1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



379 



From Dift'erejit Fields. 



^jiPUCH has been said about queens that 

 _£\^ occasionally ])roduce very dark daugh- 

 — ^^^ ters. As most, if not all, of the queens 

 we import from Italy occasionally do this, I 

 can not think it any i)roof of iminirity. 

 Where the maiority of them are dark, tlie 

 queen is certainly not a desirable one to 

 rear queens from for ssile, but I can not dis- 

 cover that the bees are in any way inferior 

 as honey gatlierers. 



DARK QUEENS FROM A PURE ITALIAN MOTHER. 



Two j'e':irs ago this coming' fall, I purchased, as a 

 tested queen, a young queen raised from larv;i? ob- 

 tained from you. Last summer, I raised queens for 

 my small apiary. Most of the ()ueens were like 

 their mother, and most of them had well marked 

 bees; but two were as black as natives. I killed 

 them both. Now this year, the first (lueen T raised 

 was black. I kept her' awhile and half of her bees 

 were black. I raised some queens from her not 

 quite as dark as she. I have raised two queens 

 since, from my old queen, under similar circum- 

 stances, nnd they are both as yellow, nice queens as 

 any I had last year. Would you think a queen that 

 breeds such black queens, occasionallv, pure and 

 purely fertilized? That's the question I would like 

 to ask you. 



The larva^ you sent liefore came in good order, 

 and the bees did their part well, but I made some 

 bad work transferring the cells, so I only got two 

 queens where I expected four. 



You, sometimes, in Glt-.aninos, call a pure queen 

 that has met a black or mixed drone a hybrid. That 

 is not right, as 1 understand it, and as you occupy 

 the position of teacher to a good many rrnl. novices, 

 you should talk straight. C. M. Whitney. 



New Milford, O., Aug. 19, 18V8. 



A queen that iiroduces one or two banded 

 bees has been so long called hybrid, by gen- 

 eral consent, that I do not know how we 

 should go al)out to change it, even if it were 

 decided to be an error. Slie may be ever so 

 nice and yellow, yet, if her bees are hybrid, 

 she is so pronounced and sold. 



FLORIDA. 



Find enclosed SI. 00 and postal card for 1,5 cts., for 

 which send mo a hig smoker. I lost mine in the 

 woods. 



Bees are doing well. I have .50 good stocks, and 

 am Italianizing them now. Our best bloom, the 

 cabbage palmetto, was most of it washed out by 

 every day showers, while it >\as in blossom. 



Fdn. is a big thing. I am using a hive like the 

 Simplicity, except that I use tlat top and bottom 

 boards, both alike. 



Success to the new shop. Bo sure to put a stair- 

 way up in the center of it, with a clear way around 

 it. 



Isn't there any such thing as our getting a chance 

 to send queens again, by maiiy The late onlcr cuts 

 me off in the cold, as I am 125 milc's from an express 



Oflice. K. II. MfllNTYUE. 



Daytona, Fla., Sept. 33, 1S7S. 



Yes, sir; one of our Yankee friends lias 

 invented a bo.x that the 1\ M. G. says will 

 do, and by another season, we think we 

 sliall be all riglit again. 



HOME-MADE BUZZ-SAWS, MAKING HIVES BY HAND, 

 ETC. 



A year ago, we— wife and I— saw your advertise- 

 ment in American .■Uniciiltiirist, obtained A B C, and 

 subscrilied for Gr.EANiNOS, and read them. AV(^ af- 

 terwards ])rocurc(l a hive, smoker, etc., of you, all 

 of which seem to us to Vie "tip-top." AV(? made nine 

 two-story hi\-c'S, with frames and sections to suit, 

 transferred four swarms of black bees from old box 



hives, and in due time divided them, making nine 

 swarms. 



We Italianized .5 of them, got 370 section boxes 

 full of nice honey, and a number })art f\ill for a 

 start for next year. Thanks to you, through ABC 

 and Gleanings. 



Can't you give us directions in Gleanings, how 

 to make a saw frame and table, what kind of man- 

 drel to use, where to procure the other necessary 

 irons, and how to put all together complete, to run 

 by foot power and otherwise, so as to be cfpial, or 

 nearly so, to the Barnes saw, but which will not cost 

 so much in firccnJutcl.s.' J. svkes Wilson. 



Sterling, 111., Oct. 6, 1S7S. 



P. S.— I found no trouble in making the hives by 

 hand, with your help in Gleanings. J. S. W. 



I think you will lind just tlie instruction 

 you ask tor in tliis number. I am very glad 

 to hear that you succeeded in making ' hives 

 by hand, from the directions in the ABC 

 book. 



queens NOT LAYING IN THE FALL. 



I want another black queen. I can not find the 

 last queen I introduced, and there is no brood in the 

 hive. I guess she 's "gone to another and si bettor 

 world;" if she hasn't, she had better go, for she is 

 good for nothing here, and I want another to give 

 to her colony. 



The express charges ai-e tOc. on every one we have 

 sent for this summer. I think that's a "swingle." 

 The last bees I got from you drank water as eagerly 

 as they ate honev, when I let them out. The bottle 

 was not full, and the mouth was tipped up so it did 

 them no good. 



Please send a good bod.y guard with her, for our 

 nights ai-e frosty now. M.\RY Simons. 



Brocton, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1878. 



Now. iMary, you must not be too sure your 

 queen is good for nothing, simply because 

 you cannot find any eggs or lu'ood ; for 

 queens almost always cease laying in Oct., 

 unless the colony is fed regularly, to keep 

 up brood rearing. I used to worry when my 

 queens became small and stopped laying in 

 the fall, but 1 learned afterward that they 

 came through tlie winter all right, and tliat 

 it really did no liarin to let them rest awhile. 



The bottles usually get ti])i)ed around 

 enough, on their journey, so that they get 

 water at least once in a day or two. and tliis 

 seems to snftice. Where a (|ueen i)asses over 

 two express lines, the charges are always 

 40c. A lialf dozen could be sent as cheaply 

 as one. 



Bees have done well here since July 20th, up to 

 Sept. 25th. I commenced last spring with 17 

 swarms; have sold 4 swarms, and now have >J1 in 

 good condition, and 4 nuclei with extra queens for 

 my neighbors. 



t have Italianized 34 swarms. The yellow fellows 

 forbid the entrance of moth or miller, and protect 

 the hive completely. I shall receive from 14 colo- 

 nies, some o\-er fiO0"lbs. of honey; about half comb, 

 at 20c.; ext'd, 12'4. One hive gave me 132 lbs.; 84 

 ext'd and 48 comb. 



I started 3 years ago with 1 swarm; they now 

 stand me in, clear protit, $162 in the 3 years. 



B. N. Bennett. 



Springpoit, Mich., Oct. 4, 1878. 



June 1,1878, 1 had forty-three stocks of bees. I 

 ha^e, at present date, eighty in good condition for 

 winter. The result of my season's work is as fol- 

 lows : 



Bo.x honey 3,150 lbs. 



Fxfd " 1.000 " 



Total 4,1.50 " 



The average yield is about 90'2 lbs. per stock. I 

 did not keep aii.v record of best stocks. White clo- 

 ver did not yield m\ich honey in this section this 

 year, but basswood yielded very abundantl.v, and I 

 had all I could do to provide box room while it last- 

 ed. N. F. Case. 



Glensdale, N. Y., Oct. 3, 1878. 



