1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



451 



DIXIE land; the verdict of a man who is 



NOW in CALIFORNIA. 



I read A. I. Root's southern travels with the 

 greatest interest. What he says is every word 

 correct. When he says that Dixie is "just 

 slick," he is right. I have been over Uncle 

 Sam's domain, and know of what I speak. Tak- 

 ing it all in all, the >outh is hard to beat. If 

 you look it up you will see where you shipped 

 goods to me in the State of Washington. I 

 lived five years in Florida, fourteen in Texas; 

 was raised in Kentucky. I lived in Washing- 

 ton ten years, and this is my second year in 

 California. I spent five months in San Diego 

 Co., and have a tolerably fair idea of most 

 places, and my choice is Southern Alabama. 



Upper Lake, Cal. G. P. Shires. 



[If our readers will turn to page 3.55 they will 

 see that Rambler mentions meeting friend 

 Shires in California.— Ed.] 



BEE -STING POISON, ETC. 



Bees are doing finely. I had 26, spring count, 

 now .56. Last evening I transferred the Iialian 

 colony from the box hive to one you sent. 

 Twice in my lifetime bees have thrown some- 

 thing into one of my eyes. It smarts and turns 

 red immediately. I have never heard of any 

 one else who is troubled in that way. 



Box Elder, Va., May 18. J.H.Allen. 



[Friend A., I have many times, while near 

 angry bees, felt the sensation ynu describe; but, 

 as you mention, I do not know that I have ever 

 before seen it in print. Sometimes when you 

 open a hive during cool weather, cross hybrids 

 will elevate their stings, and you may see a 

 little drop of poison hanging to the sting If 

 you take the trouble to taste this you will find 

 it a very pungent, acrid poison. Now, I have 

 sometimes thought that an angrv bee might, 

 while on the wing, flirt or throw this poison so 

 it might go into a person's eye. Under similar 

 circumstances we often smell what we call 

 bee-poison. In preparing stings for medicine 

 this is quite perceptible, and some people 

 seem to be disagreeably affected by being 

 around when this poison seems to be very much 

 in the atmosphere. Very likely it is more or 

 less volatile, and the odor of it in the air may 

 affect the eyes, and perhaps other organs. Can 

 somebody tell us more about it? — A. I. R.] 



DESTROYING SWARMING - CELLS; LANGSTKOTH 



VS. SECTIONAL BROOD-CHAMBER FOR 



THE rURPOSE. 



In that valuable article by E. France, in 

 Gleanings, Dec. 15, on out-apiary manage- 

 ment, he puts the key to his plan of swarming- 

 time management by periodic visits in a line or 

 two of print, and it is a pity, seeing the amount 

 of work and care involved in following his in- 

 structions, page 934, viz., " Be sitre no queen- 

 cells are left in any colony," and, further down, 

 " Leave no queen-cell in the old colonies," to 

 let it pass without comment. It is truly good 

 sound advice; but with the L. frame and hive, 

 how laborious ! how risky I all hinges on not 

 one cell being missed in the work of destruc- 

 tion. A mere cup with an egg in it, accident- 



ally overlooked, means a swarm issuing before 

 the 10th day comes round, and with it the api- 

 arist. This plan of getting the swarming-date 

 of a number of colonies on the same day, so dis- 

 pensing with a watcher, is one I have carefully 

 studied and followed in my out-apiaries for 

 three seasons past. But I give them now but 

 nine days between visits; and when there, in- 

 stead of destroying cells one by one, I turn 

 each of the brood-cases upside down, which ef- 

 fectually and positively destroys all embryo 

 queens, and none can escape, and the colony is 

 safe for nine days. This colony is swarmed on 

 next visii; also all others like it previously in- 

 verted. The other colonies are inverted if 

 strong, or likely to swarm; and if they have 

 cells sealed next visit, they are swarmed in 

 their turn; but if they have young cells, or 

 none at all, they are inverted again and are 

 safe till next visit, and so on with all hives as 

 they advance to swarming strength every nine 

 days for the two or three months of our swarm- 

 ing season. 



This inverting has other advantages that 

 have been set forth by other writers, including 

 Mr. Heddon, whose hive, or a modification of 

 it with hanging frames, I use in my out-apia- 

 ries; but I have not seen its superiority in this 

 respect, and the rapidity and certainty which 

 with it the cell destruction essential to such a 

 system of periodic visits can be accomplished, 

 set forth anywhere. Any easily inverted hive 

 would have the same advantage over non-in- 

 vertible as the Heddon type has. Inversion is 

 not a mere fanciful and pretty idea; it is to me 

 the key of out-apiary success, and does away 

 with all need of swarm-catchers, and hivers 

 and traps and appliances outside the hive it- 

 self. T. Bolton. 



Dunkeld, Victoria, Aus. 



I have had the same trouble John K. Good- 

 rich had. Some thieves carried away three 

 hives of bees at different times, and the ar- 

 rangement spoken of in Gleanings seems to 

 be just the thing. Would you please tell where 

 such a battery could be bought? Others might 

 be glad to know. Gustave Gross. 



Milford, Wis. 



[A battery and an electric call-bell outfit can 

 be purchased at any of the electrical-supply 

 houses for about f^.50. Write to Stanley & Pat- 

 terson. New York City. — Ed.] 



THE strength OF BEES. 



A French naturalist, Mr. Plateau, has tested 

 various insects to ascertain their strength, and 

 finds that the smallest ones are very often the 

 strongest. According to his experiments, a bee 

 can drag off .30 times as much as a horse can, 

 according to its size. One bee dragged easily 

 20 others, and showed a power proportionate 

 to a locomotive. What astounding muscular 

 power the bees must have, we think, when we 



