1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



first home, I thought best to accept this swarm and work. For foot powers, a very thin soft belt 



* TheAfeesfm Steparent hive had no unsealed larvse is needed. Softening it with neat's foot Oil, 



(1 had taken that out before introducing the Italian naay belp matters. I cannot remember see- 



queen), and I had to supply them with this from an- ing you. friend K., which I regret, as I have 



other hive, to give them the means to raise a queen 

 As this swarming out, where the parent hive was 

 left hopelessly queenless, goes against all my for- 

 mer experience, I hardly think this was a natural 

 swarming act, after all." 



Perhaps only the queen flew out. at first, and as 

 she had been away for quite awhile but the day be- 

 fore, the bees, being afraid of losing her, sallied 

 forth after her in great numbers, and when she 

 alighted they settled around her to keep her secure. 

 Is this theory correct? or was this swarming an in- 

 discretion of the queen, peculiar to the Italian race? 

 But be this as it may, I had ope more swarm any- 

 way, and in spite of the lateness of the season (fore 

 part of Augusts this is now (thanks to the movable 

 comb frame) one of my strongest colonies. 



In due time, the young bees appeared in my three 

 Italianized swarms, and I feel so pefectly pleased 

 and happy about them, that you will have to give i 

 me a corner in the "Smilery." All, as far as I can 

 see, are pure three-banded Italians, but the largest i 

 and prettiest bees are those bred from queen No. 3, 

 the one I valued least. This queen is besides won- 

 derfully productive, and rather than lose her, 1 

 would be willing to give up the other two. 



JUDGING BY LOOKS. 



How much, with things in general, and queen bees ( 

 in particular, can we be mistaken by judging from 

 ■outward appearances only ! 



As the honey harvest in this locality was mostb' 

 •over for the season, I had not much chance to find 

 out which of my three Italian queens produced the 

 most industrious (the main point with me) progeny; 

 but if I breed queens next spring for Italianizing 

 'the rest of my bees, it will be from queen No. 3. 



FOOT POWER BUZZ SAWS; A CAUTION. 



I see in the last number of Gleanings, that friend 

 Hutchinson made a foot power buzz saw, and I am 

 glad he succeeded to his satisfaction; but I would 

 advise everyone to be slow in investing money in 

 such a thing, because I did and failed. I spent over 

 a week on this concern, hired a carpenter to assist 

 me several days, and his wages, together with the 

 material (the leather belt alone was $3), amounts to 

 "nearly $20, with my time thrown in. For all this ex- : 

 pense, I have a perfectly worthless piece of machin- 

 'ery, because it requiresthe strength of a Sampson to 

 saw through only half inch stuff, and would Mag 

 'even "him out in less than 10 minutes. 



When I was in Medina, you were unfortunately so j 

 'busy With your type-writer (it being nearly the end 

 of "the month) that I was denied the privilege of a • 

 'little visit with you, and for this reason you will ; 

 wave to excuse me, if I have made this visit a little 

 more lengthy than I at first intended to do. 



Chas. Klimitz. 



Batavia, N. Y., Nov. 23, 1878. 



I cannot say why the bees swarmed ont 

 with the new queen, friend K., but I hardly 

 think a queen can, of herself, induce 

 swarming. I am glad to know your daugh- 

 ter works with you. I have just been think- 

 ing, what a safe place for a daughter by 

 her father's side! and still more is it a safe 

 place for a father by his daughter's side. I 

 tell you, it is a great mistake to suppose that 

 a father and daughter can have no feelings 

 and pursuits in common. 



I, too, am well aware that looks have but 

 little to do with the value of a queen, and if 

 we paid no attention to the looks of a queen 

 at all, I believe it would be better for the 

 honey crop. Judge them solely by the looks 

 and doings of the workers. Your foot pow- 

 er saw certainly runs too hard. If the bear- 

 ings are of iron, nicely polished, and well 

 "tallowed," it must run easier after it has 

 been used a while. Be sure that nothing 

 binds about the machine ; that is, make 

 every separate part run free and smooth. 

 Perhaps your belt is too heavy for .such 



been very much interested in your instruc- 

 tive letter. This is not very strange how- 

 ever, as we have visitors almost all the time 

 during the summer season. 



"Friend Will" is supposed to be never 

 weary of answering questions, for it is a 

 part of his business. 



.TIOKE BEE ENEOTIES. 



ITH this I send you an insect enemy to the 

 bee, of which I have seen nothing in any of 

 the bee books or journals. I had several 

 other specimens of the insect, but my little daugh> 

 ter accidentally destroyed them. 



I also enclose two specimens of their handiwork, 

 showing the cruel manner in which our poor little 

 pets are mutilated, to furnish these marauding ras- 

 cals a dainty feast. 



Both of these bees are workers, as you see, and 

 were crawling about quite actively when 1 caught 

 them, though the entire contents of their abdomens 

 were quite gone, leaving nothing but the mutilated 

 shell, seemingly sucked quite dry. The little fellow 

 whose abdominal shell is so badly torn on the upper 

 side, I saw dropped from the claws of its enemy. 

 This enemy, I first discovered perched, back down, 

 upon a spray of cedar about 3 feet from the ground, 

 with this identical bee in his embrace. 



He had it by a back hold—his custom. I think 

 with his strong, short proboscis inserted in the top 

 side of the poor bee's body, and was leisurely suck- 

 ing the juices 1 herefrom, very much in the same 

 way that the Asilus Missouriensis regales himself. 

 From the time I saw him, he was about one minute 

 in literally sucking this little fellow dry, during 

 which time the bee was perfectly passive. He then 

 dropped it at the moment of leaving his perch and 

 Hew away, leaving his little victim to crawl about in 

 this mutilated condition till it died. 



The first of these depredators that I saw at work 

 among the bees, I mistook for the common bumble 

 bee, as we call it here, which often enters our hives 

 for honey, and is frequently killed in considerable 

 numbers, by the bees. 



They bear a close resemblance in size and mark- 

 ings to one species of that bee that is abundant here 

 in the spring, but 1 heir behavior is quite different. 

 I have never seen one of them attempt to enter a 

 hive, and their flight, and, indeed, all their move- 

 ments, are much more rapid than those of the bum- 

 ble bee. 



They seem to operate in pairs, male and female, 

 I think from their markings, often perched within (S 

 inches of each other, and leisurely devouring their 

 prey. They have a curious habit of remaining 

 poised on the wing, in one spot, for several seconds, 

 their wings vibrating so rapidly as to be almost in- 

 visible, and then darting away so quickly that the 

 | eye fails to follow them. 



"Thevare very shy, and it is difficult to kill or cap- 

 ture them, except when devouring their prey. I 

 have not been able to ascertain whether they cap- 

 ture the bees upon the wing or not. [Without doubt, 

 they do. A.J.Cook.] 



It was about the beginning of Sept., when I first 

 noticed them catching bees, though I had seen a 

 great many dead bees with the small holes in then- 

 bodies lying about, all summer; but this, I sup- 

 posed, was the work of ants (the bees being already 

 dead), or of the A. Missouriensis, which are not numer- 

 ous here, or possibly of mosquito hawks, of which we 

 have a great many. But close watching fixes the 

 guilt, beyond a doubt, upon our new acquaintance, 

 and I send him up to tou fully committed. 



I have, during Sept. and Oct., killed numbers of 

 them, every one in ftanrante delicto, clasping in his 

 foul and deadly embrace one of our "little pets. 

 Hold him up to the obloquy of the whole world. Ex- 

 pose the affairs of his private life remorselessly. 

 Spare him not, but cry aloud and let us know all 

 abotit him. 



If 1 can secure a pair, I will send them to jou, 

 though it is probably too late to do so this season. 

 A. H. Bbantlv, M. ™ 

 Decatur, Ga., Nov. 14, 1878. 



I). 



