998 



Dec. 6, 1906 



American Itee Journal 



pound of cure." why not turn some at- 

 in tci the matter of preventing 

 tin's disease? If it is not possible to 

 destroy the underlying causes, would it 

 nol be a wise policy so to breed and 

 protect our bees that they may in time 

 Inn ime immune from it, the same as 

 man] diseases which man and cattle 

 are heir to when under subjection? Pre- 

 ventive measures must be applied before 

 anj disease can be eradicated. 

 Nisbet, Pa. 



Water for Bees— Other Sub- 

 jects 



BY A. J. COOK. 



Every well-informed bee-keeper knows 

 that bees need water. Has he not seen 

 them at the watering-trough or at the 

 brookside, thickly dotting the water's 

 edge as they sip the refreshing liquid? 

 Every wise bee-keeper will see to it 

 that water is in close proximity to his 

 apiary, and will so arrange that the 

 bees may quaff to their fill, with no 

 danger of loss of life. In case there 

 is no natural supply, pans of water 

 with chips placed in them or other pro- 

 vision for their safety, should be near 

 the hives. 



A good friend, commenting upon my 

 articles recently, rather made light of 

 my suggestion that the water was taken 

 for the immediate use of the bees. Of 

 course, I may be wrong, but I firmly 

 believe that I was right. 



Water Quickly Absorbed. 



We have all noticed that we may eat 

 a very full meal, and then drink a 

 full glass of water with no essential 

 disturbance. A very little more solid 

 food or a glass of milk would bring no 

 little uneasiness. This fact is easily ex- 

 plained. The water is almost at "once 

 absorbed from the stomach into the 

 blood while the solid food or milk must 

 first be digested, and then will be ab- 

 sorbed. Osmosis — the technical term for 

 absorption — is always more rapid under 

 pressure. We can see then, that with 

 a full stomach we have just the con- 

 ditions for very rapid absorption. We 

 might reason from this fact of the rapid 

 absorption of water, that it would take 

 place in the case of the bee. 



We have another proof of the ra- 

 pidity of absorption in our own case 

 when we drink at a time of great thirst. 

 Of course, the thirst will not be 

 quenched until the water reaches the 

 blood, and yet. how quickly after we 

 drink the refreshing beverage has the 

 thirst entirrh disappeared. We see the 

 same thing in watering our horses. 

 When thr\ are very thirstv. if we let 

 them drink- i,, their till, they will over- 

 drink, often greatly to their hurt. If, 

 on the other hand, we Hive them a pail 

 ol water and wait only a very few 

 minutes, we find they drink no more; 

 the water had passed to their blood 

 and their thirst was satisfied. 



In case of the bees, we have another 

 reason for believing that this water is 

 used at once. We never find it stored 

 in the hive. True, it may be that the 

 bees carry this to the hive and at once 

 give it to the other bees, but in this 



case I suppose it is used at once by the 

 nurse-bees ami is never stored. Is it 

 not probable, then, that the water is 

 taken just as we take it when we are 

 sure that we ran yet it whenever need- 

 ed, only as the bees need it, and that 

 as in our own case, it is at once ab- 

 sorbed and used? 



It is well known that a goodly pro- 

 portion of the body, even the most solid 

 portion, is water, while in the blood 

 and secretions, the water forms a much 

 greater part. Circulation, of course, de- 

 pends largely upon a good supply of 

 water, but circulation is all important, 

 if the body is to be kept in normal 

 condition. We can understand, then, 

 how water is so necessary a part of our 

 food, and how health, no less than com- 

 fort, demands a sufficiency at all times. 

 We can also understand why thirst is 

 so terribly disturbing, and how the one, 

 famished for want of water, suffers so 

 terribly from the want. This should 

 make us all the more careful that our 

 bees and all our large domestic ani- 

 mals should have an ever-waiting sup- 

 ply of this life-giving aliment. 



Bees and Fruit. 



I am asked if I will give my reasons 

 for thinking that bees never injure 

 sound grapes. Although I have spoken 

 so frequently through the American 

 Bee Journal on this subject, I will 

 briefly recapitulate my reasons for this 

 opinion. 



If we will watch and note that the 

 bees are working in full force on the 

 grapes or other fruit, and then select a 

 cluster of grapes, remove all that are 

 not perfectly sound, and hang the clus- 

 ter where the bees may gain ready ac- 

 cess in it, we will find that they leave 

 the grapes entirely unmolested. If now 

 we prick half of these grapes with a 

 pin or needle, so that the juice exudes, 

 and mark those punctured by tying a 

 thread about the stem, we will find that 

 wdiile the bees will suck the pierced 

 grapes entirely dry. they will leave all 

 the others entirely unmolested. 



We may even make a more crucial 

 test. Shut the bees in the hive, ven- 

 tilating them so they will not suffer, 

 and take all food away from them. 

 When their fasting has reached the dan- 

 ger limit, take a bunch of grapes, all of 

 which are sound, and puncture and 

 mark half of them as before. Now 

 place this cluster in the hive, and we 

 will find that only the punctured grapes 

 will be sucked free of their juice. It 

 is true that if wasp, bird or over-ripe- 

 ness cause the juice to exude ever so 

 little, then the bees will at once come 

 to save the wasting liquid. I have ob- 

 served that when the grapes get very 

 ripe, this escape of juice is not uncom- 

 mon, and it often explains how it is that 

 the bees may come in full force, and 

 seem to attack the grapes without prov- 

 ocation. 



I would not say that bees could not 

 puncture grapes and other fruit. I have 

 seen them cut wood with their strong 

 jaws in a way that makes it seem to me 

 possible that they might, if they only 

 knew, cut into sound fruit ; but it is not 

 their way of doing. They only seek out 

 the nectar when i: is exposed, so that 

 the odor may attract them. I have no 



idea that the bees ever search out -\ 

 except as exposure gives them hint of 

 their presence. 



Improvement of Bees. 



Air. J. H. Reed, of California, gave 

 a very able address the other day before 

 the Claremont Pomological Club. He 

 said that, in Florida, their delicious 

 fruit comes from improvement of seed- 

 lings. As we all know, seedlings are 

 more vigorous than are the other varie- 

 ties. They also bear much better. He 

 suggested that it might be well to try 

 to improve our seedlings rather than 

 to depend entirely upon the improved 

 varieties. 



If this be true, then does it not give 

 the bee-keeper a hint? May it not be 

 better for him to improve the bees we 

 have rather than to send away for im- 

 proved breeds? We all know what Bur- 

 bank has done in improving by selec- 

 tion various of our fruits and vegetables. 

 Will not some future Burbank do as 

 much toward improving our bees and 

 other domestic animals? 



Claremont. Calif. 



T-Supers— Merits and De- 

 merits 



BY J. C. ARMSTRONG. 



The merits and demerits of T-supers 

 are up for discussion yet. Dr. Miller 

 and I had a turn on it, and now F. 

 Greiner comes in to compare the T- 

 super with wide-frame supers, and 

 rules the T-super out. I suppose Dr. 

 Miller knows what Mr. Greiner's wide- 

 frame supers are, and Mr. Greiner 

 knows wind the Doctor's T-supers are, 

 and so they understand each other. But 

 I don't know whether I know what the 

 wide frames are or not: but if they 

 are at all that I think they are, then 



iv. mi from them. It has been so 

 long since I had them that I don't 

 know whether I can describe them or 

 not. 



If I recollect, the frames were tliie 

 width of the sections and the length 

 to hold 4, with standards at the ends 

 (for the want of a better name) the 

 width and height of the section. The 

 sections were set in these and the bees' 

 glued them fast at the bottom and ends. 

 1 never put them on the hives but once, 

 and they have long since gone to kind- 

 ling-wood. If these are not his wide- 

 frame supers, I don't know what he 

 means. 



The way he talks about T - Supers 

 shows that he doesn't know anything 

 about those I use. It is not my in- 

 vention, but was invented by a prac- 

 tical bee-keeper. The very faults he 

 finds in Dr. Miller's, mine are clear of. 

 He first saw the T-super in Virginia, 

 and after 2 years discarded it. I dis- 

 carded my wide frames before the first 

 year was out. He discarded them be- 

 cause of the pollen — it was impossible 

 to remove the sections from them. For 

 the same reason I discarded the wide 

 frame. 



He says a T-super might be con- 

 structed so as to remove difficulties by 

 "keying up the sections on all four 



