578 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15 



BEES KILLED BY TELEPHONE WIRES. 



Speaking about bees beine killed by telephone wires 

 I would say there are about 24 of them running by our 

 yard. Yesterday, July 19, being a cold day, and the 

 wind being from the north, and about 45 degrees in 

 temperature, the bees working on basswood, it killed 

 them by the thousands. It seems as if there ought to 

 be a law to reach these companies, but so far I find 

 none. This is not the first time. I have noticed it for 

 four or five years. It cuts lots of them in two when 

 they strike wires just right and are loaded. 



Black River, N. Y. G. B. HOWE. 



[It will be remembered that, something over a year 

 ago, we told how the bees were found dead and dy- 

 ing in front of our factory buildings on the sidewalks 

 and on the pavement, and how we were unable to ac- 

 count for this mortality until Mr. L. A. Aspinwall, of 

 Jackson, Mich., gave it as his opinion that it was be- 

 cause of the telephone wires that were strung across 

 iust in front of our bee-yard. Investigation revealed 

 "that this was the source of the trouble. The bees 

 would strike the wire, drop down, and finally, in their 

 death-struggles, would push the abdomen from the 

 waist, or thorax. One of our correspondents doubted 

 whether the telephone wires were the cause, and sug- 

 gested poisoning from some honey-plant. The first 

 report that we have had confirming the statement of 

 Mr. Aspinwall is the one above.— Ed.] 



MAY HONEY BE SOLD WITHOUT LABELS ON THE JARS? 



Can I sell honey in glass without a label on it, either 

 from a wagon on the street, or in a grocery? My bees 

 gathered a good deal of honey-dew before clover, so 

 it is mixed. It is of good flavor, and not so dark as 

 buckwheat, and very much better. What shall I have 

 to label it to sell it near home and in small towns? 



Petersburg, Pa., July 28. S. E. JOHNS. 



[One is not required to label his honey; but when he 

 does do so, the labels must state the exact character of 

 the contents of the package. The national law applies 

 only to interstate and territorial business. Any one 

 has a right in his own State to sell honey, or any other 

 commodity, irrespective of the requirements of the na- 

 tional law; but if such honey or other commodity is not 

 properly labeled, if sold out of the State the producer 

 or seller, or both, will be liable. But in many States 

 there are pure-food laws based on the national law, 

 and most States have some sort of pure-food law, so it 

 is wise for the average person, as far as possible, to 

 comply with the requirements of the national law; for 

 in so doing he will probably come within the restric- 

 tions of his State law. 



Answering your questions more specifically, if you 

 put a label on your honey at all, it will have to specify 

 the contents of the package as honey-dew honey. To 

 the average producer this would carry no unpleasant 

 suggestion unless at some time such producer had 

 tasted some bad honey-dew.— ED. 1 



CAN ROSIN IN TIN C.\NS TAINT HONEY? 



As I have purchased some new honey-cans, one ex- 

 tractor, one uncapping-can and honey-tanks, I gave 

 them a good cleansing before using; and after using, 

 the honey tasted strongly of rosin — the kind of rosin 

 they seem to use for soldering. Do you think that 

 honey, if left standing in the cans for a long time, 

 would taste of rosin? 



Inland, Neb., Aug. 13. R. Hanlon. 



fWe should be inclined to believe that the peculiar 

 taste which yoxi attribute to rosin is rather due to the 

 presence of considerable pollen mixed with the honey. 

 Pollen, where there is much of it in the honey, will 

 impart both a flavor and a color to it. Some otherwise 

 good extracted is impaired materially because of too 

 much pollen being mixed with it. Rosin is not solu- 

 ble in water or in honey; and if you took pains to 

 wash out your new cans it is hardly possible that your 

 honey could have been tainted by any flavor of rosin. 

 -Ed.] 



LITTLE DANGER OF GIVING BEES TOO MUCH CARE. 



In regard to what Wesley Foster says, page 442, July 

 13. 1 do not think any large bee-keeper will goto the ex- 

 treme in disturbing the brood-nest. Among the small 

 bee-keepers, most do too little instead of too much: 

 and if they see an article like Mr. Foster's they will 

 say, "I know enough to leave bees alone and let na- 

 ture take her own course without any bee-journal to 

 help me." About nature's way, she will grow more 

 weeds than corn. It is natural for chickens to lay only 



in the spiing. We find the conditions under which 

 they lay, and produce those conditions at other times 

 of the year to our profit. Naturally bees do the best 

 work just after swarming; and will any bee-keeper 

 dispute the fact that it will not pay to have your colo- 

 nies in condition so that you can produce the same ef- 

 fect on them that swarming would just as the honey- 

 flow commences? I have made many mistakes, and 

 lost queens as Mr. Foster describes; but I have learned 

 enough to pay for all of them. " He that makes no 

 mistakes does nothing." ALBERT I. MILLS. 



Ignacio, Cal., July 31. 



THE BEST WAY TO ITALIANIZE AN APIARY OF FIFTY COL- 

 ONIES. 



I have been considering the best way of requeening 

 my apiary of fifty hives so as to have all Italians. The 

 following plan appeals to me very strongly, but I 

 should like to have the opinion of some one more ex- 

 perienced. 



After getting a number of cells ripe, take the first 

 hive in the row, set it aside off its bottom-board and 

 set an empty body there instead. Shake the bees off 

 two or three of the frames of brood back into the old 

 hive, placing the beeless brood in the empty hive-body 

 on the old stand, and between two of the brood- 

 combs place a ripe cell in a West protector. Over the 

 hive-body on the old stand put a queen-excluding or 

 honey board, and over that the old hive and bees. 

 After" the young queen has hatched and mated, shake 

 the bees off the frames in the upper story, making 

 them go down through the honey-board, thus trap- 

 ping the old queen, which can then be disposed of. 

 Will the nucleus under the old hive be protected by 

 the bees above? and do you think the bees will treat 

 the young queen fairly? 



Jerry City, O., Aug. 17. S. E. JONES. 



'" [The plan "you refer to would probably work only 

 during the height of the honey-flow. The bees from 

 the lower hive would probably go up in the upper sto- 

 ry, and either destroy the queen-cell or kill the virgin 

 after she hatched. It would be much more practica- 

 ble for you to form nuclei on separate stands if you 

 desire to raise virgins. While you can find the old 

 queen by shaking the bees in such a way that they all 

 have to pass through a zinc, it would be much easier 

 and simpler for you to hunt her out on the combs, and 

 destroy her, than to stir up the whole colony needless- 

 ly.— ED.] 



WHAT DOES A QUEEN-BREEDER DO WITH QUEENS THAT 

 ARE INFERIOR? 



What does a queen-breeder do with queens that do 

 not come up to requirements when tested? Do they 

 sell them as untested ? 



Pernlack, Pa., July 21. W. V. Patton. 



[Any queen that fails to come up to the standard, of 

 course can not be sent out as regular stock. So far as 

 we know, queen-breeders pinch the heads of all such 

 stock. It does not pay, as a general thing, to advertise 

 cheap or defective queens.— Ed. J 



TRAPPING ROBBERS AND MAKING A COLONY OF THEM. 



We were greatly annoyed by robbers three years ago 

 from neighboring hives, p. 488, Aug. 15. We used the 

 bee-escape reversed at the entrance of a brood-cham- 

 ber filled with two combs of honey, and the remainder 

 drawn combs. By the evening of the second day we 

 had about all the robbers in our vicinity snugly tucked 

 away. They were removed in the evening and given 

 a queen. After several weeks they were returned, 

 given two more combs of honey, and fed. They built 

 up nicely, and went into winter quarters as strong as 

 any of our older colonies. 



North Detroit, Mich., Aug. 26. C. C. SCHNEIDER. 



RUBBER-ROOFING COVERS FOR HIVES, WHICH CAN BE 

 PACKED AWAY IN THE FLAT DURING WARM WEATHER. 



I am using for spring and late fall, as a protection to 

 my hives, pieces of carpet or sacks over which I place 

 a cover of one-ply rubber roofing. I cut the length to 

 come down even with the width on the sides of my 

 eight-frame hive. The ends are carefully folded in, 

 and two holes punched for a cord to hold thorn in 

 place. When not in use, the cord is untied and left in 

 one hole, and the cover laid flat so they can be packed 

 away for another season. The cost is about ten cents 

 each. 



Duluth, Minn., Mirch 1. J. Kimball. 



