182 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



more pollen than honey ; and what nec- 

 tar is gathered is used up in breeding, 

 so it is seldom that any is stored. Still, 

 we have many cases on record where it 

 had been stored, and, when eaten, 

 caused all the symptoms of gelsemiura 

 poisoning. 



It is very easily told when bees are 

 working on gelsemium. The flower, 

 being trumpet-shaped, they have to 

 crawl in to get access to the pollen and 

 nectar; and in turning around, their 

 whole body becomes coated with the 

 bright-yellow grains of pollen. 



Whether the product of the jasmine- 

 blossoms has any poisonous effect upon 

 the bee is a question that has been dis- 

 cussed to a limited extent, pro and con. 

 Those who took the negative side of the 

 question were mostly persons who knew 

 very little about the plant. To arrive 

 at correct conclusions in a matter of this 

 kind requires a long-extended observa- 

 tion, assisted by many demonstrative ex- 

 periments. I have been conducting ob- 

 servations for the last 25 years, to de- 

 termine this question, and I am satis- 

 fied that bees are susceptible to the 

 poisonous product contained in the 

 gelsemium bloom. At first they seem 

 to be taken with a sort of shaking, or 

 convulsion ; the abdomen swells ; they 

 tremble, and either crawl or are carried 

 out of the hive. If the colony is strong, 

 half a pint to a pint of dead bees can be 

 found in front of the entrance every 24 

 hours. Your black colonies will show 

 very few. The trouble will be kept up 

 during the duration of the bloom, and 

 cease as soon as the flowering is past. 

 The aftiiction (if I may so term it) is 

 less perceptible during a stress of bad 

 weather. It can also be controlled by 

 feeding or by drawing the attention of 

 the bees from the bloom. 



As formerly stated, as quoted from the 

 highest medical authorities, the poison- 

 ous effects of gelsemium are more per- 

 ceptible on the nervous ganglia than 

 upon the cerebrum. This, no doubt, 

 explains the susceptibility of the bee to 

 the action of this poison, as the nervous 

 system of the bee consists in a great 

 measure of a series of nerve ganglia. 

 Augusta, Ga. 



-^■•■m 



One-Cent PoHtag:e Stamps: we 



prefer whenever it is necessary to send 

 stamps for fractions of a dollar. By re- 

 membering this, you will greatly oblige us. 



FeeMng Bees Mle tlie Hiye. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



^^ "The Bee Journal is just what 

 every bee-keeper ought to have." — Prank 

 Gruner, of Wisconsin, July 27, 1894. 



I had two colonies of bees last spring 

 which I desired to have swarm early and 

 often (just as some persons are told to 

 vote), and for that purpose I commenced 

 stimulative feeding about the middle of 

 May. I did not like to feed at the en- 

 trance, and I thought it would be a good 

 deal of trouble to feed in the hive. I 

 had seen no method described to feed 

 above the bees and at the same time con- 

 fine the heat. To do this, I took a piece 

 of two-inch plank, six inches wide, and 

 long enough to fit loosely in an empty 

 super when placed across the frames of 

 the hive. With an axe I cut out one 

 side of the plank, so as to make a trough 

 that would hold nearly a pint, then I 

 nailed strips across each end of the 

 trough, so as to make a bee-space be- 

 tween it and the frames, and then made 

 a bridge a trifle wider than the trough, 

 with end pieces just wide enough to give 

 a bee-space between the trough and the 

 bridge. 



The trough I placed in a super across 

 the front end of the hive, leaving space 

 for the bees to enter between it and the 

 end of the super. I then put on the 

 bridge close up to the end of the super, 

 and placed a partly-filled chaff cushion 

 over the frames behind it. The unfilled 

 end of the cushion was laid over the 

 bridge. When I wanted to feed, I turned 

 back this unfilled end, raised the bridge 

 up against the end of the super, and 

 poured in the feed from a gallon meas- 

 ure. I never lost a bee by drowning. If 

 any bees were in the trough a puff or 

 two of smoke hustled them out. 



There are probably better methods of 

 stimulative feeding, but none other oc- 

 curred to mo when I wanted to feed, 

 and this answered its purpose very well. 

 I fed at intervals of three or four days 

 until it was time for the honey-flow to 

 begin, but when that time came, there 

 was no honey-flow, and so I had my 

 labor for my pains, so far as increase Is 

 concerned. 



There has been a little honey coming 

 in since about the 20th of June, and 

 the colonies thus treated will give me all 

 the surplus I shall get this season. The 

 hives were overflowing with bees early 

 in June, but seeing that I was to get no 

 swarms, I put on sections about the 

 20th, and these two colonies have just 

 about filled a 24:-pound case each. One 

 other colony of Italians treated similarly 



