1889 



GEEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



m;; 



did, or I should have divided what we had into two or 

 more apiaries, thus entirely preventing this condi- 

 tion of things; but, whether fortunately or other- 

 wise, time only will prove. I was, for the first time 

 in my life, obliged to follow another's judgment of 

 proper methods in the apiary, and to do the best I 

 could. 



The new revision of Langstroth's book helped us 

 out of this trouble by its suggestion of the use of 

 carbolic acid, which proved the most satisfactory of 

 any thing 1 had tried, and I have so far not lost a 

 single colony by starvation. It is used very dilute, 

 less than a tablespoonful each of carbolic acid and 

 glycerine in a i oz. bottle of water, sprayed as much 

 as needed on a bunch of dried grass placed at the 

 entrance to any hive robbers may be working at. 

 It needs to be used carefully to prevent injury to 

 the colony being robbed. By persistent watchful- 

 ness and care, and the use of every thing I could 

 think of, 1 have succeeded in bringing the apiary 

 intact through over four months of steady feeding; 

 but it has been by far the most unpleasant work I 

 have ever done with bees, and one I hope never to 

 repeat. O. O. Poppleton. 



Havana, Cuba, Sept. 14, 1889. 



Thanks for the account of your experi- 

 ence. Some years, we are aware, are a great 

 deal worse for robbers than others. Two 

 years ago this summer, you will remember, 

 perhaps, we stated in the department of 

 Our Own Apiary that robbers were as bad 

 as we had ever seen them, and that most of 

 the well-known methods (to say nothing of 

 prevention) proved a failure. At the time, 

 we used a pane of glass, xls you say, this 

 had only a temporary effect, for the robbers 

 soon learned the trick of going under the 

 glass. We also used a weak solution of car- 

 bolic acid, the same being sprayed in front 

 of the entrance, or wherever the robbers 

 concentrated their attacks (see Gleanings 

 for 1887, p. 671). Eor a while this seemed to 

 work very successfully; but the strong 

 scent of the solution seemed to disorganize 

 the defenders of the home as well as the 

 robbers, and in due time the latter got the 

 advantage. They, too, got so hardened and 

 deiiant that they would go through thick 

 and thin. We had some 300 colonies, and 

 there was hardly a pound— yes, hardly an 

 ounce, in their hives. The days were hot 

 and dry, and we can appreciate somewhat 

 your situation. 



In addition to what Ernest has said in the 

 above, I wish to add that I have had more 

 or less experience in regard to every one of 

 the six points you make. I wish especially 

 to call attention to the fact that robbers will 

 hang around a hive, and force an entrance, 

 very much worse while there is feed in the 

 feeders than they will after the feed has 

 been taken down and placed in the combs. 

 I became so well convinced of this that I 

 was in the habit of deciding when the feed 

 was all out of the feeder by the movements 

 of the robbers in front of the hive. One ex- 

 planation for it is this : That when bees 

 liave their attention all taken up with the 

 contents of a large feeder they seem to for- 

 get to keep the usual sentinels around the 

 entrance. When I fed a barrel of sugar to 

 a single colony, in a few clays they got so 

 that they seemed to care very little whether 



robbers got in or not. Honey had been 

 poured into their hive day alter day to such 

 an extent that they could not believe but 

 that it was plentiful everywhere. I, like 

 yourself, soon determined that each colony 

 must have no more than it would take up 

 before daylight in the morning. I also dis- 

 covered that basswood honey, with its strong 

 aroma, was ever so much worse to set t he 

 apiary in a craze than any other kind. In 

 fact, after they had once got a taste of 

 strong basswood honey not fully ripened, 

 during hot weather in August, it seemed as 

 if they would bite through inch boards to 

 get at it. They got under the door of the 

 honey-house, found eracks between the sid- 

 ing, went down the chimney, and came tip 

 through the ventilator, just to get that 

 much-coveted basswood honey. I have been 

 where I saw just the two horns of the di- 

 lemma that you speak of; and at such a 

 time, woe to the hive that is without queen 

 or brood. 



A LOUISIANA APIARY. 



THE YUCCA GRANDEFLORA. 



T MAIL you today a photo of a grand flower now 

 |jf in bloom in a part of my bee-yard. It is the 

 W yucca grandetiora. It stands ten feet in the 

 body, capped by this immense ball of white 

 blossoms, each as large as a teacup, and at 

 least 500 cups to the head. The cups have been 

 filled with bees from the opening till the present 

 time. My severe loss, a few years ago, in the apia- 

 ry, from Paris green, retarded my work very 

 much; but I am again catching up, and have to- 

 day 111 stands of bees in splendid condition. At 

 one time I became very much discouraged, fearing 

 that, if the planters had to continue the use of 

 Paris green year after year, I might as well go out 

 of the business; but I believe now, seeing the re- 

 sult of last year's experience, that it is a rare thing 

 for the bees to visit plants to which Paris green 

 has been applied. Last year it was ustd on the 

 cotton to exterminate the cotton-worm, in the 

 same manner and time as the preceding year, on 

 thousands of acres in our vicinity, and yet I lost 

 no bees last year, while the year before I saved 

 only 33 out of 118. 



1 have been living in our present locality only 

 eight years. When we first came here it was a 

 wilderness, a Louisiana swamp; today I have 

 around me one of the nicest little orchards of ap- 

 ples, pears, figs, and plums, in the country. The 

 pomegranates you can see to the left of the pic- 

 ture. To the right of the picture is a row of bass- 

 wcods which I have with great difficulty induced 

 to grow here, having to shade them till they were 

 three years old. To Gleanings I owe most of my 

 knowledge. I have been a regular subscriber 

 since L878. How many older ones have you on 

 your list? I look forward to the comiug of each 

 number now as eagerly as I did the first that were 

 published eleven years ago. 



I have had my ups and downs, like every other 

 bee-keeper that has lived, and my " bee fever" has 

 never cooled for an instant; nor can I hear that 

 shrill tattoo that sounds " a swarm out" without 

 starting with all the excitement of the first stages 

 of the disease. Outside of the profit (and at times 



