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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 15 



average successful bee-keeper will make, five dol- 

 lars per colony being a high average as the seasons 

 run. Of course, ten dollars" worth of honey could 

 be easily produced per colony in a good season, so 

 that for gross receipts one thousand dollars per one 

 hundred colonies in a good season would be consid- 

 ered as doing remarkably well.— Ed.] 



Dysentery in the Cellar ; What to Do. 



I put my bees In the cellar the day before Thanks- 

 giving. They had a good fly that day, and went in 

 dry and nice. I have a very large cellar. Most of 

 my bees (116 colonies) are on a 16-inch stand, single 

 tier. They have been very quiet ever since. Ihe 

 mercury started in at 45, and is now down to 42, and 

 no light whatever comes into the cellar. It has no 

 windows nor vegetables in it. But the cellar seems 

 to be on the damp order. The dead bees on the 

 ground are covered with white mold. Some are 

 moldy about the hive-entrance: some hives have 

 water running out of their entrances (% inch by the 

 width of the hives). Last year was almost a no- 

 honey year here, but we had lots of honey-dew. I 

 expected to put my bees out for a cleansing flight 

 at the first opportunity, after being in one month; 

 but there has not been a day when they could fly 

 since putting them in. Some of my bees are spot- 

 ting the hives badly now. Will it do to set them 

 out with snow on the ground? How high must the 

 mercury be? How about the wind? 



Cedar Falls, la., .Ian. 19. E. E. Rich. 



[You do not say any thing about what means of 

 ventilation you have. If any. While the tempera- 

 ture (42 to 45) Is good so far as it goes, if there is a 

 lack of ventilation, or no means of it, by which the 

 bees can get fresh air, you will discover uneasiness 

 — especially so if your bees had been gathering 

 honey-dew during the past summer. The proba- 

 bilities are that the real exciting cause of the dys- 

 entery is bad food. This, coupled with lack of ven- 

 tilation, may cause heavy losses among some of 

 your colonies before spring. If the temperature 

 should warm up to 50° or higher, outdoors, and the 

 sun should shine, we would advise taking the bees 

 that are affected with dysentery out for a flight, 

 then putting them back in again as soon as they 

 have gone Into the hive at night. The objection to 

 giving the bees a flight, if there should be any 

 snow on the ground. Is that large numbers of them 

 would get chilled, lodge on the snow, and never get 

 back. If, however, the snow should melt off with- 

 in a few hours we would leave the hives out; and if 

 there should be a warm atmosphere the next day 

 those bees that were chilled and on the ground 

 might warm up, take wing, and return to the hives 

 — that Is, providing they had not been chilled to 

 death the day before. Bees will stand a gradually 

 falling temperature, but not a sudden change. 



In regard to the ventilation, if you have made no 

 special provision ■we would advise opening the 

 cellar-door occasionally nights, and closing toward 

 morning. It may be necessary at such times to 

 put artificial heat in the cellar to keep the temper- 

 ature from dropping too low. Put in a small drum 

 stove and connect it with the chimney-flue. Do 

 not put in a kerosene-lamp nor any thing that con- 

 sumes the oxygen in the room, as this will only ag- 

 gravate the condition. The drum stove will help 

 to dry out the cellar. 



Taking it all in all, a warm day and a flight for 

 the bees is the only thing that will give relief to 

 those affected with dysentery, and this may be 

 only temporary. The honey-dew in the combs 

 should have been extracted, and the bees should 

 have been fed sugar syrup before they were put 

 into the cellar. 



We do not think the moisture that you report 

 would do any harm, other conditions being right. 

 The moldy dead bees on the cellar bottom do not 

 necessarily indicate any thing serious. — Ed.] 



Another Switch Bottom-board Similar to That 

 Devised by J. E. Hand. 



By late numbers I see that Mr. J. E. Hand has de- 

 vised a double bottom-board. I have almost the 

 same thing except that mine is a hive-stand as well 

 as a bottom-board, and the construction is some- 

 what different, although the lever arrangement for 

 switching the bees back and forth Is almost exactly 

 the same. Mr. Hand is ahead of me. however, in 

 getting his outfit into practical use. I had ray plan 



perfected in 1909, but sold out and went to another 

 county, and consequently did not get one of these 

 outfits of mine ready to test last season. As soon 

 as I could, however, I made one according to the 

 rough sketch that I am furnishing. I also have a 

 feeder In combination with my bottom-board, so 

 arranged as to be filled from the outside. 



I conceived my first idea from the Scholl plan of 

 working two hives, and I got up the switching de- 

 vice to make the manipulation more convenient. 



Madison, Kan. J. H. Henderson. 



[The sketch that Mr. Henderson furnished shows 

 a very striking similarity to the Hand switch bot- 

 tom-board. All this only goes to show that two dif- 

 ferent parties may work out almost exactly the 

 same thing at the same time. — Ed.] 



Granulated Sugar Tainted with Kerosene ; would 

 it be Safe to Feed Bees? 



I am able to purchase a quantity of granulated 

 sugar of the railroad company for a mere song. 

 This sugar is tainted with kerosene, but is not bad, 

 although one can detect the coal-oil odor on it. 

 Would it be safe to feed it to my bees, or would 

 there be danger of killing the brood and tainting 

 the hives? Could I spread It out thin and allow the 

 oil to evaporate? or would making a syrup of It 

 and boiling it thoroughly dissipate the oil and 

 make it a safe feed? 



Nevada, O., Jan. 25. F. J. Armstrong. 



[We see no reason why you could not use this su- 

 gar. The slight taint of kerosene certainly would 

 not hurt it in the least, although the odor of it 

 might be a liltle offensive to the bees. If they take 

 the syrup you may rest assured it would do them 

 no harm. However, we would advise you to se- 

 cure a small qviantity of it, melt it up, and feed it 

 to the bees. In order to do this, bring the bees In- 

 side of a warm building, then place a feeder of the 

 syrup on top of the hive. If they take It down 

 readily we do not think you will need to have any 

 fear of its injurious effect upon the bees. — Ed.] 



That Odor from the Hives. 



Some years ago, while living in the South, our ear- 

 ly honey crop was a failure and we had to feed the 

 bees. In the fall we had a splendid crop of honey 

 from goldenrod and aster: and during the flow the 

 odor from the hives was rank. A young bee-keep- 

 er came three miles to .see me, and w-as greatly 

 worried, as he thought he had foul brood. He had 

 examined the bees, but could not find any indica- 

 tions (beyond the odor) as per instructions in bee- 

 books, etc. I suggested going to see my bees: and 

 when we were a few feet from the hives he ex- 

 claimed excitedly, "You have got it too." Howev- 

 er, I showed him that the odor was from goldenrod 

 and asters by taking a handful of the blossoms of 

 the latter and rubbing them In my hand and let- 

 ting him smell the crushed flowers. 



He thought the honey would not be fit to use: but 

 I told him to leave it on the hive as long as possible 

 or till the approach of cold weather, and it would 

 be good. And it was. 



Elwood, Ind. D. Neilson. 



Conditions when a Virgin will Supersede an Old 

 Queen. 



In reading Doollttle's book on queen-rearing I 

 note that, when a young queen is raised in the up- 

 per story, if by any chance she gets in the lower 

 story she always kills the old queen. Now, what I 

 want to ask is this: Why couldn't I requeen by put- 

 ting a cell In a nursery cage right in the hive where 

 the old queen is. and on her (the new queen's) 

 hatching would she not supersede the old queen? 

 and would not this be the easiest way to requeen? 



Sabetha, Kan. Frank Hill. 



[There Is a possibility that you might be able to 

 requeen by the plan described, but we would not 

 advise it. The probabilities are that the old queen 

 would kill the young virgin while she was soft and 

 weak, just as she emerged from the cell. If the vir- 

 gin could be protected until she were three or four 

 days old she would be more than a match lor the 

 old queen. As a general thing we advise bee-keep- 

 ers to take the matter Into their own hands, re- 

 move the old queen, and then give a cell or a day- 

 old virgin to the colony. — Ed.] 



