1874 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
107 
To date, I have 2500 lbs. of superior clover honey, ray 
hives are all filled with nice worker comb imri'S arc 
double hives. I have only increased ray stocks to 40, 
hut with the increase of (-oral), and condition of bees, 
I consider ray stocks at least worth $100.00 more than 
in the spring. My honey, bottled and labeled, is sel- 
ling rapidly at the rate of 28 cts. per lb. clear of bot- 
tles: at this rate ray honey will turn nit* $700.00 which 
with the $100.00 above makes me $800.00 clear prollt 
from 43 stands. 
My bees are rapidly filling up lor winter on Buck- 
wheat, honey. The old fogy bee-keepers pronounce 
this the worst season they have ever known, they 
have little or no honey. I think myself that we sel- 
dom have poorer. The result of ray summer’s exper- 
iment has astonished everyone, myself included. 
That Novice may ‘abundantly share the prosperity 
and happiness he is causing hundreds to enjoy, is the 
sincere wish of his British cousin. G. ('. ISIilmch. 
Mi. Hanley, N. S., Aug. 12th, 1874. 
More than once have we been tempted to feel 
that our pay was but meager for the number 
of hours we labor daily for the good of Bee 
Culture, but friend M., you and others remind 
us that our recompense is ample ; perhaps far 
greater than we deserve. If it is not all in 
dollars 'and cents ’tis in something far better, 
the consciousness of having earned the good 
will of our fellow laborers. Will our bee-keep- 
ing British cousins bear in mind that although 
we may never have the pleasure of giving them 
such a grasp of the hand as we might wish, yet 
a warm place in our heart will always be re- 
served for them. 
Supposing 1 succeed in getting Queens from those 
eggs you are going to send me, liow many bands will 
they have ? or at least their progeny ? My drones'are 
all black of course. How many times will they have 
to be crossed till tlicro is no trace of the Italian left. 
Novice why don’t yon tell us something about Egyp- 
tian bees sometime in GLEANINGS ? 
Ila MIC II its i:k, Low Banks, Ontario, Can. 
1\ S.— There is something I wanted to tell you and 
nearly forgot. I have ten Queen cells nearly ready to 
cap from eggs from one ol Mr. McMurdo’s Queens’. 
If the dollar Queens are reared from import- 
ed mothers, we think none of the bees will 
ever show less than two yellow hands ; and 
these two banded bees are very industrious 
and quite pleasant to handle. However, if 
Queeus are reared from this brood that produ- 
ces the two banded bees, they are very nearly 
black, and when mated with common drones, 
their progeny is about as disagreeable as bees 
can well be. and we can blame no one for ve- 
hemently denouncing such hybrids. Friend 
Mnth of Cincinnati, has Egyptian bees. Will 
he please tell us more about them. 
As our honey sells well at gooil prices, we have de- 
termined to feed sugar to our bees this full. How 
many barrels should you get to feed sav 70 colonies ? 
James IIeddon, Dowagiac, Alieh. 
Much depends on the strength of your colo- 
nies. We have never found any ground at 
till for the assertion that two weak colonies 
would consume less when united than either 
of them separately, hut on the contrary find 
the amount of food consumed as with all otli- 
stock, depends upon the number to be fed. 
Wc should estimate 25 lbs. of sugar, enough 
•or the strongest colony from Sept, until May ; 
W lbs., enough for all ordinary stocks, and 
where the bees only cover three or four combs 
on a frosty morning, perhaps 10 lbs. would 
sttllice. Never err by giving too little, unless 
you expect to foetl early in the spring, and on 
the other hand we should wish to give only 
about enough on the average to last until 
noney comes in next season, that it may not be 
111 the way in the combs. Without seeing your 
70 stocks we might guess that you would need 
six or seveh barrels of sugar, if all their stores 
were removed in Sept. 
These remarks refer to in-door wintering ; 
we have had too little experience of late years 
to decide how much more will be required for 
out-door wintering, but perhaps a half more 
would not be far out of the way. 
Ills strange lmtl never can get a Qneen that will 
occupy more than 5 or 6 frames with brood, and not 
nearly all the comb in frames at that, some at top 
and sides being filled with honey and pollen. Am in- 
clined to disbelieve reports of Queens tilling so many 
frames as some say they do. 1 have Queens from 
m any breeders. J. A. Buchanan, Wintersvllle, <>. 
We partially agree with you friend B. A 
Queen that occupies 7 L. frames we think very 
fair; ’tis true that by mixing the combs tip 
frequently, we may get some brood in 20 combs, 
or even more. Is this good economy ? Those 
who are in doubt should make the experiment, 
but please try it on a few hives first. 
Mr. ROOT I have thickened my syrup with starch 
for more than 1*2 years to feed bees, I have not per- 
ceived any bad e’ifcct from it. if some one would feed 
a hive that way this tall and notice how it wintered, I 
would like to hear the result. 1 could not well feed 
with and without, myself. J. Winfield, Hubbard, o. 
Starch and sugar are regarded in Chemistry 
as nearly identical, in fact starch is converted 
into sugar by a chemical process with such 
facility that the price of the two always re- 
mains*about the same, and as the starch In our 
food is quickly changed to sugar in the process 
of digestion, may it not be the same with the 
bees? Still further is it not a fact that when 
you feed starch with the sugar, in form of a 
syrup, you find only the latter deposited in the 
cells. We are inclined to think that even if 
starch were taken with avidity, it would not 
prove a substitute for pollen nor even for Rye 
and Oat meal. 
I send for some fresh eggs laid during the night, or 
within 24 hours before sending. These eggs will 
count with me. After they nre grubs or larva) one or 
two days old, I transfer them to Queen cells already 
built in’ Queonlcss Nuclei, where they tire brought up 
Queens, and they will lie beauties. I have two such 
now on hand, one laying, the other younger, besides 
one in the larva; state. I wish these eggs to be from 
your imported Queen. 
JOHN L. Davis, Delhi, Mich. Aug. 7th, 1S74. 
’Tis our opinion Mend D. has hit on some- 
thing really valuable. We at once removed 
the larva 1 from three queen cells in our own 
Apiary, and introduced others much younger 
from the imported stock. They were all led 
and taken care of; we use a quill toothpick 
for the operation ; push it under the just 
hatched worker larva; and remove it food and 
all from the worker cell, and carefully put it. 
in the Queen cell, having previously “poked” 
out the original occupant. If done carefully 
wc have no doubt of complete success, and a 
stubborn colony can be allowed to go on with 
as many of their own Queen cells as they choose 
to build. We sent two pieces to Mend D., one 
containing eggs as lie requested and the other 
larva- so small as to be just visible. He writes: 
The boxes were on hand last night the lath inst, and 
this lllh. 1 l>. M. there arc 15 Queens started front the 
comb with larva;; it came all right, the other came 
with Ute same mail but ", of the eggs were jarred out 
of the cells. Among the Qneen cells spoken of above, 
■1 are in Incipient natural Queen cells into which I 
transferred the lavvaa this morning, the bees seemed 
pleased and are already feeding them jelly. 1 cut the 
piece containing larva" into three pieces and put into 
throe hives and they have started 4, 5, and I! t ells res- 
pectively already. Thanks for promptness. 
