1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



125 



Like m\ny others I thought bees found 

 nectar by sight; but I believe now they find 

 it by scent. Last summer there were about 

 thirty acres of alsike 2K ni les nnrthwes>t of 

 my apiary. There was very Utile clover 

 nearer, and the first ten days that this clover 

 was in bloom the wind was blowing fn-m the 

 east. The bees were storing some from 

 sources around home, but not a bee was go- 

 ing to the thirty acres. I was becoming dis- 

 couraged for I had supposed that bees would 

 go to that alsike clover One morning, how- 

 ever, as I was roming from the barn I heard 

 an uproar and thought the bees were swarm- 

 ing. I ran out, and it seemed as though all 

 the bees were leaving the hives. They wf re 

 going to that alsike clover, the wind having 

 changed si that it blew from that thirty-acre 

 field. The suners filled ud rapidly. All the 

 bees had to fly over timber almost all the 

 way to get to this clover, and hence I am 

 convinced that they find nectar by scent 

 rather than by sight. 



Oakwood, Ind. 



[This confirms to a great extent some ob- 

 servations which we made while at the Alex- 

 ander apiary, located, as it is, upon a side 

 hill, commanding a view of a valley where 

 the eye c^n taka in a panorama miles distant. 

 We have been under the impression that 

 bees depend largely on a telescopic vision to 

 determine the exact locat'on of any flora 

 that might have honey: and while this may 

 be true our correspondent has introduced 

 pretty strong proof showing that they are al- 

 so guided (sometimes at least) by scent. 

 This is very interesting, and we shall be 

 pleased to know whether others have ob- 

 served the same thing. — Ed.] 



THE ALEXANDER PL IN OF CURING 

 EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



Even If it is a Success, is it Ahead of the 

 McEvoy Method from the Standpoint of 

 Economy? the Alexander Plan Means 

 th»«t a Colony Must Dwindle Forty five 

 Days. 



BY E. M. GIBSON. 



I fail to see any thing bu+ loss in the Alex- 

 ander plan of treating foul brood of either 

 the European or American type. I am well 

 aware that it would be futile to gainsay any 

 thing which that grand old man of Marengo 

 might endorse (page 760, Dec. 15). but I do 

 not think the Alexander plan has the stamp 

 of his unqualified endorsement as yet. and 

 so we may give our reasons for doubting, 

 and let the readers be the judges. 



With the above mentioned method the 

 queen is taken away from the diseased colo- 

 ny until the brood is all hatched, which takes 

 21 days (I have my doubts as tn whether 

 this is long enough in all cases of European; 

 certamly it is not for the American kind). 

 Well, 21 days are gone without a laying 

 queen in the hive at best. One is now in- 



troduced that is supposed to be laying; but 

 if a virgin she does not lay until the 21 days 

 have parsed. There is no laying queen, 

 then, until the expiration of 24 days; for, 

 even if a laying qupen is introduced, it will 

 be three days before she lays. Now it will 

 be 21 days more before any brood is hatched, 

 making a total of 45, and by this time the 

 colony is much reduced in numbers of bees, 

 and little or nothing can be expected of it in 

 the way of surplus for the season. 



What is to be done with the queens taken 

 away from the d seased colonies? No one 

 but a queen-breeder would be likely to h ive 

 nuclei enough to accommodate them; and to 

 prepare nuclei not only takes time, but 

 means a further loss of bees and brood. 

 Then there are two queens to hunt for — one 

 in the diseased colony and one in the hive 

 from which the brood is taken, for fear of 

 getting the queen also 



Let us analyze the McEvoy plan, on the 

 other hand, modified by using full sheets of 

 foundation to start with — a plan which has 

 been success^'ul in my case, and which has 

 led me to believe that th»^ use of starters is 

 superfluous if one is careful in other ways. 

 One might use starters and be careless in 

 some other way which would prove more 

 disa'^trous. With the modified McEvoy 

 treatment we do not have to find the queen. 

 It is not necessary to start nuclei to hold 

 surplus queens, and no colonies need be 

 robbed of brood and bees. With one helper 

 I can transfer a colony on to foundation ev- 

 ery ten minutes, and keep up this rate for 

 eight or ten hours a day. One would have 

 to be extremely successful to find 48 to 60 

 queens in one day (I am making these com- 

 parisons of time, etc , as I write). In three 

 days after a colony has been brushed on to 

 the foundation, combs will have been built, 

 and eggs laid in them; and from thit time 

 on. the queen will have all the room that she 

 can possibly use, so that in 24 days from the 

 time the colony is treated there is hatching 

 brood in as g ^od a set nf combs as were taken 

 away, all being filled with brood. In the 

 Alexander plan the queen in the same time, 

 will have just commenced to lay, a"d 21 

 days must yet elapse before any brood 

 hatches to st' engthen the colony. 



The onlv difference between the McEvoy 

 treatment and the plan of shaking bees on 

 to foundation to make them carry honey into 

 the super is the brood that is given back to 

 the bees after it is hatched I know by ex- 

 perience that a colony brushed on to foun- 

 dation, as soon as the bees begin to build 

 freely in the spring will be only one extract- 

 ing behind those which are not so treated, 

 providing the disease has not depleted them 

 too much, and they have a vigorous queen. 



If there is sufficient honey in the diseased 

 combs that were removed to be worth while, 

 it can be extracted, boiled, and fed back aft- 

 er being diluted, and, if one cares to go to 

 the trouble of utilizing the brood to start 

 new colonies, this can be done by piling up 

 the combs six or seven bodies h'gh ana let- 

 ting the brood hatch, then putting all the 



