152 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



that tbey can return to it. With the 

 last named colony I adopted a differ- 

 ent plan from the first, as the robbers 

 had made too much headway. When 

 they have made considerable headway 

 no sheet to cover them or wet hay 

 or grass will successfully stop the 

 robbing. A speedy and successful 

 remedy must be adopted. 1 set the 

 hives of the robbed colony to one side 

 full of robbers filling themselves up 

 with honey. Then I took the robber 

 hive and placed it where the robbed 

 hive set. Then I took the robbed hive 

 and placed it where the robber hive 

 stood, and the job was completed. 

 The robbers as soon as they are filled 

 with honey will pitch off for their 

 home, and finding that they have to 

 return just from where they started 

 they will have to unload themselves 

 into the hive where they got the honey, 

 and all the workers from the hive will 

 come from the field loaded and going 

 to their old stand will enter the robber 

 hive. Things may seem strange, but 

 what will they do ? They will have 

 to take up with things as they are, 

 and now the weak robbed colony will 

 be reinforced to take care of them- 

 selves. Yours truly, 



John Slaubaugh. 

 Eglon, W Va. 



We will send the Bee-Keeper un- 

 til January lS9(i to new subscribers 

 only for 50c. — 15 months. 



HOW BEES SECRETE WAX. 



W. F. Clark is of the opinion that 

 the bees build the cells by using the 

 sting as a trowel. This is surely a 

 mistake, but Mr. Clark seems to be 

 right, if he says, that the formic-acid 

 in the honey has much to do with 

 keeping the honey from fermentation. 

 It is very probable, that the bees ar- 

 bitrarily add this formic-acid before 

 capping the cell. Probably this for- 

 mic-acid is a preventive against foul- 

 brood too. Dr. Moellenhof and some 

 other bee-keepers believe and have 

 observed that the bees give a drop of 

 formic-acid on the surface of the 

 honey and then cap the cell. 



This sting or trowel theory, seems 

 to indicate, that not every American 

 bee-keeper is acquainted with the 

 latest scientific theory in this respect. 



To produce wax, the bees eat honey 

 and pollen and change this food to 

 chyle in the true stomach. This 

 ch}de goes through the walls of the 

 stomach into the abdomen and then it 

 is blood; out of this blood, wax is 

 secreted. But blood is present in the 

 abdomen all the time, while the secre- 

 tion of wax is temporary only. This 

 is because wax is secreted, when the 

 true stomach is quite full of chyle; 

 then the walls are contracted power- 

 fully and a great amount of blood is 

 pressed into the abdomen. 



I said pollen and honey are needed 

 to secrete wax. Wax does not con- 

 tain nitrogen, so it may seem that wax 



