584 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



during the summer months, saying nothing 

 about laying up stores for winter. 



WAX-MOTHS. 



Question. — Is there any danger of losing 

 colonies by moths or other insects ? 



A>!s-ver. — The larva of the wax-moth is 

 about the only real enemy the bee has. These 

 feed upon the combs, and in verj- weak col- 

 onies often destroy the combs, changing them 

 by consumption from the nice symmetrical 

 cells for brood and honey into a mass of webs 

 and cocoons. However, there are no good 

 colonies destroyed from this source, especially 

 Italians. In fact, where pure Italian bees are 

 kept exclusively, these pests are rarely ever 

 seen. Still, combs not protected by bees are 

 always subject to their ravages and should be 

 looked after during warm weather. If signs 

 of worms appear, the combs should be placed 

 in a tight room, barrel, or box, and fumigated 

 with burning sulphur, having all fixed so 

 there can be no possible danger from fire. 

 The section honey should also be watched, 

 after it is taken from the hives; and if many 

 combs are seen having little white flour-like 

 spots or lines upon them, these should be 

 sulphured. Much more care is required in 

 fumigating them than is required in treating 

 the brood-combs, for, if too much sulphur is 

 burned, it will give the nice white combs a 

 greenish hue which deteriorates its market 

 value ; one ounce of sulphur to every 2-5 cubic 

 feet, in box or room, is about the right amount 

 to burn. After the smoke has been confined 

 for ten or fifteen minutes, let it out by open- 

 ing a door or otherwise. No such precaution 

 is necessary with the brood-combs, and for 

 them I generally use twice the above quantity. 



THE MOSQUITO-HAWK AN ENEMY OF THE BEE; 

 A REPI.Y TO A. J. WRIGHT. 



3Tr. Editor: — We notice on page 471 an 

 article from A. J. Wright, in which he seems 

 loath to believe that the mosquito-hawk, or 

 dragon-fly, is an enemy of the bees. How- 

 ever, he modifies his position somewhat by 

 saying he does not know what the ' ' heated 

 atmosphere" of Florida may be capable of 

 producing in the way of dragon-flies. Wheth- 

 er the " atmosphere " produces them or not, 

 we can assure the gentleman that they appear 

 from some source in countless myriads, and I 

 have watched swarms of thousands of them 

 catching bees. We don't doubt that they 

 catch mosquitoes. Surely such vast hordes 

 should be good for something, and we are 

 ready to admit their beauty and all that; but 

 one's appreciation of the beautiful fades some- 

 what when he sees his bees vanishing by the 

 thousands. We are thankful to say they do 

 not bother us all the time; but when they do 

 come it reminds us of an old-fashioned visit of 

 the' potato-bugs in the North — very trying to 



one's nerves while they are with him. Per- 

 haps if we say the mosquito-hawk is a canni- 

 bal it will raise a protest; and if we say they 

 will even devour themselves to a certain ex- 

 tent, it will not be believed; yet such is the 

 case. If we reniember rightly, it was H. E. 

 Hill, editor of the A/nerican Bee-keeper, who 

 tried the experiment, proving conclusively 

 that they would devour each other, and even 

 eat themselves as long as life lasted. The 

 dragon- flies of the North are comparatively 

 harmless, as they are not numerous; but here 

 it is different, as they come by tens of thou- 

 sands. Any bee-keeper in Florida, especially 

 those near the coast, can testify to the de- 

 structiveness of the insect from experience. 

 M. W. Shepherd. 

 Mannville, Fla., July 1. 



HOW TO START FOUL BROOD. 



The subject of foul brood being started from 

 chilled brood has been mentioned several times 

 in Gleanings, and has been called sponta- 

 neous generation. I do not want to be mis- 

 understood. I do not believe in sponta- 

 neous generation any more than Mr. Root 

 does; but I say foul brood can be started by 

 chilled brood, for the germ necessary to pro- 

 duce it is in every healthy larva, but unless it 

 dies and decomposes in a certain way 

 it will never develop. In 1892 I started some 

 nuclei for queens. The bees deserted them 

 the same day. I cut out considerable drone 

 brood, and put it in a pile in one corner of my 

 bee-yard. That night it turned cold, and the 

 brood froze a little. Finding my bees had left 

 the brood I had pi;tout for nuclei I piled it all 

 in a heap. In about ten days I went back, 

 and it smelled very badly. I found some 

 bees sucking at it, which I did not want for 

 decency's sake ; so I put it in a tub and pour- 

 ed wa'.er on it, put a rock on it to sink it, 

 went back a few days later, and found thou- 

 sands of bees watering there. I at once put it 

 in a pot and boiled it. In June, after about 

 two months, I found some foul brood. I be- 

 gan to investigate, and found it in 20 or more 

 hives, and soon found it in 50 or more. 



I asked permission of Mr. Atchley to bring 

 a piece of comb to his house, securely wrap- 

 ped, for him to examine. He granted it, and 

 he and Dr. Howard and Dr. Marshall all said 

 it was foul brood, and a bad case at that, and 

 told me it would kill all my bees ; that there 

 was no cure for it. The cure, I found, was a 

 mistake in them, for I did cure it. I examin- 

 ed all the bees around me, but never could 

 find but one small lot close to me that were 

 diseased ; so I have believed with all my heart 

 it began there. This is a matter that can be 

 settled by trying the following plan. If it 

 does not start foul brood, the man who experi- 

 ments may draft on me for !?5.00, which will 

 pay for all the trouble it will cost him. Here 

 is the plan: 



Cut out about 3 gallons of brood, both drone 

 and worker. Put it between ice, so it will 

 freeze to death, then put it out in some warm 

 place, about 70 or 80 degrees. Keep it in bulk, 

 and moist all the time for ten or twelve days ; 

 then put it in water, and make the bees sip at 



