November. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



893 



ARE THE SEED 



forbetter y:& 



J:W3lhi-- 



Profits. Profits. Profits. 



It's profitable to do things well, 

 and especially your spraying, for 

 who sprays unless there is to be 

 ample returns. 



Where spraying is done with a MYERS 

 BUCKET, BARREL or POWER 

 SPRAY PUMP there are always profits sooner 

 or later. Big fruit growers tell you this as will 

 gardeners and others who use them. They are 

 "The Seed for Better Profits " from spraying 

 because they are designed, Built and equipped 

 for efficient spraying work. 



Many spray in November. The bright, 

 crisp fall days are ideal for sprayirlg. 

 If you spray during this period, or next 

 Spring, write us about MYERS 

 SPRAY PUMPS, and make them 

 your "Seed for Better Profits" through 

 larger and better crops. 



Catalog mailed free to anyone. 



«i ORANGE ST. 



Inventions Wanted! 



Manufacturers constantly writing us 

 r patents. List of inventions actually 

 quested and book "How to Obtain a Pat- 

 ent" sent free. Send rouph Sketch for free 

 report regarding patentability. Special assist- 

 ance given our clients in selling patents. 

 Write for details of interest to every inventor. 



Chandlee & Ckandlee, Patent Attorneys 

 Esi. 21 Years 427 7tliSt.,Washingtoii.D.C. , 



IE PAGE 



STRONOER. THAN NAILS JOt,' 



HONEY-JARS 



We carry several styles of honey-jars, the most 

 popular being 1-lb. screw-cap at S6.50 per gross. 

 If you need shipping-cases we have them. Cat- 

 alog of supplies mailed on application. . . . 

 We have a fair stock of light amber and amber 

 honey. . Write for prices 



I. J. Stringham, 105 Park PL, N. Y. 



Apiaries: Glen Cove, L. I. 



AROUND THE OFFICE 



M.-A.-O. 



Dear Reader: — 'This is going to be a 

 solenui occasion. It's about skunks — skunks 

 and bees, skunks and men — and I'm not 

 for fooling much about skunks. I've been 

 there myself. So I know skunks ain't to be 

 made light of — not if you get enough and 

 a little more. This ain 't my fight, either, 

 and perhaps it 's none of my business. But 

 Mel Pritchard, our queen and bee rearer, 

 has been stomach aching around the office 

 about half the summer telling what the 

 skunks have been doing to his apiaries — 

 and also a little to him. He has had three 

 apiaries this season. Two of these have 

 been skunky, and one has been free from 

 skunks. One of the skunky apiaries, nine 

 miles from his home, 30 colonies, was all 

 0. k. and strong in early spring. But later 

 skunks had their own way, for Mel was too 

 far away to take a hand. From this colo- 

 ny he didn 't take a pound of honey nor a 

 pound of bees, and the colonies are left 

 weak to go into winter quarters. His home 

 yard was skunk erized, but there Mel cap- 

 tured a half dozen of the varmits by his 

 odorless method (to be explained later in 

 this treatise), and then succeeded in getting 

 only 12 pounds of bees for sale out of this 

 home yard and no honey — the skunks doing 

 a lot of damage despite the owner's best 

 efforts. A third apiary, located 10 miles 

 from our queen - breeder 's home, had no 

 skunk troubles, and yielded 200 lbs. of bees 

 for sale uses, and is in fine condition this 

 fall. So Mel says he can't really recom- 

 mend skunks for the apiary. But he's been 

 studying thgm hard this summer, using a 

 flash light in making his nocturnal investi- 

 gations. He says they begin troubling more 

 or less in the spring, but are worst in the 

 hot weather of midsummer, when the bees 

 cluster on the outside of the hives and the 

 young skunks have got big enough to enjoy 

 a bee lunch. The same individual skunks 

 have come to Mel's home yard night after 

 night, and seemed to feed on bees till they 

 were filled full up, keeping at it three or 

 four hours at a lick. If the bees are clus- 

 tered outside, the skunk ever so carefully 

 grabs his tidbit, one at a time, with his 

 mouth, throws the bee on the ground, rolls it 

 over and over with his paws (probably till 

 its stinger is out of commission), and then 

 eats it. He gets away with about three a 

 minute. If the bees are all inside the hive 

 when the skunk arrives for supper, he pro- 

 ceeds to scratcfi and claw the outside of 

 the hive till the bees begin rushing out, 

 when he puts into operation the same catch- 

 ing and eating process as when he finds 

 them clustered outside. Mel says he has 

 half a notion that the skunk seizes the bees 

 by their wings with his mouth — the skunk 

 does this very carefully, at least. The bees 

 seem never to attack a skunk — perhaps they 

 are afraid of Ms stinger. Mel has curiously 



