738 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



ARTIFICIAL WAX SCALES TO ASSIST THE BEES 

 IN COMB-BUILDING. 



I have for some time wished to hear of your 

 Mr. Weed, of foundation-fame, making a 

 machine that would make wax scales — just 

 such scales as the young bees make. I hope 

 to live to see the day when the bees will be 

 supplied with wax scales so that the colony 

 can pick up the wax from a shallow box which 

 will be placed in the bottom of the hive, and 

 carry it to the surplus-boxes, and finish out 

 the drawn-comb foundation, or use the wax 

 scales to finish out the brood comb. A late 

 writer questioned the propriety of purchasing 

 foundation, as the b^es made all the wax 

 which would be necessary, and at a trifling 

 expense in the way of hone}'. I was called to 

 help a neighbor with his bees, and I took off 

 for him the honey from two hiv^s; the amount 

 was oO lbs. — 30 from his best colony and 20 

 from the other — not one pound of which was 

 in shape to sell. He did not use foundation. 

 I suppose it was too expensive for him to use; 

 but the loss of the sale on 50 lbs. of honey 

 was also expensive. 



I use foundation, and my best colonies so 

 far have given 85 lbs., and are still bringing 

 in honey, as the weaiher is very fine. I sold 

 some honey at 12)^ cts., and have had a fine 

 home trade. Wm. H. EagerTY. 



Cuba, Kan. 



[I have referred your letter to Mr. Weed, 

 and he says the best and cheapest way to give 

 w IX to bees is to give it to them in the form 

 of foundation. A year or so ago, when Mr. 

 Weed was making experiments in bleaching 

 wax, he left some long strips of foundation 

 out on the grass in our apiary. During the 

 time when honey was not coming in, the bees 

 carried in a good portion of it, in little bits at 

 a time. Bees ga thee wax in dull seasons, not 

 particularly because they need it, but because 

 they have nothing else to do. 



Even if we could make small artificial scales, 

 I rather question whether they would be 

 utilized, especially so where the real article 

 itself is being secreted in sufficient quantities 

 in the natural way. — Ed.] 



bees disappearing IN CALIFORNIA ; THE 

 CAUSES. 

 To-day I read on pages 3(59 and 372, May 1, 

 1894, about a controversy you had with an 

 Ontario bee-keeper— McFatric — about bee- 

 paralysis. It struck me then that I should re- 

 port to you abovit a new trouble that is threat- 

 ening bee-keepers here. I found in the bee- 

 yard in the mountains that bees would not 

 breed up as strong as I wanted them to do; 

 in fact, some colonies would dwindle down in 

 spite of haxdng ample brood to justify a strong 

 colony. I laid the blame to a large flume 

 which passes near the apiary, and in which 

 the irrigation water runs down at a terrible 

 rate. I saw, several times, bees swept along 

 that went there for water; but since then I 

 learned that nearly all bee-keepers in that lo- 

 cality complained about losing bees at a terri- 

 ble rate without being able to account for it; 

 i. e., not finding any dead bees in front of the 



hives, as in bee-paralysis ; also of losing 

 queens more than in any previous 3'ear. I no- 

 tice many bees coming home with ragged 

 wings, as if they had to battle with strong 

 winds. Upon closer investigation this state of 

 affairs seems to exist only in a small district 

 of Et-tiwanda. Bee-keepers of Ontario do not 

 complain, and have good to fair crops of hon- 

 e}', while at Ettiwanda the crop is from small 

 to middling, although the locality seems to be 

 A No. 1, showing hundreds of acres of white 

 sage and other honey-plants. 



I have made trips along the mountains away 

 into San Diego Co., and visited many bee- 

 keepers, and have not come i.cross any similar 

 case. M. R. Kuehne. 



Ontario, Cal. , Aug. 28. 



DO BEES DISTINGUISH COLORS? AN INTER- 

 ESTING INCIDENT. 



I want to report a little experience which 

 may be of interest to those of your readers 

 who contemplate building house-apiaries. I 

 have built one and painted it after Salisbury's 

 advice. Starting at the south end it is 6 feet 

 red, then 6 feet white, then (i feet black, then 

 6 feet yellow, which brings us to the center of 

 the building; then the rotation is repeated 

 until the other end is reached. Bees were 

 then put into the north half, three colonies 

 in each color. When they began to fly I no- 

 ticed a few returning to the entrances in the 

 south half, but particularly to the white part. 

 As the bef^s in the north half began to in- 

 crease in strength the bets returning to the 

 vacant south half began to increase. This 

 morning we had a light shower, which drove 

 the bees home in great numbers, and the en- 

 trances to the white .sections in the south half 

 were covered with pollen-laden bees hovering 

 round in a lost condition; while some returned 

 to tl;e other shades in the vacant half, the 

 number was not so great as to the white. 

 Does it not appear that, instead of bees not 

 being able to distinguish colors, it is such a 

 consiiicuc us and all-sttfficient landmark that 

 they neglect all other bearings — and particu- 

 larly a clean white, which is very conspicu- 

 ous, even at a great distance? As I look out 

 of the window I can see hundreds of bees hov- 

 ering around those vacant entrances. It looks 

 as if I should have to paint them over again, 

 so that no two shades be alike. I might say 

 further that it is 24 ft. from one section of 

 white to the other, and one is near the end of 

 the building, and the other near the center. 

 A. E. TrusslER. 



Trout Creek, Ont., Can., Sept. 6. 



SMOKER fuel; CORN-HUSKS, ETC. 



In Gleanings for Aug.* 15, page 603, I read 

 about smoker fuel. I have had many trou- 

 bles with fuel, and have tried every thing rec- 

 ommended, almost as persistently as many 

 people do for a cold, and with more or less the 

 same results. The best thing for fuel is corn- 

 husks, used as follows: Start your smoker 

 with wood. I use elm and maple that is 

 about decayed. It holds fire best; then have 

 your wood well fired, two or three pieces, in 



