582 



GLE.VNINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



hive. Hereafter I think I will adhere to my old 

 methods of tiering up. 



I run exclusively for extracted honey ; however, I 

 tried one hive for comb honey this spring, but with 

 •disappointing results. .Just before locust bloom I put 

 a super of sections and bait combs on this colony ; 

 and as they had every available cell in the brood- 

 chamber full of brood and honey I concluded it was 

 in ideal shape to work in the sections. They started 

 to draw out the foundation in good shape, and then 

 promptly swarmed. As the queen was clipped they 

 naturally returned; but a few days later she disap- 

 peared, and now the bees are starting a second batch 

 of tine peanut-sized cells. Such proceedings disgust 

 me with the production of comb honey, and I think 

 this excessive swarming is the chief reason why so 

 many prefer to produce only extracted. As I receive 

 20 cts. per lb. for the latter it would scarcely pay me 

 to bother with comb honey. 



Several months ago I purchased a straw skep, and 

 am having lots of fun with it. I built up a nucleus 

 until it was pretty strong, and then made it swarm, 

 hiving the bees in the skep. They are filling it with 

 comb in great shape, and this old-fashioned hive of 

 by-gone days is a subject of interest to all who visit 

 my home. 



Cincinnati, O., June 4. Albin Platz. 



To Get Rid of Ants 



On page 118 of the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Cul 

 ture you show a method of piling up honey-supers 

 filled with honey to prevent getting sour. How do 

 you manage to keep out the large black ant^ found 

 in the honey-house? As soon as I put a filled super 

 in the honey-house I am sure to get at least five or 

 six large black ants in there; and unless I pile the 

 supers tightly on top of each other, and something 

 almost air-tight (wire screening is no good) on top 

 of that, the ants get in. They then manage to per- 

 forate the comb (only here and there) enough so 

 they leak out, so I can not sell them as perfect ones. 

 "What would you advise? 



Butler, N. J. Mrs. A. Henderson. 



[If you are troubled with ants of any sort the 

 plan mentioned would not work. The first thing to 

 do is to locate the ants' nests wherever they may be. 

 If they tan be found, pour about half a pint of bi- 

 sulphide of carbon into a hole made in the center of 

 each nest with a crowbar. After pouring in the liquid 

 stop the hole up with earth and you will find shortly 

 after that the entire nest, eggs and all, will be de- 

 stroyed. If you are unable to locate the ants' nests 

 you" can still employ the same method described in 

 Gleanings by placing the pile of supers crosswise 

 upon a board or table. The table legs should stand 

 in tin cans of water or grease. For this purpose the 

 table should be low down and large enough to take 

 up several tiers of supers, providing you have very 

 much comb honey to pile up in this way.^ — Ed.] 



Bees Dying Just Before They Hatch 



Gentlemen : — Yours of the 16th is received with the 

 booklet, " Bee Diseases," which I have read careful- 

 ly, but find nothing that corresponds exactly with my 

 trouble, as the bees appear to die when three-fourths 

 developed, as you will see by enclosed, while many 

 that mat/re and cut out of cell apparently perfect, 

 can not fly, are undersized, and weak. There is no 

 odor, nor sign of paralysis. 



Wilkinsburg, Pa. W. D. Keyes. 



[The cage of dead bees has been received. The 

 bees show very clearly that they are undeveloped 

 young bees that have been picked out of cells of 

 combs. It would be our opinion that this brood had 

 been chilled or overheated at some time. A comb 

 that is allowed to stand in the sun for a very short 

 time on a hot day would become so hot that it would 

 kill the brood, or at least a large part of it. In the 

 same way, a cold chilling wind or a frosty atmos- 



phere will destroy brood, resulting in young bees 

 hatching out that are imperfect or dead. One is apt 

 to gather the impression that it is pickled brood, 

 foul brood, or some other brood disease. Brood dead 

 from these diseases does not look like the specimens 

 of dead bees received. In fact, they never attack 

 bees almost ready to hatch. Brood may die in this 

 way that has never been exposed to the sun. Some- 

 times the entrance is closed up temporarily, allowing 

 the colony to become so heated that the brood will be 

 affected. — Ed.] 



A Handy Hive-scraper 



I am sending you a description of a hive-scraper 

 that I have had in use for about 25 years. It is 

 nearly the shape of a letter A, only the top of the 

 scraper is 3 % inches wide, 5 inches each side, and 

 TVz across the bottom. When using the scraper I 

 hold the top edge with one or both hands. This 



jJ/2 m. 



j/jve ^Scraper 



T '/2 in 



scraper is made from a piece of old cfosscut saw. 

 The loug side or bottom is always kept filed off 

 square. This makes a good implement for scraping 

 off propolis and other refuse about the hive. 

 Lakeville, Ind. C. A. BUNCH. 



Learning by Costly Experience 



When I first began beekeeping I knew in a vague 

 way that a queen, drones, and workers compose a 

 swarm, and that the workers gather the honey. That 

 was practically all I did know until I began to read 

 up on the subject of bees. 



I had a colony of bees (in a store box) which I 

 had caught the previous summer, so I transferred 

 them into two home-made hives which I bought. I 

 took out about 75 lbs. of honey. I bought two Ital- 

 ian queens, but lost one in introduction, and the 

 other in the spring through robbing. Those bees were 

 very cross ; but I think now that they had good 

 reason to be so, as a man who has never seen bees 

 handled has to learn a good deal by experience, no 

 matter how much he may have read. 



Well, I bought two more colonies from a farmer, 

 and became accustomed to being stung quite regu- 

 larly by them. I secured a fair amount of honey 

 also. Then when the craze for Caucasians came I 

 got some queens and introduced with very good suc- 

 cess in the early part of the season, but lost two out 

 of three in the fall when I thought I knew all about 

 introducing. Those bees did very well, and I raised 

 a few queens by the nucleus plan, but got most of 

 them mismated, and could distinguish them from the 

 blacks only by handling. I had by this time seen 

 drone-laying queens, and had laying workers. 



About four years ago I bought five colonies cheap 

 from a neighbor, and transferred in the early spring 

 to Danzenbaker frames. I got a fair crop of clover 

 and milkweed honey; but in August I noticed some- 

 thing wrong. The bees were not working well, were 

 greatly reduced in numbers, and there was a decid- 

 edly sour smell on opening a hive. So I began buy- 

 ing Italian queens, destroyed some of the worst 

 combs, and doubled up some weak ones. I lost two 



