514 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 15 



Tell me why it is tliat not a normal populous colony 

 of bees can be found in the fall of a season of good 

 honey-flow, whose brood-chamber has not been dis- 

 turbed during the season, that has not more or less 

 greasy-looking combs. Again, where are they to be 

 found? Right in the hottest part of the hive. They 

 look, for all the world, like the cappings of greasy sec- 

 tions. Like causes produce like effects; else, in our 

 reasoning we should be like a mariner at sea in a 

 cloudy night without a compass. If the queen is re- 

 sponsible for such a condition in the case of greasy 

 capped sections, then she is in the case of greasy- 

 looking combs. Corollary, " pinch the head " of every 

 queen in the apiary, worth preserving. But, to con-- 

 elude, I submit to your candid judgment whether you 

 think it quite fair to claim that the cases quoted above 

 are identical with greasy or watery-looking cappings. 



Evanston, 111., July 8. W. M. WHITNEY. 



[While we acknowledge that there is a difference 

 between travel stain and propolis stain, yet, as we 

 now remember it, the Punic race of bees produced 

 comb honey that had greasy, watery cappings. In ad- 

 dition they put a red propolis on the surface of the 

 comb. Perhaps there are those among our readers 

 who have had Punic bees who could give a general 

 statement as to the kind of cappings these bees make. 

 So far as we know, their undesirable qualities were so 

 pronounced that no one has them now in this country. 



Your questions in the last paragraph we will refer 

 to Dr. Miller.— Ed. i 



MORE ABOUT THAT CASE WHERE 300 COLONIES WERE 



POISONED FROM THE SPRAYING OF FRUIT-TREES 



WHILE IN BLOOM. 



Referring to the editorial, page 327, June 1, I wish 

 to report as briefly as possible on the question of us- 

 ing combs where the bees hav'e been poisoned from 

 fruit-bloom spray. Unfortunately for public informa- 

 tion I did not get the inquiries from the department 

 for samples until too late. I am quite sure that it was 

 arsenate of lead. Five yards here are located within 

 a radius of one and a half miles of the orchard where 

 the spray was used, and they all went down at that 

 time, and no other yards in the valley showed any 

 symptoms. That was proof enough for me; but I re- 

 alize that definite facts are needed, and I should have 

 liked to have an analysis of the poison. What facts I 

 can give are as follows: 



The man who sprayed his trees used 2 lbs. arsenate 

 of lead to a barrel of water. He sprayed just before 

 the last blooms dropped the petals. Five days after 

 the sprayng I noted that all was not well, but did not 

 look into the hives until on the seventh day, when I 

 found 14 dead colonies and took note that three- 

 fourths of the strong hives had dwindled to about the 

 strength of a weak three-frame nucleus. In others I 

 found only the queen and fifty to one hundred work- 

 ers alive. In all cases the queens seemed to live right 

 up to the last. I conclude that, since the queen is fed 

 predigested food, only bees not yet poisoned lived 

 long enough to feed the queen. Finally she probably 

 ate some of the poisoned honey, fori caged about ten 

 of these queens, which I found left with only a few 

 bees, and took them off to another yard to put in some 

 three-frame nuclei I had at the time, and half of them 

 were dead when I got there; and of the five intro- 

 duced, only one lived. 



On the tenth day some of the hives which had been 

 as strong as three-frame nuclei had dwindled so as to 

 have almost no living brood, and about enough bees 

 to make a one-frame nucleus. I took the queens from 

 these and used them with perfect success to requeen 

 three-frame nuclei in other yards. To their bees I 

 gave virgins and cells, and in that way made good use 

 of them as queen-raising nuclei. Since the poison 

 hit our queen-raising yard it set ufe back with our 

 queens, and we noted that many of the cells which 

 were being sealed at that time did not hatch, and 

 showed evidence of the poison when cut open later. 



As regards the use of the combs or other colonies, 

 we are using them all, and no trouble to amount to 

 any thing arose from the use of them; but the bees 

 were not storing much honey when they got the poi- 

 son. They were, perhaps, getting all they could use 

 but no more. In a few cases I noted that some of the 

 brood next raised in the combs taken from the dead 

 colonies died— just a cell here and there. In regard to 

 distance, the bees seem to have died almost as much 

 at a distance of one and one-half miles as those locat- 

 ed only a few hundred yards from the orchard. 



O. B. METCALFE. 



MesiUa Park, New Mexico, June 20. 



BITTER HONEY COMES FROM HOLLY-TREES. 



On pages 4!2 and 413, July 1, Jas. Bachler and Byron 

 French speak of bitter honey, and you advise them not 

 to winter bees on it. This honey is from holly, and is 

 fine for wintering. It is a very nice honey, with the 

 exception of a peculiar flavor. It is far from being 

 bitter, although any one who eats it would pronounce 

 it very bitter. The honey is not dark, but light and 

 medium amber, and of good body. 



The holly-trees do not yield honey every year, but 

 have yielded abundantly this season. One can use 

 two shallow frames in the middle of the super, and 

 catch the bitter honey from holly, provided he has the 

 foundation drawn in all the sections. If not, the comb 

 made during holly bloom would have to be discarded; 

 but those two drawn combs will catch the holly honey. 

 The bees must not be allowed to build comb in sec- 

 tions during holly bloom. Some people like the bitter 

 honey, and we have three customers who always ask 

 for fresh holly honey. But I confess I do not see how 

 they can like it. The honey is safe for the bees to 

 winter on. 



When extracting holly honey, uncap a little deeper 

 than usual, for later you may wish to cut out some 

 chunk honey from the same frames. The bitter taste 

 seems to leave the honey somewhat when given a 

 thorough airing for three or four days. This makes 

 some extra work during holly bloom. I would advise 

 leaving this honey of Bachler and French in the sec- 

 tions and letting the bees have it for winter, and see 

 how they do, and use the combs as baits in spring. Of 

 course it would not do to sell honey stored in combs 

 made of holly honey entirely. Such combs would 

 have to be removed and placed on again for holly 

 when it comes into bloom. 



Southern goldenrod gives bitter honey in the fall. 

 It is best to remove all surplus when goldenrod is 

 blooming. This is usually in October, and there is no 

 use for supers then any way. 



Silver Creek, Miss., July 10. E. A. McVadon. 



[We would question somewhat whether the bitter 

 honey referred to by our correspondents on pages 412 

 and 413, one located in Arkansas and the other in Mis- 

 souri, was the same as that to which you refer. While, 

 possibly, the holly grows in both localities, yet from 

 the description given by these other correspondents 

 we should infer that they have in mind honey that is 

 not only bitter but of very poor quality. The Arkan- 

 sas man says it is "uneatable," and we should infer 

 that the stuff from Missouri was honey-dew. 



Perhaps those two correspondents, Mr. French and 

 Mr. Bachler, can inform us whether they have the 

 holly-tree in their vicinity, and whether they know 

 that the bees were working upon this source at the 

 time the bitter honey complained of was being gath- 

 ered.— ED.] 



HOW TO TAKE CARE OF SWARiMS SO AS TO HAVE NO IN- 

 CREASE. 



When the prime swarm comes off, put it in a new 

 hive on the old stand with starters in the frames. Put 

 the super on; then move the old hive back for 24 to 30 

 hours. By this time the bees will have built some new 

 comb which will, perhaps, contain some eggs. Then 

 take out all of the frames from the hive containing the 

 swarm and put in the frames with brood that was in 

 the old hive. This makes it virtually the same as it 

 was before swarming. Put on the old super as it was 

 before swarming; then the bees will have gotten over 

 their "toot," and will settle down to work. This plan 

 has worked with me in this locality, and I think it 

 would work in any place. 



Campbells, Cal., May 10. M. S. Phillippe. 



PARENT COLONY LEFT WITHOUT QUEEN OR CELLS. 



Can you tell me what made my bees swarm? After 

 hiving I went through the parent colony and found 

 neither queen nor cells, but every frame was filled 

 with brood nearly ready to hatch. I put on an extra 

 super, making two, and put the swarm back. 



Union City, Mich., July 16. S. D. BUELL. 



[We should be inclined to believe that there was 

 some cell in the colony that you did not observe. One 

 may go through a hive two or three times and still fail 

 to observe some cell inconspicuously located. 



But, even supposing there was no cell, if there was 

 general swarming among other bees the colony might 

 take a notion to cast a swarm, cell or no cell. How- 

 ever, as we have elsewhere stated, it is an axiomatic 

 principle in bee-keeping that bees do nothing invari- 

 ably.— ED.] 



