No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 509 



mouth part is so arranged that there is no cutting to it. The 

 wasp's mouth part on the other hand is like a saw blade. With 

 grapes, you can puncture a few and you can leave some that are 

 not punctured and the bees will starve to death in the presence of 

 those sound grapes. 



DR. I, H. MAYER: In using the bee escape, where and how do 

 you insert it? 



MR. BARCLAY: Between the part to be removed and the rest 

 of the hive. 



Member: What is the age of the working bee? 



MR. BARCLAY: It is ordinarily stated at about six weeks when 

 they are working strenuously, but of course those that go into the 

 winter live until the following spring. 



The worst enemies of the bee are the foul brood and black 

 brood. One or the other of these diseases are in some parts of the 

 State and black brood have been very bad in New York State. 

 These diseases of bees have been carefully studied by the Depart- 

 ment in Washington and we have some pretty definite information 

 on the matter. The treatment for both is, that of removing all the 

 combs and starting the bees fresh without any contaminated honey 

 in a new hive, and the use of the old combs for wax. 



The bee moth is not a direct cause of any trouble for the bee- 

 keeper, it is the result of other troubles or neglect. The colony 

 becomes weak and is entered by these moth and the larvae will 

 begin to feed on the combs. They won't bother as long as the 

 colony is strong. The Italian bee is perhaps the leading race of 

 bees. They are much more gentle and more easily handled than 

 the black bee. The black bee is hard to handle for the simple rea- 

 son that when you lift a comb of black bees, they get scared right 

 away, and run about, while with the Italian you can look a comb 

 over, and hunt the queen, and they are not constantly running about 

 and bothering you and getting in the road. They are much more 

 vigorous in preventing the moth's entrance. 



PROF. JOHN P. STEWART: Is it a settled fact that spraying 

 kills the bees? 



MR. BARCLAY: I said that I have had no personal experience. 

 I have seen reports whore bees have been found in great agony 

 apparently from that cause, and they were analyzed and found that 

 they contained copper and arsenic. I don't know of au}^ case of 

 very serious damage. I have occasionally seen where so and so lost 

 so many bees but I have never actually come personally in contact 

 W'ith a case. It is possible to arrange our woi'k so as to avoid 

 spraying when the bees are working in the orchard and we might as 

 well do it. 



