1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUliti. 



eis 



QUESTION. 



Is there not something- which, if fed the l>ees, will 

 be a positive cure? ts it not a nerve disease? Cer- 

 tainly the bees appear very nervous. 



What of the honey season? So far as I know, 

 there will not be one-fourth of an ordinary crop. 



Fabins, N. Y., Aug. 2, 1886. H. U. Mason. 



Friend M., I think very lilcely you are 

 right about niakiii»r bees build comb or build 

 out sheets of foiuidation, instead of starving 

 them. With us we can not alford to risk 

 any thing on experiments. At present writ- 

 ing, Aug. 4, but one more colony has been 

 found showing any trace of the disease. — In 

 regard to the " nameless bee-disease," as it 

 has been called, we can not answer your 

 questions. There may possibly be some spe- 

 citic, if we knew just what it is; but I be- 

 lieve medical men tell us there are very few 

 si)ecilics that are certain in all cases. I have 

 never noticed it in winter time, but have 

 several times seen it appear as early as April. 



THE HONEY SEASON IN THE MISS- 

 ISSIPPI VALLHY. 



CUIt.LED BROOD, AND HOW TO Cf-EAN FROM 

 THE COM US. 



K. EDITOR: -What is the matter with the 

 bee-keepers adjacent to the Mississippi 

 River, in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ar- 

 kansas? Are they still in the business, or 

 are they so busy handling: their honey 

 crop that we see no notice of them in any of the 

 bee-papers? or is it that their bees have done so 

 little that they arc ashamed to make known how 

 little they have done? I think there should be 

 some reports from some of the sections between 

 Memphis and New Orleans, as this section can be 

 classed as a large honey district. The lailure of 

 the crop in this region, it seems to me, ought to 

 have some effect in stiffening- the market. A larg-e 

 crop from California always bears down the nuir- 

 ket somewhat, and a g-ood deal sometimes. Like- 

 wise a fiUl crop in the Mississippi Valley has its 

 effect. I think it well for the comlilion of the crop 

 to be known for so large a region as the Mississippi- 

 Valley district, for the effect it will have on the 

 general market. Although so far we have in this 

 locality almost a failure, yet we should be glad to 

 have it known in all the markets that such is the 

 case, for the tendency it would have to keep prices 

 up. It should be our aim to keep prices up as well 

 as we can, though we may not get the benefit of 

 them for another year. We should not be jealous 

 of those who happen to bo successful this season. 

 If it will help to raise the price of extracted honey 

 if) tell you that the honey yield in St. Charles 

 Parish, La., has so far been exceedingly small, I 

 shall be glad to inform you such is the case. If the 

 whole district of the Mississippi Valley, from 

 Memphis down, and probably from Cairo too, has 

 not the same report to make, "exceedingly snuill," 

 please let's hear from some of the big producers, 

 and let them give (juaMtity and number of hives, 

 spring count, and see if the report is not " exceed- 

 ingly small " com])ared with other years. 



I began this season with 1:^5 hives, in fine condi- 

 tion. Up to June 9th f extracted ;2C lbs. per hive. 

 I have extracted only at)Gut 10 gallons sint-e. 



Swarming time here begins usually about April 

 1.5th. My 125 hives were in as fine shape as any bee- 

 keeper could wish, when all at once we had a cold 

 spell, and the brood chilled. Two hives in i)artieu- 

 lar had Vi well-filled frames of brood, and a great 

 many had 9, 10, and 11 frames ttlled with brood. 

 Every one of my strongest hives was ruined. 1 

 waited till the latter part of June for them to clean 

 out the combs and build up again, but they would 

 not do it; so to get any benefit at all from those 

 hives, I took their frames all out that had dead 

 brood in, and took them to the extracting-room and 

 uncapped them, and, putting the frames in the ex- 

 tractor, I made things hum. I could not spare the 

 good brood scattei-ed about here and there, be- 

 cause that bad brood had to come oiU, and the 

 good had to come with it. I then put them back in 

 the hives, and the bees cleaned them up; but they 

 could not clean all of them well enough, for some 

 of the fresh brood in those cleaned combs died. 

 Now, it wasn't foul brood, beeaust^ there were no 

 sunken caps with pinholes in them, nor did they 

 have that stench in the hives; but I tell you the air 

 was thick with unpleasant perfumery when I was 

 extracting those fi-ames. I extracted over twenty 

 hives, and threw out over ten gallons of the rotten, 

 slimj' stuff'. They were thrown back so nuich by 

 the operation that many of them dwindled down; 

 and besi<les having no swarms, I have reduced my 

 stock by uniting to 117 at present, and shall, as rap- 

 idly as I can, reduce them to about 100 hives. If 

 any of the Pelican bee-keepers can boast of the 

 wonders of Louisiana as a honey State for 1880, I 

 am ready to read all such reports; but I should 

 like atHdavits to accompany reports of large 

 yields. Louisiana has yielded enough rain water 

 this season to supply the whole Union. When this 

 section gets drj', the ground cracks open, and is as 

 hard as a brick; and when it rains too much the 

 ground gets tough and gummy, like rubber or glue. 



May be next year we'll get a chance to astonish 

 you. If we do, then you'll have to have a " Louisi- 

 ana" column in which to chronicle big yields; but 

 on off years like this one up to date, the Mississippi- 

 Valley bee-keepers are conspicuous bj- w'hat they 

 don't report. 3— C. M. Higgins, 125—117. 



Hahnville, St. Charles Par., La., Aug. li, 1880. 



AN ADVERSE 



FLORIDA. 



REPORT FROM OUR OLD FRIEND 

 W. S. HART. 



fERE we are, arrived at the ordinary time for 

 our surplus honey-ttow of the season to be- 

 gin to check up, and yet there are iuit, as far 

 as I can learn, a dozen barrels of surjjlus 

 honey in this "bee-belt," as it is often called. 

 This season has certainly been an anomaly to the 

 bee-keepers of this part of Florida. I do not care 

 to give a full report of the season up to date just 

 now, but will say that bees bred up very strong in 

 March, whore there was plenty of honey in the hive 

 to go with what little was gathered in the field. It 

 seemed as though they would turn honey Into 

 brood to almost any extent in proportion to the 

 amount of the former that was provided them. 

 There was considerable swai-ming during the late 

 days of March and through April, although there 

 was but very little honey coming in. Almost all 

 swarms had to be fed at once; and if given uncap- 



