1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



547 



of comb except where they are detained in the mail- 

 pouch not iontrer than 12 hours in hot weather. Later 

 experience in Queen-rearinn has tauirht us that nueens 

 reared from larva', or from cells that have passed 

 tliroutfh the mails, are not as trood as those reared un- 

 der normal conditions in the hive. 



It is perfectly feasible to attach the fences to the sec- 

 tion-holders ; but the reason why manufacturers do 

 not make up the combination is because it is not so 

 easy to eet sections in and out of the supers. Then, 

 moreover, a separator or fence that is fastened to a 

 section-holder can not be readily cleaned of propolis. 

 -Ed.] 



how bees eject w.vter from nect.\r during their 



FLIGHT. 



Dear Ernest:— The article in Gleanings, "Ripening 

 of Honey," brings back vividly to my mind the sum- 

 mer when the field where your father's house stands 

 was all in buckwheat. A. I. R. came out to the apiary 

 one sunny day, and. standing by the hickory-tree at 

 the edge of the apiary, called my attention to the bees 

 sailing in from the buckwheat-tield; and as we watch- 

 ed them we could see the streams of spray, or drop- 

 lets, discharged by them as they sailed for their hives. 

 It seems as though it were only yesterday, instead of 

 twenty-seven long years ago. Those were the happy 

 days of boyhood. 



Fort Casey, Wash.. July 3. Erle. 



The writer of this. Dr. E. H. Sargent, had charge of 

 our apiary somewhere along in the early 80's. He 

 subsequently graduated from Cornell University, tak- 

 ing a scientific course; taught science at a military 

 academy, and later took the degree of " M. D." Dur- 

 ing one of his vacations Dr. Sargent made some foul- 

 brood pure cultures at Medina, for that was at a time 

 when the disease was raging in our home yard. Some 

 of his findings at the time were verified by other sci- 

 entific men. He was always a student of nature, and 

 his contribution of the incident that took place years 

 ago when he was in Medina fits in very nicely here. — 

 ED.] 



W.IEN IT PAYS TO EXTRACT FROM THE BROOD-NEST AND 

 FEED SYRUP. 



The brood-chambers of my hives contain from two to 

 four frames of the finest alfalfa honey. I can get 20 

 cts. per lb. for this here. Would you recommend ex- 

 tracting this honey at the end of the season and feed- 

 ing sugar syrup? We usually have here a fall flow of 

 heartsease that they might store for winter; but this 

 has been a dry season with us, and I do not expect the 

 heartsease this time. 



Gear>-, Okla.. July 28. N. F. Gardiner. 



[Under the conditions mentioned we would advise 

 you to extract your alfalfa honey and feed sugar syrup 

 instead. The latter would cost you about 3 cts. per lb., 

 and when stored in the hive possibly 5 cts., if you fig- 

 ure the evaporation and energy of the bees in putting 

 the syrup into comb. You will then have 15 cts. clear 

 profit less the cost of extracting; but when extracted 

 honey brings only 6 or 7 cts. it usually does not pay to 

 make the exchange for syrup.— Ed.] 



DOES THE SAME BEE VISIT .MORE THAN ONE SPECIES OF 

 FLOWER ON THE SAME TRIP? 



I wish to mention a matter about which there is 

 sometimes more or less question; and that is in regard 

 to the matter of bees visiting different flowers in their 

 quest for honey. At Barrington I asked the apiarist to 

 go with me to the alfalfa-field, as I wanted to see if the 

 bees were gathering nectar from it. We found, on ar- 

 riving there, a mixture of alsike and alfalfa in about 

 equal proportions, and that bees were vigorously at 

 work. I asked him to watch carefully those on alsike 

 and I would do the same to those on alfalfa, to see if 

 they changed to the other plant. In no instance did 

 we find a bee to change from its favorite, though the 

 other actuallytouched the flower it was working; but a 

 bee working the other would alight on the one reject- 

 ed. From the examination we made, we concluded 

 that bees never change from their favorite so long as 

 it affords nectar. 



Evanston, lU., July 28. Wm. M. WHITNEY. 



i/.es Italian bees. It has always been my impression 

 that golden Italian bees should show four to five yel- 

 low bands; and if not, they should be classed as three- 

 banded. I have queens in my yard from several 

 breeders, and I wish to give you in a letter my experi- 

 ence with some of them. 

 Marshall, Mo. R. G. ROBERTSON. 



[The term "golden Italians" has come to be some- 

 what flexible. It may mean on the part of some adver- 

 tisers four or five banded Italians; and on the part of 

 others, very bright three-banded bees. We do not be- 

 lieve that any of our advertisers mean to misrepre- 

 sent; but carelessness in the use of the expression has 

 grown up of late. We are hereby suggesting that all 

 of our advertisers be a little more specific in what they 

 mean when they use the term " golden Italians " or 

 " goldens." We hope every advertiser will specify 

 the number of yellow bands to his goldens. This will 

 remove all misunderstanding and objection.— ED.] 



CERTAIN COLORS AND ODORS OBJECTIONABLE TO BEES. 



With reference to recent articles on bees being more 

 angry at times than others, I have noticed the trouble 

 I have had along this line was while wearing a faded 

 black derby hat, and especially while working the 

 garden and bending over, and that I am not molested 

 while wearing a plain straw hat. Bees know their 

 enemies, as a matter of course. Is it not natural for 

 them to take that old black hat for a bear? 



As a further inference, why should they not be hos- 

 tile to certain colors and certain odors in clothing and 

 people. I had a negro pulling some plants. He could 

 have been heard a block off, and, besides, before down 

 some of my best tomato-vines in getting out of the gar- 

 den. After he was out of the garden he said, " Whoo- 

 pee! Boss, I reckon you have to keep dem plants." 



Suffolk, Va. W. T. Bailey. 



[We may say that it is pretty well established now 

 that dark colors are more objectionable to bees than 

 light ones. Certain persons or animals may give off 

 an odor that is offensive to the extent that it may 

 cause them to sting. It is our opinion, however, that 

 the average colored person could work among bees, if 

 he understands the art of handling them, just as satis- 

 factorily as a white person. We do not believe that 

 the color of the skin itself would make the bees much 

 crosser. The colored man referred to probably mani- 

 fested a nervousness, and a disposition to strike at the 

 bees, that caused them to attack him, rather than any 

 odor or color of his person.— Ed.] 



FIRST SWARM OF THE SEASON ISSUES BEFORE QUEEN- 

 CELLS ARE SEALED. 



Is it a usual thing for the first swarm of the season 

 to issue without leaving sealed queen-cells? Doolittle, 

 in "Scientific Queen-rearing," says, "I have yet to 

 find where the first swarm of the season, from an 

 apiary, has ever issued previous to the sealing of the 

 first queen-cells." I wish to say that, on June 7, the 

 first swarm of the season in my yard issued. After hiv- 

 ing it I carefully examined the parent hive and found 

 five or six queen-cells, but none of them were sealed. 



On June 20, thirteen days after the first swarm, the 

 second one issued from the hive. I have been taught 

 that the eighth day is the time for the second swarm. 

 How about this? J. T. HiLLERY. 



Columbus, Ohio, July 7. 



[In a general way we may say that it is an axiom in 

 beedom that "bees do nothing invariably." While 

 they follow general rules, there are always exceptions. 

 You will note particularly that Mr. Doolittle did not 

 say that a swarm would not issue before the sealing of 

 the first queen-cell, but that he had yet to see a case of 

 that kind. 



The same general principle, that bees do nothing in- 

 variably, would apply to your last paragraph.— ED.] 



WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM "GOLDEN," REFERRING 

 TO A STRAIN OF BEES? 



In perusing the advertising department of GLEAN- 

 INGS one will obser\'e several queen-breeders offering 

 for sale golden and three-banded Italian queens. One 

 says " golden and three-banded;" others, " golden and 

 red-c'o\ er." What I wish to know is, what character- 



DOES HONEY-DEW CANDY? 



My experience with honey-dew mixed with other 

 honey is that, in cold weather, the honey-dew will 

 come to the top and remain liquid while the honey 

 will candy. Why can not the honey-dew be poured off 

 and the honey be melted, and thus separated from the 

 honey-dew? 



Valparaiso, Ind., Aug. 12. JOHN C. Bull. 



[Our experience has rather led us to believe that 

 some honey-dew does candy; but we think that there 

 might be varieties which would behave in the manner 

 described by our correspondent. We should be glad 

 to hear from others.— ED.] 



