388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



outsitlc. Nevertheless, the tcmperatui'e of both 

 cellars never went below 45° nor above about 50°, 

 1111(1 all was quiet, anrl no odor of diarrhea till near 

 ppriiig:, and then the disease began to ajipear, aud 

 was rather worse in eaeli eellar than at Glcnwood, 

 in the house. 



Most of the colonies here were trusted to natural 

 and part natural stores and high temperature; and 

 none, except the few upon all artificial stores, came 

 Ihroug-h without nnij fecal accumulations. It has 

 well been said, that with honey at the present low 

 price and slow snle, the purchase of 30 or 30 barrels 

 cf sugar, when 20,000 lbs. of the nicest honey is on 

 liand, is almost impracticable, and this is the reason 

 that I trusted most of my colonies to all or part nat- 

 i;ral stores. I must say that T am disappointed to 

 find that, under no conditions, are wo at all times 

 sure of wintering- one-half of our colonies with nat- 

 ural stores. It maj' be that in many localities this 

 can always be done, but I can't do it here. This 

 much is solved: I can winter any colony with cer- 

 tainty; but to do so I must not only keep up a 45 to 

 60° temperature, but see that their only food is pure 

 cane-sugar syrup properlj- prepared and fed. My 

 last winter's experiments fail to attach any impor- 

 tance to ventilation and humidity. 



I had two colonies on natural stores, thoi'oughly 

 packed, outdoors, and one of them died with the 

 diarrhea. I did net e.vpect this, but And the pollen 

 theoiy too true in my locality. I did not hope to 

 bring my bees through in perfect condition on nat- 

 ural stores, but I hoped to bring all through in 

 condition to make good working colonies by the 

 time clover bloomed; but I must own, that in this I 

 was mistaken. Friend Barber's plan won't do here. 

 I have just sent two specimens of the diarrhetic ex- 

 creta to Professor Cook, and here is his report: 



"The thick feces is loaded with pollen of various 

 kinds, and largely insoluble in water. It has also 

 many spherical fungi. The other, also, has much 

 pollen, but less. It also has the spherical bacteria, 

 or fungi, and, in addition, some forms which are 

 chain-like. This is more soluble than the other; 

 but after boiling for some time in water there is 

 quite a residue that is insoluble." 



The above are the facts, and all may draw their 

 own conclusions. It seems to me they pretty well 

 refute the opinions of Dr. Joslin and KatherQuinby, 

 as recorded by Mr. Hutchinson, on pages 249 and 

 250. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., May, 1886. 



BEES CAPPING THEIR CELLS 

 COTTON BATTING. 



"WITH 



DO BEES SEND OUT SCOUTS DEFOUE SWAHMING? 



X HAVE some quilts made of sheeting and cotton 

 |MF batting. I noticed, a few days since, at the en- 

 ^l trance of one hive some of the filling of one 



•*■ quilt, which had been carried out. I opened 

 the hive, raised out the brood-combs, and found 

 they had been using that cotton for capping some 

 of their brood. Some of the young bees had noth- 

 ing over their heads (and those that had no heads 

 formed), but simply tine bits of cotton stretched 

 across the cells in many ways, and I could look 

 through the network oovcring and see the little fel- 

 lows, like looking through a sieve. There was one 

 patch about two inches square with no capping ex- 

 cept cotton batting. You may say this was moth- 



but 



webs; but I say no, not the work of any thinj. 

 the bees capping their brood. 



Last summer I was doing some carpenter work 

 for a nnin about a mile from where I live, about 

 the last days of Juno. As 1 had lost most of my bees 

 the winter before, I took what work I could get, as 

 the 20 weak colonies I had left did not require much 

 time. One day my wife came to where 1 was at 

 work and said my liees had swarmed. "Well," 

 said I, " where did they go?" 



"Why, they went into a hive," she said. 



I said, " Do you know which hive they went into?" 



"i'es," she replied, "I marked the hive with a 

 stone." 



"Well, do you know which hive they came out of?" 



"No," she said; "I did not see them until they 

 were all flying." 



When I went home in the evening I found they 

 had entered a hive with combs in which the bees 

 had died the previous winter; and when I examin- 

 ed I found them to be hybrid Italians, very cross, 

 and I did not have a hybrid in the yard. There 

 were also more bees in that swarm than I had in 

 any two of my hives. The next week I noticed a 

 great many black bees flj'ing around my empty 

 hives, and at five o'clock in the evening a large 

 swarm of black bees came and went into another 

 of my hives. I saw them eome. 



10-MoNT. Wyrick, 30—46. 



Cascade, la., A]n\ 33, 1886. 



Sometliing of this kind, about bees cap- 

 ping cells with fibrous material, has been 

 brought up before, and I presume there is 

 no question but that the bees do, under some 

 circumstances, use fibrous material. The 

 cappings of the brood-cells are not wax, in 

 any case. The fact you furnish about stray 

 swarms of bees occupying your hives is also 

 valuable ; it seems to me as if it might pay 

 to have hives fixed just right, ready for such 

 truant swarms. 



HEATING "WATER AT DIFFERENT 

 DEPTHS IN A CAN. 



THE FEASIBILITY OF BOILING EGGS FJtOM THE 

 SURFACE OF THE WATER. 



X HAVE been a reader of your paper for the last 

 1^ year, and find it verj' interesting and instruct- 

 or ive. I noticed a sketch in March 15th issue, 

 "*■ over the signature of Ei-nest R. Koot, " Exper- 

 iments with Wax-e.xtractor," in which the boil- 

 ing-point, 212°, is reached. He thinks that eggs boil- 

 ed by the sun are quite pi'obablc. I think he will 

 have to boil them very near the top. I was attending 

 a farmers' meeting in our town somej'ears since. 

 The question came up concerning cooling milk 

 from the bottom. Some thought it could be cooU 

 ed to the depth of a foot or more; when Dr. Marquis, 

 one of our townsmen, who, bj^ the way, had been 

 experimenting with a pan he invented, asked the 

 club over to his store to see what he could do. His 

 pan was sixteen inches deep, with three faucets— the 

 first, four inches from the bottom; second, four 

 inches from the first; third, four inches from the 

 second. He first asked one of the gentlemen to try 

 the water in the pan. He found it alike in all the 

 faucets— the same temperature as the air in the 

 room. He then attached his cooling apparatus 

 (which is a hollow tube) to a force-pump in the cis- 



