594 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



coinplishes the result expected (i. e., hiving the 

 swarm), and in the other case it provides ample 

 room in an extra hive, provided the bees need 

 it; and the result is, that this new hive is filled 

 with honey. Honey, after all, is what we are 

 after. 



Well, now, it begins to seem to us as if the 

 automatic swarmer were going to solve the 

 swarming problem, and at the same time keep 

 down increase, and. instead, allow colonies to 

 run up to gi'cat strength. Most of our stands to 

 which the Pratt automatic swarmers have been 

 attached are four or five sto.ies high, each 

 story tilled with brood and honey. Given these 

 big colonies, and nectar in the fields, and a crop 

 is assured. 



Henry Alley deserves credit for sticking to 

 automatic swarmers all these years, when the 

 most of the rest of us r?garded them as not 

 practical. They may not prove to be piactical, 

 even yet; but the evidence in our yards points 

 that way strongly. 



HOW TO KEEP BEES AT HOME FROM THE 

 COUNTY FAIKS. 



It will soon be time now to hold our county 

 fail's: and at such times the bees and candy- 

 men are liable to come in conflict. Every year, 

 until last year, our bees fairly swarmed around 

 the candy-stands. Although there was a dearth 

 of honey, we managed to keep the bees at home 

 from the last fair. On the morning of each day 

 of the fair, we blew tobacco smoke into the en- 

 trances of every one of our colonies; this was 

 repeated along about noon. The effect was to 

 stupefy the bees, and to make them stay at 

 home. As a further precaution we provided 

 each of the candy-men with wire-cloth paddles, 

 with wire cloth in the centers, the wire cloth 

 being used to prevent the bees from being fan- 

 ned away or to one side, in hitting at them on 

 the wing. With these, every candy-man was 

 to kill the first bee that came around: for we 

 told them that every bee that went away loaded 

 would bring back a dozen more. The effect of 

 the tobacco smoke and the wire-cloth paddles 

 was magical; and the casual observer would 

 have said, standing around the candy-stands, 

 that not a bee came around. At the previous 

 fair, f<ur bees made so much trouble that the 

 candy-men threatened to sue us for damages, 

 because the bees swarmed around the stands so 

 strong that people were afraid. We have men- 

 tioned this before, but it will bear repetition 

 for the benefit of those who have bees located 

 near fairgrounds, and who should do every 

 thing in their power to prevent bees from being 

 a nuisance. 



ATTENTION, BEE-KEEPEKS. 



Just after our last issue had bei'U mailed we 

 received the following from Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 which will explain itself: 



Dear Mr. Editor:— -I regret to write tliat our 

 friend Larrabee has been discontinued in liis posi- 

 tion as experimenter in Apiculture for the United 

 States government. The cause is, tlie larg-e reduc- 

 tion iSlU.iiUU) of the appi'Opriation by congi'ess to tlie 

 entomolugical division of the Dei)artTnt'iit of Agri- 

 culture. I think tliis a grave misfortune, as it 

 seems to me tliat at least one person niig-lit be se- 

 lected and kept for tlie purpose of aiding- this pur- 

 suit. Tliere are yet several thousand dollars to be 

 e.xpended in experimental work and research in 

 entomology. I believe if bee-keepers would cry 

 loud enouHli they would yet get the mere pittance 

 of $10(111 arimiaily. A.J. CoOK. 



Agricultural College, Mich., July 16. 



We are thoroughly in accord with Prof. 

 Cook's belief, that, if bee-keepers will cry loud 

 enough, they will yet get the mere pittance of 

 ilOOO annually. Mr. Larrabee is and has been 

 a successful bee-keeper; and since h(^ com- 



menced experimental work at the college, for 

 the government, he has rendered most evccUent 

 service. It is indeed a grave misfortune. The 

 bee-keepers of our land, unlike those of any 

 other nation, have received little governmental 

 aid. and to have this little cut ofT just when 

 grand work was being and about to be done, is 

 a little hard on our industi-y. We hope every 

 one of our subscribers will write at once to 

 Prof. C. V. Riley, and Jeremiah M. Rusk. Sec. of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C, asking for the 

 continuance of Mr. John H. Larrabee as api- 

 cultural experimenter, and that the appropria- 

 tion of at least i'lOOO be again granted for the 

 support and maintenance of an apicultural sta- 

 tion. The Agricultural College of Michigan is 

 eminently the place for such a station; and we 

 hope that the authorities at Washington will 

 reconsider the matter. 



THE HONEY CROP FOR 1893; WHERE THEY DID 

 AND didn't GET THE HONEY. 



In response to our request on page .567. ask- 

 ing bee-keepers all over the land to send us a 

 postal card answering our questions as to what 

 the season had been, and what the average 

 colony was up to date, quite a number have an- 

 swered. The replies show thai it is a little 

 early yet to show what the average per colony 

 will be for the season. By collating all the 

 answers by States, and condensing the replies 

 of all, we are enabled to give you the following 

 by States, up to date: 



M:s-ouri— poor to fair. 

 New Hampshire— poor. 

 New Jerse.v— poor. 

 New York — poor to fair. 

 North Carolina 



poor, pros- 

 pects good. 

 Ohio — poor to very good. 

 Pennsylvania — fair to good. 

 Tennessee— very poor. 

 Vermont — poor to fair. 

 Virginia— medium. 

 West Virginia— fair. 

 Wisconsin— very poor to good. 



Alabama — fair. 

 A rkansas— f air. 

 California- very poor. 

 Colorado— average. 

 Delaware— very poor. 

 Illinois— fair to good. 

 Iowa— very good. 

 Michigan— good. 

 Kansas— good. 

 Kentucky— poor. 

 Maine— average. 

 Maryland — pool'. 

 Minnesota— prospects good. 

 Mississippi— very poor. I 



On the whole the showing is no worse than 

 last season, and certainly promises to be a little 

 better. Bee - keepers this season have been 

 thrown out of all their calculations. The 

 season has been fully a month later than usual, 

 and clover has followed basswood in many 

 localities. The probabilities are, so far as we 

 can ascertain from reports, that clover will be 

 yielding nectar for a considerable period this 

 year. In our locality we have had a steady 

 flow from basswood for just about a month, 

 and this is indeed remarkable. It is also evi- 

 dent that bees are getting considerable honey 

 from white clover; and sweet clover never 

 yielded more honey than this year; in fact, we 

 have had the best and heaviest honey- flow in 

 many years. Some of our hives have five 

 stories, all full of bei s, honey, and brood. We 

 have been contemplating putting on the sixth 

 story, and hope to be able to do so yet. These 

 five-story colonies were all run for extracted 

 honey, and the bees were made to draw out 

 frames of foundation in every case. If we had 

 given them empty combs perhaps we should 

 have been more astonished than ever at the 

 amount of honi'y. It has been over ten years 

 since we were able to put on more than the 

 second story to any colony. 



IS IT A new BEE-DISEASE? SOMETHING THAT 



resembi.es foui, brood: its cause and 



cure not definitely known. 

 Some two or three weeks ago we found two 

 or three colonies among our Shane-yard bees, 

 the brood of which bore some resemblance to 

 foul brood. The cells were perforated, a little 

 sunken, and the larvii? dead, and having a cof- 

 fee color. But it lacked two of the decisive 



