830 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUREr 



July 1 



SPRING FEEDING PREFERRED FOR WEAK COLO- 

 NIES. 



When summed up, the evidence on this matter 

 of spring vs. fall feeding appears to show con- 

 clusively that " too much spring feeding is no 

 good, but too much fall feeding is just right." 

 Now, although I have no desire to set up my 

 twelve years of experience in keeping bees for the 

 production of section honey against the teachings 

 of any "old-timer," I really think I will just 

 keep on feeding in the spring until there is a bet- 

 ti'r way brought out for quickly building up the 

 backward colonies. 



In this locality a colony that has come through 

 the winter without the loss of many bees will, if 

 it has a good queen and plenty of stores, build 

 up; and, if allowed, it will cast a swarm before 

 the flow. Such colonies are unmolested. From 

 15 to 20 per cent, however, will be found to have 

 just as good a queen, and a hive filled with stores, 

 and yet the bees will be weak, and will not build 

 up if left to themselves. These can be built up 

 by stimulati\e feeding. It is cheaper, and in- 

 \ol\es less labor, than spreading or equalizing 

 brood, and is not done at the expense of the good 

 colonies. While fall feeding will reduce the oth- 

 er to a minimum, honey in the hive will not 

 cause bees to breed to their full capacity, and it 

 can not fully take the place of spring feeding. 



Fort Smith, Ark. Leo E. Gateley. 



DIVISION-BOARDS FOR DUMMIES. 



In reg-ard to wooden dummies mentioned in 

 Straws, April 15, I should like to ask through 

 Gleanings if any of its readers have ever tried 

 using the division-boards. They would pro\ide 

 room for bees to cluster between them, and would 

 overcome the objection to using dummies under 

 the sections. Chas. E. Conrad. 



Brooksville, Ky. 



[We do not kn^w that we quite understand 

 your question. The putting-in of several divi- 

 sion-boards a bee-space apart to leave clustering 

 room, a la Aspinwall, might accomplish a little, 

 but we doubt it. If they were slatted like a fence 

 separator they might do some good. See Mr. 

 Aspinwall's article in last issue, p. 758. — Ed.] 



when the bees shake their abdomens are 



they trying to loosen the wax scales.? 



On page 491 E. A. Newell, of Massillon, Ohio, 

 asks the following question: 



"What is a worker doing when it shakes its ab- 

 d >men o\er the combs with a gyrating move- 

 n\eiit, doing this on brood-combs over eggs, lar- 

 \ ;e, and sealed brood.-"" 



I became interested some time ago when, while 

 watching this perforn ance, I saw one of the bees 

 pick up a small w ix sc ile, or thin leaf of wax, 

 a ter the bee with the s inging motion had 

 moved away, it s.ruck me at once that this bee 

 had the idea of tie principle of the honey-ex- 

 tnictur. 



I'y holding its head still, and moving its abdo- 

 nit-n to and fro very rapidly, or, rather, from side 

 to side, this motion would tend to throw out the 

 small wax scales by centrifugal force. 



As the wax-pockets are on the under side of the 

 .abdomen, and open toward the "rear end, "as the 



Jay calls it, it would take this gyrating move- 

 ment to extract the wax scales. It is not every 

 colony that has these "gyrating bees," or at least 

 I have not noticed it in some colonies. Perhaps 

 they have not yet "caught on." 



Stratton, Colo. Peter Bohm. 



[It hardly seems probable that bees shake their 

 abdomens to loosen the wax scales. They may 

 fall off, it is true, during the act. There are too 

 many indications that go to show that this shak- 

 ing is simply the means of showing that new hon- 

 ey or new pollen has been discovered for us to 

 entertain the shake-off-scale theory. If any sub- 

 scriber has any thing to offer on the subject we 

 should be glad to hear from him. — Ed.] 



spring feedivg inducing robbing; the use 

 of entrance-guards to stop it. 



My experience last spring and also this was 

 that feeding either strong or weak colonies in 

 the spring causes great danger of robbing. I 

 lost three colonies List spring and two this year 

 by robbers. I have been handling bees more or 

 less the past twenty years, and I have always 

 been successful when I used the Miller feeder in 

 September or October. 



I ha\e lately been u=;ing entrance-guards to 

 stop robbing, with the best of succt-ss. 



Asherville, Kan. B. F. H\rford. 



how much sulphur to use in fumigating 

 comb honey to protect it from wax- 

 worms. 

 Will you kindly inform me what amount of 

 sulphur per super of sections is burned when fu- 

 migating sections containing honey.' How long 

 are the supers to be fumigated.? how often in, 

 say, three months.? J. .\l. Robertson. 



Bombo, Zululand. 



[The amount of sulphur per super of sections 

 has never been given in any printed work. It is 

 the usual custom to put about two or three pounds 

 in a big iron kettle placed upon a couple of bricks 

 in a room somewhere about 8x 10, in which the 

 comb honey or combs are stored. This sulphur 

 is ignited, when the room is closed and locked. 

 The supers should be piled up in such a way that 

 the fumes can gain access to every section or 

 comb. 



It is the general practice nowadays to use bi- 

 sulphide of carbon in place of the sulphur. Ten 

 or twenty supers are piled one on top ot the oth- 

 er. Surmounting the whole pile, and in an emp- 

 ty super, is placed a saucer containing half a pint 

 of bisulphide of carbon. This super is then 

 closed, when the evaporation of the chemical will 

 cause the destruction of any bee-moth or worms 

 that may be in the combs. The fumes from the 

 bisulphide, being heavier than air, settle down 

 all through. If one has several thousand pounds 

 of honey to fumigate in a room it may be cheap- 

 er to use the sulphur. 



It will not be necessary to refumigate if the 

 supers are kept closed thereafter so that the moth- 

 miller can not get at them again. 



If any of our readers will give us particulars as 

 to the amount to use we shall be glad to have 

 them do so. — Ed.] 



