188(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



4o8 



matters pertuiiiing to the territorj' inside of the 

 doorj-ai'd fence that I should like to write to you 

 about at a future time, but meanwhile I hope many 

 readers of Gleanings will invest a little work in 

 their dooryards in the way of lawns and dry walks. 



Hudson, Ohio. T. B. Terry. 



\>ry good, friend T. 13ut when I get a 

 lawn-roller, something else will come np, 

 and where will the end be of the things I 

 keep for sale? A good roller would be a 

 pretty heavy thing to ship. One of the best 

 I have ever seen was cut out at the stone- 

 quarries, like a small grindstone, for it was 

 about 2^ feet thick. With a suitable fiame, 

 one horse would draw it nicely between 

 rows of vegetal)les. or anywhere else you 

 wanfed lumps mashed up or ground com- 

 pressed. .Vfter setting out celery-plants, it 

 Avas an excellent thing to pack the dirt 

 around the young plants ; but it was so 

 heavy that, if you didn't look out, on a steep 

 side hill it might throw the horse over. 

 Ours was burned at the time our warehouse 

 was destroyed. I presume many of the 

 friends could have them made at the stone- 

 (piarries near them. 1 suppose the next 

 best thing would be a cast-iron one. I am 

 told the stone ones can be had at the quar- 

 ries, where grindstones are made, for about 

 $2.-50 for tiie roller alone. l>y all means give 

 us something more in regard to the territory 

 inside of the dooryard fence. If it is true, 

 that, '• as the twig Is bent the tree's inclin- 

 ed," how much may so simple a thing as tlie 

 dooryard have to do in shaping the future 

 lives of our l)oys and girls! 



APIS INDICA. 



Their Good and Bad Traits, Carefully Consid- 

 ered by our old Friend Bunker. 



THE TERKIIiLE RAVAGES OV .MOIH. 



T HAVE now e.xpcrimented with A. litdica one 

 (M? full year, and report. If profit in honey and 

 ^i wa.K had been our aim, you would have to put 

 ^-*' us in " Blasted Hopes " in short order, surely; 

 but as knowledjre of this new race of bees has 

 b3cn our aim, we arc safe for this year. E.xperi- 

 nients were begun in October last year, when our 

 first swarm was secured. By natural increase, and 

 by addition of wild swarms from time to time, our 

 number of swarms increased to nine in August last. 

 Two swarius are now left, and one of these has 

 swarmed out twice; but now, however, it seems to 

 be inclined to remain with us. The first of these 

 two is very large. There must l)e a full peck mea- 

 sure of bees. It is a swarm from a domesticated 

 wild swarm. The other seven swarms have all tak- 

 en wing- for the woods, together with several first 

 casts, which we failed to secure, either because 

 they did not alight before leaving for the jungle, or 

 other reasons. 



I will not weary you with daily or monthly re- 

 l>orts, but will give you results as briefly as possible. 



1. The reason why these swarms have left (others 

 than natural casts), seems to be wholly due to 

 moths. When the hot weather of tlie rains began, I 

 noticed signs of moths, as given in the ABC. I 

 found old combs being torn down by the bees, and 

 worms on the bottom-toard. This board was care- 

 fully swe|>t e\Try few days, and worms killed. Oc- 



casionally I found them under the cloth on the 

 frames, and from these evidences I was persuaded 

 that the bees were making a good fight of it, and 

 would be able to take care ot themselves; and as 

 some of the combs being torn down had brood, 1 

 delayed removing them; also being very busy with 

 my mission duties I did not examine all the combs 

 as I should have done. As a result, the bees began 

 to swarm out; and on looking over the combs I 

 found them full of worms. One large swarm, from 

 some reason, hastened (jueen-rearing, and, without 

 waiting for drones, swarmed twice, and finally the 

 whole left. One of these swarms was captured and 

 kept for a little while with what I thought to be a 

 clean frame of brood; but as soon as the brood was 

 hatched out, the bees loft, and T found moths in 

 their comb. 



Now the war Ijegan, myself and 1 ees on one side, 

 and the moths on the other, and the moths Mon the 

 day. I followed up each hive and gradually with- 

 drew all comli sht)wing moths; but 1 was not fast 

 enough, and swarm after swarm absconded. 1 

 found that every i)lace where there was a collec- 

 tion of wa.x from fastening the combs in transfer- 

 i-ing, there was a nest of moths, and that the moth- 

 worms had even burrowed into the pine wood, and 

 thus were safe from the bees. These worms multi- 

 l)lied with great rapidity, and ate their way rapidly 

 through the combs, covering their tunnels with a 

 strong web. But in no case did 1he,\' trouble new 

 comb. They seemed to be after the cocoons left by 

 the hatching of young bees, and not for wax alone. 

 I conclude, therefore, that my mistake was in not 

 cutting out all old comb at the beginning of the 

 rains. Again, as the A. Indica deposits no proyo/iV 

 whalecer, the hives must be made carefully, and the 

 frames for comb should be of such material that 

 moth-worms can not eat into it. 



2. Besides the moth as an enemy, there are others 

 also destructive, as a varietj- of lizards, from two 

 to si.v inches long, house frogs, small sparrows, and 

 ants. The smaller lizards .seem to be privileged 

 characters. I have seen them dash through a squad 

 of fanning bees, into the hive, without a sting. 

 Cockroaches are often found in the hives, and I 

 have seen them run down on the combs, and the 

 bees only make way for them. 



3. These bees are not large comb-builders or hon- 

 ey-gatherers. Under the most favorable circum- 

 stances, 30 lbs. of honey a year from a swarm 

 would be a rare event. They seem to bend their 

 energies on brood-rearing, and make comb for that 

 puri)ose, and not for storing honey. I do not think 

 they can be led to take to supers at all. If supers 

 with full combs were supplied a swarm, they might 

 be induced to store honey in them during the best 

 season, but they will not build comb for storage. 

 Their enemies are so many, and the moth so de- 

 structive, they strive to raise as much brood as 

 possible through the breeding season, and then 

 leave for new homes, and begin anew. 



4. Hence the bee-jear is divided into two seasons, 

 like the climate— first, from December to June, and 

 from June to December, six months each. Only in 

 rare cases will the bees occupy the same home the 

 year round, in their natural state. Even if their 

 combs are free from moth, it seems to have become 

 natural for this bee to swarm out at the end of each 

 bee-season and seek a new home. With knowledge 

 and care this tendency can be wholly overcome, 

 I belie\-e. From books about bees in cold coun- 



