1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



611 



Mac, though he got his swarm safely hived 

 at last, was unmercifully stung- in several 

 places. In his haste he had not adjusted 

 his armor properly, and he was not yet 

 " seasoned to stings." 



As Horatio gazed on his 

 swollen and distorted features 

 as Dora hovered about his 

 chair with the ammonia-bot- 

 tle, he didn't find his heart 

 hard enough to say one of the 

 smart things he had ready 

 for the occasion. But yet he 

 couldn't resist giving him one 

 parting "dig." 



" Laughing's catching, old fellow," he 

 said. 



"That's all right," uttered Mac. His 

 lips were thick and stiff. He also tried to 

 wink at his cousin, essaying to turn the 

 whole thing into a joke; but the wink was 

 as poor a thing of its kind as the joke. 



Mac's enthusiasm waned, and his ardor 

 cooled with the bee-stings; but he is too 

 plucky to think of relinquishing his bees. 



"Live and learn," quotes he. "I'll 

 know more about bees next season." 



POISONING FROM SPRAYING. 



Mr. Root: — Since you have had some ex- 

 perience with poison from spraying fruit- 

 bloom I write to ask you something con- 

 cerning it. The condition of our bees has 

 become quite alarming. Up until the last 

 two or three weeks they have been in a most 

 excellent condition, when we noticed a few 

 ragged-looking bees. Last week we notic- 

 ed large numbers of those bees, and they 

 seem to weaken down to an alarming con- 

 dition. It seems that the sick bees have 

 flown away. There are no bees crawling 

 around the yard as they do in bee-paraly- 

 sis. Could it be possible that the brood 

 reared during fruit bloom could have been 

 poisoned from the sprayed pollen? Does 

 the spraying affect the working force or 

 brood, or both? We have lost a good many 

 queens from some cause. The brood hatch- 

 ing now seems to be all right. 



Subscriber. 



Richland Co., Wis., June 24. 



[From what you write it is our opinion 

 that your bees have been suffering from poi- 

 son administered during spraying time. 

 As a rule the poison does not affect the 

 adult bees, but sometimes it does when the 

 mixture is given too strong. But it kills 

 the young brood and the queens. These 

 latter are fed very lavishly by the incoming 

 bees just from the fields, and the average 

 queen gets a larger dose of the poison than 

 any ordinary worker-bee. During spray- 



ing time we are apt to lose a great many of 

 our queens and considerable brood, and all 

 together the troubles we experience are just 

 about the same as those you describe. I 

 should presume that the trouble from your 

 old bees disappearing was not because they 

 were poisoned, but because they died of old 

 age or were worked out. The young brood 

 having been poisoned a month or so ago, 

 does not give the hive the full quota of bees 

 which would now be coming on from the 

 brood that would have been hatched, but 

 was killed. — Ed.] 



A FUMIGATING-BOX. 



I wish to make a box to fumigate my 

 brood-frames in, and I want to use bisul- 

 phide of carbon. You will oblige me by 

 giving me directions how to make such a 

 box, and how to arrange the carbon — 

 whether it should be above or below the 

 frames, and how much to use, and how 

 long it should be in the box to kill moths, 

 eggs, etc. Would the carbon be of any use 

 after it has been used once? 



W. A. Cordell. 



Ashland, Ore., June 7. 



[The answer to C. T. Cole, on page 568, 

 July 1, will give j^ou the information you 

 desire. You can use a box, and it will be, 

 perhaps, in some respects, better than four 

 or five hives stacked up, providing it is 

 made almost air-tight. It should be so ar- 

 ranged that combs can be stored in tiers, 

 one above the other, and so that a pint of 

 bisulphide of carbon can be placed in a 

 vessel above the combs. Never put it be- 

 low. — Ed.] 



WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH NATURE'S 

 LABORATORY? 



We have been having very showery weath- 

 er for some time, and vegetation is on the 

 boom. White clover is blooming quite abun- 

 dantly ; white sweet clover has just com- 

 menced to bloom, while the yellow variety 

 was showing the golden a month ago. 



During fruit-bloom the bees built comb 

 under the devices, and now the comb is 

 empty, and they have not as much honey as 

 they had a month ago. When we go among 

 the hives at night and ask them how they 

 have done to-day they slowly murmur, 

 "Barely made a living." Kansas farmers 

 are praying for help to secure their immense 

 wheat crop ; but the bees have plenty of 

 workers, and no harvest to gather. In the 

 good old days of white-clover honey, bees 

 had to be very economical of their wax in 

 order to be able to save the honey. The 

 comb was built so thin as to be scarcely 

 perceptible. It's a long time since I have 

 seen such honey. 



What is the matter with Nature's labora- 

 tory? Has the soil lost its sweetness? I 

 live all I can in the open air; sew, and pre- 

 pare vegetables for cooking, in the shade of 

 a large tree. Yesterday, while working 

 there with a sunbonnet on, a bee flew in- 

 side my bonnet and kissed my cheek. An- 



