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(iLKANINCiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



in tho ct'lliir. and the abov«' dcsL-ribns as best I 

 can all that could be heard during ten minutes 

 of standing perfectly still before striking a 

 light. Where mice are present in a cellar, 

 their presence is more quickly detected in this 

 way than with a light, for they often make a 

 clattering about the hives, easily heard in the 

 deep darkness and stillness that reign. If you 

 have only a few colonies of bees in your cellar 

 you may be obliged to place the ear near the 

 hives to hear their low hum. and stay an hour 

 to hear a bee tiy out; while if there are 200 col- 

 onies the hum will be louder, and bees fly out 

 oftener. If the bees are in the house-cellar you 

 must get up before the family in the morning, 

 when all is still, in order to test this part of the 

 matter. I next strike a match and light a sper- 

 maceti candle. With such a candle you can 

 get a much more satisfactory result, without 

 annoyance to the bees, than with a lantern or 

 lamp ; and as they can be obtained at any 

 country store. I would advise their use in the 

 bee-cellar. Having the licht, I proceed care- 

 fully along the rows of hives, looking closely 

 for any traces of mice; for. do the best I can, I 

 have more or less trouble with these pests. The 

 presence of mice is detected by finding heads 

 and abdomens of bees, with the thorax gone or 

 eaten up. and by fragments of comb under the 

 hives. If these are found, set a trap for the 

 mice — a common choker trap being as good as 

 any: and for bait! find a squa'^h or pumpkin 

 seed ahead of any thing else. 



Having the mouse question settled, I next 

 190k at the bees at the bottom of the combs. 

 Where wintering well, only rows of abdomens 

 will be seen, the points all standing outward, 

 and nearly or quite motionless. Be careful not 

 to breathe on the bees or hold the light too 

 near, as they are easily aroused in this way. 

 Few sights which I have ever seen give me so 

 much real pleasure as to look on these hundreds 

 of motionless abdomens of bees, especially where 

 they come down evenly between the ranges of 

 combs so as to make them appear like soldiers 

 drawn up in column for battle. I sometimes 

 raise the cover of a few of the hives and look 

 in at the top of the frames; but as this can 

 rarely be done without disturbing the bees, it is 

 better not to do it. 



Lastly, I look at the temperature, and I tind 

 it to-day to be 4.5°, which I consider just right, 

 although, should it fall to 40°, the bees would 

 show little if any difference, except that the 

 murmur heard in the cellar would be louder. 

 If warmer, the rows of abdomens would not be 

 as compact, and they would be easily disturbed 

 by the light. As it approaches spring, the hum 

 of the bees will become louder, and the waste of 

 bees flying out and dying on the cellar-bottom 

 will be greater, even when wintering perfectly. 



BEES ROARING. 



Question. — Upon going into my bee-cellar to- 



day I found one of the colonies roaring, or mak- 

 ing more noise than all of the other forty-odd 

 colonies put together. Indec^d, this colony was 

 roaring as bees do evenings during a heavy 

 honey How. What can.sed this roaring? is it a 

 sign that this colony lias the diarrhea? 



Ansicer. — It may be well to keep watch of 

 this colony a little; yet I suspect that, the next 

 time you go into the cellar, you will find this 

 colony as quiet as any; for. without more light 

 on the subject, I should say that this colony 

 was in the act of taking honey into the cluster. 

 Where bees are wintered out of doors they gen- 

 erally " break cluster" with every warm spell 

 which comes, and go over to the outside combs 

 of sealed honey, uncap the same, and carry 

 what they think they will need during the next 

 cold spell over into the center of the combs they 

 cluster upon. This, in a measure, insures their 

 safety from starvation should the cold hold out 

 longer than the seaUid stores immediately 

 above last, as they have this much in addition. 

 In thus carrying honey, the whole colony is 

 aroused, and a merry hum given off, the same 

 as with colonies when being fed in the fall; for, 

 so far as I have observed, bees never move 

 honey from flowers, feeders, or the combs but 

 that this hum of happiness is heard. Now and 

 then a colony will carry honey into the cluster 

 while in the cellar, doing this as often as the 

 unsealed honey is consumed, which will cause 

 the " roaring" spoken of; but the majority cf 

 colonies seem to think this unnecessary. If I 

 am right in the above, and I think I am, the 

 roaring would be no sign of diarrhea. 



BEE-MOTH I>ARV.« KILLED BY FROST. 



Question. — I have a lot of combs which I have 

 taken from the bees this fall, and I should like 

 to insure their preservation from tiie bee-moth 

 for a year or more. Will frost destroy the eggs 

 and larvte? If so, what temperature will it 

 take to do it? 



Ansuwr. — Opinions differ about this, some 

 asserting that a temperature of 2")° above zero 

 will destroy the eggs and larv;e of the bee-moth, 

 while others think that a zero temperature will 

 not Kill the larvte, but may di-stroy the vitality 

 in the eggs. I once saw what I supposed to b(^ 

 a bee- moth larva crawling on the floor of my 

 shop where I was warming some combs that 

 had bei-n exposed to a zero temperature, in or- 

 der that I might straighten them, as I have 

 given in an article on how to straighten combs. 

 I would have taken my oath, after a careful 

 examination, that said larva was my old ac- 

 quaintance, seen in the hives in summer; but 

 wishing to be sure, I sent it to Prof. Cook. He 

 replied that it was the larva of the codling 

 moth. From this I am inclined to think that, 

 those claiming that a zero temperature will not 

 kill the bee-moth larv;v are mistaken, as I have 

 never known my combs to be troubled after- 

 ward when exposed to a zero temperature. 



