1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



413 



end bars where the separator does not come. 

 It is true, we could let them into the end 

 bars, as we do the tin, but I should regard 

 the thickness, even then, as an objection. I 

 have thought the bees less liable to make at- 

 tachments to the tin, but I may be mistaken. 

 The (jueen may also be less liable to use the 

 sections, if tin be used. Before adopting 

 wood largely, we ought to have some care- 

 ful experiments. W ood gives a more per- 

 fectly level surface, and is not so good a con- 

 ductor of heat, but as it must be perfectly 

 clear and free from knots, I am not sure that 

 it will be very much cheaper than tin. 



I liave tried to feed our bees salt, but they 

 have never taken any notice of salt water 

 feeders. When over at neighbor Blakeslee's, 

 one day, I saw the bees digging vigorously 

 into the sawdust. 



''Aha!" said I, "you have been spilling 

 honey or syrup down there. '' 



"Indeed I have not." 



"i5ut some one certainly has." 



"No, sir. It is where salt was thrown 

 down, and the rain washed it into the saw- 

 dust." 



If anybody can tell me how to make 7ny 

 bees eat salt, I shall be mucli obliged to 

 them. I will put it into the ABC, too. 



AMERICAN IMPLEMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 



Fdn. is a great success in this country; so are 

 your dovetailed sections. I had over 130 of these 

 filled in one hive, and sold them at -iOc. each. Alto- 

 g'ether, from 13 stocks of bees, I sold over f 300 worth 

 of honey, besides increasing' stock. 



Novice's smoker. Novice's sections, and Novice's 

 queen cages are all being- sold by our dealers. The 

 smoker, at my suggestion, has the cap hinged and a 

 small piece of wood riveted opposite to lift by. 



Wm. Kaitt. 



Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland, Oct. 30, 1878. 



Right glad am I, my friend, to hear you 

 are succeeding away across the water, with 

 the same implements we have used so suc- 

 cessfully here. I am glad to know, too, that 

 you are making improvements on them. 



GRAPE SUGAR. 



I have a word to say about this much talked of ar- 

 ticle. I believe I was one of the first to use that 

 made at Davenport, for feeding bees. Those that 

 talk about grape sugar's being made with old rags 

 and containing sulphuric acid and chalk have, prob- 

 ably, never tasted, or even seen, that sold at Daven- 

 port for bee feeding. 



Do they claim that bees can eat it with impunity 

 when it contains sulphuric acid, and then mix it 

 ■»vith the honey to poison those wlio eat the honey? 

 or that we mix it with the honey ourselves? As you 

 say, bees will not use it when honej' is plenty in the 

 fields. I have ne\er (letecteii any trace of it in box 

 honey, but find it in the combs when extracting 

 from the brood chamber, and the extractor leaves 

 it there the same as it does bee bread; the quantity 

 so found is very small, which shows that it is con- 

 .sumed by the bees in brood rearing, nearly as fast 

 as carried into the hive. That it is valuable in this 

 way, I have no sort of dovibt, and as wholesome for 

 food as the corn it is made of. 



I have never tried mixing it with honey for table 

 use, nor do I care to. Honey is cheap enough now. 



To all I would say, "Try all things, prove all 

 things, and hold fast that which is good," 

 not condemning hastily, lest we injure ourselves, as 

 well as others. ' D. C. Underbill. 



Seneca, 111., Nov. 11, 1878. 



bees that were doomed to death for their sweets, 

 several I got from the woods so that now I have 13 

 colonies upon which to experiment. 



I have put 5 in the cellar, 6 packed in chaff on sum- 

 mer stands, and two unprotected. Four of them 

 which I put m the cellar I have fed almost entirely 

 upon glucose; they not having one drop of honey, I 

 took 6 tiuidounces of water, added glucose enough 

 to make one gallon of syrup, took out the combs 

 and, with a large spoon, I poured the syrup pretty 

 warm in the cells, and after leaving them to drip 

 for one hour, I put them into the hive. I shall re- 

 port fully the results of my feeding glucose at the 

 close of winter. 



I have one hybrid colony; they have done well 

 this season, as far as I know, but since cool weath- 

 er has set in, they upon a warm day cast out num- 

 berless quantities of dead bees. What can be the 

 matter? They fire clean and have plenty of hon- 

 ey. Dr. H. J. Peters. 



Kagersville, Ohio. 



I am inclined to think, my friend, your 

 glucose, unless your colonies were extra 

 strong, will do harm. You fed them too 

 much all at one time, if I understand you 

 right. Sugar syrup, or even honey, I fear 

 would make mischief fed in the same way. 

 Do you not exaggerate the amount of dead 

 bees brought out':' If it is a few each morn- 

 ing, it is probably only bees that cluster 

 outside of the main cluster, and get chilled. 

 Old bees will also drop down from the 

 combs and die, more or less, at the approach 

 of cold weather, and beginners are often 

 needlessly worried to see them scattered 

 around the entrance. About a year ago, 

 our minister told me his bees must have 

 some disease as there were he thought, a 

 pint or more of dead ones, about the en- 

 trance. I went down to see them, and 

 found perhai)s a hundred bees. As they 

 lay scattered about, they made quite a show, 

 but as the colony was a strong vigorous one, 

 it was probably only the old bees that had 

 been thrown out. 



FEEDING GLUCOSE, DEAD BEES ABOUT THE EN- 

 TRANCE, ETC 



I have joined yoiu- A B C class; I started in the 

 bee business last spring, bought several good colo- 

 nies and a few mothy ones, collected of farmers some 



QUETilNS WILL STING ; HUNTING BEES, ETC. 



Brr iv]ii>)-t fi>r 1X78. 1 commenced the first of May 

 with 4t colonies, and ha\ e now sti cnionies, besides 

 having extracted 3U0 lbs., and taken IdllO lbs. of sec- 

 tion box honey. It has been a very poor year for 

 bees, but honey is low; 8e for extracted, lUc for box 

 honey, and slow sale. Bees are worth 000. I have 

 offered 50 strong colonies of pure Italians, at $5.00 

 per colony, and have not sold one yet. 1 don't 

 think of going into the Blasted Hopes yet, however. 

 Well, black (lueens will sting, and I know they will. 

 I was at Friendship, (Adams Co., Wis.,) in Septem- 

 ber, where I found a job of hunting a black queen. 

 Two men had looked for her, and could not find her, 

 I found her and caught her, and put her in my 

 mouth, and she stung me on the lip. 1 spit her out, 

 and then tried it over, and she stung the other lip. 

 ] soon had two thick lips. 1 had tried to get queens 

 to sting befoi-e, but could not. 



I used to hunt bees and used for scent, oil of 

 clove, oil of cinnamon, and oil of anise, ]i of each; 

 mix them and put a little (3 or 4 drops) on the under 

 side of the comb that you use in your bee box. I 

 think that a drop of oil of cloves put into the honey 

 (one drop to 3 table-spoon-fulls of honey) will help 

 to get them to work sooner, that is, get them excit- 

 ed, or get them going as they will when you open a 

 hive a few minutes, at this time of year, when bees 

 are out fiying. W. A. Eddv. 



Fasten, Adams Co., Wis., Nov. 11, 1878. 



I got my 414x41.1 boxes and fdn. of Sayles, of Hart- 

 ford, Wis., and they were the nicest, and put up the 

 nicest, of anything I ever saw. I used to hear them 

 called the "Sayles boys," but I believe they are full 

 grown men, every inch of them. O! I had almost 

 forgot to say that my bees are all packed in chaff 

 on their summer stands, the same as last winter. I 

 have lost none. Jacob Childs. 



Amherst, Wis., Nov. 13, 1878. 



