1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



mi 



bushels of them. We notice that many farmers 

 use corncobs: but such fuel is not easy to light 

 unless one has ready access to live coals; and 

 -during the summer weather the kitchen stove 

 is not always going. By the way, don't forget 

 that a small spring-top oiler, filled with kero- 

 sene, is one of the handiest things to have about 

 in lighting a smoker. Fill the smoker with 

 fuel; send a few S(iuirts of oil upon it; touch a 

 match, and it is going in a jiffy. 



Perhaps we ought to stale that some use and 

 recommend (among them Mr. Bingham) stove- 

 wood cut up into short lengths; but we never 

 liked this as well as planer shavings or "hand- 

 hole sawdust." for the reason that it does not 

 :glve as dense a smoke. 



THAT DEPARTMENT FOR BEGINNERS. 



Very often what ive consider old and com- 

 mon property, but which we ourselves use 

 with pleasure and profit, i-* sjmething that 

 many an old veteran does not know of. Many 

 a thing contributed for the s-pecial benelit of 

 bee-keepers is used by the veterans. We won- 

 der how many of our readers prize the new 

 •department, " Answers to (Seasonable Ques- 

 tions," by G. M. Doolitlle. While it was pri- 

 marily intended for beginners, it seems to have 

 much of value to the veterans. Well, here is a 

 sample of what one writer thinks of the de- 

 partment: 



I wonder if you have the least idea how much 

 help is got by beginners, like ourselves, in bee-keep- 

 ing, from the " Answer to Seasonable Questions," 

 by G. M. Doolittle. J. H. Seward. 



Fulford, Que., Can. 



We have felt for quite a long time that such a 

 department was needed; and in December last, 

 our mind turned involuntarily toward Doolittle 

 as the right man, because he is such a careful 

 student of nature — one whose book is the bees 

 themselves; that is. he will watch for hours to 

 find out how they do a certain thing instead of 

 guessing at it. or going to some one else who is 

 considered authority. His notes began with 

 the first issue of this year. 



DEAD brood; no MORE BEES OR t^UEENS WILL 



BE SENT FROM THE HOME OF THE 



HONEY-BEES THIS YEAR. 



Reference is made in another column to the 

 fact of our having dead brood in ©iir apiary. 

 As there stated, we do not have any apprehen- 

 sions that it will make us any trouble, because 

 we think it will go off of itself. Inasmuch as 

 we do not know very much about it, its cause 

 or its cure, we stopped sending out queens 

 from our apiary nearly a month ago, all orders 

 being filled with queens received from the 

 South, or from Neighbor H.'s apiary, which so 

 far appears to be en tirelv free from this pecul- 

 iar malady. One colony, in which the dead 

 brood first appeared, seems now to be healthy 

 and all right, and nothing was done but to re- 



move the queen and put another one in her 

 place. The queen from the affected colony 

 was put into a healthy one, to see whether slie 

 would carry the disease with her; but so far 

 \u\r adopted colony seems to be all right, her 

 brood hatching out as healthy and nice as that 

 from the previous queen. Peihaps many would 

 not consider the course we are taking, of not 

 sending out any more queens from our home 

 yard, as at all necessary; but we prefer to err 

 on the safe side, even though it does stop the 

 revenue coming in from our own yard. 



We have been receiving, almost daily, sam- 

 ples of brood, the senders asking whether it 

 was real foul brood or this dead brood spoken 

 of ill the .July l.'ith number of Gleanings, page 

 ■589. Of the two dozen or so samples so far re- 

 ceived, only one was foul brood. This shows 

 that the disease is much more prevalent this 

 year than any year we have known of before. 



Now, our theory as to the cause of this dis- 

 ease is superheating of the brood. We have 

 had in our locality, and, in fact, all over the 

 country, as you all know, extremely hot weath- 

 er.* Those colonies that were well shaded do 

 not seem to be affected; and in an apiary en- 

 tirely in a large orchard, no trace of the trouble 

 appears. Again, we know that the dead-brocd 

 disease is making havoc in hot climates, while 

 in the cooler climates, if it appears at all, it 

 goes off of itself without treatment. And, 

 again, the disease is much more apt to appear 

 in very populous colonies, especially if those 

 colonies have a contracted entrance. 



PAINFUL STINGS. 



For the first time in many years we have suf- 

 fered from the effects of a single bee-sting. We 

 were stung on the tatty portion of the forearm, 

 a bee having crawled up the sleeve. When we 

 felt the sharp pain, of course we smashed her 

 beeship. and thought nothing more about it. 

 But the arm began to ache. In about two 

 hours afterward we investigated and found the 

 sting imbedded in the flesh its full length, and 

 an empty poison-bag. We drew the sting out, 

 and thought, of course, the itching pain would 

 cease. The next day we were lame along the 

 whole right side; and somehow it was conven- 

 ient to lie down two or three hours, a dizzy or 

 heavy feeling taking possession of us, some- 

 thing akin to that after recovering from a sick- 

 headache. Had the sting been withdrawn 

 prorrnMij, possibly none of these effects would 

 have been noticed. We have since discovered 

 that we were stung over a vein; we remember 

 that the pain seemed to be scattered for a few 

 moments over the whole body. If we had been 

 an ordinary greenhorn around the bees, we 

 should not have been surprised; for the fact is, 

 a sting generally has little or no effect beyond 



*The Weather Bureau reports this summer us be- 

 ing far the hottest in many years. 



