I SHU 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



463 



them after it got that high. The pens were washed 

 away, or knocked over by arift. I have only about 

 40 left, and they are damaged, and ihe brood got 

 wet. I have changed them into new hives. The 

 water was 3J inches deep in my house. Some 

 houses were wasbed away, and nearly all fences 

 are gone, and crops destroyed. A great deal of 

 stock was drowned, but no loss of human life that 

 I have heard of. Some of the hives have been 

 found in the woods, with a few bees in. The dead 

 brood smells bad. Will it cause foul brood? 



Rush Point, La., May 34, 189J. W. J. Dawson. 



No, sir. Foul brood can n -^t start without 

 a seed, any more tlian corn c.in grow wliere 

 none is planted. 



IMPRISONING TROUBLESOMh, ROBBER BEES, AND 

 PUTTING THEM TO HONEST WORK. 



I applied the wire cone to a use the other day 

 that I am very much pleased with. Robbers got to 

 work at a nucleus, and were raising quite an ex- 

 citement. 1 made a box 3x3 inches, and as long as 

 the width of the hive, with no bottom or back. The 

 top was of double wire cloth, so they could not feed 

 through it. Then in the front I bored a two-inch 

 hole and put in a wire cone ~yi inches long, point- 

 ing inside. This box I then fastened over the en- 



^ 



ARR\NGEMENT TO PERMIT BEES TO GO INTO 

 HIVES, BUT NOT TO GET OUT. 



trance of the hive being robbed, and you should 

 have seen the robbers pile into that cone — just 

 where I wanted them. Soon they were all in, out of 

 mil way in working- for the rest of the day. I then 

 i;ook them back into the cellar for three days; and 

 when put out they remained in that hive. So I not 

 only helped the weak swarm, but got the robbers 

 nicely cornered, and stopped their nosing around, 

 and stinging, when every thing else might have 

 failed. This plan may not be new. but I have failed 

 to see it in print; and I give it, thinking it may do 

 some one some good. H. P. Lakgdon. 



East Constable, N. Y., Apr. 16. 



Friend L., your experiment is quite old. 

 As much as ten years ago I gave an account 

 of it in Gleanings. I. too, got a lot of 

 black robbers entirely out of my way ; and 

 by setting them in the cellar I made honest 

 bees of them. They did not last very long, 

 however. Either they lost their lives in 

 undertaking to rob somewhere else, or else 

 they were bees so old that they did not have 

 very long to live. They lived long enough, 

 however, to strengthen up my weak colony, 

 so that the queen could fill it with brood. 

 In my case, I presume that these black rob- 

 bers came from the woods. If it were 

 neighbors' bees, however, we should be care- 

 ful about trespassing on any of their rights. 



CARNIOLANS, AND THE POSITION OF GLEANINGS 

 IN REGARD TO THEM. 



By a late number of the Apiculturist and 

 one or two of the other bee-periodicals, we 

 note that one or two writers think the po- 

 sition of GLi:ANiN(is is rather unfavorable 

 toward the Carniolans. In fact, one scribe 

 intimates that, because we sell Italians, 

 therefore we condemn Carniolans. Why, 

 the facts are, friends, we could sell Carnio- 

 lans as well as Italians : At one time we 

 were seriously proposing to locate a Carnio- 

 lan apiary; but the few colonies we tested 

 did not prove to be a desirable race to sell 

 or recommend, and we thought we would 

 wait for further developments. VVith us 

 the Carniolans were not very gentle. The 

 progeny of one queen were the Grossest bees 

 we ever had in the apiary ; but then, she 

 may have been crossed with a black drone ; 

 but from the looks of her bees it was impos- 

 sible to tell whether she was pure or hybrid. 

 We also found that the Carniolans were dis- 

 posed to swarm rather to excess. However, 

 as we do not wish to appear partial we are 

 glad to give a good word for them. In the 

 last Bee-keepers^ Review we find the follow- 

 ing editorial: 



THE CARNIOLANS GREAT BREEDERS. 



This i^ the first spring that we have had several 

 good colonies of Carniolans in a normal condition- 

 that had not been exhibited at fairs the previous 

 autumn. That they rear more brood early in the 

 season than do the blacks or the Italians, there is 

 vo quci'tion. It was a surprise to us to see the en- 

 thueiastic manner in which they go at it; as though 

 brood-rearing had filled their minds to the exclu- 

 sion of all else. It makes no difference if no honey 

 is coming in. and only a little remains in the hive, 

 brood-rearing is kept np to the very highest notch 

 until the last drop of hOLey is consumed. Even 

 with our prf^sent cold, rainy, and late spring, three 

 colonies of Carniolans swarmed May 213; and at this 

 writing (May 27) the Italians have made no prepara- 

 tions for swarming. 



We all like bees that get to the front early in the 

 season — that " show up " with hives running over 

 at the blossoming of ihe clover— but. unless theee 

 bees will •• turn to" and gather in the harvest when 

 it comes, our enthusiasm will suffer a rapid decline. 

 In this latter respect, the Italinns never disappoint 

 us. When the harvest comes they are as complete- 

 ly carried away in gathering honey as the Carnio- 

 lans now are in raising brood. If the Carniolans 

 will gather honey, when it comes, with the same 

 energv now displayed in breeding, they will be the 

 bees for us; and it is with interest that we shall 

 watch their behavior in this respect, and report re- 

 sults. 



Perhaps we have not had fair samples of 

 the Carniolans. We hope the majority of 

 them are. however, better than those we 

 tried. What we are all after is a race of 

 bees to breed early, are prolific, good work- 

 ers, and but little inclined to swarm, 

 whether it be Italians or Carniolans. Beau- 

 ty or color ought to be a secondary consid- 

 eration. 



FURTHER PARTICULARS IN REGARD TO THAT 

 HEAVY LOSS IN NEW YORK. 



You ask for a more definite report on my bees. I-?. 

 built a cellar, a honey-room, and a shop, 18x20— cel- 

 lar full size of building, base laid in mortar, (J ft. 

 high, with drain under the base. It being so wet 

 all winter, the ground in the cellar become very 

 wet. I put the bees into the cellar Nov. 30; set 

 them 10 In. above ground, three and four tiers high, 

 with open bottom, and honey-board shoved part of 

 the way off. It got very warm at first; then I open- 

 ed the cellar door at night: left windows open all 



