1892 



(;lioanin(;s in hkh cui.turk. 



fi53 



! put till' liap hiu'k in iis pliu-<'. lifti-il olT the 

 board rovt-r from tlu' liivcr. then liftcii Ihcwirc- 

 clotli I'oviT oarcfulh . ami with it all I lie t'lustcr 

 of bcos I'M-cpt w hill well' on the comb. Then 1 

 lifttHl out llif comb (they liad built no comb. but 

 I had put in a frame at tlic front of tlic iiivcr! 

 and immediately found the (inecn on it. looking 

 smaller. I liiink". tlian she did yestefday. She 

 was puuing Iter head into one cell aftef anoth- 

 er, as if looking for u cell in which to lay. It 

 seemed not easy to find one to her mind (they 

 were mostly drone-celis). but tinally siie laid in 

 one. I left her oti the comb, and put things 

 back as they were. 



How did she get out of tlie trap? for I aiu pos- 

 itive I left her in it yesterday. Emma thinks 

 she got through the excluder /.inc. but I hardly 

 believe it. If she could get back through the 

 zinc, why didn't she get out through it yester- 

 day, when she was ti-ying so hard to leave the 

 hiv(>? True, she looks smaller than she did 

 then, but her thorax is probai)ly the same; and 

 until I have good proof to the contrary I shall 

 continue to believe that it is tlie thorax and not 

 the abdomen that stops h<>r from going tlirough 

 the zinc. 1 think it more likely she got out of 

 the trap in the same way she got in — through 

 one of the cones. Is that likily to happen oft- 

 en? Hut if the queen does not go back into the 

 hive, but stays in front with the cluster, isn't it 

 better that she should get out of the trap'.' If 

 she would stay out wiili the cluster of her own 

 accord in the first place, would it not be better 

 to have no trap or any thing else to prevent her 

 going back ? 



I'd like to see the experiment tried, of having 

 a hive placed in front with free communication 

 betweeti. and only a strip of perforated zinc in 

 front of the fronthive. C. C. Mii.i.er. 



Marengo, III., .July 29. 



[If you had tried the Pratt plan there would 

 have been no leak holes from which the queen 

 could escape. We presume it's too late for you 

 to try it this year; but next spring, if you will 

 remind us. we will send you a few of the Pratt 

 swarming escape-boards, and then all you will 

 have to do will be to put the parent colony into 

 an upper story or super above the board, leaving 

 the lower story filled with combs for the recep- 

 tion of the swarm. Of course, an entrance- 

 guard should be attached. Alley's arrangement 

 is too expensive. Instead of going to the ex- 

 pense of an extra box. an ordinary super or up- 

 per story shotild he used in connection with an 

 escape-board. The latter can be furnished at a 

 small expense. The Alley l)ox is not easy to at- 

 tach to all hives so as to he bee and queen ijroof 

 in its connections; but a super, such as is being 

 used in the apiary, being made for the hives, 

 will fit as a matter of course.] 



•WORMS IN COMB HONEY. 



now DOOI.ITTLE DESTHOY.S THE.M. 



Whr'U honey is stored in a warm room, as it 

 always should Ije. there is a difliciilty which 

 arises, which, if not headed off. often results in 

 quite a .serious los-;. Tliis difficulty comes in 

 the shape of the larva of the wax-moth. I 

 have yet to .^ee the pile of l'(KK) pounds of comb 

 iioney which does not have more or less of these 

 worms or larv;e upon it, after it has been stored 

 in a warm room for two or thre(> weeks, al- 

 though, as our bees b<>come more and more 

 Italian, we see less and less of their work. Aft- 

 er the honey has been away from the bees about 

 ten days, if we inspect the cappings of the hon- 

 ey closely, we shall detect little places of white 

 dust resembling fiour upon the surfaceof the 



combs, and usually the most almndant near 

 the bottom of the comb. Now. although this 

 place may not l)e larger than the eyi' of a 

 tine needle, still it tells us for certain that a 

 tiny worm of tiie wax- moth is there, and that, 

 unless it is destroyed, it will d(^stroy more or 

 less of till' iHce whiU' cappings which incase our 

 honey. 



While in different cities a numl)er of years 

 ago, looking after the honey market, I saw 

 boxes of honey which had worms in them as 

 large around as a slate-pencil, and an inch or 

 more long: and although they hail nearly de- 

 nuded the honey of the nice white cappings to 

 the cells, still I could not make some of the 

 grocerymen believe that the worms lived on 

 the wax, they calling them "honey-worms." 

 Such a spectacle soon disgusts customers, and 

 injures the sale of comb honey very much. If. 

 after several examinations, you fail to find such 

 little, white, tlourlike places, you need be 

 thankful. If vou should find these, the next 

 thing is to sulphur your honey, as this is the 

 only known remedy for these pests except pick- 

 ing' the worms ofT by hand, which is too slow 

 where there are many of them. To sulidiur, 

 I procure an old kettle and put some ashes in 

 the bottom of it so there will be no danger of 

 fire resulting from the heat from the coals 

 which are to be placed therein. When I have 

 the kettle thus prepared I take it to the honey- 

 room and pour sulphur, which has been pre- 

 viously w'eighed, on the coals, to the amount of 

 4 oz. to every 7;") culMc feet contained in the 

 room, when the kettle is quickly pushed under 

 the pile of honey (it having been piled a little 

 oflf the floor for this purpose), and the room 

 closed. You will have to be spry or you will 

 take some of the fumes thereof yourself, which 

 is not very pleasant. I assure you. I now go 

 and look in at the windows (two of which 

 should be provided for ventilation in any honey- 

 room), to which the few flies which chance to 

 be in the room will come, hoping to escape 

 their doom. As soon as I see that the last fly 

 is lifeless I talie out my watch, and, after the 

 lapse of five minutes, I open the windows so as 

 to carry out the smoke as soon as possible, for, 

 if allowed to settle on the combs, it will give 

 them a greenish color, which will be a damage 

 to the sale of it. This same thing will aNo be 

 likely to occur if much more sulphur is burned 

 than the amount given above. It seems to be a 

 very nice point to have this matter just right; 

 for if too much is used the combs are sure to be 

 turned green; while if too little is used the 

 worms will not be killed. The above amount 

 has been arrived at after years of trial and ex- 

 perience. If more honey is lironght into the 

 room after the first has been sulphured, this is 

 also watched: and when the marks of worms 

 are seen on these, the same operation is repeat- 

 ed again, and so on till we are sure the honey 

 leaves our hands without danger of these pests 

 making an appearance after it has been placed 

 upon the market. All sections having cells of 

 pollen in should be stored by themselves, as 

 such combs are almost sure to be infested with 

 worms, where there is any trouble in this re- 

 spect. 



While on this subject it might not be amiss 

 to say that we are not troubled nearly as much 

 with these worms at the present time as we 

 formerly were; and the reason for this I at- 

 tribute to the greater intelligence of our apia- 

 rists along the line of not leaving comlise.x- 

 posed after the bees are off them so as to breed 

 these pests, as was formerly done by our fore- 

 fathers. Still more care in the years to come 

 will certainly largely free our apiarists of this 

 moth difficulty. Hives of comb left standing in 

 the apiary after the bees have died from them. 



