744 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 1 



HEADS OF Grain 



From Different Fields 



PART OF THE HONEY SOURED \VHU,E THE REST DID 

 NOT. 



I recently had some honey sour that was gathered 

 last year. It was produced in solid, sealed, virgin 

 combs. It was strained into a 500-lb. tank, then drawn 

 off into three, five, ten, and sixty-pound cans. Some 

 of it soured, and some did not. Why did some of it 

 sour and not the rest? I had it in new cans in a dry 

 and comparatively warm place. What can I do with 

 it? D. H. Morris. 



Springfield, O., Oct. 25. 



[Not all honey sealed in the combs is thoroughly 

 ripened. Bees apparently, in the rush of the season, 

 will seal some honey prematurely. But we may say 

 that, as a rule, all sealed honey is thoroughly ripened. 



To answer your question, we might suggest that 

 some of the honey to which you refer was not thor- 

 oughly ripened. Had you left it, after extracting, for 

 a longer period in the 500-lb. tank, where the air could 

 get to it, you probably would have no trouble from its 

 souring. In some climates it is unwise to seal extract- 

 ed honey up too soon after it is taken from the hive, 

 unless it is heated to about 140 degrees. In our own 

 locality we know that first-class sealed clover honey, 

 if shut up tight and confined in the supers for some 

 months, is in danger of souring before spring. We 

 have found it necessary to pile the supers crisscross 

 in a warm room so that the air may circulate through 

 them. Honey that has been aired this way probably 

 ripens still further — that is to say, the process of inver- 

 sion becomes more complete, even after it has been 

 sealed up in the combs; for we are now told that part- 

 ly inverted honey will continue to invert if stored in 

 open tanks covered with coarse material like cheese- 

 cloth or wiie cloth. We do not know what to do with 

 soured honey except to make honey vinegar of it. If 

 it has only a slight suggestion of sourness heating to 

 140 or 150 may arrest the action. — Ed.] 



WHAT CAUSED THE FIGHTING AFTER FEEDING? 



About the 7th of October I began feeding back ex- 

 tracted honey for stimulative puposes, giving half a 

 pint of thin honey to a hive each evening. After feed- 

 ing is over in the evening, and the bees have quit fly- 

 ing, they will begin fighting among themselves. There 

 are seven or eight colonies which do this. Each colo- 

 ny will kill bees in its own hive, and I have found a 

 great many dead bees. In consequence of this I had 

 to discontinue feeding. Can you tell me what is the 

 matter? Can you also tell me whether there is any 

 danger of bees killing their quee««.through late fall 

 feeding or not? I was told they would. 



New Plymouth, Ida. A Subscriber. 



[We question very much whether there is ever any 

 fighting among any bees of a colony unless it is be- 

 tween individuals from two different queens or colo- 

 nies. If any of our readers are able to offer any other 

 explanation, or furnish evidence to show that the bees 

 of one mother in one colony will, all on a sudden, be- 

 gin to fight each other to the point of extermination, 

 when there has been no robbing, we should be glad to 

 hear from such. 



In the case above cited, it is somewhat significant 

 that seven different colonies should begin fighting 

 right after feeding. We can not get away from the 

 conviction that those bees, by reason of the feeding, 

 became excited, got to robbing, mixed more or less at 

 the different entrances, then when night came on dis- 

 covered that there were many strangers in each hive, 

 and began to fight. A bunch of seven or eight colonies 

 might get so excited over robbing that they would put 

 up no defense at their individual entrances. When 

 night would come on, there would be no flying, and 

 the strange bees would fight each other. We be- 

 lieve that, if our correspondent would investigate a 

 little further, he would find after all that robbing was 

 at the bottom of the whole trouble. — ED.] 



A STRANGE LOSS OF BEES IN AUGUST. 



I should like some information as to the cause of the 

 mysterious losses which nearly every bee-keeper in 

 this section has had this fall. On the 21st of August I 

 examined my 22 hives and all seemed to be all right, 

 most of them working on the wild sweet clover. I 



went away for a week; and when I came home I found 

 half of my hives deserted, and in six of them the mil- 

 lers had wrought great havoc. Since then I have lost 

 two more, leaving only nine colonies, and some of 

 these are not as strong as they should be. They are 

 Italian hybrids, generally inclined to be cross; but 

 this year it seems as though they were too stupid to 

 sting, no matter how handled. 



I have talked with several other bee-men, and all 

 have different opinions as to the cause; but all claim a 

 loss of from 50 to 99 per cent. One man has only one 

 colony left out of 78. Another lost 21— all he had. 

 Some blame the spraying of the fruit-trees; but I do 

 not think that is the cause or we should have lost ear- 

 ly before swarming time instead of so late. 



I have seen quite a number of hornets around and 

 inside of most of my hives,' and I wonder if that has 

 any thing to do with the bees leaving the hive. I 

 know they fight, and generally the hornet kills the 

 bee in the battle. 



Merritton, Ont., Sept. 18. JOHN J. Fa WELL. 



[We are unable to offer any solution of the trouble. 

 It is possible that the bees gathered some poisoned 

 nectar during the spraying time, stored it in the 

 combs, and later on when they came to use it, it killed 

 them. Perhaps some of our Canadian friends in the 

 vicinity can throw some light on it.— Ed. 1 



POUNDING ON THE HIVE TO CAUSE THE BEES TO FILL 

 UP WITH HONEY SO THAT THEY START BROOD- 

 REARING. 



I am greatly interested in the subject of stimulating 

 bees by shaking according to the plans which I have 

 seen mentioned several times; but it seems to me that 

 all this shaking, whether for stimulating or preventing 

 swarming, is a lot of work. However, I believe that, 

 when bees have a lot of stores which we want them to 

 convert into brood, shaking will do a great deal of 

 good. Now, instead of shaking, how would it do to 

 go to every colony, say three or four times in a week, 

 and, after blowing smoke in at the entrance, drum for 

 a short time on the sides of the brood-nest with a suit- 

 able stick or club? This will cause the bees to uncap 

 the honey all right, and in the general excitfment, and 

 afterward, the queen will be highly fed and stimulated 

 to extra egg-production. This will be less work, and 

 ought to do as much good as an equal number of 

 shakings if not more. 



At the beginning of each year our colonies always 

 have their brood-nests full of honey; but at the same 

 time they are weak in bees. How to remove the hon- 

 ey and at the same time strengthen the colony in time 

 for the harvest without too much extra work is a prob- 

 lem that I am trying to solve; and I am hoping that the 

 above method will aid me in solving it. 



Jamaica, B. W. I., May 19. R. C. Holle. 



[The plan you outline might work in a hot climate 

 such as you have; but we would not advise it in the 

 northern sections of this country. Ordinarily, bees 

 will raise brood as fast as they can take care of it; and 

 very often they will attempt to raise more. 



Taking it all in all, we are of the opinion that this 

 pounding and smoking would do more harm than 

 good. We suggest that you try it out and report.— Ed. J 



MAKING A DEAD-AIR SPACE AROUND THE COMBS IN A 

 DANZENBAKER HIVE. 



For the last three years I have been using the Dan- 

 zenbaker hive exclusively, and have tried various 

 ways of wintering the bees. In this hive the sides are 

 single thickness, while the ends are double. This 

 winter I expect to reduce the brood-chamber from ten 

 to eight frames by taking out the follower-board and 

 placing two boards, 17 x S'i, at one end, and 8% at the 

 other, and i>. inch thick, leaving one frame and one 

 empty comb on each side of the hive. This will give 

 me an air-space of 1>8 inches broken by an empty 

 comb, which is a non-conductor of heat. I expect to 

 use also a thin honey-board over the top of the hive, 

 and the bees will naturally glue this board to the two 

 division-boards as v.ell as to the hive ends. The hive 

 having been previously glued on the outer boards, this 

 will make practically a dead-air space, as the division- 

 boards fit tight to the bottom-board. On top of this 

 honey-board I expect to place an empty super and fill 

 it with the regulation cushion or mats. This arrange- 

 ment also gives the bees room enough to crawl over 

 the top of the frames, which is impossible in any oth- 

 er arrangement without using sticks of some kind to 

 hold up the enamel cloth. I am somewhat prejudiced 

 against enamel cloth, for the simple reason that the 



