1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



771 



honey crop, and both share in the expense of ship- 

 ping-cases, honey-cans, etc., necessary to hold the 

 crop. We would, therefore, suggest that a fair solu- 

 tion of your difficulty would be for the other party, 

 inasmuch as he Is afraid of the bees, to buy your 

 half of the bees and you do all the work, under the 

 usual form of contract. In case the other party 

 will not agree to this, we would advise you to buy 

 his share, in which case you would talie the whole 

 crop. — Ed.] 



Can Bees be Wintered on Candy Alone ? 



C^an bees be wintered on candy alone? Would it 

 do to lay it on top of the frames? Would the hard 

 glassy kfnd be better, as it contains less moisture — 

 made without stirring? For wintering purposes 

 solely, what do you think of pouring it into the 

 frames (not combs), and hanging them In the hive? 



St. Mary's, Ont., Nov. 8. J. H. Burns. 



[Bees can be wintered on candy alone. The usu- 

 al plan is to place cakes of hard candy on top of the 

 frames, then cover the brood-nest with quilts or 

 other warm packing. There is not much diflfer- 

 ence in the feeding value between hard glassy can- 

 dy and that which is opaque as the result of stir- 

 ring. There is less waste with the hard candy, for 

 the reason that no particles rattle down between 

 the frames as in the case of the other candy. 



Years ago our Mr. A. I. Root wintered a good 

 many colonies successfully by pouring hot candy 

 into empty brood-frames. When cold and hard, 

 these frames were inserted, one on each side of a" 

 cluster of bees. The results were very satisfactory. 

 Where there are no combs of sealed stores, the giv- 

 ing of candy is the only way to furnish food during 

 midwinter. Syrup has too much of a tendency to 

 excite the bees at the very time when they should 

 be in their winter sleep. — Ed.] 



Do Bees have Organs that Correspond to Ears in 

 Other Animals? Stingless Bees. 



I have read considerable literature on bee cul- 

 ture, and I have yet to see any thing mentioned 

 about the hearing of bees. Their organs of taste, 

 sight, and feeling are conspicuous enough for all. 

 Do bees have microscopic ears of any kind? If so. 

 where can they be found? It has seemed strange 

 that, if bees possess ears, nobody has said any thing 

 about the matter. Yet the little creatures are very 

 sensitive to vibrations, such as a single tap on the 

 side of a hive at night, which will sometimes stop 

 the buzz of the entire colony, and, for a few seconds 

 at least, they become as '" still as a mouse," seem- 

 ingly listening. 



Please advise what you co'nsider the right pitch 

 for a hive — how much lower the front should be 

 than the back. 



Have there been any further investigations re- 

 garding stingless bees since those of W. K. Morri- 

 son in 1906? Were any of the species found desira- 

 ble for or adaptable to the United States? 



Canastota, N. Y., Nov. 7. C. W. Wilson. 



[The question of whether bees hear, or whether 

 they receive impressions in some other way, is a 

 mooted one among scientists. Nothing has been 

 found that coriesponds to the ears in ordinary ani- 

 mals, although it has been supposed that the an- 

 tennse may serve the purpose in some way. We 

 know this: Bees are very sensitive to a jar or any 

 vibration: that loud shouting in a bee-cellar will 

 bring back a response from the bees; but as sound 

 always produces sound-waves in the air, the bees 

 may get the effect of the sound by a concussion on 

 their bodies or their antennse. 



The bottom should slope down toward the front 

 at a pitch of about Vi inch to the foot. 



There have been no late reports on stingless bees 

 since those referred to by W. IC. Morrison in 190(i. — 

 Kd.] 



Propolis-poisoning; a Possible Explanation for the 

 Cause. 



The experience of Mr. C. R. Parker, as related un- 

 der the caption, "A Case of Propolis-poisoning," in 

 CiLEANiNGs for Oct. 15. interested me not a little. 

 In the summer of 1891 I began my experience in 

 apiculture in a canyon about 15 miles from here. 

 Ere long I was troubled with an eruption on the 

 hands, which, at first, I attributed to contact with 

 poison oak. At times the fingers were greatly 

 swollen, and no satisfactory treatment could be 



found. I soon noticed that, whenever I opened a 

 few hives and daubed my fingers with propolis, 

 there was another attack of the poison. This oc- 

 curred every year. Having often seen bees collect- 

 ing nectar from the poison oak I concluded that 

 the cause of the ailment was thus explained. Both 

 honey and propolis seemed to transmit the dread- 

 ed poison. In localities free from poison oak I no- 

 ticed no ill effects. I have never met another apia- 

 rist afflicted in a like manner. 

 Banning, Cal., Oct. 2:^. S. C. Lord. 



[It is entirely possible for propolis to carry poison 

 from any poisonous tree or plant. Our correspond- 

 ent is probably right in his surmise of the source of 

 the poison. The following suggests a possible rem- 

 edy. — Ed.] 



Propolis-poisoning and a Remedy. 



On page 668, Oct. 15, you speak of a case of pro- 

 polis-poisoning. I. too, have had several attacks of 

 the same thing. I had some old diseased combs 

 that had not been used for seven to ten years, and 

 after cleaning the frames of propolis I have con- 

 tracted the disease. My hands, wrists, and face 

 would itch and burn the same as C. R. Parker tells 

 about; and after trying doctors and different rem- 

 edies I found that sweet siJirits of niter would kill 

 the poison in two or three applications, and leave 

 the skin in perfect order. Just bathe the parts a 

 few times. It is very cooling, and is the best reme- 

 dy for poison Ivy also. 



Tacoma, Wash. H. W. Pallies. 



Shall we Leave the Honey in the Supers on All 

 Winter? 



About what time should the honey in the supers 

 be taken off? I removed all of the honey in them 

 some six or seven weeks ago, and some of the colo- 

 nies have about filled them up again, while others 

 seem to be a little weak. What would be the re- 

 sults should I leave the honey on these last-named 

 hives for winter feed? 



Goodland, Ind., Oct. 31. M. L. Humston. 



[We would take ofT all honey from the hives in 

 the upper stories or supers. When doing so, be 

 sure there are stores enough in the brood-nest be- 

 low. There should be not less than 25 lbs. for out- 

 door wintering, and 15 lbs. for indoor wintering. It 

 would, perhaps, do no harm to leave the honey and 

 the supers on all winter; but we would advise tak- 

 ing it off provided you have enough in the brood- 

 nest. If you have any weak colonies we would ad- 

 vise you to unite them with some stronger stock. 

 For particulars regarding this, see p. 644 of our is- 

 sue for Oct. 15.— Ed.] 



Not 2000 Tons of Sugar, but 2000 Tons of Beets, 



Mr. i?oo<.— An.swering the letter of inquiry from 

 your proof-reader, I will say that what I meant 

 when I said 2000 tons per day was 2000 tons of beets 

 used; but even that is a little more than the average 

 used. The superintendent tells me this morning 

 that the average output of the factory for the sugar 

 campaign (which is from two to four months) is 

 5000 sacks every 24 hours, or 250 tons per day of 24 

 hours; the yearly output is irom 35 to 40 million 

 pounds. 



Colorado has twelve sugar-factories. Several of 

 them have only half the capacity of this one; but 

 you can see that she easily stands first in the pro- 

 duction of beet sugar. The sugar content of the 

 beets here is about 16 per cent. 



Longmont, Colo., Nov. 4. M. A. CJill. 



Langstroth versus Some Other Frame. 



Please tell me which frame Alexander used and 

 which one does Doolittle now use? What frame 

 would you recommend for this locality? 



Loudonville, N. Y., Nov. 4.s^a fJ. A. Norris. 



[Mr. G. M. Doolittle formerly 'used the Clallup 

 frame, WVx x \\hi outside measure; but he has since 

 changed to the Langstroth, if we are correct. Mr. 

 E. W. Alexander used a frame slightly deeper and 

 a little shorter than the Langstroth; but he said to 

 the writer once that, if he were to start again, he 

 would adopt the regular standard Langstroth size. 

 Pi-actically all of the large producers in the coun- 

 try are using the Langstroth frame.— Ed.] 



