278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ISlAYl 



If we are not mistaken we had a talk with 

 Mr. ^Aspinwall re^ardinji some i)lan of this 

 kina, and he told us he had been over this 

 jjronnd, and that the f'lustering-s))ace had 

 to be disposed between the combs to be ef- 

 fective. 



We present the idea in tw'o different forms, 

 because it may involve a iirincii)le havinj? 

 some merit; but until it can be tested, ev- 

 erybody shoidd go slow, for we have been 

 fooled so many times about this swarming 

 proposition that, when a new thing looks 

 good, like this, we should remember past ex- 

 periences. 



PROSPECTS FOB THE SEASON. 



A large number of reports have come in 

 since our last issue, and only about one in 

 four is unfavorable: that is, three out of four 

 report good wintering, good prospects for 

 the season, etc. As is always the case, there 

 are sometimes conflicting reports from local- 

 ities close together. This is often due to 

 difference in care used; but this year it is 

 quite i^robable that the difference in the 

 quality of the stores has a great bearing on 

 the matter. As we have already stated, at 

 one of our outyards nothing but honey-dew 

 was gathered, while two miles away a fair 

 cro]) of light honey was secured. The con- 

 trast was quite marked this spring. At the 

 yard where so much honey-dew had been 

 gathered, many of the colonies showed 

 symptoms of dysentery, and, all together, 

 they were in much poorer condition than at 

 the other yards. Sugar was fed in both 

 jilaces; but in spite of this the honey-dew 

 still in the combs in the late fall made 

 trouble. 



The light snow which has fallen over a 

 large portion of the North, instead of hurt- 

 ing the prospects has served to put the clo- 

 ver in much better condition than it was 

 before. Snow in April is almost always 

 good for clover. Fruit has been injured to 

 some extent by the frosts; but the bee-keep- 

 er, unless he is a fruit-grower also, can con- 

 sole himself with the thought that, when 

 fruit is scarce, honey is apt to be higher in 

 price. * 



ARE BEES KILLED WHEN FRriT-TREES ARE 

 SPRAYED WHILE IN BLOOM? 



A YEAR ago, as will be seen by i)age ol 4 

 of our last vear's volume, we published a 

 letter from O. B. Metcalfe, of Metcalfe & 

 Parks, Mesilla Park, X. M.. showing how 

 five of their yards had been almost entirely 

 ruined because neighboring fruit-growers 

 sprayed their trees while in bloom; of how 

 not only the bees died by the thousands, 

 but the brood also. The other yards remote 

 from this spraying did not suffer any in- 

 jury. We have had other i)roof from time 

 to time of how this ignorant sjiraying at the 

 wrong time ruins the bee-keeper's prospects 

 for honey, if it does not entirely clean out 

 all his bees. The following letter gives 

 further evidence along this line: 



We are having bad luck with our bees. One of 

 our neighbors sprayed his fruit-trees while in full 



bloom, and it ruined us. The bees are still dylne. 

 That was tour days ago. We have had a big rain 

 since, which seemed to help somewhat. Does Par- 

 is green usually kill the brood? The bees carried 

 otit larvfT in all stage.s. Does it kill or injure the 

 cjueen? 



1 wonder if there could not be a law passed in 

 Indiana in regard to spraying fruit-trees while they 

 are in bloom. 



Lebanon, Ind. J. W. Swails. 



We have not thought it necessary hereto- 

 fore to give any special i)rominence to the 

 fact that bees are killed if trees are sprayed 

 while in bloom; but as the fact was doubted 

 by one or two of our very good bee-kee))ing 

 friends, we shall be glad to hear from others 

 who have suffered. No damage, of course, 

 occurs when the non-])oisonous mixtures 

 like lime and sulphur washes and the kero- 

 sene emulsions are used; but, as any intel- 

 ligent fruit-man knows, these are insufficient 

 to kill all the pests. 



During the years past we have had a good 

 many hundred reports where bee-kee])ers 

 have written in and asked why their brood 

 was dying, supposing it had died from foul 

 brood; but investigation showed that in 

 many cases, at least, this brood was poison- 

 ed, and that as soon as the spraying season 

 was over it ceased to die. 



In answer to Mr. Swails we may state 

 that there is no law against spraying fruit- 

 trees while in bloom, in Indiana. There is 

 no such law in force except in the State of 

 New^ York, in Ontario, Canada, and possibly 

 Michigan. Conditions became so bad in 

 York State that the bee-keei^ers of that 

 commonwealth put in a strong plea to their 

 TvCgislature and secured the law. 



PREVENTION OF GRANILATION OF COMB 



HONEY BY KEEPING IT IN A WARINI 



ROOM. 



On page i:>4 we spoke of the fact that a 

 carload or two of our western alfalfa honey 

 showed a tendency to granulate, and that 

 we expected to arrest granulation by storing 

 it in a warm room subject to "a temperature 

 of between <S0 and 90 degrees Fahr. Some 

 experiments that we had conducted a year 

 or so before on a small scale led us to be- 

 lieve that we could not only arrest granula- 

 tion, but that we could actually reduce it. 

 The temperature of the room in that case 

 was slightly above 100. and some cakes of 

 honey that was granulated solid were actu- 

 ally brought back to a liquid condition; but 

 we found that this high temperature had a 

 tendency to make the combs sag in the sec- 

 tions. 



This winter we put a carload and a half 

 of comb honey in a large room, into which 

 we had put extra steam radiation, main- 

 taining a temi)erature nights and Sundays 

 continuously of V)etween 7") and 00 degrees. 

 While we held granulation in check, we 

 noticed that a good many of the conil)s had 

 sagged to an extent that it spoiled the 

 chance of marketing them. Nearly all the 

 honey that has been held in this high tem- 

 l)erature has suffered slightly in flavor. 

 The average consumer would not notice it, 



