360 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



inrtuco to have it <lonf', and make mysolf head-quai^ 

 tcrs for bee >;ii)iplics. Sec, of this place. The coun- 

 try atioimils in wilil iiowors, and even nf)w bees are 

 niakiu^' honey from K'ohlcn rod. 



I have l)eeri transferrin'.'- up to the 7th of Oct. right 

 alono-, but put in most of Die honey. 



In huntins: bees, I use a preparation of anise, al- 

 cohol, honey, and water, and w ith my thumb, as I 

 pass alou<r, I wet the leaves and sticks for from 10 

 to;,'Orods; then set my box in the center and wait 

 tor bees. I have had bees come 2 miles against the 

 wind, and lined them out and found their trees. I 

 do not look for bees on flowers at all, since frost, 

 and since I have had this scent. 



There has been a large yield of honey hero, this 

 year. I have taken 1.5 lbs. off from the under side of 

 hives, sitting high up from the ground. If any be- 

 ginner wishes any information from me from what 

 I have learned in so short a time, by experience, I 

 will gladly write him on application. 



In a year from now, I shall probably have 50 

 swarms, all Italians, with all the modern improve- 

 ments. 



I have sent for Italian queens this fall, but could 

 get none as their stocks were exhausted. If you 

 have any yet, and it is not too late, send me one of 

 the best. I will remit at once. Keep me posted in 

 improvements, and I shall buy as far as I need. 

 Funds shall not be wanting; if I see a thing is an 

 Improvement, I will adopt it. 



If you wish to hear from me again, say so. 



E. A. MOHOAN. 



Arcadia, Wis., Oct. 9, 1878. 



To be sure I want to hear from j'ou again, 

 my friend, and althon<?h yon have had but 

 about 3 montirs ex})erience, I have sent you 

 one of our best $3.00 queens for your valua- 

 able and i)ractical article. Th"e secret of 

 your success has been your intense earnest- 

 ness, industry, and enthusiasm, and I only 

 hope it may liold out; that you may contin- 

 ue to work day and niffht, and not" turn off 

 on some otlier track, as those of your tem- 

 perament are disposed to do (you see, I 

 know, for I am one of that kind), and finally 

 fetch up in Blasted Hopes. The bees you 

 send are very fair hybrids. Your idea of 

 scattering- the scent for bee-hunting is ex- 

 cellent. I have never tried it, but as soon 

 as you made the suggestion, I knew that it 

 would be a splendid arrangement, from hav- 

 ing seen bees follow along where honey luid 

 been scattered. Go on; work Avitli" your 

 bees all winter, if you choose; but look out, 

 study your books, and be careful. 



QUKENS OTATIIVG TWICE. 



AN UNWELCOME DISCOVERY. 



MUST confess that 1 condemned those dollar 

 queens a little too soon; they have chanaed 

 wonderfully in color in a few weeks. One be- 

 gan laying in 2 or ;? days aft(u- being set free, and 

 proihicod liright yellow workers; the other, I i-ather 

 doubt if she was im()rognated, as she did not lay un- 

 til about the 25th or 2t)th day after she was liberated, 

 and In examining the colony, the 30th day after she 

 was liberated, I thought she looked asif she had 

 .lust met the drone. She had a small thread-like 

 substance protruding from her abdomen, imlike 

 anything I ever saw before or since; however, she 

 has since produced fine yellow bees. 



I can fully recommend the bottle queen cages. I 

 caged a black queen in one, on Sept. 9, and she is 

 .iust as lively now, Oct. 9, as when I put her in. I 

 have supplied the bottle with water once, and have 

 put in bees as fast as the old ones died. 



I have now U colonies; 9 full bloods, 1 hybrid, and 

 4 blacks. They yielded well this season,' and if I 

 had had 1,000 lbs. more in pound section boxes, I 

 co\ild easily have sold it all here at home. The price 

 held at 2lle. the entire seas(m; grocers retail at 350. 



I use the Langstroth hives, one story, v;ith a high 

 cap. Would it not be .just as well to pack the lower 

 Story in chatf, by making jvn outer shell and tilling 



in with chaff, and putting a cushion on top for win- 

 tering, as a regular chaff hive ? 



How can I fasten section boxes together to be put 

 on top of the frames? How can you tell whether a 

 queen is impregnated or not, late in the fall, when 

 they have stopped rearing brood? W. E. Yoder. 



Lewisburg, Pa., Oct. 9, 1878. ^^ 



Now I am going to make ?r^nfession, if 

 confession it should be called, ^t is in re- 

 gard to queens' mating twice. Tliis idea 

 was taken up several years ago, and many 

 testimonies indicated' ])retty strongly that 

 sucli is sometimes the case, at least while 

 the (pieen is only a few days old. A few 

 have advanced the idea that old queens 

 sometimes leave the hive to meet tlie drones, 

 but their testimony, when the matter was 

 sifted, seemed to be based on observations 

 very carelessly made. Well, you know I 

 have introduced a great many imported 

 queens. Most of them would lay in 3 or 4 

 days; some would wait nearly, or quite, a 

 week. Last fall, one waited so long before 

 laying that I began to fear I should not see 

 any of her progeny before sjtring. One day, 

 in looking over the hive, I found a thread 

 like appendage attached to her. that looked 

 very much like the sliriveled up appendage 

 indicative of her having recently mated. 

 Said I. 



"Old lady, if I did not know positively 

 that you were imported from Italy, I should 

 say you had met a drone al)Out yesterday." 

 Did I sell such a queen witliout mention- 

 ing this? To be sure I did, for, as she must 

 have been at least two months old, I thought 

 the thing impossible. Two customers have 

 this summer accused me of sending them 

 imported fpieens that M'ere not fertilized. I 

 rei^lied ratlier severely, I fear, that I could 

 not do such a thing, it' I would. A fev/ days 

 ago. Will asked me if Tremontani could 

 send an unfertile cpieen across the ocean, 

 and she be fertilized here. I told him it was 

 impossible. He then said that lie saw one 

 of them which, he felt sure, had just met the 

 drone. I assured him he had made a mis- 

 take, and the matter was dropped. In sel- 

 ling so many queens, I liave had ample 

 chance to get at facts, and although we have 

 never thougJit of sending out a queen that 

 did not lay, this fall, several have written 

 that the (pieens have flown out after being 

 introduced; but it never occurred to me, un- 

 til I read the above letter, that they might 

 require a second fertilization after being a 

 long time deprived of an opportunity of lay- 

 ing eggs in tlie usual way. A queen, after a 

 long voyage, looks very much like a virgin 

 queen. Is it possible tliat she is reduced to 

 the condition of a virgin (lueenV This pluise 

 is, I know, a damaging one to tlie impcnting 

 business, and there may be those who will 

 say it is only an ingenious excuse for send- 

 ing out virg"in (lueens. I can only give you 

 the simple facts; if it hurts the (pieen busi- 

 ness, it will have to be hurt. I have sent 

 virgin (jueens several times wliere they were 

 ordered, but I liave never yet lieard of one's 

 being introduced. All the queens sent out 

 from our apiary shall be, as tliey always have 

 been, laying (lueens. I do not believe, for a 

 minute, tliiit Ti-eniontani ever sent a virgin 

 queen across the ocean; neither do Ibelieve 

 those of whom I have purchased (pieens ev- 

 er sent a virgin queen. If queens really do 



