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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



nameless disease, or bee-paralysis, you will 

 find about all that is known on the subject. 

 To be sure, tbat isn't all that might be desir- 

 ed; for although a number of cures have been 

 recommended as sure by different persons, 

 there seem as yet to be no means of treatment 

 that have proved efficient in the hands of the 

 many. 



As to contagiousness, it certainly is not very 

 contagious, for I've had one or a few colonies 

 to be affected throughout the whole season 

 without having others affected. As far north 

 as Northern Illinois it is hardly worth paying 

 any attention to; but in the far South it is a 

 very serious matter. It is hardly advisable 

 for you to destroy the affected colonies. Quite 

 possibly the disease will disappear of itself, as 

 it has with me. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



[But the disease, judging from reports, is 

 verv contagious in the South, is it not, doctor? 

 —Ed.] 



bee-keepers in the legislature. 



I have just read with interest the experience 

 of the New York bee-keepers with their legis- 

 lature, relative to the spraying-bill. I had the 

 same experience in our legislature. Our bill 

 was introduced by the horticulturist. I said 

 but little until the bill came up for its third 

 reading, then I introduced an amendment 

 making the penalty the same for spraying 

 while in bloom as the bill provided for not 

 spraying at all. The amendment was adopt- 

 ed, and the bill passed the house as amended. 

 I then followed it to the senate, where my 

 amendment was concurred in, and it is now a 

 law upon our statute-books. 



We have not been so fortunate this winter 

 with our foul-brood bill. It was referred to 

 the committee on ways and means, who re- 

 fused to report it out, so the bill is dead in the 

 committee room. I think we need one or two 

 good live bee keepers in ever)' legislature. I 

 shall see that this foul-brood bill is introduced 

 at every session of our legislature until it pass- 

 es. I think the bee-keepers of the State are 

 more to blame than any one else for this fail- 

 ure. I doubt whether a dozen have written to 

 Lac sing in the interest of the bill. 



George E. Hilton. 



Fremont, Mich., May 19. 



THOSE DARK RAYS. 



What an age we live in ! When are the 

 wonders which startle the world to cease? 

 Now comes the discoverer of "dark rays" 

 (see page 355, Gleanings) such as enable 

 the owl, cat, and other nocturnal prowlers, to 

 see their prey. The prismatic rays and the 

 X rays, in the realm of discovery, are in a to- 

 tal eclipse. It has been generally supposed 

 that darkness indicated the absence of rays, 

 and that the pupil of the eye expanded as 

 the rays of light lessened, so as to take in, or 

 gather together what there were, so that ob- 

 jects might be made visible, but we are told 

 that the expausion of the pupil of the eye is 



for quite another purpose; viz., to take in a 

 greater quantity of darkness, thus rendering 

 objects discernible. Oh, my ! Just shut your 

 eyes, and think a moment. How much dark- 

 ness tabby cat could get, even in the daytime, 

 by shutting her eyes ! Then where would 

 poor mousie be? What's the use of expand- 

 ing the pupil, even in the dark? Shut the 

 eye; it'll be dark enough. Why, bees ought 

 to do their best honey gathering during the 

 darkest nights. We sometimes hear it said 

 that they have been known to gather honey, 

 in some localities, during very bright moon- 

 light nights; but mine have not made suffi- 

 cient advancement in the use of " the rays of 

 dark" to do even that; and for several rea- 

 sons, which I might give, I hope they never 

 will. W. M. Whitney. 



Hospital, 111. 4 



A PLEA FOR THE KING BIRD. 



I ido not own a honey-bee and never did; 

 but I like your paper, and I love God's crea- 

 tures, hence this article. On page 354 A. J. 

 Wright makes a common but most unjustifia- 

 ble attack on the king bird as an enemy and 

 destroyer of honey-bees. On page 233 of the 

 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for the 

 year 1893 is given the food habits of the king 

 bird. The specialists of the department ana- 

 lyzed the contents of 171 stomachs taken 

 from king birds in nineteen different States, 

 Canada, and the District of Columbia, six 

 months being covered in collecting the same. 

 Only 14 stomachs contained any traces of the 

 honey-bee, and there was a total of only fifty 

 bees found. Of these, 40 were drones, 4 were 

 workers, and 6 were too fragmentary to iden- 

 tify. Thus only one bird in 12 caught bees, 

 of which only 10 per cent were workers. In 

 several instances birds were shot near bee- 

 hives, but no trace of bees were found in 

 their stomachs. Before condemning any of 

 God's creatures, be sure we are right, then go 

 ahead. W. H. SEELY. 



Howell, Mich., May 6. 



[But I have seen king birds catch bees in 

 our apiary at the rate of about one a minute. 

 They caught the bees in the air, then would 

 alight on the barn near by and then swallow 

 them. One bird would catch perhaps a dozen 

 in this way at a time. 



At one other time we lost a good many 

 queens during the queen-rearing season, and 

 there were king birds that made a regular 

 business of being on hand in the morning. I 

 did not see them catch bees this time; but I 

 shot several of the birds, and after that the 

 young queens did not " come up missing " so 

 often. King birds, like man-eating tigers, ac- 

 quire a liking for a certain kind of dietary; 

 and if the birds are making frequent visits to 

 the apiary you may be sure they are there for 

 the bees. As they are caught on the wing, 

 naturally the largest and the slowest of flight 

 bees (the queens) would be the victims. The 

 report you refer to only goes to show that the 

 birds in question were not of the bee-eating 

 kind.— Ed.] 



