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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



queen into a hive of black stock containing 

 two combs of brood with an empty comb 

 between them, and a comb of honey on 

 both sides of the brood, waiting for devel- 

 opments, I think he will find that bees are 

 not blind nor weak either, even after the 

 lapse of four days. On the second day after 

 one of those Italian bees crawls out of a cell 

 a person can get that bee to take sips of 

 fine honey from the point of a toothpick, 

 and on the third day that bee will hunt over 

 the combs for the honey, where, before, you 

 had to put the drop in front of it. 



I know all this takes time and great pa- 

 tience; still, it is thus to get natural facts. 

 I can truly say I have sat by a hive fully 

 six hours in a day. On the fourth day it is 

 easy to get the bee to come at the entrance 

 for the bit of sweet; and when this is ac- 

 complished you can close the hive, get the 

 colony robbing in earnest from a feeder, 

 shut off the supply when things are boom- 

 ing, and in an hour or two you will see Ital- 

 ians coming in from the field with small 

 loads of nectar, having learned the source 

 by information from the old black fellows- 

 yes, they learned the directions by sight, 

 and found the treasure by smell. The con- 

 ditions were warm weather, a good honey- 

 flow, and a colony of ambitious young bees 

 —this and nothing more. On the fourth day 

 one might get only the youngsters coming 

 outside the entrance; but on the fifth day 

 there should be no trouble whatever. Are 

 bees kept from seeing things perfectly when 

 very young ? I don't think so, because, if 

 you will but notice where there are plenty 

 of bees six to eight days old in front of a 

 hive, those bees will keep "rolling their 

 eyes ' ' at you all the while you are near. 



If this appears in Gleanings I will beg 

 Mr. Phillips' pardon, and also that of Ar- 

 thur C. Miller, as their theories are differ- 

 ent in substance from the facts I have found 

 by observation. 



To-day I have two colonies— a black one 

 and one I introduced a Holy Land queen to, 

 after which I observed and came to believe 

 the things related above. The fact that 

 some of those Holy Lanfl bees went to the 

 field after being so encouraged by me is ab- 

 solutely true. I will add that it was during 

 August, and with a large buckwheat-field 

 about 50 rods distant. The queen was in- 

 troduced July 25th, 1904. 



Danville, N. J. Ralph P. Fisher. 



[Your observations are interesting and 

 valuable. You have since seen that they 

 are in line with a recent statement by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller. It should be said that Dr. 

 Phillips did not say that young bees could 

 not see because of the tangle of hairs over 

 the eyes; but he did suggest that possibly 

 these hairs might obstruct or obscure vision 

 at an early age for a purpose. — Ed.] 



cure I will give my experience. In the win- 

 ter of 18.^7 I commenced to have a sleepy 

 sensation in my right hand, which would de- 

 velop into a numbness of the arm, and final- 

 ly to extreme pain. The pain became acute, 

 and lasted 6 months, at the end of which time 

 I had partially effected a cure, but had near- 

 ly destroyed my stomach by the medicine 

 taken. I found myself in a position in 

 which I had to have either rheumatism or in- 

 digestion, one or the other, all the time. 

 After three years of this experience I bought 

 a colony of bees and placed it on the roof of 

 my house and commenced to take from 

 three to ten stings per day, and have taken 

 the sting cure in warm weather since, but 

 have taken no medicine since, and have no 

 rheumatism. The effect of the stings in 

 my case was marvelous and rapid. 



BEES ON A FLAT ROOF IN THE CITY. 



Before closing I want to say for the ben- 

 efit of the order that a flat roof for people 

 in the city is a fine place to keep bees. I 

 shelter my bees by an outside case over each 

 hive, and anchor the same to the roof, and 

 they interfere with no one. I feel a little 

 proud of my success, having made over for- 

 ty per cent out of my little apiary last sea- 

 son. I sold one colony of golden Italians for 

 $15.00 to a neighbor who was bound to have 

 them because they were so gentle. 



C. E, Phelps. 



Washington, D. C., Dec. 24. 



ITALIANS NOT IMMUNE TO PICKLED BROOD. 



I see that Gleanings wants reports about 

 pickled brood. Italians are not exempt. I 

 bought seven queens the past summer of 

 best strains of Italians, and lost all from 

 pickled brood. A queen from Root's three 

 years ago, and her progeny, are seemingly 

 all right, also a queen from the same place. 

 If the bees were shaken on foundation in 

 disinfected hives, and fed on medicated syr- 

 up, would that cure them ? 



CHnton, 111., Dec. 12. Henry Wilson. 



[Very little is known about pickled brood 

 thus far, and I can not tell you whether 

 feeding medicated syrup of any kind after 

 having been shaken on frames of foundation 

 will effect a cure. —Ed.] 



HOW medicines failed and bee-stings 



cured. 

 Since you ask for the testimony of rheum- 

 atic patients who have tried the bee-sting 



SHALL WE feed BEFORE FRUIT-BLOOM? 



In feeding to stimulate brood-rearing in 

 the spring how long before fruit-bloom 

 would you begin ? What is the best and 

 easiest way to feed, say I lb. syrup to bees 

 in chaff hives ? A. J. MoRSE. 



Plum, Pa., Dec. 27. 



[No, I would not advise giving liquid food 

 before fruit-bloom. Stimulative feeding, in 

 any case, should not be practiced until it is 

 comparatively warm, or when the bees are 

 flying every day. If the bees require feed- 

 ing before fruit-bloom to keep them from 

 starving, give a comb of stores from some 

 other colony, or a cake of hard candy. —Ed.] 



