406 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Junes, 1905 



among the old-style bee-keepers to close up the hives with 

 cow-dung in the fall, leaving for air only three or four hollow 

 hemp-stalks. The bees then remain cloistered four or five 

 months. But when a warm day comes they are restless, and 

 it is to avoid this restlessness, by excluding light, that the 

 authors have devised the method"in question. Evidently the 

 temperature of those regions differs from that of our climate, 

 for in the United States we would expect a large loss of bees 

 confined out-of-doors, even with air and darkness during the 

 warm days of winter. The writer quotes Preuss, a German, 

 ■who closes his hives within a portico with wire-cloth, when 

 he wishes the bees to be confined, and he criticises this method 

 because of the heavy loss of bees that worry themselves to 

 death in trying to get out when the weather is suitable. 



The Gouttefangeas method is described ai length in the 

 book. It is evidently good in some instances, and would per- 



The Cloistering Hive with Two Air-Tubes. A Dadant-Blatt Hive. 



The Alighting Board is hinged to close the 



Portico when wanted. 



haps prove quite profitable here in backward springs to pre- 

 vent spring dwindling when the bees go out, in spite of the 

 cold, after pollen or water. In connection with this, they 

 recommend a watering-trough to be used with the hive at the 

 time when the bees need water for breeding. 



They advise the use of this implement mainly during win- 

 ter to prevent the bees from flying out when there is snow on 

 the ground. It may do very well in a country where the cold 

 of winter is not very severe and does not compel the bees to 

 consume much stores, and where the warm days are not suf- 

 ficiently warm to make it advisable for the bees to be allowed 

 out. But in our extremely cold climate, with an occasional 

 day when the sun shines warm enough to disturb the bees 

 through the walls of their hive, we have always found it bet- 

 ter to allow them to take a flight, even at the risk of losing 

 many bees outside, than to keep the colony confined to the 

 hive in the dark. 



They use this cloister in the fall, when the bees go out 

 without purpose, or only to seek for flowers which can not be 

 found. They hold, with some reason, that a colony often be- 

 comes depopulated by numerous late flights in cool, fall days. 

 They even close the hives in summer when there is nothing" in 

 the field. But their summer is not like ours, for the hottest 

 temperature upon which they reckon is 77 degrees, and they 

 even hesitate as to the advisability of closing the hives wheii 

 the temperature exceeds 18 degrees Centigrade, which is 

 equivalent to 66 Fahrenheit. There are many winter days in 

 this latitude when the temperature rises above that point. 



They use the cloister method when a hive is robbed, or 

 when they want to feed the bees, especially weak colonies. 

 They also recommend it in making artificial swarms by the 

 addition of bees to combs of brood for strengthening colonies, 

 for making nuclei, for transporting colonies and holding them 

 a few days captive that they may the better remember their 

 new location and forget the old one, when released. 



On the whole, the book has many good ideas, and is to be 

 considered as the exponent of a system which would be prac- 

 tical at high altitudes or in very cool climates when the heat of 



the sun is never so intense that it may make the bees un- 

 comfortable in confinement. Of course, the closing in of 

 these active insects is contrary to their nature, but this is 

 only another instance of the change of conditions brought 

 about by man. If it proves necessary to put the bees into the 

 cellar, or to confine them, we need not be held back by any- 

 thing but the actual results after trial. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



# 



Mortality Among Bees— Tree-Planting 



By TEOF. A. J. COOK 



MR. G. F. MERRIAM, of San Diego Co., Calif., sends me a 

 letter from J. M. March, wherein is described an appar- 

 ently new bee disease. Both Mr. Merriam and Mr. 

 March are very much interested in the matter, and desire my 

 opinion regarding the cause of this rapid taking off of the bees. 

 The mortality was in February, and seemed to be among the 

 old bees. These would die in the hive, would tumble over just 

 outside, and often would fly to the field never to return. The 

 result was the loss of many colonies. Mr. March inclines to 

 the opinion that this is caused by collecting poisonous nectar, 

 and Mr. Merriam wishes my opinion regarding this explana- 

 tion. 



I very much doubt If bees ever gather poisonous nectar 

 from the flowers. True, I remember the old account of 

 Herodotus and the soldier, and I am aware of the reputation 

 of jasmine and some other honey even in modern times. Is it 

 not true that these accounts of poisonous honey, like witch- 

 craft and ghosts, grow beautifully less as we know more ? I 

 have studied the matter a good deal, and I greatly question if 

 there is any such thing as poisonous honey gathered from 

 flowers. I have so often given the arguments in the American 

 Bee Journal that I will not repeat them here. Suffice it to 

 say that if poisonous honey were gathered it woulo be more 

 common, and more a matter of observation. As honey often 

 makes people sick, it is easy to explain the origin of such 

 stories witout recourse to any theory of poison. 



I should the rather think that poison had been sprayed on 

 trees when in blossom, an inexcusable and itdefensible trick 

 in this day of better knowledge, except that at so early a date 

 (February) we can hardly see why such spraying would be 

 done, except with malicious intent, which is not at all sup- 

 posable in this case. I am sure of cases where spraying fruit- 

 trees with Paris-green while in blossom has not only brought 

 on great mortality among the mature or imago bees, but has 

 also resulted in great mortality among the brood or larv;c. 



There is still another explanation which I think is the 

 correct one in regard to Mr. March's bees. Last year was 

 one of exceeding drouth in Southern California. As a result 

 the bees gathered little and often no honey at all in many 

 localities. Where Mr. Merriam lives, in San Diego County, is 

 one of the driest in this section. It is easy to believe that last 

 season Mr. March's bees went the season through without 

 gathering any honey at all. We all know what occurs in the 

 hiVe when bees get no honey for long periods of time. The 

 queen ceases laying and brood-rearing ceases. Thus it is easy 

 to believe that there were no young bees produced in these 

 hives in all the long months of 1904. Yet the old bees would 

 go right on dying, as bees live not over long, even at the best. 

 We thus understand how it would be that these bees should 

 disappear simply by natural law. They simply die of old age. 



In case my explanation is the correct one, the remedy is 

 not far to seek. Stimulative feeding a', times of honey-dearth 

 would not only give sufficient supplies to the bees, which they 

 are quite likely to need at such times, but will also incite to 

 brood-rearing, and thus this mortality would be avoided. 

 What makes me more inclined to believe that this explanation 

 is the correct one, is the fact that with the rains, the bloom, 

 the nectar, and the honey of this spring, the mortality has 

 ceased, and the bees, which a short time back were rapidly 

 disappearing, are now decidedly on the upgrade, and the colo- 

 nies promise rich returns for the coming season. 



THE AC.VCIAS. 



Among the many rich treasures that California has re- 

 ceived from Australia and the contiguous islands, are the 

 beautiful acacias. These are now (April 24) in full bloom on 

 our college campus and in the private yards of our beautiful 

 village. As I have collected sprigs for purposes of identifica- 

 tion, I have been interested in the loud hum of countless bees 

 visiting the trees not only for nectar but for pollen. While 

 the bees very likely get some nectar from the flowers them- 

 selves, which surely furnish great quantities of pollen, I 

 think they get far more from extra-floral glands. Would any 



