833 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1.5. 



DADANT ON SUIiPHUKIC-ACID WAX KENDEKING. 



FHend Ernest:— After reading your remarks 

 on the use of sulphuric acid, pages 703 and 714. ■ 

 I had about made up my mind not to reply, 

 because I thought the arguments which I could 

 give you against the ground you took would be 

 of but little importance, but in reading Dr. 

 Miller's opinion on this subject as given in his 

 Stray Straws I find his vi<nvs to agree so well 

 with my own that I will give you what argu- 

 ments I have on this point. 



We Hnd that the more beeswax is manipulat- 

 ed, the moi'e it is re-melted, the more it loses 

 its fine honey flavor, and therefore the more 

 objectionable it is to the bee-keeper's taste, and 

 the more readily bees will object to it. There 

 is not a doubt in my mind concerning the 

 healthfulness of beeswax i-efined by the sul- 

 phuric-acid method, and I believe that this 

 method is advantageous to cleanse black wax 

 or refuse, since vve use it ourselves; but to use 

 it on all grades will simply make an insipid 

 material of the sweetly perfumed ai'ticle pro- 

 duced by the bees. I have often heard parties 

 wonder what sweet-scented substance was used 

 in the manufacture of foundation, when it was 

 only the perfume that Nature put into the blos- 

 soms that could be so plainly detected. All the 

 secret of this was the use of clean water in 

 rendering the combs. For this reason. I should 

 be sorry to see any of oui- bee-friends use the 

 dangerous oil of vitriol when anothei' process 

 much more simple will do as well. Let us teach 

 bee-keepers to render their wax in the sun or in 

 clean tin vessels with clean soft water, and we 

 shall make the very best founation that can be 

 obtained. C. P. Dadaxt. 



Hamilton, 111., Sept. 18. 



[I believe what you say is true, that melting 

 and re-melting does to some extent destroy the 

 peculiar aroma that Is present in virgin bees- 

 wax. Whenever visitors go down into our 

 foundation basement, they usually exclaim, 

 " How good it smells I" adding that tlie odor 

 is suggestive of honey. In regard to the sul- 

 phuric acid, perhaps I should explain that we 

 have tested it on only the very darkest grades 

 of wax, and the whole amount rendered in this 

 manner will be small compared with the sum 

 total used in foundation-making. But we find 

 that bee-keepers clamor more for the yellow 

 color of wax than for its peculiar odor ; so even 

 if all the wax were refined by sulphuric acid 

 (which will never be the case by a long way) 

 it would not be objectionable to bee-keepers. 



I have been making some further experiments 

 in regard to acid testing in wax, and have final- 

 ly succeeded in detecting a very, very slight 

 trace of acid in wax rendered with sulphuric 

 acid; but the amount is so infinitessimally 

 small I feel sure it can do no harm ; and al- 

 though 1 do not know positively, yet I do not 

 think it would be objectionable to bees.] E. R. 



HOW I GOT EVEN AVITH THE ANTS; A NOVEL 

 PLAN. 



This vicinity has a sandy soil, and, being 

 loose and warm, it is inhabited by myriads of 

 ants. The sti'uggle for existence among them 

 makes it necessary for them to prospect every 

 nook and corner for food. They came up into 

 the house day and night, and soon learned the 

 way to the cupboard. No barrier would prevent 

 them. After failing with several expedients I 

 determined to give them a satisfactory feed. I 

 took a large bottle and dropped into it a quar- 

 ter of a teaspoonful of Paris green. To this I 

 added a tablespoonful of alcohol to make it 

 more soluble, and filled the bottle up with su- 

 gar syrup. Then I got a piece of a pane of 

 glass and poured them out a meal on it. setting 



it in their trail on the floor. This was in the 

 aftei-noon at .5 o'clock. The whole colony was 

 awakened. They streamed in all night, pass- 

 ing around by the edge of the carpet, over 

 which they would not crawl, and filled up on 

 the deadly feast and went back again— hun- 

 dreds, thousands of them, hundreds of thou- 

 sands. The next day by ten o'clock not an ant 

 was to be seen. Once since, the colonies n the 

 rear of the house wei'e induced to come to a fes- 

 tival with like results. Not one died in the 

 house. The bottle is yet half full, waiting any 

 further encroachments. C. H. Mukkay. " 



Elkhart, Ind., Sept. 23. 



KEKOSENE EMULSION AND HOP-LICE. 



Mr. Root: — Do you know what would be the 

 best to spray hop- vines with, to kill the lice? 

 Every hop-yard in Oregon is loaded down with 

 the louse. The growers are spraying, but it 

 does no good. Please publish in Gleanings 

 what you think would kill them. 



Butteville, Or., July 21. Lucien Geek. 



[We forwarded the above to Prof. Cook, who- 

 replies:] 



The hop-louse, like all other plant-lice, can 

 be subdued by use of kerosene emulsion. 1 have- 

 previously given both formuho for this valu- 

 able insecticide in Gleanings. Those needing 

 them may well try both, as it requires but little 

 trouble, and use the one that works best. In 

 making any kerosene emulsion it is necessary 

 to agitate very violently. Simple stirring is 

 not enough. Pumping the liquid forcibly back 

 into itself is always efl'ective. A one-fifteenth 

 emulsion — that is, kerosene one-fifteenth of the 

 whole — is always fatal to aphides, or plant-lice, 

 and never harmful to foliage. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



diagnosing COI-ONIES; handling FKAiMES 



LESS. 



I have closely read what has been said in 

 Gleanings, especially by the large guns, and 

 more especially the remarks that follow, either 

 by A. I. or E. R. Root. I have taken a deep in- 

 terest in the arguments over the closed-end 

 frames, foi- it is with us hei-e in the South to get 

 the most for the very least labor possible to ac- 

 complish the best results; and the handling of 

 hives instead of frames has been my practice 

 since coming to Florida. My hive is a ten- 

 frame short or crosswise Langstroth, loose bot- 

 toms, and can put on as many stories as the 

 colony can use, so that I can nearly always, by 

 handling the hive, tell what their wants are. 



E. R. struck the key in his remarks when he 

 used the word "diagnose." To be able to do- 

 this is the firststep toward successfully handling 

 the hives instead of frames. You must first 

 practically learn to make a correct diagnosis of 

 the colony, the same as a successful doctor will 

 with his patients. The practiced eye and ear 

 can very closely tell what bees need by their 

 looks and movements at the entrance, and by 

 the hum of their wings. Colonies in want of 

 stores are smaller, have a pinched and drawn 

 up look, restless in their movements, and often 

 give off the hum of distress, similar to a colony 

 with no queen. First learn to diagnose your 

 hives (ftees would be the word), and then you 

 can save a vast amount of labor; then you can 

 handle hives instead of frames; still, with less 

 labor with loose-bottom liives. 



John Chavchaft. 



Astor Park, Fla., Sept. 36. 



SNEEZEWEED HONEY. AGAIN. 



F. H. French, Florence, Ala., sends me some 

 flowers of the sneezeweed, Heleniurn tenuifoli- 



