1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



519 



er, you can not tell ; but you could do this : 

 Turn the hive upside down, and then smoke 

 down between the combs. If you can not see 

 any capped brood, then the colony is possibly 

 queenless. The better way would be to trans- 

 fer this colony into a modern hive with mov- 

 able frames. For particulars see our A B C of 

 Bee Culture. 



R. C, IMich. — In reply to yours of April 29 

 I would state that, in my opinion, you did not 

 have foul brood, especially if the dead larvae 

 were w'hite. This would likely be a case of 

 chilled or overheated brood, or possibly poi- 

 soning. I should hardly suppose that the on- 

 ion pollen would be detrimental ; if so, it 

 would be the first case of which we have ever 

 heard. Bees have been kept within the vicin- 

 ity of onion-farms for many years, without 

 any bad effect. 



A.J. B., Texas. — I do not quite understand 

 your question ; but if you mean that the bees 

 cluster out too much in front of your hives, 

 and you desire to get them to work, we would 

 advise you to see that such hives are properly 

 shaded, and that they be also given a good 

 wide entrance — one inch deep at least, by the 

 full width of the hive. It is sometimes a good 

 practice to lift the hive clear ofif from the bot- 

 tom-board, and put between the four corners 

 of the hive and bottom-board a block y& inch 

 thick, thus raising the hive % inch higher on 

 the bottom-board than it was before. This 

 would make the hive cooler, so the bees will 

 go in. 



G. IV., Fla. — Bee-paralysis is a disease that 

 is very hard to cure. I would advise you to 

 take all colonies that are thus affected and 

 move them at least a mile and a half from the 

 healthy bees. Remove the queen from each 

 of the affected colonies, and give them a vir- 

 gin from some healthy stock. If you have 

 the bees to spare, and have only two or three 

 diseased colonies, unite a healthy stock with 

 every diseased one. The healthy bees will 

 carry off the dead and dying, and in time may 

 possibly effect a cure. But bee-paralysis is a 

 very stubborn disease, and you should by all 

 means get the affected bees away. For fur- 

 ther particulars, see Diseases ©f Bees, in the 

 A B C of Bee Culture. 



W. T. G., Ohio. — To kill ants we do not 

 mix any thing in molasses, as whatever is 

 poisonous to the ant would be poisonous, also, 

 to the bees. The method of destroying ants, 

 recommended in Gleanings, is this : Find 

 the nest, and, with a crowbar, make a hole 

 right through the center of the hill, about a 

 foot deep. Pour into this a tea«ipoonful of 

 bisulphide of carbon, and then stop the hole 

 with a plug of earth or sod. It is the gas per- 

 meating the galleries of the nest, that does 

 the destructive work. This chemical you can 

 get at the drugstore. A ten-cent bottlef ul will 

 destroy a dozen ant-holes. If you can not 

 get the bisulphide of carbon, use gasoline or 

 coal oil ; but in that case use a larger quanti- 

 ty, perhaps a gill ; but the bisulphide of car- 

 bon is the best, for it destroys the ants, eggs, 

 and every inmate of the nest. Be careful in 

 handling this drug, and do not get it near the 



fire, as it is very explosive. It should not be 

 stored in a building where there is likely to 

 be a lighted lamp. 



ON THE USE OF VEILS IN THE APIARY. 



R. C. M., Fla. — It is evident that you do 

 not understand the position of ourselves and 

 Dr. Miller. The writer very seldom puts on a 

 veil when he goes out among the bees. There 

 are only a very few of our colonies that will 

 offer an attack ; but in the production of comb 

 and extracted honey, a great many bee-keep- 

 ers believe that a cross between the blacks and 

 Italians is superior. Such bees are much 

 crosser than the pure yellow stocks direct 

 from Italy. It is always better, in such cases, 

 to wear a veil, as one can work more rapidly, 

 and with more comfort. But any one of these 

 bee-keepers may work among the bees without 

 smoke and without veil, and for hours and 

 for days, sometimes, at a time ; and when 

 bees are working strong in the fields it is 

 sometimes a common practice to lift the veil 

 up, and pull it down only when an obstreper- 

 ous colony is encountered. 



P. T., Iowa. — 1. I can not explain why 

 bees sometimes die in the hives, leaving plenty 

 of good stores. As a general thing we may say 

 the cause is too much cold or lack of protec- 

 tion. Sometimes a colony will eat all the food 

 around it, or around the cluster, rather ; and, 

 if the weather continues cold, they are not 

 able to move the cluster over to the food, and, 

 as a consequence, starve to death. 



2. Moth-worms do not trouble strong colo- 

 nies in modern apiaries. If you use modern 

 hives with a dash of Italian blood in the bees, 

 you will not be troubled with moth-worms. 



3. Bees do not die for want of bee-bread in 

 winter. 



4. A good judge can not tell by the looks 

 of a queen whether it is a good or poor one, 

 although an experienced man can often tell 

 an old qufcen from a young one. We can, 

 however, very often judge of a queen by a 

 glance at the comb that she has been laying 

 in. 



5. Queens often die without leaving a young 

 queen. In that case the bees usually rear cells 

 from eggs or larvae left by the old queen. 



6. Artificial swarming pays under some cir- 

 cumstances, but not when one desires to pro- 

 duce comb or extracted honey, and does not 

 care for increase. 



7. Yes, one can feed common sugar syrup — 

 that made from granulated sugar is best. 



8. There are some localities in the United 

 States where bees do not have to be fed, as a 

 rule ; but any locality is liable some years to 

 have a scarcity of honey. In such a case the 

 bees require to be fed. 



9. As to the different kinds of honey-bees 

 I would name a few of the most prominent : 

 Blacks, Carniolans, Syrians, Cyprians, Holy 

 Land, Tunisians, Egyptians, Italians. 



10. The sugar honey, so called, tastes a lit- 

 tle different from real honey from the fields ; 

 but sugar honey must not be put on the mar- 

 ket as honey, nor is it profitable to produce it. 

 The nectar from the fields costs nothing, while 

 the sugar itself does cost something. 



