1894 



(xI.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



"31 



young there. But on frames of brood there are 

 always many. If I am in error I wish to be 

 converted to the right side. We are all easily 

 led into error— at least I am. 

 Hallowell, Me., Aug. 24. E. P. Churchill. 



[I refer this question to Mr. Doolittle, who 

 is one of those who hold that the field-bees 

 transfer their loads of nectar to the young bees. 

 -Eu.] 



StICCESS WITH THE WILLIE ATCHI-EY CELL- 

 CUPS. 



In Gleanings, April l.i, p. 330, G. M. Doo- 

 little wonders how many have made a success 

 of Willie Atchley's plan of raising queens. I 

 have made a success of it, but I tried a good 

 many times before I did so; and, like Mr. Doo- 

 little, I had them rolled to the entrance. I was 

 pretty near giving up in despair. I think that 

 making the cell-cup stick just right has a good 

 bit to do with it. 1 made mine by Willie Atch- 

 ley's directions, but I made the worker-cell a 

 trifle larger; but if any one goes by his stick he 

 will not be far out. I find that, the older I get 

 the comb, the better the little cups will lift out. 

 I tried combs that were not very old; but they 

 stick too tight, and tear. I have raised a few 

 tine-looking queens by this plan, and hope to 

 raise more next summer. 



I should like to ask Mr. Doolittle this ques- 

 tion: Can a five-banded queen be bred, or a 

 queen whose bees are five-banded, from pure 

 Italian queens? F. Low. 



McLaren Vale, South Australia. June 33. 



A GOOD AVORD FOR THE PELIIAM MILL. 



Referring to the suggestion of R. C. Aikin, 

 July IT), to obviate the inconvenience caused by 

 the end of the sheet adhering to the dies of the 

 roller in making foundation, I would say the 

 Pelham mill "gets over" the whole difficulty 

 by means of a very ingenious and highly satis- 

 factory device; and while the mill is sold at a 

 low price, a thorough test of hundreds of pounds 

 of Pelham foundation has given the utmost 

 satisfaction — the only precaution necessary 

 being to wire full sheets to prevent sagging. 

 This, however, is imperative, owing to the 

 unique construction of the septum. 



Titusville, Pa., July 30. H. E. Hill. 



DEAD BROOD ; ITS CAUSE AND CURE. 



I have had several cases of the new brood 

 disease, which at first I decided was foul brood. 

 For some cause one colony that was affected 

 superseded its queen, and I found every thing 

 cleaned up in nice shape before the young 

 queen commenced to lay. I then made the 

 Other affected colonies queenless, and returned 

 the queens as soon as the bees had cleaned up 

 nicely, which they did in every case. 



NATURAL-COMi; BUILDING. 



I tried having the bees build combs in wired 

 frames with inch starters, and had very good 



success. I think that, where we want to give 

 only starters, the wires will prevent combs 

 from being bulged. I have had very nice combs 

 built that way. J. Lawrence. 



Dallas, Tex.. Aug. 35. 



[Removing the queens in the case of dead 

 brood may or may not effect a cure. In a large 

 number of cases the disease, if such it be, went 

 off of itself without any thing being done. 

 Again, we have tried taking (|ueens from colo- 

 nies having a few cells of dead brood, and the 

 disease not only went away from the affected 

 colony, but the one to which the queen was 

 given remained healthy. Prof. Cook thinks 

 feeding cures; but if he had done absolutely 

 nothing, I believe the disease would have dis- 

 appeared itself .just the same. So far I in- 

 cline to the opinion more than ever, that over- 

 heating is the cause.— Ed.] 



STINGINESS BEES IN COSTA RICA. 



I beg to add the following statement to the 

 remarks of Mr. Chas. Norman, in Gleanings, 

 p. .511. on stingless bees: 



In Costa Rica there are about five known 

 kinds of stingless bees; but only two of them 

 are valued for their honey, and are kept for 

 that purpose in rough logs hung down along- 

 side the verandas. One sort, called "jicote" 

 (heco-tay), is a handsome bee, nearly of the 

 size of a German bee. Its color is a brilliant 

 black, with five very narrow golden bands, 

 which, to be discovered, need close attention; 

 hence its general appearance, which at first 

 seems to be a brownish yellow, as compared 

 with the bee of Yucatan, which probably is 

 nothing but the same jicote, common all over 

 Central America. The jicotes build circular 

 combs, with small hexagonal cells for the 

 brood, and large pockets of a blackish wax for 

 the honey, which is taken off once every year. 

 I always keep some logs with jicotes in the 

 midst of my apiary of Italians; but all my 

 trials to get them to work in a more civilized 

 fashion in my Dovetailed hives proved useless; 

 neither have I much hope that some day, hy- 

 brids may result, as the queen of the jicotes is 

 very distinct from her majesties of other races, 

 her abdomen being a large snow-white ball, 

 full of eggs. 



The other sort of stingless bees, called " mari- 

 aseca." is rather scarce, but celebrated here for 

 its delicious honey, although to my taste it 

 rather resembles Italian honey mixed with 

 some syrup and plenty of water. The mariase- 

 ca bee is exeeedingly small — scarcely larger 

 than the head of an Italian drone, and it is 

 leather-colored. Although in appearance the 

 maria^eca seems to be very distinct from the 

 jicote, its way of building brood-combs and 

 honey-bags is nearly identical, except that the 

 wax is leather-colored, and that every thing 

 has much smaller proportions. 



Richard Pfau. 



San Jose. Costa Rica, C. A. 



[I am glad to get this, because it is evident 

 friend P. knows whereof he is writing.— Ed.] 



