colony to thus swarm out in the spring.Buckwheat sown as early as you mention would come in bloom right in clover time, and, so far as our experience goes, would not be noticed at all by the bees. If you want the bees to work on it, sow it so as to come in bloom just as the summer honeycrops fail. In our locality, we sow it about the first of June, and it is then in bloom by the first of August, which is jus about as basswood fails. HORSEMINT HONEY. POLLEN, DIFFERENT COLORS IN EARLY SPRING. I have 4 hives; 3 of them have been bringing in pollen ever since the first of February. Where do they get it this time of the year? It was dark green and black at first; now it is yellow. MRS. S. A. CHANCELLOR. Parkersburg, Wood Co., W. Va., March 11, 1882. The dark green, I should say, was from alders, and the yellow from soft-maples; but I can not say where they should get black pollen, unless they are gathering some foreign substance in lieu of pollen. If I am correct, we have had cases reported of pollen I send the sample of horsemint honey, and hope from coal dust, and even black earth, where there will be enough to taste. The honey I send has been exposed to the lowest temperature, in onepound tumblers, all winter, and you will notice that it has not commenced to candy. It does not candy readily, if at all, here; none that I ever had has candied, no matter how long it was allowed to ripen in the hive. I can send you a much better sample about the middle of next June, when it is coming in the fastest. We have had more raince Jan. 5th than we have had before in as short a time since 1869. Horsemint is coming up everywhere, and we look forward to a very large crop. Austin, Tex., March 11, 1882. W. L. STILES. The honey is of a beautiful clear amber tint, and very thick indeed. The flavor is rather peculiar, and although at first taste not quite equal to clover, I think it will command a very fair price in the market. Shall we not have a horsemint patch, with all the rest? If I only had nothing else to do but make a nice one down by the pond, wouldn't I be happy? Many thanks for the samples, friend Stiles. THE "QUEEN-BEE" WOMAN OF THE SOUTH. Mrs. Lowe is very busy with her bees, and reading at intervals your very valuable and vastly interesting GLEANINGS, and has imposed upon me the pleasant duty of writing you this note. Now, Mrs. L. swears by her bishop and his sermons, and A. I. Root and his GLEANINGS, and I dare not criticise or dispute the words or works (or, as Mrs. L. says, the truths) of either. She is now booking orders for queens and bees from north, south, east, and west; in fact, she is so busy in her apiary that it's almost impossible for me to get near enough to speak to her without coming in contact with the fighting end of some seemingly insulted bee. Her beautiful Italian pets have already begun the work of raising a very numerous family, and by their strenuous efforts are winging their flights through the March winds to the forests and swamps, returning laden with pollen and honey. The prospect so far is very encouraging, and Mrs. L. is buoyant with hope and a bright future. I am cognizant of the fact, that bee fever is contagious; for I am almost persuaded to don the veil and gauntlets. Should I do so, shall I inform you of my success? A. A. LOWE. Hawkinsville, Ga., March 9, 1882. I am sure, friend Lowe, I feel greatly honored, and you can tell your good wife that our girls here in the office came pretty near deciding, last year, that there wasn't a man down South, or up North either, who could put up queens so as to go as nicely as those she sent us. So, now, if you go into the business you will need to take a low seat and prove a willing and obedient pupil. a swamp had been burned off. Dark-green pollen in the summer comes from red clover; but where the variously colored pollens come from, gathered in March and April, I can not tell. Willow and soft-maples furnish about all that I now think of. Who can tell us more about it? HOW TO MAKE BEES. Why, friend Root, I did not mean to say that I made those bees that gathered that honey out of nothing but an extractor, postage-stamps, etc.; but I do mean to say, that I raised the bees by hard work that gathered that honey, and that made them young stands of bees. I also raised 20 young queens, which were, all but one, purely fertilized, and I have but one in the yard that produces hybrid bees, and that one I purchased from you (A. I. Root). I did not charge the two old stands of bees, nor did I the hives and combs; but just what money I paid out, and I did not credit twelve frames of honey that I had left after I had put the bees into winter quarters-only what was sold and used by my family was credited. My bees are wintering well so far. Those that were packed in chaff have done far the best; have not lost one pint of bees to all 8 of the stands, while those that were unpacked lost one-half of their bees in number. They have gathered natural pollen since the first day of March, and are raising brood very nicely. Freeport, Ind., March 7, 1882. GEORGE COLB. Well, I declare, friend C., had I known it was going to come out about my selling you the only queen in your yard that turned out a hybrid, I guess I wouldn't have said any thing about your making bees with an extractor, postage-stamps, etc. Never mind; all is well that ends well, and you seem to be on the right track now, anyhow. WATER FOR BEES IN WINTER. I am giving my bees water daily in the bee-house, with the most gratifying results. Any "doubting Thomas" upon this subject can have an ocular demonstration of the value of drink for bees in winter quarters that will refute all argument, by coming to my apiary any time before I set my bees out, which will be some time in April, unless the weather should be quite warm. H. R. BOARDMAN. East Townsend, O., March 15, 1882. The great number of facts recently brought to light on this matter seem to settle it beyond question, that bees often suffer in the cellar for want of water. Now, do they also suffer for water when wintered outdoors? If so, why do we not see them, during a rain, out at the entrances, drinking up the rain? Did anybody ever see them doing this? If, when the weather is too cool for them to do it, should we give them water on a sponge, over the cluster? Can not some ingenious one among us fix a sort of upper entrance, or veranda, with a tiny watering-trough, where they can just step out of the cluster and drink to their little hearts' content, whenever it rains? Perhaps even the dew of a bright June starlight night might be utilized. When you set it to work, let us know. FIXING ENTRANCES. Do you bank the sand right upagainst the bottomboard even with the entrance? If so, won't it soon rot the end of board? EDWIN D. STEVENSON. Burlington, N. J., March 4, 1882. The way we fix entrances is to set the hive, first, on four half-bricks; then bank it around with coarse cinders sifted from coal ashes. Over the cinders we put coarse sand and gravel, finishing with the whitest sand we can get. We wish the surface to be of white sand, so we can see at a glance when a queen or drone, or any other kind of a bee, is brought out. Sometimes we can detect, at a hasty glance, where robbing is or has been going on, by the dead bees scattered on the white sand. This arrangement will not rot the bottom-boards, especially if they are made of pine, as we usually make them. BLUE-THISTLE HONEY. I send you a sample of blue-thistle honey in a bottle in a block of wood. If it were not for blue thistle this would be a poor country for bees. Blue thistle makes the finest honey I ever saw. My bees are in fine condition; the weakest colonies have brood in three frames, and every thing is nice and clean about their hives. Friend Root, if you ever get anywhere near here, come and see me. I think I could entertain you a week anyhow. I wish you could come in the blue-thistle season. I know you would enjoy your visit. Bees can be bought in the mountains near here for two dollars per hive, delivered at railroad station (black and box hive, of course). I am the only one in the county of Clarke who uses one-pound sections or comb fdn. J. LUTHER BOWERS. Berryville, Va., March 6, 1882. The honey has a flavor in some respects strikingly like the famed California sage; but otherwise, I should call it white clover. It would command as high a price in the market, I should say, as any honey we have. The comb is very delicate, and melts in the mouth. If we do not raise blue thistle, it would certainly pay bee-men to locate where it will grow any way. I should be very glad to make you a visit, friend B., and I presume I should enjoy the sight of a blue-thistle field exceedingly; but I hardly think I could leave these boys and girls here for a week. Would a half-day do? SQUARE VS. PROMPT LIST. We have just been reading the remarks of Mr. J. A. Nelson, on page 140, March GLEANINGS, regarding the Square Men's list. Mr. N. says: "As to the list of square men, if you would drop the word square, and put prompt in its place, and also leave out 'we do not know of a single customer who is not satisfied,' I think it would just suit me." What would a column devoted to prompt men signify? If we sent $5.00 to a man, and he sent us an article worth 50 cents, promptly, he would still be entitled to a place in the prompt list, would he not? But do you think we should regard him as a square man who endeavored to keep the golden rule? Assuredly not. Now, it seems to us that the word square implies promptness and everything else that is honorable and upright. While a dealer may not always be able to ship goods at just the time wanted, there is no excuse for his not answering correspondents courteously, and returning money when requested. An objection to the opening clause of the heading would, it seems to us, imply that the person making such objection had a dissatisfied customer that he knew of, and refused to satisfy. We hope friend Root will not change the heading of the Square Men's Column to please any who are afraid to take such a stand for the right. Bees are in splendid condition. We have not lost a colony, and all are very strong and healthy. We think we never had so good a lot of bees before. E. A. THOMAS & CO. Coleraine, Mass., March, 1882. A NEW AND NOVEL SWARMING-BOх. A swarm issues, and I pick up the queen (her wings being off), and put her in the corn-popper with a few of her bees. Now, I do not want to move the original colony, and how far from that stand can I take her and have the returning swarm readily find her? Don't tell me to "see A BC," for I've lent it, and don't know where it is. M. SIMONS. Brocton, N. Y., March 4, 1882. I do not see how you can do it at all, my friend, unless you can get the bees to cluster on the corn-popper, and then, of course, you could hive them where you choose. If the bees miss their queen, they will, so far as my experience goes, go immediately back to their old hive; and if you should put their queen in a new hive, even close against the old one, they would probably not see her. Where did you get that idea of a corn-popper? I am inclined to think it may supersede all our swarming-boxes. Put in the queen and hold it near where the swarm is clustering, and they will be pretty sure to be all on the corn-popper in a very little time. The wire cloth will furnish them a nice foothold, and their queen and a few bees inside will surely hold them. Shake them before the hive where you wish them; and as they run in, open the cage and let the queen go in with them. THE BEST SWARM-CATCHER. Take a frame of comb, well fastened; hang it on a pole; hold this among the flying bees, or in front of the limb where the bees have commenced to settle, which they will do with delight, on the frame. After they have started to settle on the frame, you can walk slowly to the hive you want them in, and hang the frame in. Bees will almost hive themselves in this way. LOUIS HOFSTATTER. Louisville, Ky., Feb. 20, 1882. OUR SHOP-ROOF APIARY OF TWO HIVES. I live on the "South Side" of Pittsburg, and I will give you our experience with bees in the city. We keep our bees on our shop roof adjoining our house, which shuts off the cold wind. We bought 2 lbs. of bees, 2 queens, and 2 frames of brood of you about the Ist of June, and started 2 hives. The season was a poor one here last summer, but both colonies filled their lower stories. In all, they gathered about 100 lbs. They are doing well now. I examined them about 4 days ago; the weaker of the two has brood in three frames; the stronger has none as yet. There is a jelly-factory near us where the bees get stores every warm day. I believe that a few colonies can be kept to profit in almost any city. There is one question I would like to ask you: We use your chaff hives, but no division-boards; both colonies cluster on the left-hand side of the hive where the wind is the strongest; what is the reason? FRED C. TYGARD. good fair swarms, the rest all light; some a mere handful of bees and queen. Two of the best queenless succeeded in raising queens for themselves, which I think were fertilized by drones wintered through with a queenless colony. I had also an abundance of combs saved from the wreck (thanks to GLEANINGS, for if it had not been for that I should have melted up at least half of them.) Now for results: I worked for increase; have 40 good swarms, and extracted last year 500 lbs. of honey. A. L. ENTRICAN. Westville, Montcalm Co., Mich., Feb. 11, 1882. WHAT A QUEEN AND 1⁄2 LB. OF BEES WILL DO, STARTED THE 18TH OF JUNE. Yours of the 21st is at hand. I do not think I will Pittsburg, Pa., March 10, 1882. I think it only accident that they cluster need any queens this year, and I have no bee-keepwhere they do, Friend T. AN OLD AMERICAN BEE-BOOK. I send you a little work on bees. Perhaps you have seen the same work before now. I am well acquainted with Mr. Kelsey. He is a very old man, but still keeps bees. This book was printed two years before I was born. I think he is one of our oldest American bee-keepers. I think he would be glad to get a copy of GLEANINGS. He still has box hives. BEN. FRANKLIN. Franklinton, Scho. Co., N. Y., Feb. 2, 1882. The above-mentioned book is dated 1837, and was written by Francis Kelsey, Durham, Greene Co., N. Y. In it he speaks of keeping a moth miller on some honey-comb under a glass ten days. In that time she produced, he thinks, as many as 500 moth worms. In 22 days some of these worms had produced full-grown millers. If there should ever be a demand for such, couldn't we raise them fast, boys? FLORIDA. I have been spending some time in Florida, looking up the bee business and orange-growing; the latter is a big thing. I visited W. S. Hart's apiary. His orange-grove is young yet, but looking well. His bees are doing well, carrying in pollen and honey. One or two years from this time he will have a fine place. I visited another apiary, owned by Mr. O. Olson. He opened one hive, and showed me 12 Langstroth frames, any amount of honey; 7 of the frames nearly full of brood. How is this for the 20th of February? Nearly all of the hives seemed to be equally strong. There are 140 hives of bees at this place, which will commence swarming about the 1st of March. I have seen some good locations for bees; but I think this the best that I have seen. It is only a small portion of Florida that is good for orange-growing, and I have seen places where I think bees could hardly make a living. The climate here is delightful. C. F. HOPKINS. New Smyrna, Fla., Feb. 21, 1882. REPORT FROM FLAT RIVER APIARY. As I do not see many reports from this section, I will send in mine for 1881. I am one of your ABC scholars, and I thought last spring my place was very near the foot of the class at that, as I lost about 4-5 of my bees last winter. I can not give the big report that some have for the season, but I am satisfied with the results. Commenced the season (when the bees had settled down to business, about the first of May) with bees in 10 hives - two of them ing neighbors who believe in Italian bees. You ask me how that half-pound of bees are getting along. I received the bees on the 18th of June. I put them into a hive with 2 frames of comb and no brood. On the 9th of July the young bees were hatching, and were pure Italians. By the first of September they had 10 frames of brood, and by the 20th of Sept. they had made 40 lbs. of comb honey, and robbed 3 hives of black bees in box hives, for my neighbor. I put them into winter quarters on the 20th of Oct., and am feeding them now to stimulate brood-rearing. I want to see how much honey they will make this ycar. I will let you know how they do this summer. JOHN DALLAS. Sharpville, Mercer Co., Pa., Feb. 16, 1882. The above was sent us by friend Burridge, and we do not think it particularly extraordinary, especially if the bees robbed neighboring hives, as stated. I would infer these neighbors' hives were queenless, or badly managed in some way, for the Italians are not given to such work, on good strong colonies. This report may send a good many customers to friend B.; but if it should, I hope he will be more prompt than he was last season, not only in sending bees and queens, but in returning the money when he was unable to send them. TRANSFERRING IN THE NEW WAY. I have got some transferring to do this spring, and would like to do it by the easy method recommended in ABC. You say, place a Simplicity hive on top, and make all perfectly tight. Now, what I want to know is, whether you mean to leave no entrance to Simplicity hive, except through top of the box hive. I would suppose that, to stop the entrance in box hive, and leave one open in Simplicity, would cause them to go up sooner, as the other plan would be the same as adding a second story for extracting purposes. Would putting on hive too long before swarming make any difference about bees accepting D. S. TYLER. it? Clio, Mich., Feb. 11, 1882. My remarks, friend T., were with a view of leaving the entrance as usual; but since you suggest it, I think very likely opening an entrance at the top of the old hive might be instrumental in causing the bees to gradually work entirely up into the new hive. I do not think it would make much difference when you put this upper hive on; but perhaps they would go up quicker, if you waited until just about the time we generally put on boxes. BEES BY THE POUND, ETC. Please accept my many thanks for the free advertisement of bees by the pound you gave me last year. I would not have given ten cents to have had my name put in there, for I didn't really expect it would bring me sale for a pound; but to my surprise it brought me orders for all I could spare till into Julyin all, over 100 lbs., all of which I delivered, to the entire satisfaction of my customers. The most of them I sold the first of June at $1.00 per lb., which I think was too cheap. I think your present prices are nearer right. I wish some one would determine just how much honey a pound of bees would gather. It could be told quite closely by weighing a new strong natural swarm at the beginning of the honey season, giving them plenty of empty combs, following closely with the extractor, and taking away all combs containing eggs every second or third day so they would use no honey to feed brood. I think a pound of bees would gather 30 lbs. of honey; and as honey is the basis of all bee-keeping, the 30 lbs. at 10 cts. would make a pound of bees worth $3.00 at the beginning of the honey season, for the honey they would store. I shall try to demonstrate it this coming season. S. C. PERRY. Portland, lonia Co., Mich., Mar. 21, 1882. FLOUR CANDY IN JANUARY. Three colonies of my own that I was afraid had not sufficient honey to carry them through, had quite a patch of brood started, some hatching, while in seven others that had an abundance of stores there were no eggs; in others the queen had just begun to lay. I attribute this fact, that to the three light colonies I gave each a frame of flour candy in January, which they had nearly consumed, and in one stock had built a small piece of comb in place of the candy. One dollar's worth of granulated sugar makes just two frames (Langstroth) of candy, as I make it. I use about 4 flour, as nearly as I can guess. I don't weigh it. But I tell you it's business to make it and not burn it. I believe you recommend clear sugar. I don't know but it would answer, but do you think it as good? I wintered three nuclei in one Simplicity hive packed in chaff on one frame of such flour candy each, and a very little honey; each has now brood hatching. Bethel, Conn., March, 1882. S. H. HICкок. I had suggested that the flour better be omitted for winter feed, friend H.; but your experiments seem to decide that it is not always deleterious, at least. THE NEW DEANE SYSTEM. I think you have got it pretty high, friend P., for general localities and general seasons; but perhaps not on the average, if rightly cared for. I have bought bees by the pound, just a day or two before the close of basswood, and had them pay for themselves in ey." Not so much on account of the wonder three days. You have started quite an interesting question: How much honey can a pound of bees gather? A BOLD SUGGESTION, The application of partheno-genesis to Doolittle's statement, in regard to a three-banded progeny from queens which were reared among black drones, will at once give us light upon a mysterious point; and I assume that those queens which he mentions, whose worker progeny plainly showed three distinct bands, were daughters of virgin queens. I once had a very prolific queen which I watched closely from the time she was hatched till the day she commenced laying, and never saw any evidence of copulation, although for three entire days I say her as often as every three hours. This is all theory, I know; but discussion in an amicable manner will aid in eradicating error and establishing truth. J. E. POND, JR. Attleboro, Mass., March 12, 1832. If friend Pond has said exactly what he meant to in the above, I fear I do not exactly get his meaning; but if he would suggest, that the queens producing all three-banded bees, among hosts of common drones, never met any drones at all, I think I could see the point. You will remember I have hinted in the ABC, that it seemed possible a queen might produce workers without mating at all. If we accept this, it is easy to account for the great numbers of cases of wingless queens that produce worker brood, without declaring they must have met a drone in the hive, or while hopping around near the entrance. I think it will be well to go slow in deciding what is impossible, so long as there is so much we don't know. I was somewhat surprised when looking through March GLEANINGS, on finding the article and illustrations on the "New Deane System for Comb Hon ful "system," but because I had invented, and, to a certain extent, used, the very same thing last summer. I had a number of such cases under course of construction when I received the number of GLEANINGS referred to. The only points of difference between friend D.'s and mine are, that I nail the pieces together, instead of putting them together as illustrated by you and friend Deane. It is more easily done by one who does not have the required tools for notching or dovetailing; and that, to hold the boards to the sides, and keep the whole together, I use heavy wire, bent at right angles at the proper length, so as to form a clasp. Slip the clasp over the end of the boards (one at each end of the case, of course), push one end of the clasp down and pull the other up, and you will clamp the whole together so firmly that it will "sound." I think I should like the word "case" rather better than "system," for I think it is a new case for holding section bores, that friend Deane has invented and brought before the public, rather than a new system. Bees will come through in good condition I think. AMOS A. RESSLER. Soudersburg, Lan. Co., Pa., March 13, 1882. HOW I WINTERED MY BEES WITHOUT POLLEN. Last fall I packed my bees in chaff, on summer stands (30 colonies in all), some of them with enameled cloth fitted close down on the frames to exclude all upward ventilation, with chaff cushions above that almost filled the upper story; others with carpet on the frames, and chaff cushions above, and some hives with about half a bushel of loose chaff on the sheet of duck; two with nothing but one thickness of carpet on the frames; all of them without pollen in the brood-nest. The last week in February was nice and warm, and the bees came out for a grand jubilee. The next day was fine also, and they went nosing around as though they were looking for something that they did not have in the hives. I set out a shallow box, filled with flour; they went to work on it with the hum of joy that they always make when we give them what they want. The first day of March being a fine spring day, I made a thorough examination, and found them in splendid condition, without any exception - every queen laying, but no brood hatched; so you see I can throw up my old hat (I have no other), and halloo "Hurrah for the new departure! remove all pollen from the brood-nest in winter." Some brother will say, "Hold on, Lane, the danger is not all past yet." I think it is. My experience teaches me that all colonies that are in good health and good condition the first of March are out of danger. Whitestown, Ind., March 17, 1882. S. H. LANE. I am glad your bees are doing so well, friend L.; but I can not quite agree with you, that they are surely "out of the woods," even this first of April, nor that it was sure ly the absence of pollen that saved them, for almost every one's bees are alive now. In fact, all plans have succeeded during this past winter. Notes and Queries. PLAN FOR HONEY-HOUSE WANTED. ILL some of the friends give us a plan for a convenient and not expensive honey-house, to be used for extracting, storing honey, taking care of brood-frames, putting hives together, etc.; say one large enough for 50 or 100 colonies? FOLDING TENT WANTED. Also give a plan for making a tent for use in the apiary; such a one as will admit of folding up into a small compass. FEEDING CANDY IN THE OPEN AIR. Is it safe or advisable to feed honey or candy in the open air at this time of the year? I have succeeded in doing it so as to prevent fighting among bees, by shading the feed from the sun when the bees got too furious. F. A. PALMER. McBrides, Mich., March 2, 1882. [Why, friend P., it seems to me you have answered your last question yourself. I fear the folding tent will be hard to make at a low price.] Send me the primer, A B C. I wish to enter the "bee school." J. W. GREGORY. Lincoln, III., March 13, 1882. HONEY FROM CORN. Last summer I had corn honey, and it tasted as much like sweet-corn honey as basswood or white clover or buckwheat. ALMON ACHENBACH. Columbia, Tuscola Co., Mich., Feb. 13, 1882. Bees were doing a rousing business in pollen March 1, 2, and 3. JOHN T. SCHAFER. Ada, O., March 7, 1882. [That is what we hear from almost every point, friend S.] I should like to shake hands with Mr. T. M. Pearsons, of Tippecanoe City, O., for his experience (p. 38, Jan. GLEANINGS) in transferring and fixing up his neighbors' bees. It's mine, to a dot. J. H. MYERS. Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Feb., 1882. ONLY A POSTAGE-STAMP WANTING. I put a letter in the office this day two weeks ago with an order for goods, and with two postoffice orders, one for fifty dollars, and one for thirty; and on inquiry, the postmaster tells me my letter was not stamped, so it went to the Dead-Letter Office. PHILIP EARHART. Davenport, Iowa, March 10, 1882. [Your $80.00 came around all right in due time, friend E., but I would not advise you to follow up that way of doing business.] On our lawn, where my bees sit, the water was 14 feet deep. I put them (100 swarms) on top of my house. They gathered pollen, and, to all appearance, do as well as on their stands. The strange part about it is, how they get back, for all the hives look alike, and sit close together, side by side, and the front within 6 inches of back. RICH'D CADLE. Shawneetown, III., March 8, 1882. [Why, friend C., this seems to upset some of our theories, at first glance; but I presume the fact that the whole aspect of things was so changed accounts for it partly.] TOBACCO COLUMN. RECEIVED the smoker some days ago, and will say that, when I smoke or chew tobacco you will pretty soon get your pay for the smoker; and, by the way, I think you will get it before that, for I think it is I who am benefited, and not you; it is I who am saving money by the quitting, and not you. It is three weeks to-day since I tasted the |