22 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVlJb.vv . 



that all except the corner hanging out be 

 folded in so nicely as to follow down with 

 the syrup. And it mustn't be cloth that will 

 sink to the bottom, as worn muslin if damp 

 is likely to do. He realized a little over a 

 pound for a pound and a half in ieeding 

 back this year. Review, 3:^2. 



Perhaps I ought to scold just a little about 

 that same feeding-back report. Mr. Taylor 

 pleads in favor of feeding back that the col- 

 ony is in better condition to go into the win- 

 ter — more bees, and especially more young 

 bees. This is said in such a manner that the 

 reader would be likely to take it that the ex- 

 periments last year and this proved that bees 

 winter better when busy handling honey for 

 a month in the fall. Of course a colony 

 podded out with honey ookn much more pop- 

 ulous than another which is on the usual 

 scant rations. It hardly appears that Mr. 

 Taylor has done much more to prove this par- 

 ticular wintering point than to glance at the 

 appearance of the bees. It is, or ought to 

 be, suspected that another of that bad family 

 of humbugs which has been afflicting us lies 

 right here. A prosperous colony whose sea- 

 son closed sharply and finally the middle of 

 July, and which has passed the rest of the 

 season in a sort of summer hybernation, are 

 they not really just as hopeful to go into the 

 winter with as the colony which has been 

 hustling all the fall ? Restless young begin- 

 ners, and a lot of us who are not beginners, 

 have been assuming that they are not — that 

 something must be done to make 'em breed, 

 else spring dwindling breakers ahead — but 

 we don't want our stations to tumble into un- 

 proved assumptions. Here's an assumption 

 on the other side, that the colony fussed with 

 to make it breed in the fall is just the one 

 that will spring dwindle. And when you get 

 around to settling this point by experiment, 

 friend Taylor, look out that you don't make 

 your fed colony " like a case of itch in dis- 

 trict school," a morbid excitant to its neigh- 

 bors — so that they have to bear the disadvan- 

 tages of feeding without its advantages, and 

 then be judged in comparison afterward. 



THE APICULTURIST, 



To the blast of apicultural hard times, 

 which is sweeping everywhere, the Api. bows 

 a little— but beyond having her shawl blown 

 away, and arriving a little late to dinner 

 sometimes, she's all right so far. A consid- 

 erable number of articles not editorial ap- 

 pear lately. Stachelhausen, one of the 



strongest and best of American writers, and 

 who has been missing somewhat for quite 

 awhile, appears in the September number — 

 unless, perchance, that paper is a re-publica- 

 tion. We can ill afford to lose such a pen 

 as Stachelhausen's ; and whoever knows 

 where he is secreted ought to poke him out. 



W. T. Pepper, a warm hearted beginner 

 (pepper always was kind 'o warm) has sent 

 to Sweden to get us some Ijung — which same 

 is a clover-like plant, yielding abundance of 

 nectar late in the fall. Apicidturiat, 111. 



Stachelhausen thinks it probable that bees 

 do add formic acid (sting poison) to the 

 honey before capping it. Thus he willingly 

 volunteers to t?.ke part of the odium and 

 chaff to which friend W. F. Clarke has been 

 subjected. He also suggests that the same 

 is the natural preventative to foul brood. 

 Api., 125. I think this theory right in its 

 main point, but probably wrong as to any 

 co7isciniis putting in of sting poison for either 

 purpose. If we open a colony of bees when 

 they feel cross, especially if they are both 

 cold and cross, we see the bees in great num- 

 bers puttmg out their stings ; and directly 

 the smell of the poison becomes very percep- 

 tible in the air. Apis poison is very volatile, 

 and it is said that a minute droplet of it can 

 be seen on the end of the sting at such times. 

 If we should fix some arrangement whereby 

 we could rile up the little animals every five 

 minutes ivithoitt opening the hire we should 

 keep the interior air so powerfully impreg- 

 nated that the absorbent liquids and surfaces 

 inside would soon be strong of apis. I in- 

 cline to think this worth trying as a remedy 

 for bee paralysis, and perhaps for mild foul 

 brood. Now is it needful for bees to put out 

 stings in order to have some evaporation of 

 apis from each well filled poison sac ? 

 Probably not. If not, then we have 20,000 

 little " somes " exhaled into a very contract- 

 ed space, even under ordinary circum- 

 stances. This, I take it, is sufficient for the 

 open cells of honey to absorb what they need 

 to prevent fermentation, also for the comb 

 surfaces to absorb what they need to prevent 

 mold from growing, without any intentional 

 ejection directly from stings. Still, I'm not 

 sure of this. Bees balling a queen seem to 

 be ejecting poison intentionally, and possi- 

 bly they may eject it at other times, and for 

 other purposes. At least when honey stor- 

 ing suddenly closes the little villains seem 

 to have an extra supply of venom that they 

 are anxious to get rid of. 



