573 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



periments last summer. If there be domesti- 

 cated animals of any kind in or adjacent to 

 the room in which the fumigation is to take 

 place they should be removed before it is un- 

 dertaken. Also the first step in this process 

 should be to see that all windows and doors, 

 excepting the one through which the operator 

 id to escape, are made air-t ght, and that all 

 cracks are stopped tightly with wet paper. 

 Preliminary arrangements should be made 

 for tightly closing all crevices in the vessel 

 or room in which the fumigation is to be 

 made, if this be not a box or barrel. A large 

 hogshead is excellent for this process, and it 

 is suflticient to have two wet blankets present 

 and spreatl them over the vessel, having 

 boards ready to lay on top of the blankets to 

 hold them in place All arrangements for 

 closing the vessel or room should be made 

 before the cyanide is dropped into the acid. 



This cyanide is the deadly prussic acid of 

 whi( h many have heard, and the fumes of 

 which are known as hydrocyanic-acid gas. 

 if the fumigation be in a room in which any 

 article is forgotten, let it alone. Do not en- 

 ter for two hours, after which time air the 

 room properly by opening from the outside 

 before entering it, because to enter the room 

 before it has been properly ventilated or air- 

 ed, i-r to fill the lungs once with the deadly 

 gas, would mean instant death; but at the 

 same time this is no reason why any intelli- 

 gent person should not avail himself of the 

 benefits of it. Let the vessel or room remain 

 tightly closed for at least two hours or long- 

 er, and then open it and give it an oppor- 

 tunity to become well aired before entering 

 it for further work. If comb or honey be 

 stored in close hives, supers, or vessels a 

 room to be fumigated, these hives or supers 

 should be opened before fumigation so that 

 the deadly gas can penetrate them and kill 

 the pests. 



After having fumigated comb or honey in 

 this way, the material can be stored in any 

 tightly closed vessel, such as a box or empty 

 hive- body, and can be kept for an indefinite 

 length of time, even for years, without being 

 attacked by the bee- worm or bee-moth, if 

 tightly closed. It is important in storing, 

 first, that the worms and eggs be killed by. 

 the fumigation; and, second, that they be 

 stored in vessels that are so tightly closed as 

 to prevent the moth from entering and lay- 

 ing its eggs. Remember that the lesser bee- 

 moth is a very small individual, and can go 

 through a small crack. Strips of paper should 

 be pasted over cracks in boxes, hives, and 

 supers, if piled upon one another, generally 

 fit together so tightly that no special provi- 

 sion for sealing the cracks between them is 

 necessary. Common window-screen wire is 

 sufficient protection to comb or honey from 

 the attacks of the bee-moths as long as may 

 be needed. The advantage of this method 

 of fumigation over the old-fashioned process 

 of " sulphuring " is the ease, rapidity, and 

 absence of danger of fire. The evil effects 

 of inhaling the gas can be avoided with less 

 trouble than would be necessary in avoiding 

 fire from the burning sulphur. We repeat 



the statement, that honey is not injured in 

 flavor, color, nor otherwise, by this fumiga- 

 tion process. We have tried it several times. 

 Harrisburg, Pa. 



SPRING FEEDING. 



The Opinions of Some of the Authors of Text- 

 books on the Subject; Feeding for 

 Stimulating in the Spring 

 Considered Profitable. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



As I happen to be a defendant in this mat- 

 ter of spring feeding, as given in the March 

 Iht and April 15th Gleanings, I feel it a 

 duty 1 owe to myself and friends to call the 

 attention of the readers of this journal to a 

 few established facts along this line. We 

 will now go to our text-books and see what 

 they say on this subject. I will endeavor to 

 be as brief as possible. 



Commencing with Prof. Cook's Manual of 

 the Apiary, turn to page 159, where he, in 

 speaking of stimulative feeding, says, "As 

 already stated, it is only when the worker 

 bees are storing that the queen deposits to 

 the full extent of her capability, and that 

 brood-rearing is at its height. In fact, when 

 storing ceases, general indolence character- 

 izes the hive; hence if we would achieve the 

 best success we must keep the workers ac- 

 tive, even before gathering commences, as 

 also in the interims of honey-secretion by the 

 liowers; and to do this we must feed sparing- 

 ly before the advent of bloom in the spring, 

 and whenever the neuters are forced to idle- 

 ness during any part of the season by the 

 absence of honey-producing flowers. For a 

 number of years I have tried experiments in 

 this direction by feeding a portion of my col- 

 onies early in the season, and in the intervals 

 of honey-gathering, and always with marked 

 results in favor of the practice. Every apia- 

 rist—whether novice or veteran, will receive 

 ample reward by practicing stimulative feed- 

 ing early in the season, then his hives at 

 dawn of the white-clover era will be redun- 

 dant with bees well filled with brood, and in 

 just the trim to receive a bountiful harvest 

 of this most delicious nectar." 



Now we will see what A I. Root says upon 

 this subject. We will take the first edition 

 of his A B C of Bee Culture, and turn to page 

 75. Where he speal^s of a drouth cutting 

 short the supply of nectar he says: "Many 

 of the queens stopped laying entirely. At 

 this stage a little feed during the night would 

 start the queens laying wonderfully, and the 

 fed colony would rush to the fields for pollen 

 in a way that demonstrated at once that feed- 

 ing at such a time was a very profitable in- 

 vestment if one wished to build up weak 

 stocks and nuclei. A stock that had been 

 fed a half-teacupful only would go out for 

 pollen an hour earlier than the others, and 

 would bring in double the quantity. A still 

 smaller quantity will set them to building 

 out foundation most beautifully; and I never 

 in my life saw the work in the hive go on so 



