171) 



({LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



to yield very profusely, these bees finally abandon- 

 ed their pilfering and went to the fields and woods 

 with the rest. Some colonies would be composed 

 so nearly of these robbers that I have called the 

 :ittention of visitors to them as I opened the hive 

 and pointed them out on the combs. They were 

 usually full blooded blacks, or else had a little Ital- 

 ian about them, with only one very narrow band 

 visible, and a good deal of the time even that w;is 

 lacking. This would readily explain why they 

 could come in swarms and make themselves very 

 troublesome. I have occasionally seen wild bees 

 enter hives, but these were so much smaller than 

 the common honey-bee that there would be but lit- 

 tle danger of a mistake in the matter. I think I 

 never saw more than two or three of these little 

 bees around the entrance at one time. 



THE NAMELESS BEE-DISEASE. 



Letters are coming in almost constantly, com- 

 plaining of an unknown disease which is affecting 

 the colonies. The symptoms given are always iden- 

 tical to the symptoms given in the ABC book, un- 

 der the head of " Nameless Bee-disease." It is 

 pretty evident that this trouble is getting to be 

 more and more common. Fortunately, however, it 

 is not a serious one. The removal of the queen, so 

 far as we have ever known, always effects a cure. 

 For the benefit of a good many who do not know 

 how to recognize the disease, we give the symptoms 

 here: The bees have a swollen appearance— that is, 

 the abdomen is distended. The fuzz is entirely 

 worn off, and the bee itself has a black shiny ap- 

 pearance, very much unlike a healthy bee. And 

 just as soon as they become a burden to the colony 

 the healthy ones boost them out of the entrance, 

 where they may be seen crawling around in the 

 grasp, as if equally desirous of ridding the colony of 

 their miserable presence. You will find quite a 

 good many bees, doubtless, dead at and around the 

 entrance— bees that have died from this trouble. 

 We make this statement so that we may be saved 

 the trouble of answering correspondents. 



BUSINESS AT THE PRESENT DATE. 



We have been having perhaps as large or the larg- 

 est trade we have ever had since our business was 

 started. We supposed we had ample stores of 

 every thing that might be called for, especially sec- 

 tions, laid up ahead. Only a few months ago we 

 cut down our force of hands and reduced our run- 

 ning time to only eight hours, to prevent getting 

 more stuff made than we cared to carry. Well, 

 every thing held out pretty well until about the 

 first of May. Then orders poured in at such a rate 

 that the largest force of packers we ever employed 

 could not put the goods up fast enough; and when 

 we did get packers enough to handle the business, 

 then the foundation-room got behind ; and shortly 

 after, our great stock of sections had vanished and 

 we were crowded in earnest for a few days. Of 

 course, complaints began to come in pretty soon; 

 but I believe that almost every customer was told 

 that, by the time his complaint reached us, his 

 goods had gone. But they did not all go as prompt- 

 ly as they ought to have gone. As we go to press, 

 however, we are getting ahead rapidly in every de- 

 partment; and I hope that, by the time this reaches 

 you, orders of all kinds, with very few exceptions, 

 will be going off as promptly as usual. 1 have 

 thought best to make this explanation, because 

 some of the triepde have felt a little hard toward 



us. Please remember, we have admonished you in 

 every issue of our price list, that we can not prom- 

 ise goods by the first train when orders are delayed 

 until April or May. As a general thing, of late 

 years, by the first of June the very large orders be- 

 gin to slack up, and we usually have to drop a part 

 of our hands before July is upon us. 



A CORRECTION. 



On page 60, in answer to question 102, as to what 

 is the average consumption of stores per colony, 

 from October to May, our friend H. R. Boardmau is 

 made to say, " From 25 to 30, for indoor wintering." 

 At the time, we thought these figures were pretty 

 large. Since Dr. Mason's article on page 390 was 

 printed, friend Boardman writes us that he meant 

 to have said that this average of 25 to 30 pounds 

 was for outdoor wintering, and he very modestly in- 

 timated that he might have made the error himself. 

 By referring to the copy, we find that he wrote 

 very plainly, outdoor wintering; and that the error 

 was our own. With the exception of Dadant $ Sun, 

 Boardman's average was the largest. We should 

 be glad to have him tell us what is the average eon- 

 sumption of stores per colony for indoor wintering, 

 from October to May. Now, President Mason, will 

 you please "stand up " again and explain what you 

 mean on page 399, where you say you believed " Mr. 

 Boardman knew just what he was saying when he 

 said from 25 to 30 pounds," and that you were 

 " wondering if the others were not guessing"? Jt 

 now transpires that friend Boardman's statement 

 was incorrectly transcribed by the printers. 



ANSWERING QUESTIONS. 



We fear that some of our correspondents are ask- 

 ing questions pimply for the sake of asking, and 

 perhaps getting their names in print. Others, 

 again, never stop to look the matter up for them- 

 selves. While we are glad to answer questions, we 

 do not like to be obliged to go over the same 

 j? round that has already been fully gone over in the 

 text-books. If the querists would first look in the 

 ABC book, or whatever they may have, and if then 

 failing to find the answer they will write us, we 

 shall take pleasure in trying to help them out. Half 

 of the questions we receive are already very com- 

 pletely answered in the ABC book. If you do not 

 find it under the head where you expect it, look 

 carefully in the index. The index to the ABC has 

 been made very complete, with the special idea in 

 view of helping beginners to find the answers to 

 such questions as are liable to come up. For in- 

 stance, the ABC scholar discovers that there are 

 several eggs in the cell; that drones are hatching 

 from worker-brood. This condition of affairs he 

 has never seen before. If he will turn to "Eggs," 

 in the index, he will come to a line that reads, 

 •' Eggs, plurality of, in the cells, 119." On this page 

 he will find very complete particulars and instruc- 

 tions of what to do. Another beginner finds iwo 

 fertile queens in a hive at one time. He wants to 

 know whether that is an abnormal condition, and. 

 if so, whether anybody else has discovered it. By 

 the index, if he turns to " Queens," he will find un- 

 der this head, "Two in one hive, pages 215,220." 

 Still another ABC scholar finds a peculiar kind of 

 worm which is making galleries through his work- 

 er-brood. Thinking that this can not be right, he 

 writes to us for information. He should first look 

 at " Enemies of Bees." Under this head he will 

 find "Bee-moth." ruder " Bee-moth" be will find 



