March 14, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



169 



would probably be better if the society would petition the 

 legislature to enact a law to prohibit the growing of the 

 hare within the State. A comparison was even drawn 

 between the hare and the English sparrow. 



These good people are unduly scared. I will admit it 

 might be unwise to turn a large lot of hares loose into a 

 young orchard in the winter-time. I very frequently turn 

 out 10 or 12 of the animals at any time with bOO young fruit- 

 trees growing near by, which I would not have injured for 

 all my hares. Yet I have not the slightest fear that any of 

 the trees will be damaged. The fact is, I have never had a 

 tree injured, neither b}' the wild rabbit, which within three 

 years was very plentiful here, nor by my hares, except 

 when the fruit-trees had been planted in the hare enclosure. 

 The woodchuck is the destroying foe among our fruit-trees 

 — not the hare ; and the States could well afford to pay a 

 bounty for every specimen killed ; the hunters would take 

 care of the hares. In some localities nurserymen sustain 

 heavy losses by the work of wild rabbits, it is true ; but a 

 few hunters with dogs and ferrets will clean out (glad to do 

 it) an infested district in a short time. I do wish we had 

 more wild rabbits. 



The hare — because less cunning — could be subdued and 

 cleaned out much more easily and quickly than the wild 

 rabbit. However, nobody need be afraid that any hare- 

 grower would liberate and give up ownership of his stock 

 as long as they are as valuable for food as they are. There 

 is absolutely no need for legislation against the hare altho 

 I believe California has a law against liberating hares. 



Sometimes when I wish to dispose of surplus stock, to 

 make room, I kill a number of them at a time, stew the 

 meat and can it in our regular one or two quart glass-cans. 

 Thus prepared it is ready any time for lunches or other 

 culinary uses. 



I am not sure that the hare industry is the coining indus- 

 try, as Mr. E. T. Abbott puts it, or that it ever will assume 

 gigantic proportions as to become a leading industry, but I 

 am sure that it will always be and remain a pleasant aux- 

 iliarj' for the production of choice meat, for one's own table 

 at least, and at a very low figure. In my individual case, 

 if I had several hundred grown animals now on hand I 

 could very easily dispose of them at IS cents per pound. 



Ontario Co., N. Y. 

 A brother's testimony. 



I will add that my brother Friedemann, is hardly enthu- 

 siastic enough about the value of the Belgian for meat 

 stock. In quality, the meat is unsurpast — I believe even 

 unequalled — by the meat of any other domestic animal, the 

 capon not excepted. A well-roasted young Belgian hare is 

 a treat, indeed. 



In a general way, Friedemann has given the facts in the 

 case. T. Greiner. 



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Questions and Answers. ^ 



CONDUCTE 



DR. O. O. MILLER, Marengo, 111. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. MiUe 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Death-Rate of Bees in Cellar-Wintering— A Foul- 

 Broody Deal. 



1. I put 72 colonies of bees into t'ne cellar Nov. 22d to the 

 26th, just after a good flight, but found many dead bees on 

 the bottom-boards, which were all cleaned out. About one- 

 third had a "s-inch entrance, and the balance 's,and nearly 

 all of the latter were raised and 'j-inch blocks put under 

 the front end. As there seemed to be more dead bees than 

 usual on the cellar floor, I made a note of all, swept up 

 since Jan. 16th, which is as follows : Jan. 16th, nearly two 

 quarts, and one hive spotted ; Jan. 24th, nearly two quarts, 

 and four hives spotted; Feb. 1st, 1'2 quarts, and eight 

 hives spotted ; Feb. 7th. 1', quarts, and 12 hives spotted ; 

 Feb. 14th, two full quarts, and 1.^ hives spotted. 



Is the above an average death-rate, or is it above the 

 average ? Would it be best to put the bees out for a flight 

 on a. good da.y, a.nd then return them to the cellar? The 



cellar is rather damp ; it was tiled Nov. 1st. The tempera- 

 ture has been from 40 to 48 degrees. 



2. A bought bees of B— 7 colonies at $3.00 each, in 

 April, to be paid for with honey produced by the bees, (but 

 not to be confined entirely to 7 colonies). Six of the seven 

 were affected with foul brood, unknown to the buyer (and 

 supposedly unknown to the seller). The bees being black, 

 part of them were used for rearing queens to requeen the 

 rest, and divided into nuclei. (Don't say A was foolish — 

 he did not know there was any foul brood in Iowa.) 

 Result : 11 colonies have been treated for foul brood, 2 of 

 them absconded, one full colony and one 3-frame nucleus 

 were sulphured, and three of the treated ones died during 

 winter, probably from the boiled honey ; S7.00 has been 

 paid. Now, without any thought of the legal points in the 

 case, what would be right and just to both parties? Ought 

 A to pay the full amount to B, or has he paid enough ? 

 Only one of the seven colonies stored any surplus honey. 



Iowa. 



Answers.—!. There is nothing very unusual about the 

 mortality, but so many hives being spotted so early in the 

 winter gives occasion for some uneasiness. When a cellar 

 is damp it needs a higher temperature than when dry, and 

 it is possible that a higher temperature would have pre- 

 vented all spotting of the hives. The temperature was 

 rather low in any case if it ranged evenly from 40 to 48 

 degrees, for that would be an average of 44 ; and if most 

 of the time it kept near the lower limit the case was still 

 worse. Unless they are very bad, it is hardly advisable to 

 put them out of the cellar until they can stay out. Experi- 

 ence has shown that when put out and returned to the cel- 

 lar they are not likely to do very well. But it may be 

 advisable to put them out earlier than you would do if they 

 were perfectly healthy. 



2. The probability is that the moral and the legal view 

 of the case would closely coincide. If a merchant were to 

 sell you by mistake sand instead of sugar, he ought not to 

 be paid more than the value of the sand, and the fact that 

 he was ignorant of the character of the material sold 

 would not in the least degree enhance the value of the sand. 

 The cases are not exactly parallel, for while one might lie 

 willing to accept sand at a price sufficiently low, he would 

 hardly want to accept foul brood without being paid for 

 taking it. 



■*-—»' 



A Beginner's Questions. 



1. I had one colony of bees last spring, and they workt 

 well at first, but after the first swarm they stopt work. 

 What made them do that ? 



2. Four years ago I had a colony that swarmed three 

 times. They workt all the time till all the flowers were 

 gone. I put all the colonies into the cellar and in the 

 spring they all died. Do you think the cellar was too damp 

 for them ? 



3. How long does a worker-bee live— 40 or 60 days ? 



4. How many drones does the queen have with her dur- 

 ing the working season ? New York. 



Answers.— 1. The probability is that there was no 

 work to be done, that is, no honey in the flowers. Some- 

 times the flow ceases when there is no apparent reason for 

 it. Then it may start again without any diiference that 

 one can see. It may be, however, that you mean that this 

 one colony stopt work while others continued to work. 

 The fact that it swarmed was enough to account for at 

 least a very great decrease in the amount of work, because 

 work can only be done where there are workers, and when 

 that colony swarmed most of its workers went with the 

 swarm. You will find it invariably the case that when a 

 colony swarms there is a great falling oflf in the work of 

 the mother colony. 



2. It is impossible to say without knowing more about 

 the case. If the cellar was very damp, that would of 

 course be something against their chance of wintering 

 well. But no matter how good the cellar, you ought not to 

 expect all to vrinter well when a colony swarms three times. 

 Under ordinary circumstances two or three of the colonies 

 would be weak for good wintering. The mother colony 

 would be greatlv weakened by so much swarming, and the 

 second and third swarms would hardly be strong. But that 

 does not account for the death of the first swarm, and one 

 can only guess that a cellar too damp or too cold, or too 

 little ventilation of hive or cellar, or both, or some other 

 thing was the cause of the loss. 



3. The life of a worker-bee depends upon the amount 

 of work done, and so to a great extent on the time of year. 



