744 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



vSept. 1 



"crack" workers the rest of the season. 

 Many, however, of Shepherd's virgin queens 

 probably came from hives which had cast 

 at least one after-swarm, and which re- 

 sponded with a handful of queens in re- 

 sponse to the first sw arming-note of a close 

 neighbor. I have had colonies swarm with- 

 out a trace of queen-cells, but not this year. 

 First swarms with virgin queens are no 

 rarity with me this summer, and the past 

 week I have had two swarms led by queens 

 raised in June — a new experience with me. 



The season, so far, has been a very pecul- 

 iar one — tremendous bloom and honey, and 

 no weather for the bees to get it into the 

 hives, they getting enough to keep up the 

 swarming impulse — not 'fenough to kill it. 

 Every colony wintered cast a swarm, and 

 the end is not yet. 



With me clipped queens would have only 

 made a bad matter worse, a la Shepherd 

 (I discontinued clipping ten years ago), as 

 it would have resulted in too many swarms 

 uniting. The only way to handle such con- 

 ditions is to use common sense, and turn 

 the surplus energy of swarming into honey. 



So far the season here has been disap- 

 pointing, the best colonies to date having 

 tilled but little over 100 sections each, and 

 October weather during the present buck- 

 wheat bloom. W. W. Case. 



Baptisttown, N. J., Aug. 25. 



[There are times and seasons when bees 

 will apparently violate all established 

 rules. If the honey-flow be light and con- 

 tinuous, swarming will be much worse 

 than if it be heavy. A peculiar season will 

 develop peculiar swarming, often; and the 

 past season has been one of peculiar con- 

 ditions all over the United States. — Ed.] 



BEKS DYING off; WHAT IS THE MATTER? 



My bees are dying, and have been all 

 spring. It has been wet all that time; but 

 after a heavy rain they die more than at 

 other times. Some dead bees are brought 

 out of the hives, and some die on the ground, 

 as they are all over the yard on the ground. 

 Several queens have died. I have lost six 

 colonies. They crawl all over the ground, 

 and I can hear them at night. I can find 

 nothing like it in the bee journals. Strong 

 colonies die as well as weak ones. But 

 very little honey has been made here this 

 year. They seem to be working for the 

 last two weeks, as it has not been quite so 

 wet. 



Please inform me how much ventilation I 

 ought to give when I use a sealed cover. I 

 think I did not give enough ventilation last 

 winter. I left them on the summer stands 

 covered with boxes. 



How much lower should the front of a 

 hive be than the back end for winter? 



Hamburg, Iowa. W. R. Belcher. 



[Without seeing the bees it is a little dif- 

 ficult to decide just what is the matter. It 

 is possible they are gathering something 

 that poisons them. Once in a great while 



a disgruntled neighbor will sometimes set 

 out poison; and if that is true in your case^ 

 the bees will die off just as you describe. 

 It might be well to make a little inquiry. 

 If you are satisfied that there is no poison 

 in the vicinity, I would suggest that yoa 

 consult the symptoms as given in the text- 

 books, for bee paralysis. 



Bees will very often die in considerable 

 numbers immediately after a heavy honey- 

 flow. They will be found on the grass and 

 sidewalks. They are nothing more nor 

 less than the bees that have served out their 

 best days, and the product of their toil will 

 be given over to others. 



When sealed covers are used, a wider en- 

 trance should be used than when absorbents, 

 are put over the cluster. An entrance for 

 the former ^^x8 inches would be about 

 right. 



Bottom-boards should be slanted no more 

 than enough to let the water run out at the 

 entrance rather than hi. — Ed.] 



PUTTING IN EXTRACTING-COMBS, ETC. 



1. Is it sound practice, when putting on 

 supers, to raise two or three frames of 

 brood up into the super, replacing them in 

 the brood-chamber with combs or founda- 

 tion? 



2. In dividing is it better to leave the 

 queen on the old stand or move her to the 

 new one? J. H. Walterhouse. 



Toronto, Canada, July 28. 



[1. If the colony is not too strong it is ad- 

 visable to put one or two frames of brood 

 in the upper story along with frames of 

 foundation or empty comb in order to get 

 bees started above at work. If the colony 

 is very strong the better way would be to 

 put on perforated zinc, then put on the su- 

 per above. 



2. This depends upon circumstances. If 

 an equal division is made we usually put 

 the queen with the nucleus that is moved 

 away from the old stand, as so many of the 

 bees return, and the nucleus that is put in 

 the new location needs the help of the 

 queen, while the one that is on the old 

 stand, having more bees, will be able to 

 get along without a laying queen for a few 

 days. — Ed.] 



THE eucalyptus OF CALIFORNIA. 



I should be obliged for information re- 

 garding the eucalyptus-tree, a native of 

 California. Would it grow and thrive in 

 the western part of Colorado ? Is it a good 

 tree for the production of honey ? Where 

 could trees or seeds be obtained ? 



Groton, N. Y. M. P. Weeks. 



[The eucalyptus-tree yi^tds considerable 

 honey at certain seasons of the year in 

 Southern California. I do not know wheth- 

 er it would grow in Western Colorado or 

 not. Perhaps some of our readers in the 

 vicinity would be willing to give the infor- 

 mation. — Ed.] 



