930 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dkc 15. 



seeds (spores) have yet been ripened and 

 thrown off, the removal of the plant v^'ill be all 

 that's necessary. If, on the other hand, seeds 

 from the plant have blown over the field, dig- 

 ging up the plant will have little effect upon 

 the future crop. 



In the same way, before the bacilli have had 

 time to ripen seeds (spores), if the combs that 

 contain them are removed, that removes the 

 disease. But if spores have been produced, 

 and have gotten into all the combs, then all 

 must Vje removed. 



You will easily see that it is hard for you to 

 be sure that no spores are present, so the only 

 safe course is to assume they are present, and 

 treat all the combs as diseased. If spores 

 have been in all the combs, bringing the bees 

 to the starving-point, and getting them to 

 empty the combs of honey, will not suffice. 

 Mr. McEvoy is most emphatic upon this very 

 point, and says, ''All the old combs must be 

 removed from every diseased colony,'' and that 

 " all " involves empty as well as full combs. _ 



2. I don't like to' be positive upon this 

 point ; but as Mr. INIcEvoy considers it per- 

 fectly safe to use the hive again without disin- 

 fecting, it seems that it ought to be safe to use 

 again the starters that had not been worked 

 at all by the bees. But it would be a better 

 plan to limit the number of starters given, so 

 that you need not count on having any of 

 them left untouched. 



3. Mr. McEvoy sa3-s it is folly to scald bee- 

 hives in which foul brood has been ; but he 

 also says that, if combs have been broken 

 down so that the floors have been daubed with 

 honey, the floors nmst be cleaned. The 

 frames out of which the combs are melted will 

 be much the same as the floor on which in- 

 infected honey has been spilled, and can not 

 be again used without cleansing. 



4. In the honey, the whole aim being to get 

 such honey used up before it can be used to 

 feed the young larvce. C. C. Mii.i,ER. 



Marengo, 111. 



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ANSWERS TO 



SEASONABLE 



QUESTIONS 



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^f i^ S^ ^^ ^ft- J 



BEES DYING ON THE SNOW. 



Question. — Last spring my bees came out 

 weak in numbers, and I thought the cause 

 was so many coming out of their hives when 

 it was not warm enough for them to fly, and 

 dying on the snow. Some days it seemed as 

 though the ground was fairly covered with 

 them about the hives. Is there any way to 

 prevent bees coming out of their hives in this 

 way? If there is, please tell us about the 

 matter in your department in Gleanings, 

 which I always read the first thing when open^ 

 ing my paper. 



Answer. — In answer to this I will give my 

 plan to prevent such loss. But first I wish to 

 say that there are two causes for bees acting 

 thus ; one of which is bee-diarrhea, and the 



other the direct rays of the sun in and about 

 the entrance. If the former is the cause, the 

 bees might as well die on the snow as any- 

 where, for die they will, if they have this 

 disease early in the winter, before there is any 

 prospect of warm weather coming to stay; and 

 all the fussing that is done with them is gen- 

 erally of no avail ; but on the contrary, as a 

 rule, it rather seems to hasten their death, if 

 any thing, unless it comes settled warm 

 weather, so they can fly out often to void their 

 feces; and then, nine chances out of ten, they 

 will dwindle down to such an extent before 

 many young bees emerge from their cells that 

 such a colony will be nearly or quite worth- 

 less. If the trouble is caused by the sun 

 enticing them out when it is too cool in the 

 air for them to fly, the cause should be re- 

 moved by shading the hive. As the sunshine 

 of February and early March is apt to entice 

 out all bees more or less, and as the winds of 

 winter are apt to blow cold air and snow in at 

 the entrance of the hives, thus making the 

 bees uncomfortable, I lean a wide board, as 

 long as the hive is wide, in front of the en- 

 trance, this not only shading the hives, but 

 keeping out wind and snow as well. When- 

 ever a light snow falls I sweep the snow up 

 over this board and still higher up on the 

 hive, which gives additional protection. As 

 this takes but a few moments, and gives out- 

 door exercise when I am apt to get too little, 

 I consider that I am well paid tor doing it. 

 Should a day warm enough for the bees to fly 

 occur, and I aai at home, I take the boards 

 down, laj-ing them immediately in front of 

 the hives, thus forming a nice spot, free from 

 snow, for them to alight on, when the boards 

 are put back at night. If I am. not at home 

 no harm is done, as the bees will fly out 

 around the ends of the board, and come back 

 the same way. Some think this winter care 

 of bees too much work ; but unless any bee- 

 keeper's time is worth .S3. 00 a day in winter I 

 think he will be the loser by not taking time 

 to do these things. 



There is one point wherein some are deceiv- 

 ed regarding dead bees on the snow. Bees 

 can rise as safely from melting snow as from 

 bare ground, if the air is only warm enough, 

 and the board which is leaned over the en- 

 trance tends to keep the bees in the hives, and 

 quiet, till the air is what it should be as to 

 warmth. The degree of warmth required I 

 find to be 45° in the shade providing it is 

 still, with the sun shining ; y?t with even a 

 warmer temperature the snow will often ap- 

 pear covered with bees, which the inexperi- 

 enced are prone to believe were lost because 

 the snow was on the ground. A little careful 

 watching will show that these dead bees are 

 those brought from the hive and dropped by 

 the other bees while tbey are "house-clean- 

 ing " This house-cltaning is always going 

 on when the weather will permit of a flight, 

 and at such time all the bees which have died 

 during the cold weather which has preceded 

 this flight are carried out of the hive by the 

 healthy bees ; and where these dead bees are 

 not too heavy the healthy bee rises in the air 

 with the dead one, conveying it some distance 



