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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUNE 



THE DOVETAir. ON THE NEW HIVE NOT A DOVETAIL 

 IN A STRICT SENSE, BUT STRONG ENOUGH. 



H. F. H.— The dovetail on the new hive is not a 

 dovetail in the strict sense of the word. It is just 

 the same as the dovetail on the sections, only on a 

 larger scale. It would be impossible to make a 

 true dovetail, and make the hive cheap enough to 

 be used by ordinary beekeepers; but when the 

 present joint is strong 1 euough to hold a man's 

 weight on its diagonally opposite corners, what 

 need have we of a stronger corner? 



WHY BEES DO NOT GATHER HONEY SOMETIMES. 



L. L , Arkansas.— The reason, doubtless, why your 

 bees are not doing anything is because there is 

 nothing in the tields for them to gather— or, at 

 least, not at the time you mention in your letter. 

 There are only certain times in the year when bees 

 can gather honey and store surplus. A good deal 

 depends on your locality. If you consult some old 

 bee-keeper in your vicinity he will tell you when 

 you may probably extract honey; but there are ex- 

 ceptions to all periods, when the honey-tiow is usu- 

 ally pretty good. 



I. F., Tennessee.— The reason why your bees ap- 

 pear crosser at one time than at another is due, 

 perhaps, altogether to the difference in conditions, 

 both in weather and time of day at which you make 

 your examinations. When the weather is a little 

 chilly, or after a rain, or toward evening, or when 

 honey has suddenly ceased coming in, the bees are 

 apt to be cross. As we judge you have the ABC 

 book, please read the article on stings; also "Anger 

 of Hees." After having read these you can better 

 judge of the proper time to examine and handle 

 your bees. 



IS IT POSSIBLE TO SET OUT HONEY - PLANTS IN 



SUCH ROTATION AS TO KEEP THE BEES BUSY 



THROUGH THE SEASON? 



G. D., Australia.— It is barely possible, but hardly 

 practicable or feasible, to grow honey-plants in 

 such rotation as to keep the bees busy from one 

 season's end to the other. We have experimented 

 in this matter quite largely, and we find that it does 

 not pay to set out those honey-plants which do not 

 yield any other revenue than the honey they may 

 furnish the bees. We have been in the habit of 

 recommending, for several years back, setting out 

 only those plants which will pay in the seed crop, 

 providing the blossoms should yield little or no 

 nectar. Buckwheat and alsike are both tolerably 

 safe investments. 



IS IT FOUL BROOD, OR CHILLED BROOD? 



I. N. H., Ohio.— It is possible that you have foul 

 brood, although from your brief description we can 

 not say for certain about it. We have sent you our 

 A II C of Bee Culture. Please read the article on 

 foul brood. You can tell very quickly whether you 

 have the disease, by a careful comparison of the 

 symptoms. We would advise you not to be in too 

 great a hurry to decide. During the last few days, 

 a ji'ood deal of chilled brood has been reported, and 

 we have had more or less of it in our own apiaries. 

 This brood, of course, dies, and sometimes causes 

 beginners to think that tbey have foul brood. Be 

 sure not to confound the two. Chilled brood is 

 simply brood that has died and shrunken. There 

 is no ropiness about it, and it does not turn brown, 

 as does foul brood. 



WILL THE WIND BLOW OFF SUPERS WITH SQUARE 

 EDGES? HOW TO MAKE A ?sINCH GROOVE. 



W. P. D., North Carolina.— No serious trouble has 

 been experienced from supers blowing off, having 

 square edges. The bees will soon stick them with 

 propolis, so they will hold their position. This kind 

 of super has been used for a good many years, and 

 little if any trouble has been reported on this score. 

 Making a projection, or a telescopic joint, for dove- 

 tailed supers, would be only adding to the expense 

 of the hive, with but little if any thing to its gener- 

 al utility. To make a " 8 groove on a 14-inch man- 

 drel, use a wabble saw. One of your common saws 

 will do, used in connection with wabble washers, 

 which we sell for 25 cts. a pair. There is no cutter- 

 head nor combination of saws that will make a 7 8 

 cut as nicely and easily as the wabble saw. By the 

 use of the washers spoken of, any of our common 

 mandrels can be readily adapted to it. 



DISINFECTANTS, NONE RECOMMENDED BUT BOILINO 

 WATER. 



A. C, New York.— We have very little faith in 

 any thing to clean hives of any kind, of the germs 

 of foul brood, except boiling hot water. We have 

 tried acids and such other disinfectants as are usu- 

 ally effective in other maladies. Even hives that 

 have never been disinfected at all, will sometimes 

 contain a new healthy colony for four or Ave 

 months before transmitting the disease to its occu- 

 pants. There is a great liability of making mistakes 

 in testing any remedies or disinfectants, for the 

 very reason that it may be months and months be- 

 fore the hive would impart the disease, even with- 

 out any disinfectant. We feel quite sure you will 

 have further trouble, in a year or so. We experi- 

 mented very largely in this matter of disinfecting 

 hives, and have tested diseased hives that have nev- 

 er been treated at all— the latter not showing a 

 trace of the disease in the occupants for six months 

 after the old diseased colony had been removed. 



why the bees sometimes carry out young 

 brood; a striped worm. 

 L. L. C, Virginia.— At this season of the year, par- 

 ticularly after cold freezing spells, it is nothing 

 uncommon to find a few immature young bees and 

 larvae carried out at the entrance. Their presence 

 at the entrance may be due to either one of two 

 causes. First, they may be what we would call 

 chilled brood. Warm weather coming on early in 

 the season, the queer! enlarges beyond the capacity 

 of the workers, and during a sharp cold spell, later 

 on, the brood, some of it, chills. The cluster of 

 bees always draws up a little closer during a freeze, 

 and thej T not infrequently' compress beyond the 

 outside limits of some of the brood. Second, it is 

 possible that the colony is on the verge of starva- 

 tion; and as brood-rearing consumes stores rapidly, 

 the bees, to diminish the consumption, sacrifice the 

 brood by carrying it out rather than to sacrifice the 

 whole colony. There is one other reason why bees 

 carry out young brood; but it seldom happens, ex- 

 cept among hybrids and blacks; that is the ravages 

 of the moth worm. Where the colony has nearly 

 been used up by bee moths, mutilated larv;v in all 

 stages will be found near the entrance every morn- 

 ing. The great worm with dark gray stripes around 

 its body, which you mention, we feel pretty sure had 

 nothing to do with the dead brood at the entrance. 

 Tts appearance was only a coincidence, we think.— 

 May 2, 1889. 



