518 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Swarming Bees that were Cross 



About the last of August I liad two very large 

 swarms come off, and I never saw bees so cross. I 

 used water to make them settle low, and they literal- 

 ly covered me while they were in the air, stinging 

 with all their might. I had a very hard time to get 

 them hived. I had to go into the woodshed three or 

 four times to clean the bees off my body. I was 

 stung about 20 times, as they crawled in every crev- 

 ice in my clothing. What caused them to be so 

 cross ? They are Italians, and were working on 

 buckwheat at the time. 



Ossineke, Mich. F. G. Pennell. 



[It is not common to find bees cross ■when swarm- 

 ing, for they are usually pretty well filled with hon- 

 ey so that they are not likely to be irritable. Occa- 

 sionally, however, something happens to infuriate 

 them, and then they will sting. At such times it is 

 pretty hard to point to a definite cause. 



Possibly the bees of the parent colony from which 

 the swarm issued were more irritable than others 

 which you have. Several have reported, moreover, 

 that bees are often pretty cross while working on 

 buckwheat. Why they .should be crosser then 

 than at other times we do not know. If any robbing 

 had been going on, or if the honey-flow had suddenly 

 let up, the explanation would be simple. — Ed.] 



Foul Brood in Kentucky 



The losses resulting from carelessness of indiffer- 

 ent beekeepers are the only ones of any consequence. 

 Very heavy losses have occurred among those who 

 had foul brood, and did not shake. This old-fogy 

 idea that foul brood will not cause a great per cent 

 of loss is absolutely absurd. Kentucky is badly in 

 need of a law that will compel every man who has 

 disease to get rid of it. Just so long as one man is 

 permitted to have foul brood, every one near by will 

 be more or less bothered by this deadly disease. Let 

 us as beemen, in the absence of such a law, resolve 

 to do all we can to eliminate this malady. 



Brooksville, Ky., April 7. L. F. Rick. 



Sliding the Super Forward to Let the Bees Escape 



On |i. :;ii9, April 1"), Mr. Ewon wants his escape 

 in the center of the board. I used an escape-board 

 when the first dovetailed hives came out — just a 

 plain board on top of the new super (or extracting- 

 frames if extracting), then the honey-board, then the 

 full super, then the cover. The bees escaped through 

 an opening made by shoving the full super over the 

 front end of the honey-board % inch, or .iust enough 

 room to let the bees pass out and down to the en- 

 trance of the hive. We put the boards on in the late 

 afternoon or evening, and the next morning the full 

 supers were clear of bees. 



An opening through the front strip of the escape- 

 board is all that is necessary. This method will not 

 work if the bees can not all get inside. After escap- 

 ing, if crowded for room, they will cluster on the 

 front end of the hive, and keep possession of the full 

 super. 



Portland, Oregon. Charle.s Rusk. 



[During a honey-flow this plan will work, but rob- 

 bers would take possession during a dearth. — Ed.] 



Bees that are Habitual Robbers are the Ones that 

 Spread Foul Brood 



I was interested in Mr. Doolittle's article, page 

 710, Oct. 15, 1913, as to desirable bee traits or nat- 

 ural characteristic qualities of different colonies ; but 

 he did not touch upon one vital point — robbing — 

 which to me meant very much when it comes to han- 

 dling American foul brood. Referring to the ques- 

 tion of immunity from foul brood, it is the colonies 

 that get right out in the fields that are immune, not 

 the ones that are for ever pilfering and prying 

 around at all the hive entrances. They are the ones 



lliat continually keep spreading diseases. I would 

 suggest that one or two decoy hives be set out with 

 a few old combs in them, and bee-escapes turned in, 

 .so that in the evening the bees thus caught robbing 

 can be sprinkled with flour to enable the beekeeper 

 to tell what hive they came from. He should then 

 mark such to have a " smoked-in queen " (by the 

 way, that trick is worth dollars). 



The black bees are natural robbers, and that is the 

 reason why they are so hard to handle when foul 

 brood gets a start. Some individual colonies of any 

 races are natural robbers, just as in the human fam- 

 ily. Breed from the hives that get right out into the 

 fields, and show results in the hive, and add all the 

 other good traits Mr. Doolittle speaks of. 



Colo, Iowa, Jan. 1. D. E. Lhommedieu. 



Brood-comb Clogged with Honey Before the IVIain 

 Honey-flow 



Complying with' Dr. Miller's wish, p. 244, April 1, 

 I will say that supers were on. Some of them had a 

 few bait sections ; some two, some four, etc. These 

 bait sections were filled in the strong colonies the 

 "same as were the frames in the brood-chamber. In 

 the weaker colonies they were untouched. 



Our location provides a long period of warm 

 weather from Feb. 15 to .Tune 15, during which time 

 there are intermittent sources of nectar, beginning 

 with willow, then fruit-bloom, followed by some va- 

 rieties of sage. Tlie altitude is high (4800 ft.) and 

 dry, with an almost cloudless sky. This dryness 

 shortens the time that the sage bloom is in its prime 

 or nectar-jjroducing stage, and, moreover, the flow is 

 not continuous enough for comb-building in sections, 

 but increases as the season advances, so that the 

 brood-chamber becomes clogged. Some of these 

 frames are fully cappped 15 days before alfalfa. 



This year the brood-rearing started two weeks 

 earlier. There will be but very little if any old hon- 

 ey left in any of the brood-chambers, and all colo- 

 nies are strong in young bees. 



Were it not for the abundant stores from last fall, 

 we would have had to feed at this time. I have 

 Iilanned to have -new combs drawn from full sheets 

 during the time the clogging takes place this year by 

 inserting foundation between brood. 



Bishop, Cal. Geo. M. Huntington. 



Queen Goes to Another Hive 



I oiue introduced a breeding queen to a small 

 colony. She did finely for about four weeks, when 

 she suddenly disappeared and the colony refused to 

 build cells, even to rear themselves a queen. In 

 about three weeks I saw the same kind of bees flying 

 from another hive two hives from there, and on ex- 

 amining it I found that breeding queen doing good 

 work. Has any one else ever had such an experience ? 



Clarkston, Mich. W. L. Love.toy. 



Honey 40 Cents per Gallon in Jamaica 



It is to be regretted that honey has fallen so low in 

 price this season ; 40 cents per gallon for white and 

 30 cents for amber is the best price offered. Many 

 beekeepers just let the honey remain in the hives for 

 the bees to consume. Up to last year honey was 

 eagerly bought up at from 70 to 75 cents per gallon. 



F. A. Hooper. 



Pour Paths, Clarendon, Jamaica, April 20. 



Death of Josiah Eastburn 



I am sorry to inform you of the death of Mr. 

 .Tosiah Eastburn, proprietor of the Locust Grove Api- 

 ary, Fallsington, Pa. Mr. Eastburn was the leading 

 authority on apiculture in Bucks County, where be 

 was engaged in apiculture for about 30 years. He 

 was a man of upright character. His widow sur- 

 \ ives him. 



Elizabeth, N. J., June 3, E. E. Guv, 



