1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



575 



HOW FAR DO BEES FI^Y FROM CHOICE ? 



I saw an article in the Australian Bee Bul- 

 letin, July 24, 1897, from Mr. G. M. Doolittle, 

 where he claims his bees gather honey from 

 basswood seven and eight miles from his api- 

 ary. I take three bee-journals, but I have not 

 seen the question discussed jet in any of 

 them. I am sure it would be interesting to 

 hear the reports from different people. When 

 I first got the Italians I watched a good deal, 

 but 1 never found them over two miles from 

 the apiary; of course, there was plenty of for- 

 age within that distance. H. Smith. 



Moss Glen, Tasmania, April 10. 



[I am very sure that Mr. Doolittle did not 

 intend to be quoted as saying that his bees 

 flew seven or eight miles from choice. When 

 he made the statement in question it was the 

 extremes of flight that he had noticed in his 

 experience, such extremes being only when 

 his bees could not get nectar nearer. As a 

 rule, bees will not fly much over a mile and a 

 half or two miles — that is, providing there is 

 a supply of nectar in the radius named ; but if 

 there is none to be had within that distance 

 they will fly further. Sometimes they have 

 gone 15 miles across bodies of water. When 

 basswood is in bloom profusely, and there is 

 plenty of it within a mile, the bees will not go 

 further than that. As long as they can get 

 all they can carry home within a mile, it 

 would be poor policy to fly further. — Ed.] 



HOW TO FIND OUEENS ; CURING FOUL BROOD 

 WITHOUT SACRIFICING HEALTHY BROOD. 



To find a queen, open the hive rather rough- 

 ly ; quickly move frames apart, just far enough 

 so that the bees can not reach from one comb 

 to another. In from one to two minutes the 

 bees will set up a call of lost queen, and then 

 converge toward the comb she is on. In this 

 way she is readily found. 



In requeening a large quantity at once, 

 place the caged queen over the brood frames 

 the night before. Next morning you will find 

 the queen you wish to remove, either on the 

 cage or on the comb immediately below. This, 

 in requeening a large number, is a great saver 

 of time. 



Remove queen of infected colony at com- 

 mencement of honey-flow, on account of less 

 danger from robbing. Let the colony rear a 

 new queen. When she is ready to lay, the 

 old brood will all be hatched ; transfer a la 

 McEvoy, and a permanent cure is sure, as the 

 bees have no larval food on hand. Extract the 

 honey, boil thoroughly, and after two days 

 boil again, and use to feed. Render wax, re- 

 melt, and boil twice, and it is safe. 



ANOTHER METHOD. 



Shake bees off a la McEvoy into a new hive 

 on old stand. Return the combs to the old 

 hive, and place at the end of the hive with en- 

 trance at right angles to old stand. Close en- 

 trance of old stand, bore a hole an inch in di- 

 ameter, over which place a tin tube six inches 

 long, an inch in diameter, tapering to y?, inch 

 at small end. This end is to lead to the en- 

 trance of the other hive. Close all other 



means of egress or ingress. The young bees 

 invariably draw into the old stock. In five 

 weeks the transfer is complete. Utilize or de- 

 stroy old combs. W. W. Case. 

 Baptisttown, N. J., June 26. 



[If I am not very much mistaken, I have 

 tried the plan of separating the combs, for 

 some one had said the bees would set up a 

 call, and that they would work toward the 

 frame on which the queen was. While some 

 colonies might do it, those I tried did not do 

 any thing that gave me an inkling of where 

 the queen was. 



But your method of requeening large apiaries 

 would, I think, do very nicely, for a queen al- 

 ready in the hive would be quite likely to be 

 near the caged queen, out of motives of jeal- 

 ousy, and with the evident desire to meet in 

 mortal combat to settle the question of who 

 shall be boss. 



Your method of curing foul brood would 

 work very well ; but the first plan spoken of 

 would be far better than the second one. 

 Neither one of them should be used unless it 

 is at the beginning of the honey-flow, when 

 there would be no robbing about. During the 

 robbing season it is not safe to leave a foul- 

 broody colony in the apiary for one day. — Ed.] 



THICK vs. THIN SECTIONS. 



Would not a section 3X5 in size by 2^ thick 

 or broad be much better than a thin one 4x5 

 square? I think a cake of honey 3X5 X2^'4^ 

 would look very tempting on the table. It 

 would take up as little room, and fit as many 

 dishes, as any form I have yet seen. It would 

 require less foundation, and give less of what 

 some term "fish-bone." Such a package 

 would weigh at least one pound, and fool no 

 one, as the broad thin one with its shallow 

 cell often does. It seems to say, " Buy me ; 

 see what a great lump of honey you will get," 

 at the same time showing its broad side to the 

 customer in order to deceive as much as pos- 

 sible, knowing every word to be false, which 

 the purchaser finds out to his sorrow when he 

 has slipped it out of its slick case. Some may 

 say bees will not draw out and fill the thick 

 comb as quickly or as readily as a thin one. 

 My experience has led me to believe that, in 

 storing honey, bees rather like (or, I may say, 

 prefer) deep cells, and they will draw out and 

 fill the deep sections quicker, considering the 

 amount of sweet they store, as they will have 

 less comb to work and less capping over to do. 

 I have noticed, when they are storing honey 

 in their brood-chamber, they build their comb 

 much thicker than that in which they rear 

 their young ; rnd if the frames are far 

 enough apart to allow, they wid often build 

 their comb 1}4 inches thick. 



Two years ago I thought I would try to ob- 

 tain a sort of novelty in section honey to ex- 

 hibit at our county fair, so I constructed a few 

 broad sections, fastening two standard sec- 

 tions tojjether, and sticking the foundation be- 

 tween the two. Then I arranged a super so 

 these broad sections would fit ; put them in, 

 and set the super over one of my best colonies; 

 and the result was, at fair time I had some as 



