392 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLHWAL. 



June 2, 1904. 



hours in a practically tight room in a temperature of about 

 70 degrees. The worms and eggs were all killed. 



Pres. House said that he had used as high as 7 pounds 

 of the drug in a room 10x11 feet by 7 feet high. With this 

 treatment he could kill a worm on the floor, but on the 

 shelves where the honey was it did not work. He now piles 

 the honey on the floor, sets a chair over it, and throws a 

 blanket over the chair. When using too much he found 

 that the honey afterward would be thin, and ooze out of the 

 cells. 



Mr. Morgan said that he had no such evil results. 

 Mr. N. D. West told how he used carbon bi-sulphide for 

 killing bees. He gave a humorous account of its explosive 

 action in throwing hive-covers into the air. 



Mr. Kenyon— Is it necessary to fumigate the honey ? 

 If honey is piled so air can pass through it there is not 

 much danger of moths. Mr. Elwood and Capt. Hethering- 

 ton both do this. Where the honey is piled tight, and pol- 

 len is present, moths are worse. They are also worse in 

 honey kept in a hot room. A cool honey-room prevents 

 moths. 



Mr. Betsiuger— In piling honey I pile it very solid to 

 keep out the air and keep the honey from getting watery 

 and granulating. If this is done it stays thick, and will 

 last for years without granulating. 



Mr. Betsinger dwelt at some length on the careful pro- 

 duction and handling of comb honey. It should be cased 

 and piled so there would be no drip. There should not be a 

 teaspoonful of leakage in a thousand pounds of comb honey. 

 He recommended using wide-frame supers so the sections 

 could be handled by the frame and not by the section. As 

 for carbon bi-sulphide, it is safe anywhere as long as there 

 IS no fire near. 



Mr. Holtermann— We know that a certain percentage 

 of this gas in the air coming in contact with fire will cause 

 an explosion, and we should recommend caution in its use. 

 As to the necessity of carbonizing comb honey, we can be 

 careful to avoid breeding-places for moths, and so keep 

 down their number and reduce the danger. 



Mr. Betsinger^Onemoth lays 5000 eggs every 12 hours, 

 and can do the whole business. They never lay eggs in 

 combs where there are no bees, so the eggs are laid before 

 the combs leave the hive. 



Mr. Elwood— If this is the case, supposing you keep 

 honey for two weeks during the hot weather that we have 

 at the time of taking off comb honey and no moths are 

 present, it is perfectly safe to sell without carbonizing. 



W. Z. Hutchinson said that even in such a case the eggs 

 might lie dormant until the honey was in the hands of 

 dealers. Storing in a warm room might cause them to 

 hatch. 



Mr. Betsinger— We must remember that the dealer 

 doesn t know anything. We must hold ourselves responsi- 

 ble for the honey until it is consumed. 



Pres. House— Worms in the honey disgust the people, 

 and injure very seriously the market for honey. It is bet- 

 ter to be on the safe side, and always fumigate your honey. 

 Mr. Holtermann— As to the best methods of fumigat- 

 ing honey, our experimental stations should work on these 

 points. 



(Continned next week.) 



Our Bee-Hcepin§ Sisters | 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson. Marengo, 111. 



What Caused the Bees to Die ? 



In the last two days my bees have died by the thousands 

 I can not imagine what is the matter with them. Can you 

 tell me ? I- have examined the American Bee Journal, but 

 fail to find out what ails them. Part of them get home 

 but the ground is covered with them for yards around I 

 will send you a sample. Mrs. Lou O King 



Garfield Co., Colo., May 9. 



Hard to tell what is the trouble. Nothing can be told 

 by the appearance of the bees except that they died on their 

 way home instead of on the outward-bound journey • for 

 they have pollen on their legs. It is possible that' the 

 weather had something to do with it, being so cold that 



they fell to the ground chilled. But the weather may have 

 been warm, and there is some occasion for fear that there 

 was poison in the case. In spite of the fact that spraying 

 fruit-trees while in bloom is a waste of labor and material, 

 and even a damage to the fruit-crop, there are yet some 

 fruit-growers foolish enough to spray with poir.ons the 

 fruit-trees upon which our busy little pets are working hard 

 to help the fruit crop. Some States have laws making it a 

 penal offense, and it is hoped other States may follow their 

 good example. 



If the bees have been killed by poisonous spraying, 

 there is, of course, nothing that will now help ; but for the 

 sake of the future it may be well enough to make some in- 

 quiry, and if it can be ascertained that fruit-trees were 

 sprayed when in full bloom, a little special pleading with 

 those who sprayed may have some effect in preventing a 

 like occurrence another year. 



Heavy Loss in Wintering'. 



Our bees did not winter well this year. Out of 40 colonies 

 we have 3 left. Our neighbor, Mr. Kiger, had 1 left out of 

 10 colonies ; another neighbor, Mr. Pugh, had 24 colonies, 

 and has 2 or 3 left this spring. Almost everybody else in 

 Wood County met with the same results. 



Wood Co., Ohio, May 15. Mrs. D. S. Gilghr. 



To Make Fiat-Irons Smooth. 



Beeswax and salt rubbed on flat-irons will make them 

 as smooth as glass. Tie a lump of wax in a bit of cloth 

 and keep it for the purpose. When the irons are hot rub 

 them with the wax rag and then on a paper well sprinkled 

 with salt. — Chicago Daily News. 



A Sister's Interesting Experiences. 



Dear Miss Wilson: — Time flies so rapidly that months 

 (almost 12 of them) have passed since I determined to write 

 to you. I want to assure you that your efforts in our hehalf , 

 as bee-keeping sisters, are much appreciated. We are in- 

 debted to you, and each should feel in duty bound to cast in 

 her mite to help make our department interesting and 

 profitable. 



After so long a silence I hardly know where to begin. 

 Perhaps it would be well to begin at the beginning and tell 

 you I am a poultry-raiser, and for years had thought I would 

 like to try the combination of bees and biddies. Finally the 

 combination became possible, and in the evening of a damp, 

 cool day, about the middle of April, 1902, I became the pos- 

 sessor of 3 colonies. I did not know a thing about bees, but 

 the first thing I did was to fall desperately in love with 

 them, and then began to study, and have, I think, learned a 

 few things by experience. 



One reason I like bees so well is because we have to 

 think out new plans of managment. Many things I learned 

 in the management of poultry have helped me in the man- 

 agement of bees, and the combination has worked very 

 nicely so far. 



My study of bees began by visiting a bee-keeping 

 friend. While there I examined a vacant hive and learned 

 the use and the nanfes of the different parts ; also saw the 

 smoker used and the frames of brood examined. I borrowed 

 back numbers of the American Bee Journal, and read them 

 carefully. Next I sent for a smoker and the little book 

 " Bees and Honey," and enjoyed every word of it. 



Examining my bees I found one colony very weak and 

 one quite strong, the other just medium. The strong one 

 had a fine, large queen, said to be the daughter of an im- 

 ported Italian. 



Some one told me if I would divide the 2 stronger colo- 

 nies there would be no swarming. Tliis I proceeded to do 

 according to directions in ray little book. Did it prevent 

 swarming? Not much it didn't. I thought at the time it 

 made them just that much worse, for they swarmed, and 

 kept on swarming until the last of Aufjust. I know now 

 that they were mostly the little after swarms that kept 

 coming out, but to me then they were a constant wonder 

 and surprise. 



I lost but one swarm. (For fear I forget it, let me say 

 here that this was a young queen that had been hatched 

 and also laid eggs in that hive that summer ; the old queen 

 had been taken from that hive when I divided them). I put 



