April 25, 1907 



American Hae Journal I 



3j5 



ease can be quickly banished fruni any 

 apiary, by Ihe well-known method, so 

 long and successfully employed in 

 Canada and many of the States. This 

 is to change the bees from the old hive 

 into new, clean hives with no honey, 

 and to be sure that the honey tliat they 

 carry from the old hive is all cnnsumed 

 before they have place to store it. There 

 are two cautions that must ever be ob- 

 served in all such work. If we shake 

 the bees we must never scatter any 

 honey, as it may carry the disease to 

 other bees that sip up this sweet from 

 ground or grass. We must also be 

 equally cautious that no robber-bees 

 gain access to the hive of the diseased 

 bees, as the honey that they pilfer and 

 carry off will very likely carry the dis- 

 ease-germs and so spread the disease. 

 It is probably in these two ways that 

 bees become attacked. By use of the 

 bee-tent and a good sheet of canvas 

 we may steer clear of spreading the 

 mischief in manipulating bees that have 

 the disease. Of course it is always best 

 to work with the bees when they are 

 actively engaged in gathering. At such 

 times they are not likely to rob, and 

 they are less likely to get any honey 

 that, perchance, may be scattered about 

 the bee-yard. 



Pear-Blight. 



I have before called attention to the 

 fact that this disease is doing great 

 harm in some parts of our State. As 

 the pear industry was very remunerative 

 in some sections, and as the fruit was 

 very superior, and was produced in great 

 quantities, this evil is very disturbing. 

 The disease has, as I am "told, entirely 

 wiped out pear-culture in the rich 

 County of Fresno. It has now threat- 

 ened the same disaster in Tulare, Sac- 

 ramento and Yolo Counties, and in many 

 other sections of the more northern 

 parts of the State. It is found that it 

 does not need the bees, as it spreads 

 where bees are rare as well as where 

 they are numerous. I have called at- 

 tention before to the fact that very few 

 insects were sufficient to carry this dis- 

 ease, or to inoculate the trees, and so it 

 would spread perhaps as fast were there 

 no bees at all in the orchard. This 

 statement is sustained, if I am rightly 

 mfornied, by the actual experience of 

 the pear-growers in the State. 



The remedy that is found most ef- 

 fective so far is to practice very se- 

 vere pruning with sterilized knives, cut- 

 ting away every twig or branch as soon 

 as any sign of the blight is seen. Of 

 course, in all such cases it is well to 

 burn the prunings as soon as possible. 

 It is believed that the germs must be 

 conveyed in a fluid, and so that the 

 germs must generally be carried from 

 tree in either nectar or in the bee-glue. 

 In this last case bees, either wild or 

 the honey-bee. may sow the seeds of 

 the mischief. It is true that many wild 

 bees do not gather the propolis or bee- 

 glue, which the bees get in almost all 

 cases from the buds of plants. 



Acacias. 



As is well known we get our beauti- 

 ful Acacias from Australia. There are 

 many species, as they run up into the 

 hundreds. Thev interest us much, as 



they are very beautiful, both as to blooiti 

 and foliage — yes, and habit as well, 

 and the wealth of yellow is wonderful 

 to behold. One of the trees is peculiar- 

 ly admirable; it is Acacia baileyanu. 

 Ihe bloom and the foliage are alike at- 

 tractive. 1 know of no more beautiful 

 tree anywhere But what interests us 

 most, is the fact that the bees are very 

 partial to these trees. I have noticed 

 the bees thick on the bloom, and also 

 visiting extra - floral glands as well. 

 These are good for stimulative feeding 

 as they come in February, and so will 

 stimulate the bees to breed rapidly, and 

 so the hives will be replete with bees 

 as the orange-trees fling out their bloom 

 and perfume a little later. We may well 

 plant many of these Acacias. We are 

 doing so in Clareraont. 

 Claremont, Calif., March 14. 



Bees Robbing in tlie Spring 



BY C. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus : "Will 

 you please tell through the columns of 

 the American Bee Journal, something 

 about bees robbing colonies in the 

 spring, how we can tell when colonies 

 are being robbed, and what can be 

 done to prevent it? I had nearly one- 

 fourth of my colonies robbed out last 

 spring in spite of all I could do." 



After setting the bees from the cellar 

 it sometimes happens, especially if the 

 weather is very warm, that the first set 

 out will commence to rob or carry off 

 the stores of those set out last, which 

 are so busy with their cleansing flight 

 that they do not seem to notice the rob- 

 bers. Robbing is not always confined 

 to such colonies, but all weak colonies, 

 whether wintAcd in the cellar or other- 

 wise, and especially queenless colonies, 

 are subject to attack in early spring, and 

 I know of no one thing more vexa- 

 tious to the apiarist than robbing. But 

 how are we to tell when a colony is 

 being robbed? is the question nearly al- 

 ways asked by the novice, and the an- 

 swering of that question has often puz- 

 zled the bee-keeper of several years' ex- 

 perience, when he has almost been ready 

 to decide that a colony from which the 

 bees are seen running out and in with 

 much commotion at the entrance, are 

 robbing or being robbed, while later on 

 he was obliged to admit that what he 

 saw was nothing more than the colony 

 having a general play-spell. 



While to the experienced eye, robber- 

 bees are generally quite easily distin- 

 guished, yet those just starting in bee- 

 keeping are often perplexed to know 

 whether the bees are being robbed or 

 not, as young bees at play often resem- 

 ble robbers. Robber-bees are generally 

 so filled with honey that they are con- 

 spicuous for their size when leaving the 

 hive ; but a young bee taking its first 

 flight is often just as conspicuous from 

 the load of excrement it is anxious to 

 void. Robber-bees often run up the 

 sides of the hive or a long way out on 

 the alighting-board before taking wing, 

 and a young bee when taking its first 

 flight, more often than otherwise, does 

 the same thing. 



Robber-bees turn with the head to- 

 ward the entrance of the hive when 

 taking wing, so as to mark where to 

 come back for another load of honey, 

 and the yoiuig bee on its first flight al- 

 ways turns tlms with its head toward 

 the entranci- so as to mark its location, 

 so it may always thereafter know just 

 where home is. Thus we find robber- 

 bees, and young bees on their first flight 

 or play-spell, acting almost exactly 

 alike. But if we look closely we shall 

 see that these young bees are much 

 lighter-colored than are the robber- 

 bees, very many of which are dark and 

 often shiny by having the fine hairs on 

 the back of the abdomen all scraped 

 or worn off by their inany encounters 

 in trying to enter other hives. 



However, 1 know of but one .sure way 

 for inexperienced persons to tell when 

 a colony of bees are being robbed, and 

 that is by killing two or three of the 

 mistrusted bees and dissecting them so 

 as to expose the honey-sac. If this sac 

 is empty there is nothing wrong, but 

 if you find a bee leaving a hive with 

 its sac full of honey, rest assured that 

 robbing is going on, for bees in a nor- 

 mal condition should always be convey- 

 ing honey to the hive, not from it. 



Then another way of telling is to keep 

 the entrance of any hive suspected of 

 being robbed closed so that only a few 

 bees can go in and out at a time, so 

 that if robbing is going on, no large 

 amount can be carried off in 4 or 5 

 hours ; then look after such hives to- 

 ward sunset, and if the cominotion is 

 still kept up about the entrance of these 

 hives while the bees have quite generally 

 settled down to where there are only a 

 few flying, you can rest assured that 

 such hives as have bees rushing in and 

 out of the entrance thus late in the day, 

 while the most of the rest of the colo- 

 nies are becoming quiet, are being 

 robbed, or are robbing other colonies. 

 It is now quite easy to tell whether they 

 are robbing or being robbed, for if rob- 

 bing, as the air begins to get cool and 

 heavy, the loaded bees will drop short 

 of the entrance ; while the hive that is 

 being robbed will show many bees that 

 are unable to take wing with their 

 heavy loads oii first trials. 



Having found out that any colony is 

 being robbed, what is to be done to 

 save such a colony? This question has 

 received very many answers which I 

 will not attempt to give here. If you 

 mistrust that only one or two colonies 

 are at the work of robbing, sprinkle a 

 little flour on the robber-bees as they 

 go out from the colony being robbed 

 with their loads of honey, having an as- 

 sistant stand at the hives you suspect 

 are doing the robbing, and if the return- 

 ing bees are covered with flour, you are 

 positively sure that you have found at 

 least one of the colonies which is do- 

 ing the stealing. If more than one is at 

 work at this robbing, mark the strong- 

 est one, and as soon as darkness has- 

 stopped the flying of all bees, carry the 

 colony that was being robbed and put 

 it on the stand of the marked strong 

 colony, and put this strong colony on 

 the stand just occupied by the colony 

 which was being robbed. Do this in the 

 evening as soon as the bees stop flying. 

 Don't allow yourself to think that yoii 



