MAY 1. 1915 



381 



B €)f Graie frdDnin DiffereM Fields 





- '-Jr^ tt GO ID 



The Backlot Buzzer 



You can teach a calf to drink from a bucket, but 

 after a bee once gets educated to it, it sticks to the 

 nurifing bottle. 



Yellow Wax from Bitterweed 



The article by P. E. Waugh, p. 939, Dec. 1, on 

 bees secreting yellow wax, and F. W. L. Sladen's 

 comments upon it, brings to mind some observations 

 in my own experience in Texas several years ago. 



There is a plant, very common all over the north- 

 eastern part of the state, known locally as dog-fen- 

 nel, or bitterweed. Some seasons it secretes a con- 

 siderable quantity of nectar which, however, is of 

 such a very strong and bitter flavor that bees do 

 not pay much attention to it if any other source is 

 available. This plant thrives best on light sandy 

 goils, and is in the prime of bloom during July and 

 August, when the scorching sun and drouths of 

 summer have ended the flow from most other plants. 



Strong colonies will often store 40 to 50 lbs. of 

 the rich golden-yellow honey ; and comb built at this 

 time is invariably yellow — just a little lighter color- 

 ed than the ripe honey — and is clear and transpar- 

 ent. I know the color is not caused by pollen grains, 

 for the pollen from dog-fennel is of a dull-red color. 

 The new comb also has a slightly bitter taste, and 

 I have often wondered if the very bitter honey con- 

 sumed by the bees while secreting this wax could 

 have imparted somewhat of the same flavor to it. 



Down on the Texas coast we often got a consid- 

 erable flow from goldenrod; and when heavy enough 

 for comb-building I have noticed that it was always 

 yellow. I am not sure that the color, in this case, 

 was not caused by pollen, as it is of the same color. 



Port Columbia, Wash. J. D. Yancey. 



How to Form Nuclei and Keep the Bees 

 from Returning to the Old Stand. 



The only way that I can make increase here and 

 secure a honey crop is by forming two-frame nuclei. 

 As you know, it is necessary to confine these nuclei 

 for three days, else the flying bees will go back *o 

 the mother colony. Here is where my trouble comes 

 in confining them. I have no shade for my bees, 

 so I was afraid to close the hive entirely, so I ac- 

 cordingly left, a hole half an inch square, over which 

 I placed a piece of wire cloth. There were only two 

 frames of brood and bees in a ten-frame hive-body. 

 Tliey struggled so hard to get out that they died by 

 the handfuls. Then I tried giving them the full 

 entrance, 7a inch by the width of the hive, closing 

 this with wire cloth, but it was no better. I sprin- 

 kled them with water, but it didn't do any good. 

 There has to be some way to confine them or they 

 could not be confined in cages and shipped as they 

 are. 



If you can give me any solution to the problem 

 I shall greatly appreciate it. I have been thinking 

 of putting them down cellar where it is cool and 

 dark. Do you think it would be all right? and in 

 that case how large an opening would you leave at 

 the entrance? 



I have been letting these nuclei raise their own 

 queens ; but this year I want to raise some queens 

 and give them when I divide. I have never had 

 any experience in queeu-rearing ; but I think I can 

 do it all right. I want to use a modification of the 

 divided brood-nest. Instead of using two perforated 

 zinc division-boards, dividing the hive into three 

 apartments, my plan is to use only one and divide 

 the hive into two equal apartments and shut the 

 queen in one side for ten days, and at the end of 

 that time remove the cells from the queenless part 

 and transfer the queen to that side, and let them 

 raise cells in the other side, and so on as long as I 

 need queens. What I want to know is, will the bees 

 in the queenless side of the brood-chamber build cells 

 of their own accord on the combs, or shall I have 

 to graft and use artificial cell cups to get them to 

 build? In confining the queen in this way to one 

 side of the hive is it necessary to have perforated 

 zinc over the entrance? If there isn't, will she not 

 go to the entrance and get around the division-board 

 and into the other side of the hive? 



Would it be best to give a ripe cell to the above 

 nuclei, or a virgin ? and ought it to be given at the 

 time the division is made, or wait till after the bees 

 are liberated and quieted down? 



In fumigating combs with sulphur, should it be 

 put under the combs or on top? Will the fumes of 

 the sulphur or carbon bisulphide injure comb hon- 

 ey ? It is almost impossible for us to keep comb 

 honey here in hot weather without worms getting 

 into it. 



Heiskell, Tenn., March 23. J. R. Stedman. 



[You will get the best results by making nuclei 

 of sealed and hatching brood. The more brood that 

 is just ready to come out, the better. Also shake 

 into the nucleus box or hive nearly double as many 

 bees as you expect to leave with it, getting as many 

 young bees as possible. It is immaterial whether 

 the nucleus has a queen-cell or a virgin queen, ex- 

 cepting that, where a queen is present, the bees will 

 stay a little better than if queenless ; also gains will 

 be more rapid if theVe is a queen there to lay eggs. 

 When the nucleus is prepared, simply put it on a 

 new stand and close down the entrance, so that only 

 two or three bees can pass through at a time; and 

 as a precaution to get the bees to mark their en- 

 trance, throw a handful of weeds or straw loosely 

 over it. Most of the old field bees will return to 



