1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



11 



bottom-board, and slipped the screen be- 

 tween them while the outside robbers were 

 vainly trying to get in, and the robbers in- 

 side as vainly trying to get out. I sat down 

 and studied the matter over. Of course, it 

 was plain enough that, when I moved 39, I 

 had moved the robbers along that were then 

 in the hive. They hadn't had time to tell 

 their kith and kin of the new location of 

 booty before I left, hence the seeming quiet 

 at that time. 



I looked at 88, all serene; and if a stray 

 robber came within hailing distance of its 

 strong guard he apologized immediately un- 

 der pretense of a mistake, and went about 

 his other affairs. The exchange of hives had 

 struck me as very good strategy, and I was 

 loath to acknowledge another defeat; but 

 how to deal with the robbers inside of the 

 hive when moving it — that was the problem. 

 Reasoning that every bee — respectable or 

 not — certainly wants to go home at night, I 

 had previously tried moving robbed colonies 

 before after dark, and failed to stop the rob- 

 bing. Why? Did the robbers simply find 

 the weak and demoralized colony again on 

 the following day? or did some robbers lodge 

 there over night? If the former, then a sim- 

 ple exchange with a strong colony after dark 

 would do the trick if the latter — aha! I had 

 an idea. I waited until dusk, when the bees 

 stopped flying, but before it was too dark for 

 them to find home. Then I went to 39, now 

 quiet save the complaining murmur of im- 

 prisoned robbers and the disconsolate roving 

 of a cluster between the screen and bottom- 

 board — some, doubtless, from 39 that had 

 been locked out, but the majority were field- 

 bees from 38, the latter being pure Italians 

 and the former blacks. I took the lid off, 

 and a swarm of robbers instantly took wing. 

 To make sure that all should have a chance 

 to go I got an empty hive-body, stood it in 

 place of 39, shook each comb in front of it, 

 and put it in the new body, closed up, and 

 left them for an hour to quiet down; then I 

 exchanged 39 with 52 — another strong colony 

 — and contracted 39's entrance. 



The following day I watched with interest, 

 and, behold! it was a complete success. Since 

 then I have employed this method a number 

 of times without a single failure; in fact, I 

 now consider the robbers as my allies. They 

 promptly point out any weak colonies that 

 need strengthening; but now, instead of 

 shaking the combs, I simply take the lid off 

 at dusk, give the hive a jolting, and make 

 the exchange at once. To facilitate matters 

 I have on hand a few wire screens nailed to 

 frames, lid size, which I can easily slip under 

 the hive. These are employed if the robbing 

 is started early in the day; but if in the eve- 

 ning I simply contract the entrance and make 

 the exchange at dusk. 



Pittsfield, 111. 



[Your scheme of curing robbing is some- 

 thing similar to one described by A. I. Root 

 in the original edition of the A B C of Bee 

 Culture, with this difference, that he put the 

 robbed colony in the place of the one that 

 was doing the robbing. As we understand 



your plan you simply put a strong colony, no 

 matter where it is, whether engaged in the 

 robbing or not, in the place of the one that 

 is being robbed because it is weak and un- 

 able to put up a stiff defense. We are not sure 

 that we have seen this before described in 

 print, although we would be of the opinion 

 that others had probably tried it. In a gen- 

 eral way we think that the plan is good. — 

 Ed.] 



■WEEPING" HONEY NOT NEW. 



BY J. D. FOOSHE. 



I note in Gleanings an experience by H. 

 F. Hart with what he calls weeping honey. 

 I have had just such an experience with this 

 kind of honey only once in my long time of 

 bee-keeping. About 18 or 20 years ago all 

 the honey in my apiary, both sections and 

 brood-combs and extracting-combs, were fill- 

 ed with it. I tried every way I knew to ex- 

 iiact it, and finally gave it up and let it go 

 back on the hives for the bees to use up dur- 

 ing a dearth afterward. I wrote to Glean- 

 ings about it, and I think there were several 

 others who had had the same experience. I 

 do not remember now what suggestion was 

 made by A. 1. Root; but you will find some- 

 where on file my enquiry and his answer. 

 I think that the article is entitled "Honey 

 from Persimmon going to Sugar." 



I was satisfied at the time that the honey 

 was from the persimmon. We had a pecul- 

 iar condition of the atmosphere that caused 

 it, just as it happens that some years we have 

 honey-dew, and perhaps for several we may 

 not see a trace of it again. This year we 

 have had more than for several years; in 

 fact, I have been troubled with honey-dew 

 but once or twice in all my bee-keeping ex- 

 perience, and only once with honey that act- 

 ed as Mr. Hart reports. I think the whole 

 trouble comes from atmospheric conditions. 



I also think the so-called bee paralysis is 

 caused by atmospheric conditions. Several 

 years ago this disease was raging south as 

 well as north; and I saw it about in neigh- 

 borhoods, and one or two years I saw two or 

 three colonies in my own apiary during the 

 fall; but for years I have seen no trace of it, 

 either in my own or neighboring apiary. 



THE seven-top TURNIP AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



My good friend A. I. R. has requested me, 

 page 484, Aug. 1, to give my experience and 

 observation with seven-top turnip as a hon- 

 ey plant. The interview published in the 

 State last spring has called forth replies, so 

 I will, in response to friend Root, tell what 

 I know in regard to this plant. I have for 

 years, perhaps ever since I have been han- 

 dling bees, at least 30 years or more, planted 

 seven-top turnip for the seed alone which I 

 sell to seedsmen, and find for this purpose it 

 has been a very remunerative crop; but a 

 few exceptions to this rule. 



It is the earliest plant we have to bloom, 

 beginning about the middle of Mai'ch and 

 lasting until the middle of April; and it 



k^ 



