American Bee Journal 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. X. CEDAR RAPIDS, SEPTEMBER, 1874. No. 9. 



4<^m$iion(U}Wf 



Correspondents should write only on one side of 

 the sheet. Their best thoutrhts and practical ideas are 

 ahvajs welcome ; no matter how rough, we will cheer- 

 fully "fix them up." 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Spring Dwindling. 



You may possibly tiiid the following 

 Mortli a place in your pajter : 



Much has been said about the dwindling 

 down of bees this spring. I have observed 

 the same phenomen without finding the 

 solution. I wintered 20 stocks of Italians 

 on summer stands. 3 stocks died in Feb- 

 ruary with sutficient honey. The balance 

 or 26 stocks remained good and lively. I 

 made in May and June 17 new swarms, but 

 the bees would not increase much. Many 

 stocks even seemed to dwindle down in 

 June, when I found one day that a tly of a 

 peculiar long form, caught and sucked my 

 l)ees. Becoming awake to the subject I 

 found many such bee-killers, who were 

 very greedy on the poor bees. No book or 

 journal speoks of them. At last, I found a 

 description of them in Prof. C. V. Riley's 

 Second Annual Missouri Report, page 121; 

 all three species are there described. I found 

 and killed a large number. At first I found 

 watching on grass, Evaux Barbardi and no 

 other. After that disappeared, a similar 

 fly Asileus Seriieus and then as less Mis- 

 souriensis appeared. The latter two I found 

 in large numbers on buckwheat and wild 

 flowers. They abound at this day, although 

 I catch with an insect net as many as pos- 

 sible, often 50 in an hour. I am sure these 

 creatures have killed over 100,000 of my 

 bees, and I am convinced, that there is no 

 other bee enemy to be compared with these 

 flies. The swallow's seem to be fond of 

 them, also other birds. This fly will des- 

 troy a bee in five minutes. They pounce 

 upon them while alighting on grass or 

 flowers, holding them helpless with their 

 long feet, and inserting their short but 

 pointed proboscis into their chest, they droi) 

 witli them to the lower part of the stem of 

 a plant and sucking a little while, let their 



victims fall to catch another. Bee-keepers 

 should be awake, as there is no doubt, but 

 this insect retards the progress of hives more 

 than anything else. The flies are from \ 

 to li inches long, with a long pointed ab- 

 domen, marked with light colored wings. 

 Wings transparent, color from yellow to 

 brown. Feet long, strong and hairy. Pro- 

 boscis (the sucking apparatus) strong, short 

 and pointed. I give tliis rough descrip- 

 tion to enable every bee-keeper to recognize 

 them quick. They fly with a short deep 

 "hum" almost like a bee's hum, only short- 

 er and deeper in tone. 



Bee-keepers should report on this Insect. 



Sigel, 111. Chas. Some. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Some New Thing. 



This has been an unusual summer for 

 swarming. Notwithstanding! commenced 

 early dividing them. When the swarming 

 season came on, they went into swarming 

 in real earnest. At first I accommodated 

 them with new homes, and gave each swarm 

 a frame filled with brood. All went on well 

 but still they continued to swarm. I then 

 came to the conclusion, as the basswood 

 harvest was just approaching, there must 

 be something done to keep them together, 

 or lose our favorite supply of surplus honey ; 

 so I commenced cutting out the queen cells 

 from the parent hives, but almost invaria- 

 bly failed in keeping them together. The 

 following day, out they would come and 

 continued day after day to come out. Fi- 

 nally I concluded to try an experiment some- 

 thing entirely new to me, but perhaps not 

 new to our old experienced bee-keepers. 

 As they refused to accept their old homes, 

 I put them in an emjity hive, setting them a 

 proper distance from their first location, 

 then proceeded to take out the frames with 

 adhering bees; examining closely I removed 

 all the queen cells, adding them to the new 

 swarms, I had no more trouble with them 

 coming out. Instead of putting the new 

 with the old, I put the old with the new, 

 having tried the above experiment on some 

 8 or 10, I consider it a success. 



The early part of the honey season was 

 poor, the white clover proved a failure. Up 



