346 



November, 1912. 



American Hee Journal 



and sections are given at the same time, the 

 drawn combs have the preference, and tlie 

 sectionstal<e second place. 



Lii^e enough the queen would not have 

 been found on the ground if a comb with at 

 least a little brood had been at her disposal, 

 h'.ven then you wouldn't get work done in a 

 middle story with only foundation so long 

 as there was room enough in the stories 

 above. ^^_^_^^^^ 



Now It's the Slingless Bee 



" The stingless bee is the next product of 

 a man's ingenuity. 



Mr. Burrows, an apiarist of Loughton. in 

 Essex, after two years of experiments, has 

 obtained a species of bee which can be han- 

 dled by a child in perfect safety. 



He mated the Cyprian drones and the Ital- 

 ian queens, the result being the production 

 of harmless insects which, however are 

 splendid workers. It is asserted they are 

 less liable to disease than the ordinary 

 honey-gatherer. 



It appears that the new product has a 

 stinger, but it is useless as a weapon of 

 offense. Yet they die when they lose it."— 

 l.iUidon Sun. 



The above clipping was taken from the 

 New York .Sun of Oct. 3 issue. What do you 

 think of it? This is my version of it: Sup- 

 pose we do succeed in producing a stingless 

 bee that has all the requirements; honey- 

 production, good wintering qualities, etc. 

 We cannot control the wild bees, and they 

 will always have stings. What is there to 

 prevent them robbing out the hives of our 

 !lin/.'less bees, if they are unable to put a de- 

 fense? I never saw a stingless bee iand we 

 have them now) that were of any commer- 

 cial value, and while Prof. Burrows may 

 have been successful as per the statement 

 of the Sun. he has got to show me. I think 

 you are not far from Missouri, either. 



New Jersey. 



Answer.— Don't you go for to be too sure 

 that bees are " unable to put up a defense " 

 just because they are stingless. The sting- 

 less bees in South America are good defend- 

 ers because they are good biters. However, 

 you and I needn't get into any quarrel about 

 that part of it. for we've both got to be 

 shown something more than a newspaper 

 report before we believe that the stinger of 

 across between Cyprians and Italians "is 

 useless as a weapon of offense." 



Wintering Bees— Choosing a Location — Tartaric 

 Acid in Sugar Syrup 



1. Can a 2 or 3 frame nucleus be success- 

 fully wintered in a cellar in northern Ohio? 



2. In selecting a location, would you prefer 

 one in a limestone region ? 



3. Would you consider 10 inches of pack- 

 ing over the brood-nest enough for outdoor 

 wintering? 



4. Is there anything that can be used in the 

 place of tartaric acid toprevent sugar syrup 

 turning back to sugar ? Tartaric acid is of 

 no use in my locality. The sugar syrup I fed 

 a week ago has crystallized and the bees are 

 carrying it out. How would glycerine act ? 



Ohio. 

 Answers.— I. I doubt it unless it has quite 

 a lot of bees, or is in the same hive with an- 

 other nucleus. 



2. I don't know enough about it to say. 

 but I have an idea that a limestone region is 

 good for clover, and so good for bees. 



3. Yes. 



4. You can use citric acid, creamof-tartar, 

 or vinegar. But I doubt that either would 

 be better than tartaric acid, and am very 

 much puzzled at your saying that your syrup 

 with tartaric acid in it granulated within a 

 week. Reports of tartaric acid failing to do 

 its duty have been very few. Formerly I 

 used it a good deal, and always with success. 

 I used an even teaspoonful of the acid to 20 

 pounds of sugar, making the syrup 5 parts 

 sugar to 2 parts water. 1 suppose glycerine 

 would be effective. 



Grape Juice as a Winter Food for Bees 



In central (.'aiifornia ihe grapes ;ire sour 

 'not much sugar) and my bees have gathered 

 some of this juice, consequently the honey 

 has a somewhat sour taste. Is the same good 

 winter food for bees or for consumption ? 

 Cat.ikoknia. 



Answer.— I don't know. My guess is that 

 it will be all right for winter stores if the 

 bees have time to ripen it. It will be all 

 right for consumption if the taste is not ob- 

 leclionable, and of that you can judge better 

 than I. 



Mr. W. E. Eastman With a Friendly Swarm of Bees. 



Page 303, in the October number of the 

 American Bee Journal, our Canadian friend, 

 J. L. Byer. mentions a swarm issuing .Sept. 4- 

 I can beat him regarding date, although my 

 swarm was not large. Enclosed you will 

 find a picture of a swarm that came out Oct. 

 4. about noon. This swarm settled high up 

 in a tall tree and was allowed to hang there 

 until the next day. Aided by a long pole we 

 then persuaded them to come down for 



closer inspection. Then with the assistance 

 of their nice appearing little queen. I in- 

 duced them to cluster on my hand while the 

 " gude wife" got us in focus and pressed the 

 bulb. 



As the parent hive could not be located, 

 they were hived in a style appropriate for 

 May or June, but they will probably not sur- 

 vive the winter. W. E. EA6T>tan. 



Rock Creek. Ohio. 



More About Bitter Honey 



Ever since the question as to the source of 

 bitter honey came ui) in the American Bee 

 Journal, lyii. I have observed the matter 

 very closely, and will say it is not the bitter- 

 weed in this section that causes the honey 

 to be so bitter. This spritig iiuiz) 1 put some 

 empty combs on a hive very early, and when 

 the white clover was in bloom I secured a 

 small surplus of honey in those empty 

 combs. 



This honey was, as Mr. Russell says on 

 liage 183. as bitter as if 50 percent quinine. 

 It was of a light yellow color, and could not 

 have been the bitlerwei'd in this case, for 

 this i>lant was not yet in bloom. Nor were 

 horchound and the wilt! grapes, as men- 

 tioned in the questioon on page 212. loii. But 

 there was a tree in bloom at the time which 

 the bees worked on extensively that is 

 called " black gum." I don't know anything 

 about the black-gum honey, whether it is 

 bitter or not, but as soon as it went out of 

 bloom I noticed the bitter honey slopped 



at once. Some may say tltat the bitter 

 honey was stored last fall, and when the 

 How came on they carried it up into the su- 

 per; but they didn't, for many persons own- 

 ing the old box-hives robbed their bees very 

 early so they would get the honey later on 

 in new combs. The honey they took out 

 was stored last fall, and was of good flavor, 

 but in the new combs they got that bitter 

 stuff I have been telling about. 



About the time I thought the bitter honey 

 had quit coming in, 1 put o\\ supers and se- 

 cured a quantity of nice, good tlavored 

 honey. I left the supers on until about the 

 hrst of October. Although the bitterweed 

 was present it did not make any of the 

 honey bitter in the least. 



After reading Mr. ( unningliam's article 

 on page iso. and Mr. Hughes' on page 20s of 

 the 11JI2 issue, I decided to test the matter, 

 as my bees were getting lots of pollen from 

 the bitterweed. I examined the brood- 

 chamber of one hive and tasted of the 

 freshly-stored honey; also of the yellow 

 pollen. To my surprise it was not in the 



