GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



475 



HEADS OF Grain 



From Different Fields 



WIIV DID THE SWARM ON BEING HIVED COMMENCE 

 KILLING BEES? 



Yesterday a laree first swarm came out, and no 

 sooner were they liived than they commenced dratr- 

 trinn out and killing a lot of small-looking bees, which 

 1 suppose are yountr bees. I trave them a ijood smok- 

 insr, but to no purpose. They kept at it all ritrht, and 

 are still killintr them off, although I have smoked them 

 every 30 minutes to-day. They left the hive, and, in- 

 stead of uointr back to the old stock, find a new 

 swarm. I have seen no old bees killed, but they 

 have drairtied out enoutrh of those little short bees to 

 make a trood-sized swarm. I supposed smoking would 

 always stop fijrhtinsr; and why should a swarm figrht 

 itself? I am sure there were no bees in that hive 

 when I hived the swarm, and I saw them issue— all 

 from one hive. 



These little bees, when draytred out, seem paralyzed, 

 and crawl around, dragging their bodies for a while, 

 and then dying. Frank Wheeler. 



Westfield, N. Y., July 6. 



[Our first thought was robbers; but on re-reading 

 we note that you state that "a swarm came out, and no 

 sooner were they hived than they commenced drag- 

 ging out and killing a lot of small-looking-bees." A 

 swarm would not, of course, have any honey in the 

 hive, and there could, therefore, be no robbing. There 

 is one possible solution — that there were two swarms 

 united together and the larger one numerically pro- 

 ceeded to kill off the members of the other swarm, for 

 that is precisely what two lots of bees in a swarm will 

 do sometimes. You say, however, that the bees were 

 ■' all from one hive." As to this you might be mistak- 

 en. Again, you say the bees that were being made 

 away with were "small-looking bees." It would be 

 our impression that they were just as large as the oth- 

 ers, but possibly, being a darker strain, they looked 

 smaller. Or it might have been that one swarm was 

 well filled with honey while the other one was on the 

 verge of starvation. A well-filled bee looks much 

 larger than one that has no honey in its sac. 



You say that the little bees, when dragged out, 

 seemed " paralyzed." They would be very much so if 

 they had been stung by the bees of the superior force. 

 We can not think it was any disease. If any one has 

 any other solution to offer, our columns are open.— 

 ED.] 



BAIT SECTIONS SHOULD BE PLACED IN THE CORNERS 

 OF THE SUPERS. 



On page 378, June 15, Mr. H. B. Palmer says that he 

 gets his supers filled more solidly by putting bait sec- 

 tions in the coldest part. Mr. Palmer's experience is 

 the same as mine. Before adopting the shallow ex- 

 tracting-combs in comb-honey supers we placed a 

 bait section in each corner of the super. Bees enter a 

 super and begin work about as rapidly with the baits 

 in the corners as if they were placed in the center. 

 In the middle of, or, say, during a good honey-flow, 

 we have found a few cells of honey fifteen minutes 

 after putting a super on a hive, although that super 

 c mtained bait sections in the corners only. There is 

 no cold corner of the super that the bees will not oc- 

 cupy readily, providing drawn combs are given. Try 

 it, Mr. Edttor, in two or three supers this year and you 

 will never again write such a "cold " footnote as you 

 did to Mr. Palmer's article. E. D. Townsend. 



Remus, Mich. 



[When a man like Mr. Townsend indorses the 

 scheme of putting bait sections in the corners of the 

 supers we may well consider whether some of our 

 text-books and "editors" should not be revised. 

 However, we consider this a somewhat debatable 

 question. Let us hear from others. — Ed.J 



KEEPING THE BROOD-CHA.MBER FILLED WITH BROOD TO 

 FORCE THE NEW HONEY INTO THE SUPERS. 



I have a small apiary. The bees have plenty of hon- 

 ey to last them till they go to work. But there are a 

 great many of them that I can't get to work in the su- 

 pers. Do you think it would be a good idea to put 

 sugar syrup in and let them fill the brood-chambers 

 with syrup and put my supers on ? Holly is my hon- 

 ey-planL It blooms about the first of May. 



Camden, Ark., March 15. R. C. JENKINS. 



IThe plan you propose is the same one that H. R. 

 Boardman, of Collins, O., advocated a number of years 

 ago. In brief, it was his idea to feed bees liberally on 

 sugar syrup, to fill the brood-nest with brood and syr- 

 up, so that, when the honey-flow did come on, the 

 honey would all go into the supers. His argument 

 was, that sugar syrup was much cheaper than honey; 

 and if we could trade the sugar for the honey we 

 should be getting the big end of the deal. 



Objection was made at the time, that the bees would 

 carry some of this sugar syrup into the supers so that 

 there would be a mixture of syrup and honey; but Mr. 

 Boardman took the ground that, if the syrup were fed 

 early enough, and were largely capped over before the 

 honey-flow began, there would be no danger of its go- 

 ing above. 



We know no reason why the general plan should 

 not give good results providing the syrup does not go 

 into the supers. Should it do so, the product, if placed 

 on the market, would be a mixture of syrup and hon- 

 ey. If the national or State officers should get hold of 

 it the honey would be clas.sed as adulterated, and the 

 producer fined. With our national and State laws as 

 they now are, one might be running some risk if he 

 fed too close on up to the honey-flow. If he fed liber- 

 ally up to within a week of the expected flow, and then 

 stopped feeding, he would probably have his brood- 

 nests full of sealed stores and brood, and a heavy 

 force of bees for field work. 



If any one is now practicing the plan, or has prac- 

 ticed it to any considerable extent, we shall be pleased 

 to have him tell us how it works. — Ed.] 



BEES AND NEIGHBORS. 



I have a neighbor who is a crank, and his house is 

 about eight or ten rods from mine, and my bees are 

 about a rod from my house along the line fence next 

 to the neighbor. He says I must mo\e them. He has 

 told me twice now. I don't want a lawsuit, and I don't 

 want to move them unless I have to. Both places are 

 in the country. Can he make me move them? 



There used to be a bee-keepers' union for the pur- 

 pose of helping one another that got into trouble. 



Nottawa, Mich., July 3. E. A. WARREN. 



[From all the facts stated in your letter we would 

 urge you to move your bees. Where a bee-yard is 

 next to a line fence the bees will verj' often cause 

 trouble, especially if the field next to that line fence is 

 being worked by horses. This trouble is more apt to 

 come on when bees are flying heavily to the fields. 

 Being interrupted in their flight ihey will attack 

 horses as well as men. It is natural for horses to 

 switch their tails vigorously when any fly or bee is 

 buzzing about, and such action will be apt to infuriate 

 one or more bees going to and from the apiary, partic- 

 ularly if the horses are in the direct line of flight. 

 We always advise locating a bee-yard as far as possi- 

 ble from a cultivated field. Wherever practicable, put 

 the yard behind a clump of trees or a high board 

 fence, so that, when the bees rise to go to the fields, 

 they will fly high enough to clear horse and man. 



The bee-keepers' union still exists, but is now called 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association. Mr. N. E. 

 France, of Platteville, Wisconsin, is the General Man- 

 ager. — Ed.J 



IS IT PRACTICABLE TO SHIP A FEW COLONIES A LONG 

 DISTANCE ? 



I wish to move from here to North Georgia, and 

 would like to take my bees with me. I have ten col- 

 nies. Would it pay best to ship them as they are, or 

 would you take only one or two colonies ? 



Kerens, W. Va. C. R. Miller. 



[ifVould hardly pay you to move so few as ten col- 

 onies unless you have exceptionally valuable stock 

 housed in new and modern hives. If, however, you 

 are going to move a carload of household goods you 

 can put the bees in the same car wiih other goods; 

 but be sure to load the hives so that the frames are 

 parallel with the rails, and secure them so that they 

 will not be bumped about in the car. The covers 

 should, of course, be removed, and wire-cloth screen 

 nailed over the tops of the hives. If the colonies are 

 very strong it would be advisable to put on an extra 

 super, and then the screen, to give clustering room 

 over the tops of the frames, otherwise there would be 

 danger of the bees smothering. If you do not expect 

 to send a carload of goods it would not be practicable 

 to ship the bees by local freight; and to send by 

 express would cost almost as much as the hives and 

 bees were worth. It would be far better for you to sell 

 the bees and buy new stock on arrival at destination. 

 —ED.J 



