THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



193 



very large, the abdomen being greatly distended 

 and filled either with thin foeces or honey. I 

 tasted the latter, but could not detect any 

 strange taste in it. I had no doubt those bees 

 had died in consequence of the use of the 

 honey then recently gathered. This honey, 

 however, seemed not to have lasted long, or 

 was speedily purified by the warmth of the cel- 

 lar, for a week later the bees appeared to be 

 perfectly healthy and quiet. 



From the reported behavior of the diseased 

 bees last fall, I should judge that they had gath- 

 ered some unhealthy honey, and died from the 

 use of it. I am confirmed in this view of the 

 case by an occurrence in the year 1862. For 

 about two weeks, in the month of June, in that 

 year, my bees gathered a large amount of 

 Loney from honey dews, and the hives speedily 

 became very heavy. One day, while examining 

 the amount of brood in a hive that previously 

 swarmed, I discovered a few cells of foulbrood, 

 and became greatly alarmed. I immediately 

 examined every old stock, and finding a few 

 foulbroody cells in each hive, I feared I should 

 loose all of them ; but this was not the case. 

 Basswood trees commenced blooming on the 

 8th of July, and continued about three weeks. 

 The bees gathered a large amount of honey from 

 this source; and on further examination, Iceuld 

 find no more foulbrood. A large number of 

 those stocks are still alive, though I took up 

 some forty of them last fall. I wintered them 

 in the cellar, bottom side up, and they appeared 

 to do very well till they commenced using the 

 honey gathered from honey dew. They 

 then seemed to be affected with the same disease 

 from which my bees had suffered in the fall of 

 of 1861. They flew out continually, with the 

 abdomen greatly enlarged, and died. Out of 

 over sixty colonies, nine died out entirely, and 

 of about twenty the population was so 

 greatly reduced that it took them until June to 

 recover. Young swarms that came out while 

 the basswood was in blossom were not at all 

 affected by the disease, remaining perfectly 

 healthy. I am entirely satisfied that houey col- 

 lected from honey dew was, at least in this in- 

 stance, the cause of all the evil. 



Now, while I think I have discovered the 

 cause of the disease with my bees, I have so 

 far used no remedy. But should they again 

 gather much honey from honey dew, I will 

 drive or transfer every swarm into an empty 

 hive at the time the basswood blossoms come in. 



Can Bees be Poisoned ? 



Some of my German bee books state that it 

 can be done, and they state too hoio it can be 

 done ; but I would aot recommend the how, 

 lest, some mischievous beekeeper should take it 

 in his head to destroy his neighbor's bees, when 

 his own are being robbed. But I know some- 

 thing that, if fed to bees, would make them 

 foulbroody in three weeks' time. Yet I would 

 not for any price communicate how it can be 

 done ; and sincerely hope that others who may 

 know the secret will not disclose it. 



[For the American Bee Journal . ] 



Markings, and a Query. 



A. Grimm. 



Jefferson, "Wis. 



Mr. Editor ; — My bees are flying out to day 

 as in the spring of the year. We have had a 

 warm winter so far, and our bees have not been 

 prevented from flying longer than a week at a 

 time, and rarely more than three days. 



Sometime ago I received from the author 

 '■^Kretchmers' Beekeepers' 1 Guide Book, which, 

 although devoted to the interest of the Cham- 

 pion hive, contains a great deal of valuable in- 

 formation for beekeepers. His description of 

 the Italian bee is the best that I have seen. On 

 page 109, he says : — "The worker bees, if pro- 

 duced by a pure queen fertilized by a pure Ital- 

 ian drone, have the upper half of three abdomi- 

 nal rings of a bright yellow color, the segment 

 joining the abdomen to the thorax being the first. 

 When young, the body is covered with a deli- 

 cate coat of hair, giving the entire body a light 

 appearance ; when older, this hair begins to 

 wear off and the bee attains a glossy black ap- 

 pearance. * * * "When filled with honey, 

 or extremely distended from other causes, some 

 workers occasionally show even a part of their 

 fourth abdominal ring slightly marked." This 

 description exactly suits my Italian bees, the 

 queen of which I purchased from Mr. Lang- 

 stroth last summer, and was assured by him 

 that she is pure and purely fertilized. 



All our bee authors tell us in transferring 

 brood or queen cells from one hive to another, 

 not to expose them too long to the sun or air, 

 for fear they would be killed. But none of 

 them tell us how long it will take to kill eggs or 

 larvae thus exposed. Do you not suppose that 

 in a majority of cases where transferred queen 

 cells are destroyed by the bees, it is because the 

 inmates have already perished from exposure ? 



With an earnest prayer for the success of the 

 Journal, and aDy amount of sunshine for our 

 dear little friends the bees, I am truly yours, 



J. W. Cole. 



Andrew Chapel, Tenn., Jan. 4, 1869. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



King Birds and Bees. 



Mr. Editor : — I saw in the Bee Journal 

 an article relating to king birds. Now, sir, I 

 have seen the king bird catch worker bees, 

 while these were gathering honey from white 

 clover. I have seen them dart down and catch 

 bees when they were on the blossom of the 

 white clover. I also saw them catch bees last 

 spring, before any drones had made their ap- 

 pearance. I shot one, and found worker bees 

 in his gizzard, and I will shoot all the kingbirds 

 that I see around my apiary. 



There is another bird, smaller than the king 

 bird, that destroys a good many bees. 



Whoever does not believe let him go in the 

 vicinity of white clover in blossom, where king 

 birds are found, and he will witness the same 

 facts as I have done. 



R. Miller. 



Rochelle, Ills. 



