476 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



has proved good as preventive and cure, while 

 the refined article has been unsatisfactory. He 

 thinks perhaps the coal tar that is in the crude, 

 and also in lysol, may be important. 



Apifuge. In Le Progrcs Apicole, E. J. Ro- 

 land recommends cantharides, or Spanish flies, 

 and carbolic acid. Dissolve the powder in the 

 acid, apply it to the skin, greatly diluted, and 

 the bees won't sting there. Put the mixture 

 full strength on a sponge and use it in a smoker 

 if you want to drive bees out of a hive. 



The greatest good to the greatest number 

 would make a law that owners of cider-mills 

 and such things should screen them against 

 the intrusion of bees. If I am prevented by law 

 from putting poisoned honey on my own ground 

 to kill my neighbor's bees, equally I should be 

 prevented from killing them with a cider-mill. 



If I HAD KNOWN Ernest was going to be un- 

 der the weather I'd have liMed hard to knock 

 him out on the T-super question before he re- 

 covered his usual vigor. Guess I must try to 

 fire off the few shots I have left, anyhow. [I 

 am getting a little out from " under the weath- 

 er," so you had better looka"leedle oud." — 

 Ed.] 



Who CAN TELL what makes combs turn black 

 as they grow old ? It doesn't seem reasonable 

 to believe the bees' feet do the coloring. [We 

 know that bees go into the hive with dirty 

 feet; and we know, too, that the cocoons and 

 the deposits left from brood rearing seem to 

 have a darkening eff'ectupon newly built combs 

 along the line where the brood was. Is it not 

 probable that both causes contribute toward 

 the darkening you speak of ?— Ed.] 



"The North American convention this 

 year has received a special grant of WOO from 

 the Ontario Legislature, to defray the expenses 

 at Toronto," says the A. B. J. Say; do you 

 Canucks mean to own the convention ? and will 

 you reincorporate it? Joking aside, that's a 

 grand stroke. [Yes, indeed ihat was a grand 

 stroke; but our country is so large I am afraid 

 we could not get similar favors at its hands— at 

 least, not at present. I anticipate that the 

 next North American will be the best in the 

 history of the association. Those Canucks— beg 

 pardon, Canadians — are hustlers in convention 

 matters.— Ed.] 



You're 'way off in thinking Stray Straws 

 for June 1 are reposing in ray coat-tails. My 

 wife has searched my pockets thoroughly; and 

 when a woman can't find any thing in a man's 

 pockets you may be sure there isn't any thing 

 there. " Where are they, then?" I don't know. 

 [I knew that you once carried Stray Straws in 

 your pocket, and it was only when we punched 

 you up just in time that we discovered their 

 whereabouts. But you were then able to get 

 them to us in time for the journal, so as not to 

 break the chain. Yes, you are right. When a 



woman can't find a thing in a man's pocket, no 

 one can — not even the user of said pockets him- 

 self.— Ed.] 



Will as much brood be produced in a two- 

 story hive as if the combs are all in one story? 

 is one of the conundrums in A. B. J. Opinions 

 are pretty well divided, with some preponder- 

 ance in favor of the single story; but most of 

 the repliersseem not to answer from experience. 

 [I have noticed sometimes that the repliers, 

 when we had a similar department in our own 

 journal, frequently gave an off-hand opinion, 

 and not one based on experience. At the risk 

 of doing something nearly as bad myself, I will 

 say that, from what little experience I have 

 had, bees breed better all in one story than in 

 two separate ones.— Ed]. 



FEEDERS. 



I'ROPERLY AND IMPROPERLY CONSTRUCTED; 

 THE LOSS INCURRED FROM POOR FEEDERS. 



By H. R. Boardman. 



Would bee-keepers be benefited by my experi- 

 ence with feeders if I should give it, or would 

 they go all over the ground for themselves? is a 

 question I have asked myself more than once. 

 Although I am satisfied that not all will be dis- 

 posed to accept my notions, some seed may fall 

 on good ground. 



Success in feeding depends almost wholly up- 

 on the feeders used. A large amount of the 

 feeding done, even by quite practical bee-men, 

 results only in injury to the bees, instead of 

 benefit, leaving out of the account the cost. 

 This is not a very encouraging compliment, I 

 will admit: but it is too true. Feeders must be 

 so constructed that the bees can not possibly get 

 daubed with the feed. You may say this is 

 easy enough. I once thought so too; but it is 

 not so easy a thing to accomplish. 



The most common kinds of feeders are those 

 with floats or slots. Take any of this class of 

 feeders, or even combs filled with feed, which 

 would seem, certainly in the latter case at least, 

 to meet the '-equirementsof the bees, and watch 

 them in their mad scramble to get each a share. 

 At first, when only a few are feeding, they poise 

 themselves daintily and sip leisurely and care- 

 fully as though their own fine plumes and fea- 

 thers were their sole care. Soon they gather 

 faster; and as their numbers increase they be- 

 gin to huiTy and jostle against and run over 

 each other. Still they gather until they are 

 piled up on each other in a wild, struggling, ex- 

 cited mass, which is not truly represented by 

 any thing except the board of trade of some 

 great city. 



Now, those at the bottom, which were at first 



