Aug. 15, 1911 



505 



ment. For the sake of safety I cut out all combs 

 from extracting-supers. melted the wax, and boiled 

 all frames about ten minutes. When taken from 

 the water some of the wax and slumgrum, swim- 

 ming on the surface, adhered to the frames. \\'ould 

 you consider it absolutely safe to use such extract- 

 ing-frames again? 1 do not wish to take any risks. 

 The man who places diseased colonies on top of 

 others would say the.v may surely be used. My 

 bee-friend here In Detroit would say. " Destroy 

 them." Foul brood is certainly enough to try the 

 bee-keeper's soul. It broke out on me again this 

 spring: but now 1 hope to have it under control. 



Detroit, Mich., June 1. L. List. 



[There is a golden mean in this matter of disin- 

 fecting hives. We advocate using a gasoline-torch 

 or a little dry straw, scorching the inside of the 

 hive. This is ample. It is not necessary to char 

 deep. 



In nine times out of ten.. and possibly ninety-nine 

 times out of a hundred, it would be safe to use ex- 

 tracting-combs that have never contained brood, 

 that liave been over a sick colony. But there is a 

 chance; and on the principle of erring on tiae safe 

 side we would advise melting up such combs. 



The treatment that you gave your frames was 

 sufficient to disinfect them, in our judgment. We 

 should have no hesitation about using them again. 



Queen cand.v may carry the disease if the honey 

 of which it is made is not boiled: see editorial re- 

 marks elsewhere. Mo.st if not all queen-breeders 

 boil their honey liefore making candy of it. — IOd.] 



A Swarm Brought Down with a Spray-pump. 



I am a Leghorn-egg farmer, and a bee-keeping 

 friend of mine presented me last April with a fine 

 strong colony of black bees, and, being in the green- 

 house district, I suppose they made increase very 

 fast, for nearly a week ago I noticed signs of a de- 

 sire to swarm. Yesterday, May 28, at 9 a.m., going 

 by the hive. I noticed the air full of bees, and a 

 quart or two in front of the hive. Being very busy, 

 and not knowing how to go about it to stop the 

 swarm, and not being confident of being able to 

 handle it. even if it did settle near my place, I 

 strained m.y confused mind to devise some means 

 to stop it, and this is the presumably unscientific 

 thing I did: I got out my sprayer, put on the spray- 

 nozzle, and soaked every thing in sight — hive with 

 a quart or two of clinging bees: the entrance, and 

 into the hive as far as the spray would go; also the 

 bees in the air as far as I could reach. Within five 

 minutes the bees in the air had settled on the hive, 

 when they got another good soaking, and I was de- 

 lighted to see them all going into the hive as fast 

 as their bedraggled condition would allow them. 

 However, they were not cooled off as much as I 

 thought they were, x^bout noon the same da.y I 

 noticed what I sujjposed to be a hanging ball of 

 bees in a tall hickory-tree about ten rods over in 

 neighbor Coulon's garden: but on going out to the 

 hive I found every thing quiet, and thought my 

 eyesight must have deceived me. However, about 

 ^ P.M., my duties taking me under that particular 

 tree, I found the air full of bees, and the swarm in 

 the tree (for swarm it was), melting away as fast as 

 it could. Well, I considered that swarm as good as 

 lost, for I expected every moment to see them 

 .strike out for their new home; but, no! there w^s 

 another surpri.se for me. In live niinutes they were 

 all circling in the air, and then they went back to 

 the hive. I then immediately opened up the hive, 

 an old eight-frame one, found the qvieen on the 

 fourth frame, and transferred these four frames of 

 brood and comb to the new hive: put a new hive 

 on the old stand, and closed both hives up. I found 

 one queen-cell on frames transferred to the new 

 hive. 



Mt. Clemons, Mich. T. .1. A.SHLey. 



The Mischief King-birds can do in a Queen-rearing 

 Yard. 



I have been troubled for the last two years by 

 king-birds catching my bees, and especially the 

 young queens. I know they catch bees, for I saw 

 one perched on the top rail of the grape-trellis 

 which run.s over my hives, and every minute or so 

 he would dart out and come back with a hee in his 

 beak, which he killed by rubbing it on the trellis. 



Two or three of these birds could make serious 

 inroads on the workers in the spring, as sixty bees 

 is a low estimate for eacli bird per day. But the 

 worst Is, I find it next to impossible to get a young 



queen .started before August, when these birds 

 leave the vicinity. Last year I had two colonies 

 queenless for a long time, nnd at present have two 

 queenless, one of which has been so since June 8, 

 which 1 tried to requeen by the use of West protec- 

 tors and queen-cells, and have given them eggs, 

 and brood-frames with caijped queen-cells: but they 

 hatch and disappear. The hives are rather close 

 together (eight in a thirty-foot row), but I have 

 them grouped and painted in contrast, and. fur- 

 ther, 1 succeeded last .year when the hives were not 

 so well defined, but after the king-birds left. 



This afternoon I saw an old king-bird and three 

 almost grown ones perched on the telephone wires 

 which run over our yard forty feet south of the 

 hives, all busy. I understand these birds are pro- 

 tected by the law, and I should like to know If any 

 thing can be done to dispose of them in a case like 

 thi.s. 



Elyria, O., July 24. Wm. J. Miller. 



[Nearly forty years ago, when A. I. R. was learn- 

 ing his A B C's, the writer, a lad then about ten 

 years old. observed king-birds catching bees in ex- 

 actly the way you have described, and quite as 

 often. The birds would have some perch, and ev- 

 er.v now and then would take a rapid flight over 

 the bee-yard, catch a bee, return to the perch, and 

 kill its victim. We .saw the birds catch hundreds 

 and hundreds of bees, and at that time we remem- 

 ber A. I. R. complaining that he lost a good many 

 young queens on the mating-llight. We were au- 

 thorized to kill Iheni off with a rifle, when the nui- 

 sance disapyjeared. 



We think there is no question at all but that the 

 king-birds are responsible for the loss of your 

 young queen.s. A queen-bee when in flight is larg- 

 er, and would be more apt to attract the birds than 

 the ordinary worker-bees, and hence a very much 

 larger proportion of them would be killed than of 

 the workers. The obvious remedy is a gun. We 

 do not think there is any law that prevents your 

 shooting them off when they are destroying your 

 property, for king-birds are known to do a lot of 

 damage in a queen-rearing yard. The law permits 

 one to shoot rabbits on his own premises when 

 they are barking trees or otherwise destroying 

 property, even though the season is closed for 

 shooting them. While the law makes no provision 

 for king-birds, under the circumstances no one 

 would raise any objections to your shooting them, 

 we are very .sure, unless you have some jealous 

 neighbors who wovild be inclined to make you 

 trouble.— Kd.] 



Is the Kiliing-off of Drones a Sure Premonition of a 

 Drouth ? 



We have had very peculiar conditions for this 

 section of the country. April 15 our bees were get- 

 ting honey from a profuse blooni of white clover 

 and horehound. May 1 a cold snap, with frost, 

 struck us, which .stopped the honey-flow, and a 

 drouth set in which continued until June 20. How- 

 ever, we had premonition of the drouth, as the 

 bees began killing off all drones, and even the 

 young queens from colonies which had swarmed — 

 a sure indication of a long dry spell. I notice that 

 many of your correspondents. report this condition, 

 not knowing why the bees did so. But it ix an in- 

 fallible sign. At this time the clover has come out 

 again, and the bees are at work on that, and on 

 catnip and sumac, as well as other flora, with a 

 good crop of goldenrod coming on for a fall su))ply 

 of honey. 



Reed's Spring, Mo.. July 12. N. T. Gbeen. 



[Your statement Is only partly right. Bees may 

 kill off drone.s when a drouth is in prospect; but if 

 they do so it is not because of the drouth but be- 

 cause honey is failing. In the same way they might 

 kill off drones when a long wet spell is about to 

 come on— not because of the large amount of rain, 

 tiut because no honey is coming in. When bees 

 start killing off drones we consider it an infallible 

 sign that honey is beginning to fail, if it has not 

 failed altogether. Beyond that, such actions mean 

 nothing. — Ed.] 



Knew the Effect. 



Te.\chee.— "Tommy, do you know, "How doth 

 the little bu.sy bee? ' " 

 Tommy—" Xo: I only know he doth it ! "' 



— Technical World Maaaznie. 



