i88& 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



soi 



and air, and the moth will seldom trouble them. I 

 have kept empty combs thus through two summers, 

 without any loss. If worms do get into a few 

 combs they maybe detected at once and sulphured, 

 either where they are or by removal to a tight box. 

 Never try to keep combs out of sight in empty 

 hives or comb-closets. The warmth, darkness, and 

 nearness together of the combs will invite the rav- 

 ages of the moth-worm. It is almost impossible to 

 keep them out altogether, and under such circum- 

 stances they increase so rapidly that, unless the 

 combs are looked after almost daily, they are never 

 safe, and maybe completely ruined withia a very 

 few days after they seemed all right. 



James A. Green. 

 Keep them in a cool cellar, and the worms are not 

 likely to trouble till it grows warm. Then put a 

 queen-excluder over a colony hardly strong enough 

 for supers; pile on empty combs three or four 

 stories high, and put a frame or two of brood in the 

 upper tier. Perhaps the best way is to put the 

 combs in a hive, put this hive on a stand under the 

 colony, so that the bees must pass through these 

 combs to go in and out the hive. You can put them 

 there as early in the season as you please, for it 

 costs the colony no heat. If there is any honey in 

 the combs, look out for robbers by giving very 

 small entrance. Even then jou may need to watch. 

 But you can feel sure a colony of Italians will keep 

 the worms down. C. C. Miller. 



I have a nice comb-closet, double-walled and 

 sawdust-packed, in which combs are put and fumi- 

 gated with sulphur; and when I don't get around 

 in time, the worms destroy a jolly lot of them in 

 there. Sometimes a set of combs gets left in a hive 

 in the yard for the whole season, in the care of ants 

 and spiders, and I find they usually do a very fair 

 job at it. Perhaps there is a hint worth heeding 

 there. In the usual careless way of burning sul- 

 phur, one third melts and runs down into the coals 

 and ashes; one third merely sublimes, instead of 

 burning as it should, and only one third (often very 

 much less than that, I fear) is properly converted 

 into gas. There should be a tin tube running from 

 the outside, through which the Are can be steadily 

 blown with the smoker. E. E. Hasty. 



The above replies cover the whole ground 

 so thoroughly 1 hardly need add any thing 

 to them. I want to thank friend Hasty, 

 however, for calling our attention to the 

 fact that letting sulphur run down into the 

 ashes is not burning it ; neither is making 

 it pass off in vapor, or (as he terms it) sub- 

 liming it, burning. Where much sulphur is 

 to be burned, I do think it would pay to 

 have some sort of an implement that would 

 make thorough work of it, and convert 

 every bit of the sulphur into sulphurous 

 acid. It seems to me that some sort of 

 utensil could be arranged, with draft enough 

 so as to obviate the necessity of blowing it 

 with a bellows. Can any one tell us more 

 about it? As a rule, I believe that combs 

 will be safe from the depredations of moth 

 if hung up in the open air a couple of inch- 

 es apart, as has been suggested by many. 

 Perhaps if there were much pollen in the 

 combs, however, tins might make a differ- 

 ence; for I believe, as friend Muth sug- 

 gests, that pollen is the principal food of the 

 moth worm. Another trouble about hang- 



ing them up in the open air is, that if they 

 contain a little honey they will incite rob- 

 bing. Where bees are destitute of propolis, 

 they will often gnaw to pieces the combs, 

 when convenient of access. On this ac- 

 count I should prefer a room, not only to 

 keep out the moth, but to keep out rubbers 

 and all other insects. 



^NgWERg TO QaE^TieNfs 



FROM OUR ABC CLASS. 



This department is designed primarily to cover questions 

 either not already answerc d in the A B C of Bee Culture (price 

 in cloth $ 1.25), or. if incorporated in this work, air here dwelt 

 upon more in detail on account of the importance of the 

 question. While these answers are of vital interest to the 

 A BC scholars, they will doubtless be found, in many in- 

 stances, to lie of considerable value to the more advanced 

 student. For lack of space, the question itself, instead of be- 

 ing directly stated, is omitted, the same being implied in the 

 answer. It is hoped that the class will first consult their 

 text hook before sending in their questions. 



G. G. G., Pennsylvania.— Situated as you are, and 

 as in old age you can not climb trees, we would not 

 advise you to allow swarming. Your better way 

 would bo to divide. Read the article on Artificial 

 Swarms, and also Dividing, in the ABC. 



J. C. G., Virginia.— To get the largest return in 

 extracted honey, you should not prevent your bees 

 from swarming entirely, but you may discourage it 

 largely. Give the bees plenty of room and shade. 

 Do not let them got at all cramped for room. For 

 alter orsecond swarming, keep the cells all cut out 

 but one. See Question-Box for last issue. 



honey statistics. 

 H. W. B., Virginia.— The Honey - Producers' Ex- 

 change, gotten up by eastern bee-keepers, will in 

 no way conflict or interfere with the usual statistics 

 for Gleanings. Both will be found to be useful to 

 bee-keepers at large. 



shipment of queens, and our guarantee. 



E. B , Ontario.— We do not guarantee any of our 

 queens beyond safe delivery, because stock of all 

 kinds, whether queen-bees, or cows and horses, are 

 liable to deteriorate at any time after delivery into 

 purchaser's hands, the breeder himself not being in 

 any way responsible for the result, if it can be 

 proven that the stock was healthy at the time of 

 sale. 



sawdust in place of chaff; its value as an 

 absorbent. 

 W. B, M.— Sawdust will answer in lieu of chaff, in 

 chaff hives. The only objection to it that we know 

 of is that it makes the hive just so much heavier to 

 lift. There is this to be said about chaff, however, 

 that it is lighter, and more porous. O. O. Poppleton 

 rather gives the preference to dry pine sawdust, 

 next to timothy chaff. 



HOW TO RAISE PURE ITALIAN QUEENS IN LOCALI- 

 TIES WHERE THERE ARE BLACK DRONES 

 FLYING. 



J. N. P.— Yes, you caa secure purer queens by bill- 

 ing off your neighbors' drones by means of the 

 drone-trap, if they (the neighbors) are willing. It 

 is possible that you may be able to raise pure 

 queens; but to do so, see that all drone brood is de- 

 stroyed, and that all the Hying drones are captured 

 in the trap. In the meantime, raise as many Ital- 

 ian drones as you can. 



