October, 1916. 



American l^ee Journal 



THE HIVK, EMP 



PACKING CASE. AND PACKING MAIKRIAL KkuM 1 HE 

 HOSHAL WINTER CASE 



hives themselves. Full colonies seem 

 to be able to defend themselves, by 

 the very superiority of numbers. One 

 beekeeper in observing the relative 

 strength of the opposing forces esti- 

 mates that six bees are required to 

 vanquish one yellowjacket. 



That ratio is probably due to the 

 armor-like quality of the enemy's yel- 

 lovr jacket which apparently is in- 

 vulnerable to the sting of the bee. On 

 the other hand, the yellow jacket finds 

 it a simple matter to seize a bee, sever 

 it vfith a sawing motion, and fly away 



with the meaty portion which also 

 contains the honey-sac, leaving the 

 head and front legs of his victim 

 wandering aimlessly over the frames. 



But in a full hive the bees often ball 

 the invaders as they do a queen; then 

 other yellow jackets hurl themselves 

 upon the "ball" until the front of the 

 hive presents a veiitable battlefield. 



It is the weaker colonies and the 

 nuclei for mating queens that suffer 

 most. It is a rare occurrence to open 

 one of these and not find the inmates 

 battling for their very lives. And 



there is no doubt that this condition 

 has been the prime cause of the small 

 percentage of matings of virgii. 

 queens. Out of twenty-four virgin 

 23 were lost in a single week. 



A resourceful member of the Bee 

 Club suggested the use of an ordin- 

 ary fly trap baited with raw meat, 

 and already one member has six in 

 operation, another three and another 

 2, which are filled with yellow jackets 

 and emptied once and sometimes twice 

 each day. We have just been obliged 

 to add two more to the number already 

 in our apiary adequately to cope with 

 the situation. 



Mr. McCuUough's $1.50 fly trap— 

 for years the family joke because it 

 had never been known to catch a 

 single fly — is being emptied of yellow- 

 jackets twice in a single day. The 



NO. I— CLEANED OUT BY THE YELLOW JACKETS 



No. 2.— Protecting a Queen-Mating 

 Nucleus 



trap is eighteen inches tall and holds 

 about three quarts when full. 



But it required a doctor scientifical- 

 ly to strike at the root of the evil (the 

 breeding-nest) by enforcing a species 

 of birth control. This method pro- 

 vides for a generous saturation with 

 arsenate of lead of each piece of meat 

 (preferably salmon) carried home to 

 the young by the yellow jackets. The 

 sudden decease of a neighbor's dog 

 that had eaten too freely of the dead 

 yellow jackets lying about, proves the 

 efficacy of the treatment. Bat the 

 best proof was the depleted condition 

 of a captured nest. Scarcely a yel- 

 low jacket remained. Dr. Doug' ass 

 also made another discovery which 

 explains the numerous progeny of 

 these pests. In one nest four "Queen" 

 yellow jackets were found, ins'ead of 

 a single queen bee as in the honey- 

 bee brood-nest. 



Mr. M. C. Richter states that in 

 England, especially in and around 

 London, the yellow-jacket-pest is pre- 

 valent and is the most annoying en- 

 emy with which the apiarist has to 



