APHTI. 1, 1915 



293 



Heads of Qrmm from Differeinilt Fields 



The Backlot Buzzer 



Sometimes it's a question which has the best-laid 

 plans for the coming season— the boss or the bees 

 themsehes. 



Has Never Found Foul Brood in Trees 



I have been a bee-hunter ever since I was large 

 enough to look up a tree, and my father was one 

 before me. I always find from five to ten trees 

 every year, and I have wonderd why bees in a tree 

 never have foul brood. 



Last summer I helped to cut six trees on Fort 

 Lewis Mountain. Making a good examination for 

 foul brood I found every bee perfectly healthy, and 

 the combs showed no signs of a bad cell. The rea- 

 son that I am giving special attention to foul brood 

 is that it cleaned up an apiary of a hundi-ed colo- 

 nies one or two miles from the mountain, and sev- 

 eral absconding swarms have left this yard. 



Just as with Ernest Webb, page 950, Dec. 1, it 

 seems to me that when a swarm leaves a diseased 

 hive and goes to the tree it would have the disease 

 just the same as if it were in a hive. But the only 

 foul thing I ever saw in a bee-tree was a blacksnake 

 6 feet 9 inches long. Father and I cut a bee-tree 

 a year ago last summer. We found a snake among 

 the bees, and there was not a single bit of honey in 

 the comb. The bees seemed to have made friends 

 with the snake, and did not try to sting it at all. 

 The combs were five feet long. 



Roanoke, Va. Henky S. Bohon. 



(We see no reason why a colony in a tree might 

 not have diseased brood. In fact, if we are not 

 mistaken disease has already been found in trees. — 

 Ed.1 



Cyanlding the Ants 



T was somewhat amused at the article by E. S. 

 Mile«, entitled " Fighting the Ant Invader," and 

 wondered that a man should use a " barrel of coal 



oil " ti) kill a few ants wlicn for half a doUar he 

 could kill all the ants on a ten-acre field. Here is 

 a simple remedy : 



Take one pound of cyanide of potassium and dis 

 solve it in five gallons of cold water. Take a small 

 can and go to each mound where the ants are, and 

 pour about two or three tablespoonfuls of the liquor 

 in each hole. In about four or five days, when a 

 few more eggs hatch, repeat the operation again. 

 It's good-by to the ants. Should any more eggs 

 hatch, repeat the dose a third time. I have had 

 some trouble along the same line, and find this 

 remedy will overcome the pests completely. Strict 

 care should be e.xercised in handling this remedy, as 

 it is very poisonous. 



Prescott, Ariz. David Miller. 



Too Many Supers Hinder the Introduction 

 of a Queen 



D. E. Lhommedieu is wrong on page 125, Feb. 

 1, in regard to the Miller method of introducing 

 queens. Mr. Miller said that queens should not be 

 introduced until the colony has quieted down from 

 the overhauling in removing the old queen. This 

 takes from four to six hours; and to try to introduce 

 before is to invite disaster. Queens can be intro- 

 duced from that time until they may have laying 

 workers. 



I think the cause of Dr. Miller's failure in intro- 

 ducing was the number of supers he had. If two 

 or three supers are on the hive, it is impossible to 

 get the whole hive full of smoke in blowing it in at 

 the entrance. One or two puflfs should be blown 

 between the supers, and no more should be on than 

 the bees can fill completely so they will not be 

 driven up out of the brood-chamber. 



Grosvenordale, Ct. Ernest Ryant. 



How to Avoid Loss through Aster Honey 



I can testify from experience to the truth of the 

 statement, page 136, February 15, that aster honey 

 gives bees dysentery. This locality is full of aster 

 flowers, mostly white and brown, and they keep on 

 blooming until the frosts kill them. They yield 

 quite a quantity of honey. 



When, thirty years ago, I began keeping bees, 

 studying the ABC and subscribing for Gleanings, 

 I followed their advice closely. I packed my bees 

 for winter never later than the 15th or 20th of 

 September. About that time the aster began to 

 bloom; and as a result my bees had their hives full 

 of aster honey, and most of it was uncapped for 

 winter. I lost many, mostly by dysentery — some- 

 times 50 or 60 per cent. 



I finally discovered the trouble, and now I never 

 pack m,y bees until the aster honey-flow is over. 

 Last fall I did not have a hive packed before No- 

 vember 1, and a year ago I was just done with it 

 when the blizzard set in on the 9th of November. 

 My aim is to get as much aster honey out of the 

 hive as I possibly can, and as a result my winter 

 losses are very small. 



Port Clinton, O. Julius Johannsen. 



Who Cares What a Section Weighs? 



In seasonable years like the last, we can produce 

 a very fine grade of comb honey here, mostly from 

 wild prairie flowers, mesquite, and catclaw; but I 

 think the government requirement as to having the 

 weight stamped on each section is too severe to al- 

 low either me or any one else in this country en- 

 gaging very exclusively in the production of comb 

 honey. A comb of honey should sell on its looks, 



