134 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[July. 



dipped fruit was in a like condition, 

 quite sound, but every vestige of the 

 honey had disappeared; the punctured 

 fruit was badly mutilated and worth- 

 less, whilst beneath each pucture was 

 a cavity, and in many instances de- 

 cay had set in. The experiment was 

 continued the second week; the un- 

 dipped sound fruit was left in the 

 brood chamber, the dipped fruit was 

 given a new coat of honey and re- 

 placed in the super, and a fresh supply 

 of punctured fruit was substituted for 

 that which had been destroyed. At 

 the end of the second week both the 

 undipped and the dipped specimens 

 of fruit that were sound at the end 

 of the first week as well as the punc- 

 tured specimens, were considerably 

 decayed, and where there were open- 

 ings in the skin, showed signs of hav- 

 ing been worked on, though to no 

 great extent. The experiments were 

 continued for a third week, at the end 

 of which the bees in the two hives 

 which had been deprived of all their 

 honey, appeared to be very sluggish, 

 and there were many dead bees about 

 the liives. The weather being cool 

 and damp was very much against 

 these colonies; they had lived for the 

 first three weeks on the punctured 

 fruit and on the honey of the fruit 

 which had been dipped, as there was 

 at that season few plants in flower 

 from which they could gather nectar. 

 These bees had, therefore, died of 

 starvation, notwithstanding their 

 proximity to the ripe, juicy fruit. 

 This supply of fruit, which they were 

 urgently in need of, was only sepa- 

 rated from them by the thin skin of 

 the fruit, which, however, this evi- 

 dence seems to prove they could not 

 puncture, as they did not do so. 

 With fruit exposed in the open-air, 

 and on the shelves in a workshop, the 

 experiments amounted to the same — 

 that the fruit dipped in honey was 

 cleaned, and the punctured fruit work- 

 ed into, but the sound fruit remained 

 untouched. 



Thus the character of the bee has 

 been established, and my idea in giv- 

 ing such lengthy notice to these ex- 

 periments is to deter people from 

 placing bee-traps in their fruit trees, 

 as, it is a well known fact that a bee 

 will venture nearly anywhere for hon- 

 ey,. and thousands of them get trapped 



in consequence; whereas, if a mixture 

 of beer and treacle is used the bees 

 are not so venturesome as the wasps, 

 and the latter fruit wreckers find their 

 depredations stopped. 



TAKING OFF SUPERS. 



When the drought puts an effectual 

 end to the honey flow, and if it con- 

 tinues it is best to take ofif supers and 

 consider the honey making season 

 over. But should rain fall soon there 

 may be a recurrence of honey-yielding 

 flowers, and an appreciable quantity 

 will be brought in and stored by the 

 bees. To clear the supers the best 

 way is to utilize the bee escape that 

 I have advised for so many seasons. 

 But this means trouble to many peo- 

 ple, and a rough and ready method 

 will be found as follows: Use the 

 smoker and frighten the bees at the 

 entrance; don't over-smoke the hives 

 as this renders the bees irritable. 

 Most people have a front room that 

 they do not always use. Lower the 

 top sash a few inches, keeping the 

 bottom one of the window closed. 

 Then at late evening take ofif the su- 

 pers and put them in this room, and 

 close the door. As soon as the bees 

 begin to work in the morning they 

 will make for the light, and swarm to 

 the window, and constantly moving 

 upwards soon efifect their escape. But 

 the window must not be kept open 

 until breakfast time, else the bees 

 from the 'hives will find the honey, 

 and there will soon be an influx of 

 visitors instead of a departure of 

 guests. When the window is closed 

 a few struggling bees will be sure to 

 come from the supers. But the win- 

 dow can be opened as described for 

 a few moments, and a quill feather 

 deftly handled wil 1 accelerate the 

 speed of the slow-movers, who once 

 outside will speedily find their way 

 home. 



Don't leave any broken combs or 

 dropped honey about the apiary, as 

 nothing is so conducive to robbing as 

 this. 



Tf there is any unsealed honey and 

 it has to go through the extractor, be 

 sure and see that it is properly rip- 

 ened afterwards else it is liable to 

 ferment, and thus become spoiled. 



Calgary, Alta., Canada. 



