304 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



enemies. So e^ger are the people to avail 

 themselves of this great discovery that Mr. 

 Waite told us ihey were steahng his snails 

 at such a rate he didn't know but a watch 

 would have to be kept all through their ex- 

 tensive lemon-groves. Scientific men have 

 been sent from the Florida Experiment Sta- 

 tion, and just recently the Department at 

 Washington is investigating; and their ver- 

 dict so far is to the effect that the despised 

 snail is going to bless the whole of Florida 

 by giving the citrus-groves a good old-fash- 

 ioned "house- cleaning." 



A full and scientific account of this dis- 

 covery will be found in the Manatee River 

 Journal for Feb. 9, published at Braiden- 

 town, Fla. 



HOW TO HANDLE BEES WITHOUT VEIL, SMOK- 

 ER, OR gloves; chapter 2. 



Some of you veterans rather suspected 

 there would be another chapter, now didn't 

 you? Well, my plan worked beautifully, 

 especially in connection with the outdoor 

 feedirg; that is, if I did my work in open- 

 ing hives when the robbers and all hards 

 were just "scratching gravel" to see who 

 would get most of the feed before it was all 

 gone. I fed about \ lb sugar made into syr- 

 up to seven colonies of bees, so it doesn't 

 take them long, especially since they have 

 "ler.rned the trade," to get the feed all into 

 their respective hives. Well, so far (it is 

 now Feb. 12) our queen-rearing has been 

 blocked for lack of dror.es. I have put 

 drone comb in the strongest colonies, fed 

 regularly, but, although the queen lays 

 worker eggs all around the drone comb, I 

 can't get her to start drones. The weather 

 seems all right, and pollen is coming now in 

 great abundance (60 big loads a minute), yet 

 no drones are started in any hive, with this 

 exception: The Caucasian queen produces 

 some drones in worker-cells, and these drones 

 have been flying for some time; but either 

 they are too few or they are not "the real 

 thing," for my young queens do not get fer- 

 tilized. 



I began inquiring amorg my neighbors, 

 and finally visited my good friend Jos. W. 

 Bannehr, at Braidentown (twenty miles 

 away), and he told me to look his bees over. 

 He and his family were very busy packing 

 oranges: and if I could find drone brood or 

 eggs, just to help myself. I found a very 

 active colony of nice yellow bees that seem- 

 ed from their numbers, and the quantity of 

 pollen going in, they might have drone brood. 

 He brought me a smoker and veil (with 

 arms to it, cape, etc.). but I told him I 

 thought I could open the hive without veil 

 or smoker. Accordingly I went to work 

 very cautiously, thinking a little proudly, 

 perhaps, of my wonderful skill with bees, 

 the accumulated wisdom from "years of ex- 

 perience," etc. There was a top story on 

 the hive, and about the time I got that off 

 I decided it might be best to have the smok- 



er lighted and near by. Onl^ once before in 

 my experience have 1 seeHsbtet. resent smoke 

 as these fellows did, and'that was with our 

 first colony of real Cyprians. I think now 

 I might have got along by working very 

 slowly and carefully without smoke; but 

 just as soon as a whiff of smoke touched 

 these chaps they became regular tigers. 

 They went for my fur cap, and then, \\ hile 

 burrowing in the fur, they made that pecul- 

 iar hissing that bees usually do when they 

 attack any furry animal, and this hissing 

 seemed to be a signal for every bee in the 

 hive to sally forth to war. I think I had 

 better own up that I retreated and got my 

 head into a clump of bushes as soon as I 

 could. I decided these bees must be got out 

 of that fur so as to stop that peculiar hiss- 

 ing, and that I also needed a different 

 "headgear" for such work. While getting 

 the bees out of my cap I was reminded of 

 the little girl's New Testament. She said it 

 was "red outside, and red (read) all through 

 inside." These bees were a most beautiful 

 golden yellow all over "outside," and 

 every last one of them was a veritable Jieri/ 

 demon inside. I went back in a very hum- 

 ble frame of mind for the straw hat with 

 veil (and sleeves) attached, and fired up that 

 old smoker to its "highest pressure," and 

 was very glad when I got the hive closed 

 up. At some stage of the proceedings, I 

 can't just tell where, it occurred to me I 

 did not want any drones from that hive 

 after all, even if they had drone brood. I 

 have for years boasted that bee-stings don't 

 swell on me; but my right hand was pretty 

 well swollen for several days. That "gang" 

 must have a special preparation of formic 

 acid of unusual virulence, and they seem to 

 know it too. 



When I got home I could handle my own 

 seven colonies just as usual — no smoke or 

 veil -but that lur cap held so much "virus" 

 or something, I was several times compelled 

 to get a different one. A fur cap is a bad 

 rig for a bee-keeper, sure. It is very much 

 easier to handle any bees, when little or no 

 honey is coming in, while they are busy with 

 an outdoor feeder; and by feeding any colo- 

 ny that is bad to handle, a little sweetened 

 water sprinkled on the frames over the clus- 

 ter (as Langstroth directs), we can get 

 along very well without smoke. Then comes 

 the question, which is quickest and least 

 trouble? For some time 1 used the sweeten- 

 ed water, but finally decided the smoker was 

 quicker, and least trouble after all. When 

 every thing is favorable I still work without 

 veil or smoker in my own apiary; but I think 

 we shall find it best sometimes to make an 

 exception, A colony that is raising a queen 

 with no brood in the hive is often very cross; 

 but when the young queen commences to 

 lay, and all hands are after pollen and hon- 

 ey, they usual ly become good- tempe red again. 

 Friend Bannehr says he did not know he 

 had any Cyprian blood in his apiary; but the 

 men who gathered the oranges from the 

 trees over or near that part of the apiary 

 had complained of the bees. 



