1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



333 



which so horribly disfigured my facial delineations 

 that I at once became a laughing stock of all those 

 who gazed upon me, and the corpulency continued 

 so long that I almost concluded I would have to use 

 some anti-fat preparations; but happily it passed 

 away of its own accord. Bee pasturage In this sec- 

 tion is very good at present, as we are halving an 

 abundance of white clover in full bloom, but nights 

 are too cool, and days too windy, for bees to work at 

 any great advantage. 



I have a strong colony of Italians that are killing 

 off their drones. What is the cause.' 



Kogersville, O., June T, 1880. Dk. H. J. Peters. 



Pretty well "for high," indeed, friend P., 

 hut be sure you do not keep on increasing 

 until next fall rinds you with a great num- 

 ber of weak colonies. There is little danger 

 in this respect, however, with artificial col- 

 onies made so early, for even weak nuclei, 

 started in the month of may, will ordinarily 

 build up to strong colonies during the season. 

 The killing off of the drones indicates a 

 slacking up of the yield of honey, and bids 

 you beware about more increase for the 

 present. 



LOCUST PLANTING. 



The locust may be readily propagated from root 

 cuttings. From seed or cuttings, in from 20 to 25 

 years, good sized durable fence posts may be had. 

 Land once devoted to locusts is likely to remain so, 

 as from the stumps and roots of tbose cut large 

 numbers spring up. 



RETARDED DEVELOPMENT OF QUEENS. (See page 285, 



June-No.) 

 May 7th, I formed a nucleus. On the 18th, or 11 

 days after, queen cells were started. On the 20th, 

 the same were sealed. I raised three queens in this 

 nucleus. Last August, as soon as my imported 

 queen was received, I gave one frame of eggs to a 

 queenless hive, watched carefully for 9 days, 

 thought all brood was sealed, and could find no 

 queen cell at all. I thought it too late to raise a 

 queen. Two or three days later, however, on exam- 

 ination, I saw two, small, badly shaped queen cells 

 sealed. I cut one out and placed it in another nu- 

 cleus. Both produced such small, dark queens that 

 1 did not value them much, but I fed and tended 

 them, so that this spring they were the two strong- 

 est colonies I had. I sold them in two-story Lang- 

 stroth hives. To-day, the owner of them has from 

 them 5 swarms, and each second story with 7 frames 

 filled with honey. Some of the swarms are in -Did 

 boxes, with rough, small boxes over them, called 

 caps; bah! All the queen cells I have had this 

 spring were built on foundation just drawn out; 

 were small, badly shaped, and produced small, dark 

 queens; but "the proof of the pudding," etc. Y"ou 

 just ought to see what good layers they are. I am 

 satisfied, and think my imported queen worth all she 

 cost you. I believe she was one of the 6 survivors 

 out of a large invoice you received last August. 



FOUL BROOD. 



Thinking that I had foul brood, I have refused to 

 sell queens or bees, the ones mentioned above being 

 sold before I suspected the disease. I have taken 

 full notes on foul brood. To-day, I have a queen 

 laying in the infected hive, without having destroyed 

 a comb, hive, or anything belonging to them. 

 Would you like to have the notes? 



DYSENTERY AND THE AGENCY OF POLLEN IN PRO- 

 DUCING IT. 



During the fall of '78,1 could not feed my bees. 

 The winter of '78-9 was cold and dry. I lost 17 out of 

 2!> colonies, and all were affected more or less with 

 dysentery. Last summer ( and fall, I fed, to 20 col- 

 onies, 300 lbs. of brown or New Orleans sugar. Win- 

 ter was very mild. During the most of Jan. my 

 bees were Hying and carrying wheat flour. From 

 Feb. 1st tolith, the weather was cold, so that they 

 could not fly. On the 9fch, the weather being: warm- 

 er, I found some colonies affected with dysentery, 

 and stopped the flour. By Feb. 18th, the dysentery 

 had all disappeared. The dysentery spots looked 

 like flour and water. Last year, they were the color 

 of natural pollen. Honey (carbon, oxygen, and hy- 

 drogen) is all consumed in keeping up the animal 

 heat, while pollen goes to build up the solids of the 

 bee. The undigested part of the pollen has to be 

 voided, as a solid or liquid excrement. After ma- 

 ture thought, I conclude that bees which are forced, 

 by scant stores, to eat natural pollen, as well as 

 those that are induced by unusually warm winter 

 weather, to consume artificial pollen, are both like- 

 ly to have dysentery. The bees all had sufficient 

 pollen the last winter, and only those that carried 

 flour freely were affected. The affected bees were 

 in good, chaff hives, while those in common, Lang- 

 stroth hives were not affected. The short confine- 

 ment of 8 days was not enough to induce the dis- 

 ease. Let us all work and watch, and we will be 

 likely to find the truth. A. W. Kaye. 



Pewee Valley, Ky, June 4, 1880. 



In the A B C, p. 165, 1 have mentioned the 

 agency of pollen in producing dysentery. 

 This cannot always be the case, however, 

 for stocks frequently raise brood all winter, 

 even when confined in a cellar ; and, to do 

 this, they must consume pollen largely. In 

 the case given above, it would seem as if the 

 artificial substitute for pollen was especially 

 productive of mischief. It is well to look 

 into all these points. It would seem from 

 this that friend Demaree's candy (see p. 332) 

 would be better without the flour, for mail- 

 ing queens.. 



HONEY FIT FOR KINGS AND QUEENS; THE PRINCESS 



LOUISE AND HER INTEREST IN THE ONE 



POUND SECTIONS. 



I am an amateur in bee-keeping, and as yet own 

 but one hive, which I purchased last year, from Mr. 

 Taschereau, a neighbor of mine, a gentleman who 

 has done much to spread the knowledge of the hon- 

 ey bee in our vicinity. Last year, or last summer, 

 to be more particular, some of his honey found its 

 way to the. vice-regal table, and its fine appearance 

 and neat frame (it was in section boxes) astonished 

 the Princess Louise, who had never seen honey in 

 so nice a form before. What puzzled her most, 

 however, was that each box contaiued just a pound 

 of sweets. She could not understand how bees 

 could be so exact in their calculations. In a word, 

 her curiosity was so excited, that it had to be al- 

 layed, and a visit to Mr. Taschereau's apiary was 

 the result. 



By the preceding, you will observe that bees are 

 quite aristocratic gentry, in our aristocratic, old 

 city. Even royalty deigns to call upon them. 



Mr. Taschereau has disposed of all his German 

 bees and begins this spring with Italians. 



Dk. L, p. Burroughs. 



Quebec, Canada, May 28, 1880. 



