March, 1916. 



87 



American l^ee Jonrnaljl 



cell, if none, pass to the next hive, etc. 

 Keep in touch with each hive every 

 three weeks until they are in shape for 

 winter. 



Third, we turn to the bees theinselves. 

 Any strain of bees that are disposed to 

 rob and forever prying around other 

 hives, slipping in just wherever they 

 can, are the ones that will carry and 

 contract diseases first; breed from 

 such as show a disposition to get right 

 out into the fields for stores. Weed 

 out the robbers and persist in this, 

 even if you are obliged to change your 

 present stock; if you are a close ob- 

 server you can soon mark the robber 

 hives to be requeened. My experience 

 with blacks and goldens is that they 

 are bad on this one point. That is 

 why the blacks are not called immune. 

 If the American foulbrood once gets a 

 start in any hive, you will find that no 

 race or strain will clean it up so that 

 you can depend upon it, if you leave 

 the bees to clean out the combs. 



Colo, Iowa. 



[The elder Dadant, who lived and 

 kept bees in localities where foulbrood 

 was unknown and who never saw a 

 case of foulbrood was nevertheless 

 very particular in giving each colony, 

 as much as possible, an independent 

 flight opening through the bushes or 

 trees of the apiary. He insisted, as 

 does our esteemed correspondent, that 

 when two or more colonies have a 

 confused flight-opening, there is con- 

 siderable danger of one of them gain- 

 ing many stray bees, from the others, 

 especially when first removed from the 

 cellar or when the young bees take 

 their first flight. Either the strongest, 

 or as Mr. Lhommedieu puts it, " the 

 nearest colony to the open " will be 

 likely to gain at the expense of the 

 others. There is probably more in 

 this than most of us realize. Success- 

 ful beekeeping is made of details.— Ed.] 



The Bee Pirates of Africa 



WE beekeepers who must use so 

 much care to prepare our bees 

 for the long winter months some- 

 times feel that beekeeping must be a 

 joyful business in warm countries 

 where they can fly every day in the 

 year. In reading the literature relating 

 to bees kept in such climates, we are 

 struck with the number of annoyances 

 which the beekeeper meets that are 

 unknown to us of the lands of snow 



and ice. , Ic ■ 



A recent number of the South Afri- 

 can Beekeepers' Journal devotes much 

 space to the habits of the bee pirates, 

 notes upon which may interest our 

 readers. 



The bee pirates are digger wasps. 

 Two species are given as destructive to 

 the bees. Other species are common 

 in America but are not referred to as 

 enemies of bees, since they capture 

 other insects which are taken to their 

 burrows to furnish food for the larvs. 

 One of the African species is said to 

 'catch the bees on the flowers, while 

 the other catches them more frequently 



A DIGGER WASP. S/'/iex ii/iiieHiiumcHs.-'.Vtom Banks, Bulletin U. S. National Museum 



at the hive entrance. As many as 400 

 pirates have been captured around one 

 hive. It will be apparent to the reader 

 that such a pest must be very serious 

 in the apiary. It is not an easy matter 

 to deal with such a nuisance. About 

 the only effective methods are swatting 

 them by hand as they fly about the 

 hives or setting traps. Two kinds of 

 traps which have proved effective are 

 described. Covering branches of trees 

 with bird-lime and placing them near 

 the hive is one of the methods de- 

 scribed. 



When a pirate alights on the branch 

 its feet are held by the sticky matter, 

 such as "tanglefoot" in catching flies. 

 A white plate or basin filled with water 

 and oil is also recommended. The plate 

 method is said to be the simplest and 

 most effective way of fighting the banded 

 pirate which comes to the hive to cap- 

 ture its prey. Some bees also fall into 

 the water, but the number is small com- 

 pared with the number saved from the 

 pirates destroyed by the traps. Parafiin 

 is given as the best oil for the purpose. 

 No method has as yet been devised for 

 catching the species that capture the 

 bees afield as their habits are such that 

 very small numbers could be caught by 

 any trap. 



The pirates are not large insects, 

 measuring but little more than half an 

 inch in length. 



Honey Sources in Tennessee 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



Read at Southern Conference for Education and 

 Industrvat Cliatlanooeea. Tenn.. April, rois. 



THE first source of honey in Ten- 

 nesse r is from the maples; not 

 from their flowers but from the 

 holes made in the bark by the wood- 

 peckers. Sap exudes from these holes 

 at any time during the winter when 

 there is a spell of warm weather. 



Then comes the blossoming of the 

 elms and maples. These furnish both 

 nectar and pollen. The elms blossom 

 a little earlier than the maples. The 

 time is very irregular, according to the 

 weather. If early, the blossoming is 

 gradual, being interrupted by every 

 cold spell that occurs. Later the pear 

 trees peach trees, plum trees and a 



few others less important bring their 

 contributions. In this latitude no time 

 can be set for their opening. The apple 

 trees require more heat to develop and 

 therefore do not open until spring 

 actually comes. The date for their 

 blooming is more regular than for the 

 other fruit trees. Here, around Knox- 

 ville, it is about April 1. They are in 

 bloom about three weeks; occasionally, 

 when the weather is very warm only 

 two. The orchard business is neglected 

 in many localities throughout the whole 

 South, and the yield of nectar and pol- 

 len none too good at its best. Add to 

 this the interruptions in the gathering, 

 from cold or rainy weather, and it is 

 easy to understand why often the colo- 

 nies are too weak to take advantage 

 of the flow when it comes. 



White clover has never given me any 

 surplus. It begins usually a week or 

 so before the end of fruit bloom and 

 keeps up brood-rearing in the interval 

 between it and the poplar (tulip tree) 

 blossoming. The statement has been 

 made often that south of Mason and 

 Dixon line white clover doesn't 

 amount to anything so far as the pro- 

 duction of honey is concerned. There 

 might be an exception where the soil 

 is rich and moist. 



Our first surplus comes from the 

 tulip tree. Here it begins during the 

 last week of April or the first of May. 

 The yield is heavy and seldom fails. 

 It lasts 20 to 25 days. The honey is 

 dark amber with a reddish tinge, the 

 taste a little strong. The black locust 

 and honey locust bloom at about the 

 same time, but do not yield as much. 

 Their honey is medium or golden am- 

 ber, and has a better taste than the pop- 

 lar honey. 



The next source of surplus is honey- 

 dew. This is extremely variable in 

 in quantity and quality. It comes 

 chiefly from the hickories and white 

 oaks. There is no regular date for its 

 appearance; sometimes in May or 

 June. It lasts anywhere from nothing 

 to four weeks. It may be scant in 

 quantitvor abundant enough to actually 

 drip from the trees. It may be fairly 

 good or abnormally bad. Often it is 

 good at the beginning but gets bad as 

 the season advances. When good, if 

 the word good may be used, it is of a 

 medium amber color with a blackish 



