AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



665 



numerous for about ten days, after 

 which they become comparatively rare. 

 It is during these ten days that wo 

 ought to spray. 



Mr. Kew, fruit-grower, of Beamsville, 

 thought sufficient evidence had been 

 given to show that the bees would be in- 

 jured by the use of poisonous substances 

 at an improper time. 



Prof. Jas. Fletcher, Dominion Ento- 

 mologist, Ottawa, stated that the pistil 

 of the blossom Is very sensitive, and a 

 very weak solution of Paris green would 

 destroy it, and prevent the formation of 

 fruit. Bees are much more easily killed 

 than other insects. There is no accu- 

 rately recorded experiment as to whether 

 or not bees have been killed by spraying. 

 An experiment has been arranged. lie 

 did not believe the honey is at all af- 

 fected. The poison taken by the bee is 

 in the nectar that comes from the 

 flowers, and before the bee can deposit 

 it, the bee is dead, so that the honey in 

 question is never deposited. Even if the 

 bee did not die before depositing it, this 

 honey is used not for surplus, but for 

 feeding the young. 



The following excellent remarks are 

 from Insect Life for April, 1892, and 

 should be read by all those interested in 

 fruit or bees : "At last fruit-growers 

 and bee-keepers are getting into right 

 relations with each other. The numer- 

 ous discussions which have taken place 

 regarding the value of bees as fertilizers 

 of fruit blossoms, and of those blossoms 

 of plants grown for their seeds, and 

 regarding the alleged damage to fruit 

 by bees, have led to close observation 

 and careful experimentation, the results 

 of which show that the interests of these 

 two classes of producers conflict, but in 

 trifling respects — that, in fact> bee- 

 keepers and fruit-growers are of great 

 help to each other, and even indispensa- 

 ble if each is to obtain the best results 

 in his worlc." The article in full was 

 published on page 634: of last week's 

 Bee Joubnai.. 



Queen Bees may now be seat 

 safely by mail, not only in America, but 

 also to Europe, and even Australia. It 

 is over 30 years, ago since queens were 

 first sent in the mails. 



Electricity as a means of imbed- 

 ding wires into comb-foundation is not 

 only practical, but is also an economical 

 method of doing it. In the last issue of 

 Gleanings Mr. Eoot remarks as follows 

 about his experiments in that line : 



Some two months ago a correspondent 

 of the American Bee Journal stated 

 that he had succeeded in imbedding 

 wires into foundation by means of elec- 

 tricity from a battery. This set us to 

 thinking and experimenting, although 

 we had entertained the same ideas some 

 eight or ten years previously; but on 

 account of the intersecting wires by the 

 old way of wiring, the plan was not 

 feasible. 



But since we arc beginning to use the 

 horizontal plan, no wires intersecting, 

 so that a current can be run from one 

 end of the wire to the other, the matter 

 has assumed a new aspect. Since that 

 time we have been imbedding the wires 

 to a lot of frames by electricity. The 

 form of battery that we now employ is 

 three cells of bichromate of potash, 

 each of a gallon capacity, with the car- 

 bons in the large cell, and the zinc in the 

 usual porous cup. 



After the job is done, the wire lies 

 nicely imbedded in the center of *tho 

 wax ; and, more than all, it is covered 

 with a very thin transparent coating of 

 wax. Sometimes bees are inclined to 

 gnaw around the wires ; but we imagine 

 that, if the wires were covered with a 

 film of wax, the bees would be less in- 

 clined to do so. However, experiment 

 will decide this point. 



At present it looks as if imbedding by 

 means of electricity might not be so very 

 expensive after all, and especially so if 

 we consider the nicety of the work. We 

 imbedded, this morning, the wires of 

 about 50 frames into foundation by 

 electricity, and the work is beautiful. 

 By timing ourselves we found that we 

 could put foundation on wires at the 

 rate of three frames per minute ; so 

 that we think the imbedding could easily 

 be done at the rate of 150 frames per 

 hour. 



One Day, at luncheon, Mamie was 

 very greatly delighted with some honey 

 which had been sent her by a friend 

 who lives in the country and keeps bees. 

 After eating awhile in silence she ex- 

 claimed: "Doesn't Mrs. Lepley teach 

 her bees to make nice honey ?" 



