520 



TMm mwmmmi^mm mmn j©^ki«mil. 



.alive, inoculates — as truly as small- 

 pox virus, and the whole body or mass 

 becomes putrid by the putrifying 

 germs attacking all brood adjacent. 



I trust that I have thus made myself 

 understood ; th.it is, I have aimed to 

 explain how it is a fact that foul brood 

 is liable and does occasionally origi- 

 nate in a colony. How do I know 

 .such to be a fact ? Because I have 

 proved the fact by experiment. My 

 limits will not allow me to give it in 

 detail here, but I will do so in a future 

 issue. 



Richford, N. Y. 



LOCATING- HIVES. 



Placing the Hires so tliat the 

 Bees IHark their Location. 



Written for the National Stockman 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



It is supposed by some that when 

 the bees are put from the cellar, each 

 colony must occupy the exact position 

 or stand that it did the summer and 

 fall previous, or else mauj' bees will be 

 lost by going back to their former 

 location. 



All who are at all familiar with the 

 bees, know that the young bee when it 

 comes out of the hive for the first time 

 marks its location bj- turning its head 

 towards the hive upon taking wing, 

 when it commences to fly in front of 

 the hive in circles, each circle growing 

 lai'ger as it goes further from the hive, 

 until it is lost from sight. In this way 

 the exact .spot of "home" is located, 

 after which no more pi'ecaution needs 

 to be taken by the bee, for it seems to 

 remember ever afterward where 

 home is. For this reason it leaves the 

 hive at all subsequent times in a direct 

 line of flight, never looking at the hive 

 at all, so that if the hive is afterward 

 carried to a new location, the bees do 

 not seem to know it (unless carried 

 two or more miles away), but sally 

 forth only to return to the exact spot 

 where they first marked their home, 

 there to die homeless wanderers. 



Now while, as a rule, this is per- 

 fectly true, no matter whether the hive 

 is moved at night or in the day-time, 

 yet I find that there are two exceptions, 

 one of which is in the case of a swarm, 

 and the other is the first flight in the 

 spring. While the bees seem to know 

 where their old location was, so that 

 the swarm, or bees in the spring, can 

 return if they desire to, still a swarm 

 does not so desire except from the loss 

 of the queen, nor do bees in the spring, 

 if put out in the manner about to be 

 described ; hence in putting out, I 

 always place the hive where I wish it 

 to stand, thus avoiding much incon- 

 venience and extra work. 



When I get ready to put the bees 

 from the cellar, I first light the smoker 

 and proceed with it and a spring 

 wheelbarrow to the cellar-door, at 

 which place both are left, when I go 

 in and bring out one of the colonies 

 and place it on the barrow. As soon 

 as this is done I puft' a little smoke in 

 at the entrance of the hive, so as to 

 keep the bees from rSnuing out and 

 stinging me, which they are sure to do 

 if no precaution is taken ; and of all 

 the bees to sting, those which are sud- 

 denly awakened from a long winter 

 nap are the worst. 



Again, all such bees as get out be- 

 fore the hive is placed iipon its stand 

 are lost, as they mark their location 

 where they leave the hive, and so 

 never find it again. Also the smoking 

 causes them to be slo\Ker about coming 

 out, so that swarming out and confu- 

 sion are avoided. As soon as the 

 smoke is puffed into the hive, the cellar 

 door is shut, so as not to raise the tern 

 perature. and thus arouse the bees in- 

 side, when the hive is wheeled to 

 where it is to stand during the summer, 

 the entrance adjusted, and the cover 

 put on. 



In putting out, they are not all taken 

 out at once, but I put out from 10 to 

 15 in the morning, scattering them 

 well over the yard, and then as many 

 more at night, placing these last put 

 out around among those put out in the 

 morning, and thus all mixing is 

 avoided. I begin putting out about 4 

 o'clock in the afternoon, so that the 

 bees can get through flying before sun- 

 set ; and of course it is understood 

 that the bees are only put out on pleas- 

 ant days, with the mercury at 50° or 

 above in the shade. In this way I con- 

 tinue on pleasant days until all are out. 



After putting out it sometimes hap- 

 pens (especiallj' if the weather is verj- 

 warm) that the first put out will com- 

 mence to rob or carry ofl;' the stores of 

 those put out last, which are so busy 

 with their cleansing flight that they do 

 not seem to notice robbers. Robbing 

 is not always confined to such colonies, 

 but all weak colonies, whether win- 

 tered in the cellar or otherwise, are 

 subject to be attacked in the spring, 

 and I know of no one thing in bee- 

 keeping that is more vexatious to the 

 apiarist than i-obbing. 



While to the experienced eye rob- 

 ber-bees are easily distinguished, j-et 

 those just starting out in bee-keeping 

 are often perplexed to know whether 

 their bees are being robbed or not, as 

 young bees at play often resemble rob- 

 bers. I know of but one sure way for 

 inexperienced persons to tell when a 

 colony of bees is being robbed, and 

 that is by killing two or three of the 

 suspected bees and dissecting them, so 

 as to expose" the honej'-sac. If this 



sac is empty there is nothing wrong, 

 but if you find a bee leaving a hive 

 with its sac filled with honey, rest 

 assured that robbing is going on, for 

 bees in a normal condition should be 

 always conveying honey to the hive, 

 not from it. 



To prevent robbing as far as pos- 

 sible, close the entrance to the weakest 

 colonies, so that but one bee can pass 

 at a time, and allow not over two- 

 inches in length of entrance to the 

 strongest. If robbing has actually 

 started, close the entrance so that only 

 one bee can enter the hive at a time, 

 leaving it thus until evening,so as little 

 of the honey will be carried ofl' as pos- 

 sible ; and after all is quiet at night, 

 carry the robbed colony to the cellar, 

 leaving it there for a few dajs, until 

 the bees forget the place, or are en- 

 gaged in getting nectar from the now 

 opening flowers, v\'heu the colony is to 

 be returned to its former location. 

 After trying all plans for the stopping 

 of robbing, I much prefer this to any 

 other. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



CLOVER HONEY. 



The Season and Condition or 

 the Bees in Iowa. 



Written for Vis American Bee Journal 

 BY PRANK COVERDALE. 



We have just passed through the 

 white clover honey harvest, and it has 

 proved to be almost a failure, there 

 being no honey from clover. Bees, as 

 a rule, last fall, were put into winter 

 quarters heavy in stores, and came out 

 of the cellar in good condition, .ind, in 

 fact, those wintered on the summer 

 stands were none behind, even when 

 not protected. Brood-rearing went on 

 finelj' — better progress in this direc- 

 tion could not be wished for. 



Soft maple was first to bloom, and 

 bees gathered a fair amount of pollen 

 from it. Then the variety of willow 

 that grows along the creeks and 

 swampj- places attbrded a goodly 

 amount of pollen. 



Next in rotation was the upland 

 willow — a variety that some years ago 

 was planted in great numbers ; from 

 this source enough lioney was gath- 

 ered to last until fruit-bloom, but the 

 latter yielded scarcely enough to keep 

 the bees in good condition. Dande- 

 lion also afforded verj' little nectar ; 

 raspberry did better, and helped the 

 bees a very little, and when clover 

 came into bloom, rain was the order 

 of every day during the most of its 

 bloom, though tjie clover seemed to be 

 full of nectar whenever the bees could 

 get out. The weather was so warm 



