598 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 1 



We are very confident of success in this 

 plan, and ask the bee-keepers to aid us as 

 much as possible. It rests with the bee- 

 keepers to furnish the material for exhibi- 

 tion. The management of the fair will do 

 their part toward taking the best of care of it. 



New Braunfels, Texas. 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 



Lobelia Inflata the Cause of the So-called 

 Alsike Poisoning. 



BY E. VANDENWERKEN. 



We of this section of the country have not 

 had as much experience with alsike as have 

 those who live further west. However, I am 

 fully convinced that the poisoning of stock, 

 as has been mentioned, is not due to the al- 

 sike but to another source. Years ago I lived 

 in Saratoga Co., N. Y. At that time alsike 

 was unknown, but we had trouble with the 

 white-nosed horses. In some cases the scab- 

 by sores were very serious on every v/hite 

 nose. I never saw a dark-nosed horse that 

 was troubled. The vile weed that was re- 

 sponsible for this was known as Lobelia in- 

 flata. It grows in pastures, and is a plant 

 that is very difficult to exterminate. It is 

 about a foot high and rather bushy, with 

 cream-white blossoms. Little pods hold a 

 number of seeds that look so much like al- 

 sike that it would be impossible to separate 

 them if mixed together. I believe that this 

 is the weed that grows in alsike-fields, and 

 that it is the cause of the trouble. It used 

 to be called Indian tobacco, for, although it 

 does not look at all like tobacco, it produces 

 the same sort of sickness if chewed. 



There grows in the same pastures another 

 weed, the same height and style, except that 

 the blossoms are a little more flufty and 

 whiter. This is called the sweet balsam, and 

 some might mistake it for the lobelia, if not 

 familiar with the two plants. The sweet 

 balsam has not such vile properties as the 

 lobelia, for its odor is pleasant, and it is 

 harmless to man and beast. 



The lobelia seems to lose its bad effects 

 when it is cut and mixed with the hay. It 

 does not grow much with standing timothy. 

 It thrives best in the pasture. 



FRUIT-BLOSSOMS SPRAYED. 



Some of the fruit-growers near here fool- 

 ishly sprayed their trees while in bloom. I 

 saw my bees acting strangely. They were 

 bloated, and were evidently trying to void 

 something. Many of them were lying dead 

 around the outside of the hives. I began^ 

 feeding every colony considerably to keep 

 the bees inside the hives as much as possible, 

 and in five days they seemed to get over it. 



SUMAC, GOLDENROD, AND .ASTER. 



This year sumac came on in fine shape, 

 and the bees worked it well. I counted ten 

 honey-bees, two yellow-jackets, and a bum- 

 ble-bee on one bunch, and all were working 

 like beavers. I wonder if bees get honey all 

 day long from sumac. I have seen bees on 



some sumac near my home during the whole 

 day, and they all seemed to be getting nec- 

 tar. I also get at times considerable honey 

 from goldenrod. I never saw so much gold- 

 enrod as is now coming on. With the gold- 

 enrod and aster my bees will do pretty well 

 this fall. However, I would rather feed my 

 bees sugar syrup than allow them to have 

 much aster honey. I never saw any that 

 was not thin and watery, and it never seems 

 to thicken up. 



A LOSS OF BEES FROM STROVG COLONIES. 



Why do bees carry out other bees from the 

 strong colonies, and fly off and finally drop 

 them? I can almost hear you say that it 

 looks like a case of robbing. I thought so 

 at first, but as I watched proceedings from 

 time to time I do not believe that these are 

 robber-bees, as they never seem to fight. 

 A bee comes tumbling out of the hive, car- 

 rying another bee which seems to be trying 

 to hold on to something to keep from being 

 carried off. These unfortunate bees some- 

 times release themselves and run back into 

 the hive. If it were a case of robbers, why 

 should this be noticed in the most populous 

 colony? This hive is full of bees which are 

 working well, as they had begun on iheir 

 second super. I notice the trouble every 

 once in a while. Some days there is more 

 of it than others. 



Stamford, Conn. 



[The bees carried out are probably the old 

 bees, bees with worn-out wings, or other- 

 wise defective, so that they can not be of 

 much use to the colony. No matter how hard 

 a bee may have toiled for the good of the 

 colony, the moment it loses its usefulness 

 its fellow-workers, without heart or feeling, 

 carry it off and drop it. It can not fly, and 

 to walk back is impossible. It dies for its 

 colony like a hero tor his country. — Ed.] 



WHAT CAUSED THE BROOD TO DIE? 



On page 513. Aug. 15, I read a querj' by B. F. Lewis 

 in regard to brood dying before hatching, and being 

 carried out by the bees. A similar e.xperience prompts 

 me to write. 



My experience was identical with his, except that 

 the brood carried out was in the larval stage, about 

 nine or ten days from the egg. As you hint in your 

 footnote to Mr. Lewis' letter at a fault in the queen, I 

 also blamed her; and as she had been indolent in 

 brood-rearing for some time I thought to stimulate her 

 by feeding in order to get a good nestful of brood be- 

 fore I replaced her. I fed four ounces of syrup every 

 evening, and pollen began coming in with a rush, and, 

 to my great surprise, I have not seen a dead larva car- 

 ried out since. The feeding began three weeks ago, 

 and I am keeping it up. 



I am wondering if the feeding were stopped if the 

 brood trouble would set in again. I think it would, as 

 I blame bad water for the trouble, as there is a run 

 about 200 yards from my place, which is a veritable 

 sewer, at which I thhik my bees watered; and as they 

 get enough pure water in the syrup to meet their needs 

 they are not compelled to carry this vile run water, 

 with the result that the brood is healthy. 



Pittsburg, Pa., Aug. 30. R. MCCULLOUGH. 



LWe can hardly believe that the sewer water was re- 

 sponsible for the trouble. We should rather think it 

 was a lack of pollen. If you stop feeding, and no 

 brood dies, the trouble is not in the queen. If brood 

 continues to die with plenty of pollen in the hive we 

 would replace her. 



One thing is certain — that if sewer water causes the 

 brood to die in the hive, you would find brood dying 

 in other hives also. — ED.] 



