84 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



of several persons who came near losing their 

 lives by eating it. The "old gentleman'" re- 

 ferred to by your correspondent is correct in his 

 observations. 



In ray latitude the jasmine commences to 

 bloom in February, and often continues till the 

 last of March; but if there is much rain and 

 wind the blooms drop very soon. The honey- 

 bee does not work on it from choice; for when 

 other bloom is yielding honey at the same time, 

 the jasmine-flowers are seldom visited. Ital- 

 ians work on it more than the blacks; in fact, 

 it is not often you see a black bee on it. Its 

 flowers yield more pollen than honey, and I 

 have found that what honey is secreted by the 

 nectaries is used up in breeding. None is ever 

 stored, except it may be in queenless colonies. 

 Hence the " old gentleman " is correct in observ- 

 ing that jasmine honey is never capped. 



The pol^onous effects of the jasmine are ob- 

 served upon the newly hatched bees after they 

 take their first meal. They act at first as 

 though intoxicated; then their abdomen swells 

 up; they crawl out of the hive, and die. If ttie 

 colony is very strong, and hatching brood rap- 

 idly, a pint of dead young bees can often be 

 found in front of the entrance inside of 34 

 hours. The mortality ceases as soon as the jas- 

 mine bloom is over. It is also a fact, that, if 

 sugar syrup is fed at this time to draw the bees' 

 attention from the bloom, there is no mortality. 

 The same occurs if there is a stress of bad 

 weather to keep the bees at home. The young 

 of black colonies are rarely ever affected in this 

 way by the poison, because the blacks work but 

 little on it. I have observed the workers also 

 to be at times affected, but not to the great ex- 

 tent that the young bees are. 



Augusta, Ga. 



[Dr. Brown has given just the information 

 we called for, and it is the more valuable be- 

 cause it confirms the article on page 24. Dr. B. 

 says the newly hatched bees, after eating of the 

 yellow- jasmine honey, appear at first intoxicat- 

 ed; then their abdomen swells up, and they 

 crawl out at the entrance, and die. These are 

 some of th(! symptoms of bee-paralysis (name- 

 less bee-disease); and while that disease is 

 prevalent in the South, it is ponsibLe, in a. num- 

 ber of cases where bees die thus, that they are 

 supposed to be affected with paralysis, when it 

 is simply caused by jasmine poisoning. Those 

 who are acquainted with the disease, or are sit- 

 uated in localities where no jasmine grows, 

 will not make the mistake. Here is something 

 further on the subject: — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor: — There are millions of jasmine- 

 blooms every spring within a half-mile of my 

 bees; and, as Bro. Arter says, the fragrance of 

 its flower is very delightful; but the bees posi- 

 tively do not work on it in this vicinity, nor is 

 there any poisonous honey in this section. 



We are having hot weather here at this time 



— 60 to 80° in the shade, and my bees are bring- 

 ing in pollen from sunrise till dark. Every col- 

 ony is storing pollen to-day. Is this a sure sign 

 that they all have laying queens ? 

 Cai Greek, Ga., Jan. 10. J. B. Griffin. 



[No, not necessarily.] 



^ I ^ 



RAMBLE 101. 



BEE - PASTURAGE AND GOLD-MINES; LYTLE 

 CREEK CANYON. 



The location of an apiary in the brush, how- 

 ever, as recounted in our last, has its uncer- 

 tainties, and especially so if located within the 

 irrigation district. That good location, with 

 its square miles of sage and other honey-pro- 

 ducing plants, is liable to be sold to the home- 

 seeker, and he is liable any day to find the 

 brush falling before the ax of the recent pur- 

 chaser, and he is ordered to move his apiary. 

 In a majority of cases a bee-keeper would not 

 think of moving the bees to the home place, 

 but seeks some place beyond still in the brush 

 or in the canyon. Perhaps the home place con- 

 tains ten acres of land. It is about all set out 

 to fruits of some kind. His land has cost him 

 at least .?100 per acre, and the addition of his 

 fruit-trees, and the water-taxes, etc., have in- 

 creased the value; then fruit-trees have to 

 receive thorough cultivation and irrigation. 

 The movement of one or two hundred colonies 

 of bees to the home ranch then means the 

 occupation of valuable ground. It further- 

 more means that my ten acres is surrounded by 

 other people owning their ten acres; therefore 

 the bees, when so cross as they are in this cli- 

 mate, especially in the height of the honey- 

 season, are liable to attack any or all of these 

 surrounding neighbors. Then after consider- 

 ing the neighbors and the valuable land, the 

 wider grows the settlement and the further the 

 bees have to fly to find the nectar, until the 

 journey, at length, is too far to be performed 

 profitably. 



Mr. Sealer's apiary was thus located upon 

 what is now wild land belonging to the Land 

 and Water Co.; and, being a little anxious 

 about the future of his honey-pasturage, he 

 desired to explore Lytle Creek Canyon for fields 

 that were new and unoccupied. We therefore 

 set our faces that way. The country seemed 

 quite level, but our pony seemed to think it a 

 little too much up grade for her to make fast 

 time. We cuncluded that she ought to know, 

 so she was allowed to take it at an easy gait. 



As we approached the foot-hills we found the 

 surface of the country to change from the 

 stoneless and rich loam to lands that were al- 

 most covered with boulders, not large but nu- 

 merous. But even here we found government 

 land claimed, and the squatter was industrious- 

 ly piling up the stones and improving the land. 



" Why," said I to Mr. Sealer, "just as though 



