418 



Gteanings in Bee Culture 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Bees are quite sensitive to cool winds. 

 Half of my hives face east and half west. 

 On a cool morning, with a light breeze from 

 the west, I found l^ees hanging down more 

 or less at the entrance in 4o hives facing 

 east, and in only two facing west. 



Allen Lathaim read that Straw, p. 322, 

 which says that .003 per cent of formic acid 

 in honey means one part in 333. Then he 

 wrote: " How would one part in 33,333 strike 

 you? Would not one in 33;3 be rather tough 

 on the stomach?" Of course, he's right. 

 And I had an idea I was pretty reliable in 

 figures! 



June 15, No. 77 swarmed with the old 

 queen and a virgin. That's the first time I 

 ever positively knew such a thing to hap- 

 pen. I suppose cells were started for swarm- 

 ing, then the dearth made the bees give up 

 the notion of swarming; but for some reason 

 they did not, as usual, destroy the queen- 

 cells. Then when these matured, the swarm 

 issued. 



"Do queens lay unfertile eggs?" p. 383. 

 Sure, they do. I had one queen which laid 

 eggs, and none of her eggs ever hatched. 

 But such cases are verxj rare. It is possible 

 that there are queens which lay bad eggs in 

 part, but I suspect the average queen never 

 lays an egg incapable of hatching. [We 

 hope you are right in your last statement, 

 but believe you are wrong. — Ed.] 



" Dt'rtng the How of alfalfa " is a phrase 

 used on page 403 that seems to refer to New 

 York State. Do let us hear more about it. 

 On only one or two occasions have I seen 

 bees on alfalfa here. But I've always had a 

 hope that, through some change, it might 

 get to yielding. Does it yield at Camillus 

 as well as out west? [Yes, and yields well. 

 ^Ir. House will have something to sav about 

 it.— Ed.] 



In A coLonv where, for the past 21 days, 

 the queen has been laying the same number 

 of eggs daily, about 14 per cent of the cells 

 that she has occu))ied will contain eggs; 26 

 per cent will contain unsealed brood, and 60 

 per cent sealed brood. Early, when laying 

 is on the increase, the proportion of eggs 

 and o])en brood will be greater; and when 

 laying slackens in the fall the proportion of 

 sealed brood will be greater. 



Chr. Boesch, Schweiz. Bzfg., 258, lauds 

 this way of making an artificial swarm: 

 Take from a nucleus the laying queen with 

 one or more frames of bees; put it into a hive 

 and fill up with full sheets of foundation. 

 On this put a bee-escape, and over it put one 

 or several supers that you are about to har- 

 vest. The bees unite kindly, and the queen 

 is never harmed. Mr. Boesch imprisons 

 three days, and feeds. Some experience of 

 my own makes me jirefer to give more bees 

 and omit the imprisonment and feeding. 



The best thing for killing ants of any 

 kind is arsenic in syrup. The commercial 

 ant-]u\stes are made so strong in arsenic that 

 the foraging ants are killed almost immedi- 

 ately, leaving the rest of the family in good 

 health. Make it weak, one to two parts of 

 arsenic in 800 of syrup, and large quantities 

 will be carried to the nest and the whole col- 

 ony slowly poisoned. — American Bee Jour- 

 nal, 168. 



Mag. Pons, L'ApicuIteur, p. 201, re])orts 

 bee ])aralysis very destructive in his region. 

 He thinks the disease is conveyed from one 

 adult bee to another in the same hive. 

 Healthy colonies that rob out diseased col- 

 onies remain healthy. A swarm hived on 

 combs on which a diseased colony died re- 

 mains healthy. He cured in this way: Every 

 half-hour for three days he brushed the sick 

 bees off the platform and threw them far 

 away. After the third day the cure was 

 complete. 



It is said, p. 361, that Dr. Miller "has for 

 years used a 24-lb. section-case." That 

 might be understood to mean that I had 

 never fairly tried any thing but a double- 

 tier case. For years I used 24-lb. double- 

 tier, made specially to order. Then, in order 

 to be in fashion, I used mostly 12-lb. single- 

 tier, and some 24-lb. single-tier, and for sev- 

 eral years have used no more 24-lb. double- 

 tier until I used some for part of my last 

 shipment. So I think I know how they 

 compare for my own use. 



There is a tradition that to crush a bee 

 angers the colony. Xo one of ]iroper feeling 

 needlessly crushes a bee; but I have yet to 

 see any proof that bees resent the crushing 

 of a bee any iBore than the crushing of a 

 spider or a piece of paper. [We agree with 

 you, i)roviding that crushing kills the bee 

 or paralyzes it outright; but a bee that is 

 pinched enough so that it will squeal may 

 excite the fury of a good many other bees in 

 the colony. This is particularly true of Cyp- 

 rians, as we know from some unpleasant 

 experiences. — Ed.] 



L. S. Crawshaw. speaking of correct bee 

 terminology, .says, British Bee Journal, p. 

 178: " Dr. Miller, who admonishes D. M. >!., 

 would apparently abolish the word 'stock,' 

 and confine us to 'colony.' Yet the term 

 'stock,' as used in this country, has its defi- 

 nite use as opposed to the term 'swarm,' 

 whilst colony would surely, speaking strict- 

 ly, include both. But perhaps Dr. Miller 

 will explain." Instead of explaining I want 

 to crawfish. I think I never used the word 

 "stock" as applied to bees, but have hun- 

 gered for a single word that would mean the 

 mother colony from which a swarm has is- 

 sued. If "stock" has that meaning in 

 Great Britain, I am only too glad to follow 

 the example, with many thanks to Mr. 

 Crawshaw. 



