688 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Bept. 



bogus honey. We have just such a one here who 

 claims to have been in the bee-business for some 

 time himself. He claims there is a factory at Read- 

 ing, this State, that turns out comb honey. He has 

 offered to take any person there and produce the 

 honey, for S3.5.00. Being a poor man myself, and a 

 poor scholar, he always gets the better of me. 



In regard to chickens eating bees, I caught one 

 in the act to-day. It was six or eight weeks old. I 

 opened its crop and found 17 bees. W. S. Couper. 



Cassandra. Pa., Aug. 20, 1888. 



, Friend C, I would not pay any attention 

 to any man who wants $25.00, or any other 

 sum, for telling where fraud is perpetrated. 

 One who is any kind of a gentleman, let 

 alone being a scholar, will always be glad to 

 expose fraud, without charging a fee. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELD! 



BEES THAT WOX'T DEFEND THEMSELVES, AFFECT- 

 ED WITH THE " NAMELESS BEE-DISEASE." 



T AM told that many bee-keepers have tried to 

 ^ keep bees here, but all had to give it up on ac- 

 ^r count of the bees not defending their stores 

 '*• from robber-bees. The trouble is said to be the 

 honey that is gathered from the buckeye, of 

 which there is an abundance here, which blooms 

 for about six weeks. During this time there is an 

 unusual amount of immature or defective brood 

 reared, some of which looks shining black. The 

 bees seem to try to get rid of all this brood, but 

 seem to pay no attention to bees that are robbing 

 them. When strong colonies are first attracted 

 they will butt at the first robbers, but let them pass 

 In without any attempt to fight them. I can see no 

 difference between Italians and blacks. Many of 

 the robbers seem to be very young bees. Small 

 knots of bees can be seen on all parts of the hives 

 that seem to be feeding each other. As soon as 

 robbing began I made the entrances so small that 

 only one or two bees could pass, and with some 

 hives I made the entrance through a four-inch 

 plank; and while the honey-laden bees from the 

 range would lose most of their pollen while strug- 

 gling to get through such an entrance, robbers 

 would come out so full that they could fly only a 

 few Inches at a time at first. J have never yet seen 

 a bee here attempt to sting a robber-bee. I am told 

 that the honey will be carried back and forth from 

 hive to hive and from tree to tree, until it is about 

 used up, so that very few bees can winter over; 

 but as bees here swarm for about four months in a 

 year, the country gets well seeded over again. I 

 have only 16 stands, and have watched them for 

 several days to see what could be done with them. 

 I finally went to see a regular bee-ranch, about 

 three miles lower down the mountains, owned by 

 Mr. Butler. There the buckeye is not so plentiful. 

 I found him extracting, with the entrances to his 

 hives wide open, and no sign of robbing. I should 

 like to have your opinion in regard to the trouble. 

 Do you think that feeding at night, with healthy 

 feed, would do any good? John Umholtz. 



Alma, Santa Clara Co., Cal., July 23, 1888. 



Friend U., the facts yon relate in your 

 letter in regard to robbing seem a little un- 



usual ; but there is a sentence or two in it 

 which quite possibly explain the whole 

 trouble. You say, "There is an unusual 

 amount of immature or defective brqpd, 

 some of which looks shiny black.''" The bees 

 probably have what is called the " nameless 

 bee-disease."' When so affected we have 

 known them to be little inclined to make any 

 defense. It may be that all your bees have 

 this disease. The only remedy is the re- 

 moval of the queen and the introduction of 

 another from some other locality. 



DO GRASSHOPPERS EAT BEES ? 



The honey crop in this locality the present year 

 was very short, owing to so much rain in the 

 spring. I procured only about 1200 lbs. of extract- 

 ed honey from my entire apiary of 120 colonies. 

 One or two years I extracted as much as 8000 to 9000 

 lbs. Besides so much rain in the spring, I have 

 been troubled in one of my apiaries with grasshop- 

 pers eating my bees. This is something that I've 

 never read of before. Should I be troubled with 

 them another season, can you or some of our broth- 

 er bee-keepers give me a plan to get rid of them? 



J. M. Forrest. 



Weldon, Houston Co., Tex., Aug. 10, 1888. 



We sent the above to Prof. Cook, and he 

 replies : 



Mr. Forrest must, 1 think, be mistaken. There 

 Is no account on record of grasshoppers eating 

 other insects. If Mr. F. has seen this, ask him to 

 send me some of the grasshoppers, that I may 

 identify them. We all supposed that grasshoppers 

 ate vegetable food exclusively. Let us see these 

 unique hoppers. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



corrosive sublimate rbcommended for foul 



BROOD. 



Gleanings is quite a treat to me, and has been of 

 vital interest. I commenced bee culture three 

 years since, with six colonies of Italians and plenty 

 of foul brood, and the first year it took all of my 

 assistance with the bees to save my queens; but I 

 saved them by feeding carbolic acid and sugar syr- 

 up, but could not entirely eradicate it, for it broke 

 out in the spring again. I had by this time located 

 the nature of the disease, and given it much study 

 with the assistance of your journal. I concluded 

 that acids are the long treatment, so I experiment- 

 ed with various other antiseptics, and found cor- 

 rosive sublimate to be the master of that germ. I 

 can clean any colony in from 4 to 6 weeks, and have 

 my old queens yet in good shape, without any 

 foul brood; so if you have any further trouble with 

 the disease, try it. You will find it as far superior to 

 carbolic acid as the Italians are ahead of the black 

 bees. P. G. Gress, M. D. 



Atchinson, Kan., Sept. 4, 1888. 



Corrosive sublimate may be effective, and 

 it may in your case have done all you say it 

 did ; but if the disease should ever break 

 out in our apiary again, in view of our past 

 experience with medicines we should hard- 

 ly want to take the risk again of testing 

 other remedies in the shape of a liquid. 

 We would either destroy the affected colo- 

 ny or treat it by the plan we have already 

 given and now incorporated in the A B C of 

 Bee Culture, lias any one else tried cor- 

 rosive sublimate ? 



