1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



127 



HEADS OF Grain 



From Different Fields 



OUTDOOR-WINTERED COLONIES LOSING A COUPLE OF 

 DOZEN OF BEES DAILY; IS IT AN ABNORMAL CON- 

 DITION? 



I have my bees outdoors in a good tight outside case; 

 8 single-story iiives about four inches apart packed 

 with straw between hives; also behind and on top. 

 Each hive has an entrance 3 inches by :'o, with a storm- 

 door li-aned up in front to keep out sunlight, storms, 

 and wind. I notice every day 20 or 25 bees from cer- 

 tain hivee, and four or five bees from others, come 

 out and die on the alighting-board, the weather nearly 

 down to z<-ro. Can you say if this condition is right, 

 or are they too warm? Should the entrance be en- 

 larged to six or eight inches? It seems to me that at 

 this rate of coming out there will be few if any left by 

 spring. C. A. YORK. 



Ruscomb, Ont., Jan. 13. 



[No matter how well b^es are packed outdoors, there 

 will be a certain mortality taking p'ace daily. Some 

 bees, b^'cause of bad food, venture from the cluster; 

 others, from other causes, become chilled, then starve 

 and die. Others still, because of old age, also drop off. 

 Four or live dead bees daily is not a great loss, if you 

 stop to figure it up, and is not much larger than we have 

 had at Medina, and what we have observed at other 

 yards where bees are wintered outdoors. They may 

 not appear at the entrance everj' day; but on certain 

 days when it warms up there will be a sort of house- 

 cleaning in which there will be quite a number of bees 

 pushed out, and one would think that a large number 

 were dying. The probabilities are you have an aver- 

 age of at least ten thousand bees in each of your hives. 

 Suppose there is a maximum daily mortality of 25 bees. 

 There are about sixty days, possibly, of cold weather. 

 This would make only 1500 bees, or a lOtal of fifteen 

 per cent of the survivals. The stronger the colony the 

 larg r the number of bees that will die daily, but the 

 smaller the percentage of loss. 



The number of bees found dead at the entrance will 

 be much greater this winter than usual on account of 

 honey-dew. If you have no honey-dew your daily 

 percentage of loss should be smaller. 



But the death loss outdoors is usually no greater >\f 

 as large I than the loss inside of a good cellar. We 

 have stepped in many a cellar and found anywhere 

 from one to two inches of dead bees on the floor, and 

 yet out of that same cellar would come a lot of str(>ng 

 healthy colonies for spring. It has been contended 

 that many of these bees are superannuated, and would 

 die any way. It is our opinion, based on our own ex- 

 perience, that a two-inch deep loss of bees all over the 

 cellar bottom is too great. We have wintered in our 

 shop cellar, and the total number on the cellar bottom 

 —well, they could almost be counted. 



But perhaps some who were wintering outdoors will 

 report that they see no dead bees in froi t of the en- 

 trances of their hives. The first warm day the bees 

 can fly in the spring there will be found quite a large 

 bunch of them in front of the entrance of almost every 

 colony, if theie is very much honey-dew in the hive. 

 These would be the bees that died all during the win- 

 ter. 



Right here ought to be entered a caution. Some- 

 times the dead bees will clogupthe entrance, and then 

 there is sure to be trouble; because a closed entrance 

 usually means death to the whole colony. 



Replying to your question, your entrances are large 

 enough providing they are kept clear of aead bres. If 

 you do not n.ake a practice of raking them out clean 

 about once a month, the entrance had better be 8x>'3 

 in the case of a strong colony. — Ed.] 



CARBOLIC ACID IN SPRAYING-SOLUTIONS TO PREVENT 

 BEES FROM BEING POISONED. 



Mr. Root:— I was pleased to receive your letter of the 

 15th. inclosing one from Messrs. Metcalfe & Parks, of 

 Mesilla Park, N. M., who, I remember, rep 'rted to 

 you last year that their bees had been poisoned by ar- 

 senical sprays on fruit-blossoms. In reply to your in- 

 quiry as to whether carbolic acid can be used in dilute 

 solution in the spray liquid to repel the bees and at 

 the same time not injure the setting of the fruit, I will 

 say that I think this is possible. I must immediitely 

 confess that I have had no practical experience in this 

 matter, nor do I know any one else who has had such. 

 My recommendation would be that the trees be spray- 



ed just after the blossoms drop. They are not then 

 secreting nectar, and the bees would not be working 

 on them. Ihe results of spraying would be fully as 

 good as or better than if the liquid be applied while 

 the trees are in bloom. From a horticultural staid- 

 point I surely do not think it best to spray trees with 

 any thing while they are in bloom. Thus the danger 

 of killing the bees will be entirely overcome. 



As the inquirer does not state what kinds of fruits he 

 sprayed I can not give the formula with such certainty 

 as I would if I knew for sure whether they are the 

 pome fruits or the stone fruits. In ge eral, however, 

 2 lbs. of arsenate of lead, 1 lb of bluestone, and 3 lbs. 

 of lime in 50 gallons of waier will be found safe and 

 efficient. If there really be danger of the bees sipping 

 this, it can be avoided by the addition of a very small 

 quantity of carbolic acid. The crude article will do as 

 well as the rehned, and is, of course, much less expen- 

 sive. By shaving 1 lb. of hard soap tine, in a gallon 

 of hot water, one can add one gallon of carbolic acid 

 to this soap solution, and emuisify it by vigorous beat- 

 ing or churning through a spray-pump. It will be- 

 come a creamy mass, and can be kept as a stock solu- 

 tion. Only enough of this will be needed in each bar- 

 rel or tank of the arsenical spray to repel the bees ; 

 and as bees are very readily repelled by the odor of 

 carbolic acid, this means that the quantity will be so 

 slight as not to prove injurious to young fruits. It is 

 my opinion that the addition of one-tenih of one per 

 cent of the carbolic acid would pollute the spray liq- 

 uid so as to repel the bees, and that considerably more 

 than one per cent will be needed to injure the fruits. 



Harrisburg, Pa., Jan. 18. H. A. SURFACE, 



Economic Zoologist. 



[Reference ha= been made before in these columns 

 to the use of carbolic acid in spraying-solutions to 

 keep the be^ s away from the fruit-trees; but no one so 

 far seems to have any dehnite knowledge of how the 

 acid has been used. If any one can furnish the infor- 

 mation we shall be glad to hear from him. In the 

 meantime we have no doubt that the suggestions made 

 by Protessor Surface (who is probably one of the best 

 authorities in the United States on spraying) will be 

 safe to follow. — Ed.] 



KEEPING WEEDS DOWN AROUND HIVES. 



How can I prevent grass and weeds from growing 

 about my hives? For some time I have had my ashes 

 put in the apiary in order to keep down grass and 

 weeds, and to give the place a neat appearance ; but 

 this season dandelions, docks, and fall grass are most 

 luxuriant; and even salt does not kill them as I once 

 thought it would. Kindly tell me something not poi- 

 sonous to bees that will surely keep down all growth 

 around the hives. 



Moorestown, N. J., Aug. 7. S. E. WILLIAMS. 



[If you have a permanent location for your apiary, 

 and wish to go to the expense, a good way is to make 

 a concrete foundation lor the hives. This can be 

 made a few inches larger than the hive in order to 

 prevent grass and weeds from growing too close. The 

 top of this foundation may be made level with the 

 ground; and since theie would be no object in using a 

 very thin mixture of concrete we believe that one part 

 of cement to nine or ten paits of sand and gravel 

 would be sufficient. If the .- and and gravel can be ob- 

 tained cheaply, the expense will thus not be very 

 great aside irom the labor of making them. 



Salt will kill weeds and grasses if enough is used. It 

 is so cheap that small handfuls of it scattered here and 

 there, especially around the entrances of the hives, 

 will make short work of vegetation not wanted. If 

 your yard is located out in the country where sheep 

 are kept, you can easily crop down grass and weeds by 

 letting the sheep loose in the bee-yard at night. In 

 fact, it will do no harm to leave them theie all day. 

 Occasionally a sheep will get close to an entrance; but 

 unless a bee stings it around the eyes or nose it can do 

 but very little harm. It does not take a sheep long to 

 learn to push its head under a clump of bushes, when 

 the rest of its anatomy will be taken care of by its 

 wool.— Ed.] 



MOVING BEES IN COI D WEATHER; IS SNOW A PROTEC- 

 TION TO OUTDOOR-WINTERED BEES? 



What, in your judgment, would be best for me, as 

 I do not find any thing printed regarding my situation? 

 I have bought 60 colonies of bees 20 miles distant; ex- 

 pected them to have sufficient stores to remain where 

 they are outside; but by chance I discovered they were 

 very light. We have a solid sheef of snow from one to 

 three feet deep all over. Would you advise me to 

 move them home those 20 miles on sleighs when we 



