444 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



FditoriaC 



C-»-' BY ^ ^ 



. e.R. ROOT 



Those jumbo colonies in junibo hives are 

 boomers ; but, my ! what awful things they 

 are to lift ! If I had to do the work alone I 

 would try to invent some sort of derrick or 

 lifting-machine for that purpose. All the 

 same, I think I like them. If they won't 

 swarm much, and will pile in the honey, I 

 could put up with a good deal of inconven- 

 ience. 



As extensive as the revisions were in the 

 last edition of the A BC of Bee Culture, which 

 edition of 5000 copies will be exhausted inside 

 of a year, the revisions for the new edition will 

 be much more elaborate. While the work 

 will be larger, the price will be the same. I 

 can only su>jgest that prospective buyers wait 

 till the new book is out, as it will be impos- 

 sible for us to get the new edition out before 

 the old one is exhausted. 



KING BIRDS A DAMAGE IN A QUEEN-REAR- 

 ING APIARY. 



King birds and other bee birds are appar- 

 ently making bad work in our queen-rearing 

 operations in our home apiary. I watched the 

 king-birds one evening, and found that one 

 would sit on a tree, make a dive through the 

 air, catch a bee, go back to its perch, and pro- 

 ceed to masticate its precious morsel. Since 

 these birds have made sucU frequent visita- 

 tions we have had considerable losses of young 

 queens. As queens would be slower of flight, 

 and larger and more conspicuous in every way 

 than ordinary worker bees, the birds would be 

 quite likely to single them out from the other 

 bees. I have just bought some No. 10. nitro- 

 powder shot-shells, and with my new Parker 

 hammerless I propose to seek my revenge. 



Experiments were made, I believe, at one 

 experiment station, showing that the bees 

 caught by king-birds were drones. That is to 

 say, birds were shot, and their crops opened. 

 But these birds, doubtless, were killed in the 

 vicinity of apiaries making the production of 

 honey the sole business. If king-birds select 

 the big bees (the drones) in an ordinary /;c«<?;j/ 

 apiary, I would naturally suppose they would 

 chase up and catch queen-h^^?, — those that are 

 out on their wedding-flights in a queen-rearing 

 yard. 



Later. — I have been out with my gun sever- 

 al times, but have not once .seen a king-bird ; 

 but I hear of their being on hand and doing a 

 good business when I am not there. 



HOW TO GET RID OF THE CROSS BEES THAT 

 CHASE ONE ABOUT ON THE WING. 



This afternoon. May 16, at o\ir out-yard, in 

 reversing bottom-boards from shallow to deep 

 entrances I incurred the special wrath of one 

 particular colony. I supposed I had smoked 

 at its entrance and loosened its bottom-board. 



but probably had omitted to do it, by the way 

 the rascals pitched into me. And then, to 

 make matters worse, the bottom-board stuck 

 and finally came loose with a snap. I did not 

 try to '"argue" the matter, but beat a hasty 

 retreat, for there were two or three dozen mad 

 bees clinging to my veil ; and my nose (ever 

 prominent) was holding out a portion of that 

 thin structure. Then there were several other 

 squads that were feeling up my sleeves, and 

 reminding me that they had not forgotten the 

 use of their weapons. I went off shaking my 

 head to keep my nose from the veil, and 

 crammed my hands in my pockets. I waited 

 a few minutes and went back. But there were 

 two or three dozen of those dare-devils in the 

 air that persisted in following me, and every 

 once in a while making a dive up my sleeves. 

 Finally my patience was exhausted. I went 

 to my tool-box and picked up two strips of 

 wood about % inch thick, 1 ^4 inches wide, 

 and a foot long. With one of these in each 

 hand I struck right and left. But do you 

 think I hit them ? Not one. Finally an idea 

 came to me. I then worked those strips back 

 and forth rapidly, about as one would work a 

 fan before the face on a hot day, and, presto ! 

 how their little bodies did flip, crack, bang, 

 and whack ! By keeping up a continuous 

 whirring motion of the two little strips of 

 wood before my face, and without making any 

 effort to hit any particular bee, I succeeded in 

 killing every one of them in much less time 

 than it takes to say it, and, oh what a relief ! 



You see, the point is here : A rapid whirring 

 movement back and forth excites their fury all 

 the more. They make a dive for the moving 

 objects, with the result that they get their 

 heads cracked, and down they fall into the 

 grass, right and left. If one were to strike at 

 one bee on the wing it would not be there, of 

 course, by the time the blow was delivered. 



I verily believe that, if I had tried this act 

 when in Coggshall's yards, when he was per- 

 forming " the kick-off -super act," I could have 

 killed a thousand bees in a short time. 



No one likes to be annoyed by a lot of bees 

 following him about as they will do at times ; 

 and when they once learn this bad habit they 

 are apt to keep it up ; and a good plan is to 

 get rid of them quickly and easily at the start. 



Perhaps I should explain that we make it a 

 rule to send all the cro.ss bees, and all others 

 from which it is not desirable to breed, down 

 to the out-yard. There are there now two col- 

 onies that will give the first thief a warm re- 

 ception. It was not one of these whose wrath 

 I incurred, but I should judge that their bees 

 took a hand in the fracas. 



BI.ACK BROOD IN NEW YORK. 



It seems that this disease is breaking out 

 again in the Empire State, for I hear of its 

 having started up in several localities. The 

 following letter will show that the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, in whose hands rest 

 the responsibility and the power, largely, to 

 eradicate this disease, is very much interested, 

 and is doing and will do all he can to stem the 

 tide of its ravages. 



