1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



297 



of failures at all, but again, almost every 

 queen is lost. It was suggested, a few years 

 ago, when these queens hatched by artificial 

 heat were first put into the market, that 

 they would prove less hardy ; but I believe 

 that such has not proven to be the case, for 

 some of our best stocks have been built up 

 from these, and tliey have proved just as 

 long lived as any. 



After your combs have been in the nur- 

 sery a few days, you will have to keep a look 

 out for moth worms, or they will get into 

 your queen cells, and make trouble. See 



BEE MOTH, 



It may be well to remark, that these vir- 

 gin queens are introduced to full blood Ital- 

 ians, with much less trQ.uble than to either 

 blacks or hybrids ; they are also accepted by 

 a small colony or nucleus, better than by a 

 full hive ; and by any hive that has been a 

 clay or two queenless, better than by one 

 from which a laying queen has just been 

 taken. "With the lamp nursery it is an easy 

 matter to raise queens by the thousand, at a 

 cost generally not exceeding 25c each ; but 

 the most expensive part of the work comes 

 afterward— getting them fertilized. At 

 present, I know of no better way than the 

 one given in queen rearing and artifi- 

 cial SWARMING (giving each queen a small 

 colony); but we shall doubtless make rapid 

 progress in the matter, if the demand for 

 queens continues to increase, as it has of 

 late. 



TOlGNOWmTTSi [Reseda odanita). 

 We have had little practical experience with 

 this plant, beyond a small patch of the tall 

 variety in the garden. Although this kind 

 did not have the perfume of the ordinary 

 small kind, it was humming with bees for 

 months ; and, as they work on it all day, it 

 will prove valuable for keeping them busy 

 during the fall months. The following we 

 extract from Lane's catalogue. 



"If cultivated to that extent that it might or ought 

 to he, it would certainly furnish a rich pasturage for 

 bees. A small patch of it will perfume the air for 

 <iuite a distance; and were it cultivated by acres for 

 liee pasturage alone, vre should be favored with a 

 fragrant atmosphere that would vie with the spicy 

 breezes of Ceylon, aud a honey that would outdo the 

 famed honey of Hymettusfor aromatic flavor. 



"It blossoms in the latter part of June and contin- 

 ues in bloom until cold weather (heavy frosts do not 

 injure it); indeed, we are informed by our Sovithern 

 friends that with t-hem it continues in full bloom 

 during the entire winter. There are many varieties, 

 but we think all are inferior, for field culture, to 

 Par.son's New Giant. The seeds, which are very 

 small, shoiild be sown in the spring, sowing thinly 

 and covering lightly, in drills at least three feet 

 apart. Would not advise sowing broadcast." 



Tl/SXIt'XWMlEniiAsck'jnasCornuti). This 



plant is celebrated not for the honey it pro- 



, duces, althougli it doubtless furnishes a 



good supply, but for its queer, winged mass- 

 es of pollen, which attach themselves to the 

 bee's feet, and cause him to become a crip- 

 ple, if not to lose his life. Every fall, we 

 have many inquiries from new subscribers, 

 in regard to this queer phenomenon. Some 

 think it a parasite, othere a protuberance 

 growing on the bees foot, and othei-s a 

 winged-insect enemy of the bee. We give 

 below an engraving of the curiosity magni- 

 fied at a ; and also of a mass of them attached 

 to the foot of a bee. 



POLLEN OF THE MILKWEED, ATTACHED TO 

 A bee's foot. 



It is the same that Prof. Riley alluded to, 

 when he recommended that the milkweed 

 be planted to kill oft' the bees when they be- 

 came troublesome to the fruit grower. The 

 folly of such advice— think of the labor and 

 expense of starting a plantation of useless 

 weeds just to entrap honey bees — becomes 

 more apparent, when we learn tliat it is per- 

 haps only the old and enfeebled bees that 

 are unable to free themselves from these ap- 

 pendages, and hence the milkweed can 

 scarcely be called an enemy. The append- 

 age, it-will be observed, looks like a pair of 

 wings, and they attach themselves to the bee 

 by a glutinous matter which quickly hard- 

 ens, so that it is quite difficult to remove, if 

 not done when it is first attached. 



EiSOT]SSIlWOB.T [Lemuruii Cardi- 

 aca.) Quite a number of the bee folks in- 

 sist that motherwort is superior, as a honey 

 plant, to either catnip, hoar hound, balm, 

 wild bergamot, or any of the large family 



MOTHERWORT. 



of LabiatfB, and I presume sueli may be the 

 case under some circumstances, or in favor- 



