, J. B. Keeler, showed me a pair of ; 

 scissors he received from you. I have a pair that I ! 

 think is very much better for clipping queen's 

 wings. The points are bent so that you can slip 

 one point under a queen's wing as she sits on the 

 comb; or when she tucks her head under a clump of ; 

 bees vou can clip her wings and she will not know ; 

 It. With the straight points you can't do it. If you I 

 will try a pair like mine, I think you will find them \ 

 .iust the thing. I got them in St. Louis, of a dealer 

 in surgical instruments, and had to pay $1.50 for 

 them. I think you could get them and sell them 

 for a less price. J.M.Valentine. 



Carlinville, 111., July 13th, 1878. 



Yaur idea is a good one, but the scissors 

 would necessarily be considerably more ex- 

 pensive, and as a good many who practice 

 artiflcial swarming are beginning to doubt 

 the advisability of clipping queens, I hardly 

 think it will pay. Should we, however, adopt 

 such scissors, we will, at least, give you the 

 credit of the suggestion, my friend. 



STAINING the WOOD POR SECTION BOXES. 



How would it do to stain or dye section boxes a 

 dark color? Would't it prevent their tarnishing, 

 and tend by contrast to make the honey look 

 whiter? J. E. Dean. 



Fishkill, N. Y., July 18th, 1878. 



It is a fact that the wood gets dark and 

 unattractive, if the sections remain very 

 long waiting for a customer, and, since you 

 have mentioned it, I will say that I have 

 l)eeu thinking of staining the wood a dark 

 IHirple. similar t<i the- way in which the Indi- 

 ans st liu their basket work. This purple is 

 brigiit and attractive, is very cheap, would 

 cause the honey to show off to a good advan- 

 tage, and is, I think, permanent. 



Seven minutes later : — I have just been and 

 dyed a section, but none of our folks seem in- 

 clined to pronounce it a success. This is to 

 notify everybody against patenting the in- 

 vention. 



WHITE WOOD OR TULIP. 



The sum of my observations on whitewood, or 

 j)npijJ:r (note the spelling), or tulip tree, is that it 

 l)looms lUiring white clover. When your bee wishes 

 to extract honey from whitewood, he d )cs not go to 



MOVING SHORT DISTANCES, TRANSFERRING, FINDING 

 QUEENS, ETC. 



I have some swarms in an inconvenient place. 

 Could I. by confining them to the hive— say 48 hours, 

 move them a distance of 7.5 yds.? or would it bs^ 

 better to let them alone until v.'inter? I finished 

 transferring my last hive yesterday. I take them 

 into my house, as I do not see how any one can 

 transfer, at this season, without making the honey 

 run. After transferring I cover them with a sheet 

 or a musquito bar, and let them remain in the room 

 until they fix up things. I have had no robbing. 



I did something yesterday of which I feel quite 

 proud. I had been watching my last box hive, for a. 

 second swarm, which finally came out and I put 

 them in a hive, but all went back; a second time 

 they came out and returned, leaving in the hive a 

 queen with about 20 bees around her. I had no tim.> 

 to watch any longer, so I concluded to fix things un 

 myself. I dipped up bees from the old hive, and 

 put into the new; then removed the old hive and 

 put the new one in its place. I took the old box 

 into the house, transferred the combs to two new 

 hives: divided the bees and gave one a queen and 

 the other a queen cell, and covered each with a mus- 

 quito bar. So I made 3 swarms, and had 3 queen 

 cells left over, for which I had need. I wish to Ital- 

 ianize my apiary, but groan to think of the labor 

 involved in catching 25 black queens. Can you t<?ll 

 me some easy plan. Henky B. Shaw. 



Lake St. John P. O., Coneirdia Pa., La., July 16, '78. 



Your bees in an inconvenient place could 

 be moved best in weather so cold that they 

 would not fly for several days ; but, if you 

 do not care to wait so long, you can get 

 them (mt by catching the returning bees on 

 an empty comb for several days, and carry- 

 ing th^m back. Shutting them up, I fear, 

 would do but little good. "Your plan of ar- 

 tilicial swarming and transferring is all 

 right. There is no way of Italianizing with- 

 out hunting up your black queens, but our 

 boys would liud your 2-5 black queens, and 

 think it only fun. Get your neighbors wlio 

 are learners in the business to help you, 

 esi)ecially the bovs. Their sharp eyes will 

 And a (lueen, after a little practice, in a 

 twinkling; and if you can get a half dozen 

 of them at once, and make a "•bee" of it, you 

 will And it but a short job, and lots of fun, 

 besides. 



CLIPPING QUEENS, ETC. 



I enused the denth of a fine youngqueen yesterday 

 by clipping her wiuT, and then pl'.clng her back o-i 



