181)4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



589 



some increase, intending to establisli ati oiii- 

 yard next season, for he now lias 170 colonies in 

 ilie one location. As to the bees fighting, lie 

 has no trouble, for they are pure Italians. He 

 niiglit in rare cases if they were hybrids. 



TIIK HOXEY-FLOW FOR 1894. 



TiiK honey-tlow, so far as reported, seems to 

 1)0 \vi lely diHerent in vai'ious localities. So 

 far in Ohio— at least in onr vicinity — we have 

 had a good (low from basswood. Certain parts 

 of Yorl< State and Pennsylvania report the 

 same. As tiie letters are coming in day by day, 

 about half report this as being tlie poorest of 

 tlie poor seasons so far. The other half — espe- 

 cially those in the basswood regions— an^ .iul)i- 

 lant over their line crops of honey. In a few 

 days we expect to send out statistical blanks to 

 get more accurate information. It is a little 

 too early yet to judge accurately of the season. 

 But we know enough already to feel assured 

 that a very large number of bee-keepers will 

 get no surplus. 



THOSE FIVE-BANDKD BEES, AGAIN. 



We have been making some tours among 

 apiaries a few miles from the Home of the 

 Honey-bees, for the special purpose of learning 

 in regard to the qualities of the so-called five- 

 banded bees. So far as observed, we have 

 found them to be excellent honey-gatherers, 

 though we can not say that we consider them 

 uny better than the ordinary three-banded 

 bees. They are certainly more nervous — at 

 least, the average run of them — and the bees of 

 some colonies of them will shoot like darts at 

 the apiarist on the slighest provocation. In- 

 deed, they remind us very much of our old 

 Cyprians. But it is fair to say that there are 

 some of these five -banded bees that appear to 

 be as gentle as any, and equal to the very best, 

 in working qualities. We hope the breeders of 

 these bees will he careful to eliminate, so far as 

 possible, their tendency toward viciousness, 

 and preserve their good working qualities. To 

 sum up„the tive-banded bees are beautiful, are 

 excellent workers, are crosser than the average 

 Italians, and not as hardy for our northern 

 winters. This estimate is made upon the yel- 

 low-banded bees reared by different queen- 

 breeders, and is as fair as we know how to 

 make it. As Neighbor H. says, he can rear one 

 kind of bees as well as another. So can we; 

 and therefore, from a pecuniary point of view, 

 we are not biased in our judgment. 



THAT peculiar DEAD BROOD; NOT FOUI, 

 BROOD. 



About this time of year we generally receive 

 samples of brood of what purports to be foul 

 brood. In fact, it resembles it in general char- 

 acteristics, lacking two important symptoms: 

 namely, ropiness and glue-pot odor. It seems 

 to occur during warm weather; but usually, if 



let alone, it will disappear of itself. Two or 

 three years ago we had a couple of cases of it 

 in our yard; and it will also be rememijered 

 that we repoi'ied. at the lime, the same malady 

 in one of thi; apiaries of our neighbors. Hut it 

 all disappnariid, causing no trouble. It has re- 

 appeared this summer in one of our out-yards, 

 and also in one of Neighbor H.'s. But we feel 

 very certain that it will go off of itself. Per- 

 haps some of you may have discovered the 

 same thing. The appedrdtice of this dead 

 brood is identical to that of foul-brood— cells 

 sunken, larvie dead and shriveled up, varying 

 in color from dark brown to a black; but if you 

 discover no ropiness in tlie dead mattur, or no 

 odoi-, you may have no fears. As yet we do not 

 know the cause of this peculiar disease. The 

 fact that it comes during hot weather, in the' 

 midst of a heavy honey -How, may put us on the 

 track of the cause;. 



those 4000 BASSWOODS BLOOMING, ETC. 



Bassa'ooi) seems to be still holding out — at 

 least, it is taking another spurt. In some re- 

 cent trips south we found the trees were still 

 ill bloom, and the bees were humming upon 

 them in great swarms. The bee- business is 

 one that is rather uncertain nowadays when 

 the sole dependence is on white clover. The 

 latter is scarce everywhere this year ; and but 

 for the basswoods there would be but very lit- 

 tle white honey to report, we fear. Of course, 

 alsike has done nobly; but the patches of it are 

 so limited in extent over the country, that, 

 while individual apiarists secure quite large 

 crops from it, all the alsike honey put together 

 is only as a drop in the bucket in comparison 

 with other white honey. 



Later.— Hince writing the foregoing, the bees 

 are roaring on the bass woods heavier than 

 ever. Indeed, in going to and fro in such great 

 droves, they caused some of our employes to re- 

 port swarming. 



This morning, at .i o'clock, we took a run 

 down to the' basswood orchard, and there we 

 found the same kind of roar, but the bees did 

 not have lo go so far to get the honey. Exam- 

 ination showed that the nectar was glistening 

 in tiny drops in many of the blossom?, and the 

 bees were so wild with excitement that they 

 apparently did not stop to clean the blossoms 

 up dry, but simply liunted for big drops, and 

 let the rest go. But what astonislied us more 

 than any thing else was, that on the south 

 side, or on the side toward the home yard, not 

 a single bee was either going or coming, indi- 

 cating that the bees from the last-mentioned 

 place got their honey from a nearer source. It 

 would appear, then, that the home-yard bees 

 seldom or never get any honey from the bass- 

 wood orchard, although not more than 1% 

 miles from the home yard, in a bee-line; hence 

 the wisdom of establishing a yard in the or- 

 chard itself. 



