GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1917 



effort at this time. Never before did Flori- 

 da so much need a state inspector as right 

 now. Honey-tiows on the East Coast are 

 and have been almost a total failure thus 

 far. Poor years are always worse than 

 good yields to bring out any latent disease 

 among the bees. Beemen are removing 

 their bees from pine lands to swampy and 

 hammock sections this summer to s.ecure 

 benefits of fall flowers when they come. 

 All together, this year bids fair to be one of 

 the worst in the history of the state. 

 * * » 



During the early fall much care is needed 

 all over the state to avoid loss of combs by 

 moths. If colonies become weak, the rav- 

 ages of the moth increase amazingly. Two 

 weeks will utterly ruin a hive of combs if 

 unguarded. If colonies are too weak fo 

 guard all combs, it is well to place a dum- 

 my in the hive and give surplus or excess 

 combs to other stronger hives. If more 

 combs are on hand than can be covered or 

 guarded, it is well to place such in stacks 

 of empty hives, and place a can of carbon- 

 disulphide in the upper one. The sulphide 

 needs to be placed in about every three 

 weeks, unless combs are in moth-tight piles 

 or stacks; then twice fumigating will suf- 

 fice. We mean fumigating by fumes from 

 the disulphidi9. above, not with sulphur, 

 from below. The latter method is antiquat- 

 ed now. 



THE BUTTERFLY WEED. 



A correspondent sends us a beautiful 

 clipping taken from the National Geograpli- 

 ic Magazine. It shows the butterfly Wieed. 

 and the appended article is as interesting 

 as it is true to life. We had already seen 

 the magazine — in fact, are a subscriber to 

 it — but we thank the sender of this clip- 

 ping just as heartily. We would refer all 

 lovers of the beautiful to the columns of the 

 magazine named. The artistic as well as 

 the practical finds ample -expression in the 

 columns, and the illustrations are superb. 

 Our correspondent, Mr. Edw. M. Barteau, 

 of Brookhaven, N. Y., is a close observer of 

 flowers and be-ps. He adds that he . has 

 never noticed that the bees carry away the 

 little pollen-bags of the plant, stuck firmly 

 to their legs. Many species of the milk- 

 weed, of which this is one {Asclepias tuher- 

 osa), do force the winged visitors to pay 

 a toll by making them carry little bits of 

 adhesive pollen-bags away from tlieir blos- 

 soms after their visitations. The particu- 

 lar plant named is found as far south as 

 Florida, but is not common in the state, nor 

 does it seem to be a factor, so far as we can 

 learn, in the honey crops of any portions 

 of Florida. In Pennsylvania it is a com- 

 mon sight, cheering the wayside?^ and dry 

 ridges, making the autumnal landscape 

 brighter for its orange - colored flare of 

 beauty. 



About lialf of those present at the Tennessee field meeting, Aug. 1, at the Davis queen yards. Spring Hill. 



