over the combs to the depth of eight inches, some were simply covered with a cloth, and others were left with nothing over the frames. Some were placed in a well-ventilated cellar, while others were buried in "clamps." Some of the colonies which were left out of doors, as well as those placed in the cellar, and those that were buried, had pure granulated sugar for winter stores: others had part sugar and part honey, and still others had only the honey that was in the hive in the fall. The majority had little or no pollen, while others were given an abundance. Some were prepared for winter early in September, and then left undisturbed, while others were not packed until late in October.

The results can be told in a few words. As nearly as I can discover they have all wintered alike. The past winter was mild, and bees, under almost all conditions, have universally wintered successfully. So all my trouble and experiments, this time, have done little toward solving the wintering problem. But I shall continue my experiments, year after year, and, without doubt, in a few years a severe winter, or some other cause, will again sweep away the bees, and then my experiments may throw a little light upon the subject. To make such experiments valuable, they should be continued through a series of years, and, if possible, be made in different localities, and under different circumstances. For this reason, I wish that other bee-keepers would experiment in this line, and continue to do so for a number of years. The bees which were wintered in the cellar and in the "clamps," consumed very little honey compared with those that were wintered out of doors.

HANDLING BEES WHEN IT RAINS.

June 3. I have a lot of queen-cells that will soon hatch, and I ought to be starting nuclei for them, but it rains.

June 4. Rains again to-day.

June 5. And yet it rains. Will it never stop? Queens are beginning to hatch, and there is no place to put them; what shall I do? And then came the thought that they handle bees in house apiaries, even in rainy weather; why not carry the colonies that I wish to handle, into the shop, and handle them there? No sooner said than done. A colony was brought in, looked over, the queen found, combs for nuclei selected and hung in an empty hive, their places in the old bive filled with empty combs, and the colony carried back to the yard. Then another colony was brought in and treated in the same manner, and then another and another, until I had a sufficient number of combs to form as many nuclei as I wished. Thanks to previous management, the nucleus hives were all on their stilts" in readiness for the bees. I took a comb, covered with bees, in each hand, and carried them to a hive in so short a time that no harm was done, even if it did rain. The half-dozen queens that had hatched were given to as many nuclei, and all but one were accepted.

June 6. At last it has "cleared off." Although queens "kept hatching all the time," there are plenty of nuclei started for them.

June 12. Bees are "lying on their oars," waiting for the white clover that is just beginning to blosW. Z. HUTCHINSON.

som.

Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., June, 1882. We too, friend H., have found the Mason jars about as good as any thing for honey, or maple molasses either; and if you seal them

up as you do fruit, while hot, you will have little trouble from its ever looking like sugar, or lard either.-If you have much work to do with bees when it rains, why not have a small house apiary, with a few hives in it for rainy days? Thanks for your good practical article this month, friend H."

REVIEW OF GLEANINGS.

SEE, in the GLEANINGS for June, that there is, in Paris, one suicide for 2700 inhabitants. Such a figure would give about 1000 suicides every year, or nearly 3 every day.

As I am a native of France, where I have lived for 46 years, I can not let pass such an assertion without protest. No doubt, friend Root, you have found that in some Christian paper. It is, indeed, shocking to see what means so-called pious people use to blacken the men who take the liberty and have the courage of thinking freely! The elected, unable to meet the arguments of the liberals, are accustomed to slander them. If such is the charitableness of religion, the people at large would be better to have none of it.

On another page of the GLEANINGS you advise us to use paraffine to make comb foundation, and to mix it with wax for sections. This advice is about as bad as the one you gave several years ago about glucose, and will lead to the same results.

Your advice will be commented in the journals, and the conclusion will be that what we bee-keepers offer to sell is not honey at all; shall we use paraffine to make combs, and glucose to fill them? It would have been better for all of us if you had quitted typc-setting when such an idea came to your mind, so as to think of its consequences; for, at a time of so many complaints against adulteration, one in your position ought to be careful not to lead the consumers to suspicion.

This advice of yours is the more surprising when we read in the May number, page 238, that you consider ceresin, or mineral wax, as a thing unfit to

make foundation. Paraffine is mineral wax too. In this circumstance, as in a great many others, your mind is far from being settled.

Your fear of being unable to find, in the whole

world, beeswax enough to make comb foundation is altogether ground'ess. For several years the production of beeswax in the U. S. was so much above the consumption, and its price so very low, that it allowed a fair margin to the exporters. As soon as a fair lot of beeswax was gathered, it was sent to Europe, and sold there readily at 29 or 30 cents. Such was the position of the article when the scarcity began. This scarcity was caused by the mildness of the last winter, which did not kill the bees as usual. Now the price of beeswax is too high to leave a profit to the exporters; we will, in consequence, be able to find, henceforth, what we need, and more. Having anticipated this scarcity, we have bought, at high figures, enough beeswax to fill all our orders, and have a few thousand pounds in reserve.

In the same number of June, I see also that you indorse the idea that worker bees are able to raise drones from worker eggs. Such ideas remind me of the joke played by Mr. Waite, of St Louis, on us bee-keepers, about the fertilization of queens in confinement. Mr. Waite, having written that he had had 125 queens mated in the hives with select drones, all the bee papers were filled with articles of bee

You are right, friend D., in your surmise that the item I gave came from a Christian paper; but you are surely wrong in saying that Christian papers would willingly print untruths. After receiving your letter we turned to the People's Cyclopedia, and looked for "suicides." We found it just as I gave it. We looked again in Chambers', and found it stated a little stronger still. Our proof-reader looked in Zell's, and he says it also gives stronger figures than mine. Our cyclopedias are reliable on a matter of statistics, are they not, friend Dadant? Three suicides a day is indeed terrible to think of. BEESWAX, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A SUB

STITUTE.

I hardly think any one has misunderstood me in what I said about using paraffine or ceresin with wax for fdn. For brood-combs without wiring, it will not answer at all; but with wires near enough together, it is worked out even faster than natural wax; and, if I am not mistaken, Capt. Hetherington was the first one who informed us of this fact. Several years ago I used, in section boxes, starters made of part yellow wax and part paraffine, and the bases of the cells were thinned out beautifully, and the honey in no way differed from any other. We then discontinued the use of it, because it worked so disastrously for brood-combs; but such a thing as wiring frames was then almost unknown. Grape sugar is still being used quite extensively for feeding bees, and works admirably for keeping them from starving during such a spring as we have just had. I live in the fear of God, or, if you choose, I fear a guilty conscience; but I do not fear what men may say, nor that I shall lack patronage so long as I am doing business honestly. I am very glad of the facts you have given us in regard to the supply of wax, and doubtless you are right. Since our last, we have found wax enough at from 26 to 28 c., and we have, in fact, been obliged to drop our paying price one cent. We have, so far, worked up about 13 tons of wax this season, and we have now about two tons in stock, so I presume there will be no need just yet of our thinking of a substitute.

while that taken to the queenless hive will often produce more or less drones. Try it and see, and then give us an explanation. I thank you, friend Dadant, for the kindness and courtesy with which you have pointed to me where you think I might be in danger of making mistakes.

In regard to this last matter, facts are continually being brought in, and here is one from friend Flanagan, while I am writing:

In regard to being able to change the sex of the

egg, the following came under my personal observation, and seems to corroborate friend Peters'

statement in a recent number of GLEANINGS, only in this case they made drones from worker eggs, in

stead of workers in drone-cells. In going over the apiary in which I have an interest, placing in the nuclei pieces of brood to ensure no fertile workers, (and to supply eggs for rearing a queen if any accident happened the virgin queen), a piece of comb containing eggs of the proper age was inserted in 3 different nuclei at the same time. In the first there was a virgin queen, and the piece of comb containing the eggs developed into first-class drone brood. In the 2d and 3d nuclei, the young queens were lost (probably on their wedding flight), and the result was the raising of a nice lot of queen-cells that hatched good queens from each piece of brood. The comb was freshly drawn out of foundation, and had not one drone-cell in it. Where there was a young queen, and the bees had no way of raising drones sire prompted them to change the sex, while with the other two cases, being more in need of a mother than drones, queen-cells were the result. These are the facts. Make the most of them, and let us hear if any one else has had a similar experience. Who E. T. FLANAGAN. will speak first?

but from the worker eggs given, instinct and de

Belleville, Ill, June 20, 1882.

FRIEND BOOMHOWER AND HIS

"DARK CLOUD."

ALSO BIS PLAN OF PUTTING ON IT A "SILVER LINING."

DARK cloud is hovering over the bce-keepers of this county. To-day is the 18th of June, and up to the present time our little

pets have gathered scarcely a pound of honey. Intelligence has reached me from adjoining towns, and from localities in Albany County, that many colonies have perished from starvation. In my short experience I never knew bees to consume so much honey, and be in such a weak condition up to date, as they have this spring. I never saw a more

extensive bloom than we have had this season, but the weather has been so cold and wet that it was impossible for the bees to take any advantage of it.

EGGS?

Will it not behoove us all to decide cautiously in this new matter of the ability of the bees to change the sex of a worker egg? Since it has come up, Neighbor H. and I both recall to mind cases where drones were reared on pieces of worker brood given to queenless colonies. You can all try it. Take a nice comb of worker brood, cut out a piece, and give to a queenless colony. The portion left in the hive will produce all workers,

State; everywhere bees are weak, and some are in a deplorable condition except where extensive feeding has been kept up for the past two or three weeks. The bees seem to have become discouraged, dragging out their brood and swarming out. The crop of white honey positively must be short; and only where bees have been fed, and had extra care, can any white honey be obtained. Box-hive men are suffering more than those who have frame hives. The former, as a general thing, have been careless, and, having box hives, could not readily

see or tell how much honey or in what condition their bees were in; it makes me feel sad to pass through the country and see what a miserable condition and way these box-hive men keep and manage their bees. I must say, they are doing a great injustice and damage to the bee-keepers who have their bees in frame hives, and are trying to build up a great industry in the way of producing fine honey, and in a fine condition to fetch a good price. These box-hive men, as a rule, get their honey (what little they do get) in such an unsightly condition, that it will not fetch a decent price; and when it is in market, it is hurried off at the first price that

is offered for it, therefore injuring the price of choice honey in fine shape.

Now, friend Root, I have a little scheme in my head, and I think it will work admirably. In the first place, as a general thing the most of these boxhive men will improve, and get their bees in better shape, if they only have somebody to get them. started and instruct them a little. The most, or nearly all, who are keeping their bees so slovenly, will try to better their condition, for there is, in my opinion, no one who has a lot of bees, no matter what the number is, but will, if he can, be convinced that it will be for his or her personal gain (for it is natural for humanity to better its condition) to get them in such a shape that they can make a few dollars instead of a few shillings. Now, what I am driving at and going to propose is this: That you request all readers of GLEANINGS to send you the name of every box-hive bee-keeper in his or her vicinity who has not or is not taking some bee journal, and that you will forward them a sample copy of GLEANINGS with the following, or something else, as your better judgment will decide, printed upon the wrapper or a separate sheet of paper:

Dear Friend:- Your name has been sent in to us as a bee-keeper, and, thinking that you would be glad to receive a copy of our GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, and that you will carefully look it over, and become convinced that it will be for your advantage to become a subscriber, we take the liberty of sending you one. It will not only teach you how to take better care of your bees, but show you how to put up your honey in such a way that it will command a good price in market, therefore putting dollars in your pocket where you do not shillings, and thus bettering your condition and that of those around you who are striving to produce nice honey, and are putting it in salable shape. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. I think that this suggestion will not only benefit the bee-keeping fraternity, but secure for you several hundred subscribers.

For the past few days the weather has become more settled, and warm; the bees have commenced to work, and are now getting some honey, and I for one will rejoice if feeding is over. Gallupville, N. Y., June 18, 1882.

F. BOOMHOWER.

I am pretty well aware of the general failure of white clover to yield honey this season, friend B., and we are a little anxious about the nearly four hundred colonies in our own apiary that have, many of them, not over a pound of honey; but still, we are hopeful. The season is backward, and the abundant rains have had the effect of washing the honey out, to a great extent, or at least that is my reason for the lack of whiteclover honey; but this same abundant moisture will, we hope, prolong the honey-yield later than usual. In our case, the large

number of strong stocks in one point would be a pretty good reason why they should not accumulate very much honey. Neighbor Blakeslee reports that a colony on his spring scales brought in 3 lbs. on the 22d, which is not a very bad showing.-I thank you for your suggestion in regard to increasing the circulation of GLEANINGS, but it is pretty nearly what we have been doing for years past. It is true, I have not many times asked our friends to send us the names of stated that we are always glad of the opporbox-hive bee-keepers specially, but I have tunity of sending sample copies free to any name you may choose to give us. We now send you, friend B., a sample copy and price list, that you may see just what we do put on the wrappers. One more point: If we keep up the JUVENILE the year round, and hold to the old price of $1.00, a little larger circulation would be quite a favor. Therefore, all who feel friendly to the little “bantling can show their good will by helping to extend our circulation.

Bee Botany,

OR HONEY-PLANTS TO BE NAMED.

YELLOW CLOVER.

HAVE now 19 colonies, including one new one, the only swarm I have had this season. Nearly all my colonies are doing well, or seem to be; many of them are very rich, from quite a number of which I have taken from 45 to 60 lbs. of nice finely flavored honey. Our surplus honey is made this year mainly from the bloom of a grass, or weed, with a small yellow bloom, which we call "yellow clover." So far as we know, it made its appearance here only a few years ago, and now grows spontaneously almost everywhere. Bees have been, and are now working on it to the exclusion of nearly every thing else on my place. The honey is of a rich golden hue, and very fine flavored; so you see we have some encouragement to give a little time and attention to our bees this season. Bees generally in this county are doing well now, though only a few swarms. I inclose a sample of the yellow clover. What is it? J. B. RITCHEY.

McMinnville, Tenn., June 9, 1882. We have sent the specimen to our botanist, and here is his reply:

Plant from McMinnville, Tenn., is Trifolium procumbens (yellow clover, low hop clover), a smallgrowing clover found mainly in the New England, Eastern, and a few of the Middle States, in rather dry soils. Branches many from one root, slender, 3 to 6 or 8 inches long, leaflets small, wedge-obovate, denticulate or obcordate, terminal, one on a petiolule 1-6 inch long, lateral ones subsesile; heads small, yellow, subglobous; corolla persistent, reflexed, and brown when old. This plant is often mistaken for Medicago lupulina (nonesuch, or black medick), and vice versa. It does not, however, assume the "weedy" character of the black medick, and is readily recognized by the shape of the seedpods.

Columbus, O., June 19, 1882.

W. R. LAZENBY.

NEW JERSEY TEA, OR RED ROOT, For a few days, the bees have been getting some

honey, as we thought, from dog fennel (hope you have none in Ohio), but to-day one of my daughters was out getting berries, and noticed the bees very busy at work on a certain bloom. On examining it, she found that it had a scent like the honey our bees are get ting; so we have decided that it is not dog fennel, but "red shank" (this is what Laura called it). I inclose a cwig with the flower, but it may not retain the disagrecable scent till it reaches you. Cedartown, Ga., June 16, 1882. J. M. HARRIS. Plant from Cedartown, Polk Co., Ga., is Ceanothus Americanus (New Jersey tea, or red root), a small shrub 1 to 4 feet high, bearing a profusion of pretty white flowers in clusters from the axils of the leaves. The branches are reddish, round, smooth,

downy. The flowers are small, white, in beautiful clusters. Calyx campanulate, 5, cleft; corolla white, sepals long-clawed, sacate-arched. Leaves oblong-ovate or ovate, serrate, and with three prominent veins. They were used as a substitute for tea during the Revolution, whence its common name, or one of them; the other is from its roots being used for coloring. There are several other species of the Ceanothus from Mexico and South America, that have recently been introduced into the greenhouse. The disagreeable scent is somewhat variable in the same species, often nearly wanting. Columbus, O., June 19, 1882.

MIAMI MIST.

W. R. LAZENCY.

I send you a sample of a weed that no one here can name; tell us what it is. I think it is an excellent honey-plant; it blooms about twenty days immediately after apple-bloom, at a time when there is nothing else for bees to work on. It was the prettiest sight I ever saw. Just think of a ten-acre field of these beautiful little flowers covered with Italians from morning until night! I saw such a sight as this. I intend to gather some seed; they are now nearly ripe. JOEL TILMAN.

Akron, Ind., June 13, 1882. The plant is what goes by the common name of "Miami mist"- Cosmanthus purshii- order Hydrophyllacea. It is quite common in fields and river bottoms, and is a very handsome flower when in bloom. It is found from Pennsylvania to Georgia, and west as far as Iowa. It is very abundant here in Franklin County, Ohio, and I bave just made a collection of secd. W. R. LAZENBY.

Columbus, O., June 23, 1882.

BLADDER-NUT.

Inclosed you will find a small branch of a tree of which I should like to know the name. I know of only two trees; they are both on my place, and are small yet, but are growing very rapidly. They bloom just after fruit-bloom is gone; the blossoms hang in clusters all over the trees, and the bees work on them just as they do on basswood.

ILA MICHENER.

Low Banks, Ont., Can., June 16, 1882. The plant is the bladder-nut (Staphylea trifolia), order Sapindacea. It is a handsome shrub, 5 to 10 feet high; found in moist woods and thickets from Canada to the Southern States. The flowers are whitish, appearing in drooping raceme-like clusters terminating the branchlets. The most remarkable feature of the plant is its large inflated capsules, which are more or less 3-sided, and contain several hard, small nuts, or seeds. It usually blossoms in May. W. R. LAZENBY.

Columbus, O, June 23, 1882.

WATER-LEAF, OR BURR-FLOWER.

I put in a honey-plant that the bees seem very fond of, to get the botanical name. It is called chicken's foot, and is used for greens.

SILAS M. JEWELL.

Cleveland, Oswego Co., N. Y., June 14, 1882. The plant is what is commonly known as "waterleaf," or " burr-flower," Hydrophyllum Virginicum order Hydrophyllacea. It is found in moist woods throughout the United States; is a herbaceous plant, with a stem from one to two feet high, bearing large tufts of flowers. I have observed that it is a favorite with the bees. W. R. LAZENBY.

Columbus, O., June 23, 1882.

We are indebted to Prof. W. R. Lazenby, of the State University, Columbus, Ohio, for the above very full and complete descriptions of the plants we have sent him. The plants are pressed, and kept in our herbarium with his descriptions, so that we may ourselves identify them when they are sent in again.

DWARF HOLLYHOCK.

I write you in regard to one of the greatest honeyplants in existence. I refer to the "dwarf hollyhock," or mallard. I have a patch that has been in bloom since early in April, and each plant now has thousands of blooms, and has been roaring with bees since first in bloom, at all times of day; and when poplars were in bloom, which literally flow with honey, they still roared and swarmed on the mallard. It blooms till frost. I will send you a lot of the seed, if you desire. I have seen every species of honey-plant, and this excels every thing that ever came under my observation. It grows on any soil. I could get barrels of honey if I had a field of this plant. J. H. BURROW.

Lynnville, Tenn., June 19, 1882.

We have what is called mallows, a small sort of hollyhock, if hollyhock it could be called, that we have mentioned before on these pages; but send us some seed, and we will give yours a trial, and tender thanks besides.

N the Sth day of May I feel safe to make a report of my successful effort in wintering my bees. I put into the cellar 121 swarms on the 21st of November, and put them upon their summer stands on the 18th of April, losing one in the cellar. I wintered 5 in chaff outdoors, and lost two. Since putting them upon their summer stands I have found a few queenless, and a few feeble swarms that will require doubling up, which will reduce my numbers to about 112; and although we have had a frigid and dry April and May, they are all building up splendidly.

For the first time in my experience as a bee-keeper I weighed every swarm when they were put in the cellar, and when placed upon their summer stands, and I wish to say that, as long as I keep bees, I shall hereafter practice the weighing. The average consumption of honey was only 6 lbs. per colony. Now, will some of our chaff - hive advocates give us the average consumption of honey, say for 100 swarms of bees? I think we will find the

J. H. MARTIN'S WATERING DEVICE. I made a rim two inches wide, to go on the top of the hive, Simplicity style; to the under side of this rim Itacked strong cotton cloth-duck is better. I then placed in the center under the cloth a block with a hole through it, in which to insert the neck of a bottle. The block is also notched upon the sides to give the bees free access under it. After placing this block under the cloth the rim is filled with chaff, and another cloth tacked to the upper side of the rim, and both thicknesses of cloth are tacked to the block, and a hole is then cut through the cloth into the hole in the block. When the mat is placed upon the hive, the block rests upon the frames, and a clustering-place is formed; and when the bottle of water is inserted, the bees have free access to it. The bottles were put on about the middle of February, and were emptied according to the strength and disposition of the colony. A few swarms emptied five or six bottles of water, while others would empty but a part of a bottle. I am so well pleased with the success of the experiment that I shall continue its use. It is also a good plan to keep the bottles on after putting the bees out of the cellar; if a cold term comes on, the bees can be shut in the hive several days without becoming uneasy.

J. H. MARTIN.

Hartford, Wash. Co., N. Y., May 8, 1882. I think it is now pretty well proven, that water for bees, at the proper time, would have saved many of our troubles in wintering. The mass of facts, all in this one direction, are beginning to point pretty strongly to the importance of some device similar to the one friend Martin has given. The glass bottles, in plain sight, indicate most clearly whenever the supply of water is out. Most assuredly they need water. I winter in cellar, and fasten a sponge right at the entrance of each colony, and keep them wet. If you have never tried it, you will be surprised to see them take water. Be careful to make the sponges secure, as the bees will completely cover them, and might roll them off to the cellar floor. The sponges can remain at the entrances, and be kept wet, even after the hives are

carried out, preventing the loss of many bees in carly spring. It is good advice when you say, "Teach your bees to get water at a convenient spot near the apiary." It keeps them from bothering your neigh

bors' pumps, and saves the lives of a great many that get killed in different ways. You will find a shallow tub, filled with water and covered with a

TIMOTHY CHAFF VERSUS ALL OTHER KINDS.

N page 227, May number of GLEANINGS, one of your correspondents details results of experiments in reference to heat-retaining properties of different kinds of chaff and sawdust. As I have had a large practical experience with chaff hives, permit me to suggest that Mr. Fowls' experiments were in entirely the wrong direction. Any of our kinds of chaff, properly freed from straws, etc., also very fine dry sawdust, has plenty of heatretaining properties for the needed purpose. The two great desideratums for successful wintering by any mode, are to keep bees in as even a temperature, and as free from moisture as possible; and the last condition is by far the most important, as well as the most difficult to obtain. Show me a practical method of keeping the entire inside of a hive perfectly dry during winter, and I will have no further fears about unsuccessful wintering. As you already know, I have been quite successful in the use of chaff hives, and I have learned that the dryer you can keep the packing, the better the bees winter, and that the dryness depends both on the method of using and on the kind of chaff used.

I have used buckwheat, oat, wheat, and timothy chaff, and have discarded all except the last, retaining that because of its greater power of absorbing moisture given off by the bees, without retaining it and itself becoming damp and moldy. I have never tested clover chaff, although a typographical error in the report of the Michigan State Convention makes me advise the use of that; but I think it would answer well. Very fine dry sawdust is, without doubt, an excellent non-conductor of heat and cold, but I should be afraid of its liability to retain moisture.

I am glad to see so strong a believer in cellarwintering as is George Grimm, admitting the truth of the statement I made at the Lexington Convention, that "chaff hives are, in my opinion, worth all of their extra cost if used only from the time of taking bees from their winter quarters until the commencement of the honey season;" but I can not understand how he, as well as so many others, have an idea that chaff hives are not successful during long cold winters. I lost only about 5 per cent of my bees during the winter of 1880-'81, and nearly or quite all of my neighbors who use the same method of packing that I do were equally successful. 0. O. POPPLETON. Williamstown, Iowa, June 22, 1882. Thank you, friend P. I presume it will do no harm if I say I had been wishing to hear something from you on this same matter, ever since I listened to your very able address at our very pleasant convention at Battle Creek, Mich. And now, if you will excuse me once more, I want to thank you for your very kind and able exposition of The Dollar-queen Traffic, in the A. B. J. of June 21. Said article sums up, in such a masterly manner, all I would say on the subject, it seems to me I could just drop it right there, and refer all future objectors to it.