236 



GLEAI^IXGS I:N^ BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



called so loud, that she could be heard dis- 

 tinctly at the farther end of our large work 

 room. Strange to tell, the Henderson 

 queens have always been celebrated for 

 their voices: and just before the P. O. de- 

 partment closed on them, they were begin- 

 ning, as it seemed to me, to call daily m a 

 Itlaintive way. to be allowed to get oiit, al- 

 though I had no place in the world .to put 

 them then. As the days passed on, it 

 seemed to me that their little voices were 

 growing weaker and weaker, and, just be- 

 fore the bottle cage came to light, they had 

 almost ceased to remind one, of their nar- 

 row prison, where they lay dying (they did 

 not die though), and ail for the want of just 

 one dro]) of water, which I, in my igno- 

 rance, had failed to supply them, I do not 

 know where this talkative queen went, but 

 presume some of you have her. Who knows 

 but that the day may not be far distant, 

 when talking queens may be as much a 

 thing of reality, as the talking phonogiaphV 

 Queens may often be heard teeting, when 

 at work in their hives. After you have 

 once heard the sound you will readily rec- 

 ognize it always aftenvard. The 'word 

 teeting scarcely expresses it; it is rather 

 more like "zeep." '-zeep,'' '"zeep." I do not 

 know why friend H. should have the most 

 talkative queens, unless they are stronger 

 and more robust. Perhops he raises them 

 all from a single mother, and this mother 

 has astonishing powers of voice. While the 

 sound is being produced, a peculiar tremu- 

 ulous motion of the wings and body is ob- 

 served, something similar to that of "locusts 

 and katy-dids ; Avill some of our entomolo- 

 gical friends tell us more about thisV 



*■ iBi ^ 



SOME VAIiUABl.E HINTS FROm AN OliD 

 SUBSCRIBER. 



^jpSt^EAR GLEANINGS :— In looking Over your 

 Sjijl) pages, I observe on page 181 Sheperrd's meth- 

 ^^ r.d of swarming. Has lie seen Quinbv's meth- 

 od represented on page 158 of "Mvsteries" of Bee- 

 Keeping?" I think Quinhy's very good. Friend S's 

 style of having a place for eventhing and every- 

 thing in place should be adopted by all. 



"A woman's opinion of R. R. and express Go's 

 doings," I fully endorse; you will also find Orange 

 Judd's opinion in the Am. AitricuUnrist for 1S68, page 

 6, and Ch. Dadant's in the A. B. J. I could tell a 

 few hard stories myself, but no matter for that. 



Friend Haines' bee-feeder seems something like 

 my own, which I have used with much satisfaction 

 for the last two seasons. Two pieces of y« in. board 

 are tacked together and a hole bored through, jiist 

 large enough for a tight fit for the neck of the jar 

 with a cloth over it. Now take the pieces apart, 

 and nail them together again, ^vith a piece ot wire 

 cloth between them, and you will have a feeder at 

 once portable and efficient. The two pieces of pine 

 should have the grain cross each other and an en- 

 trance cut out of the lower one. Place it on the 

 bottom boai-d outside, with the entrance "looking" 

 into the hive, or close to the division board, in same 

 way, inside of hive. Some of my small stocks 

 sucked a pint jar emptj- in 10 hours last spring, 

 showing efficiency in both the feeder and the fed. 



In all your engravings, we have never seen a lamp 

 nurserj- in full blast. Can we have one some time? 



I shr)uld like to see a cheap and efficient guide for 

 grinding plane irons, chisels, &c. There are such 

 tools in market, but such as I have seen are quite 

 heavy and expensive. Something made of hard 

 wood and well soaked in oil is wanted. 



I often think that hives "in the Hat," to be put to- 

 gether with a dovetail running from top to bottom, 

 would be a handy arrangement. If vou will get a 6 

 lb. box of Kingsford's starch, it will" give you the 



idea complete. The worst feature about it might 

 be doing away with those iron hoops for putting 

 hives together, but then you could charge a little 

 I more for the hive. It makes the neatest box lever 

 saw. 



1 have been using a Bingham smoker latel.v, and 

 ! Mked it very well; but, finding the need of a spark 

 arrester, I put a piece of fine wire cloth over the 

 nozzle and drove an open-top thimble over it, to 

 hold it on, and am perfectly suited with it. I bum 

 very rotten wood, which throws sparks sometimes. 

 A damper would be handy. 



In making wide frames for sections, I put the top 

 bar on with small brass butt hinges (made here by 

 the ton). This allows the top bar to be raised at 

 one end, and shut firmly down on the sections. keei>- 

 ing them firmly in place, and allowing them to be 

 easily taken out in the same way. A loop atone end 

 might be handv. Wm. H. Kirk. - 



Waterbury, Conn.. July 29th, 1878. 



The light box has some advantages over 

 the bag that Quinby figures, for the bees 

 seem to take to it almost instinctively, 

 crawling into the holes as if they thought it 

 was a home made on purpose for them. 



I presume many of us have had our pa- 

 tience tried with the Express Co"s. There 

 is one point I would emphasize. Before you 

 send a package, inquire what the expense 

 will be ; if too much, don't send it. Almost 

 any express agent can tell you before hand 

 what the charge will be for a given amount, 

 to a given place, and if this price is more 

 than we can afford, can we not decline pay- 

 ing it in a pleasant wayV AVe do not dictate 

 in other kinds of business what the prices 

 shall be ; and very few people know all the 

 circumstances that make up the charges. 

 As we have now aii express clerk of our 

 own, we know better how it is. If charges 

 have been more than seem to be right, let us 

 I know, and we will explain, or have it recti- 

 I fled. The Express Co's cannot carry as 

 I cheaply as the mails, for they are responsi- 

 ■ ble for loss or injury to an article, while the 

 P. O. department is' not. 



We are ju.st now at wor1<: on the feasibility 

 \ of making hives, as starch boxes are made, 

 without nails. My ambition is to have them 

 made up, seasoned, and painted, and at the 

 same old prices we have been selling them 

 for this summer. It will require very ex- 

 pensive machinery, and great accuracy, to 

 dispense with the iron hooi)S, but I think it 

 may be done. If we then succeed in getting 

 a low rate of freight to all parts of the coun- 

 try, it will be a blessing all around. 



We have used spark arresters on our 

 smokers, but they are so quickly filled with 

 soot, that we have long ago discarded them. 

 Yours being on the outside, however, may 

 work better. Many have written about 

 having the top bar to the broad frame re- 

 movable, but we have never found any ne- 

 cessity for it at all. The sections come out 

 very easily, when you once get the hang of 

 them, after the frame is lifted out of the 

 hive. 



— ■<■ ^ 



HO IV TO R.\ISE QUEENS FOR MARKET. 



BY E. M. HAYnCBST, K.VNSAS CITY, MO. 



Yfr DO not hope to say any thing in regard to queen 

 Jf|| raising, that will be new to your old readers, as 

 ^ the subject has been so thoroughly treated in 

 back numbers of Gleanings; but for the benefit of 

 beginners, I will give you mj' method. 



For nuclei, I use a hive similar to the Simplicity; 

 that is, a plain box, made the same size as the Lang- 



