766 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



objected to by some who extract, but I can 

 not see how anybody can touch them with 

 the extracting-knife with ordinary care; in- 

 deed, hard-wood screws or plugs could be 

 used instead of metal. 



DISTANCE THAT BEES GENERALLY FLY. 



Last spring while feeding my bees with a 

 Miller feeder and thin syrup, placed about 

 fifty yards from the hives, I noticed that 

 bees were coming to the feed from the bush. 

 I took the feeder and followed them up, 

 covering the feeder up and moving as far as 

 I could follow the line and then open it for 

 the bees to locate it and get another start, 

 thus moving the feeder about 100 yards, and 

 waiting until a great many bees, both from 

 my hives and from the bush, came to the 

 feed. I noticed that, when I got something 

 over half a mile from my place, my bees 

 were getting scarcer, and the bees from the 

 bush were more plentiful; and as I neared 

 the bee- tree, which was about one mile from 

 my place by the section lines, very few bees 

 from my colonies came to the feed, while 

 those in the tree appeared in swarms. I 

 took the feeder and went back toward my 

 place in the same manner I came; and the 

 nearer I got home I had more of my bees 

 and less of those from the tree, until nearly 

 all were from my colonies, as at the start; 

 and I noticed that, about midway of the 

 mile, the bees appeared in about equal num- 

 bers from each place. Then I went back to 

 the tree, with the result as first stated. 



My bees are nearly all Italians, with stock 

 from Alley, Moore, and your five-dollar 

 breeder. Those in the busn are hybrids, I 

 suspect from my own colonies, as I have the 

 only Italians in my neighborhood. What 

 will those who claim that bees will fly five 

 miles to gather surplus say about this ? I 

 have my doubts about bees flying above a 

 mile to any extent. 



BEE-PARALYSIS — HOW I GOT RID OF IT. 



About five years ago I imported bee-paral- 

 ysis with a queen from Texas, although the 

 queen-breeder denied that he had it in his 

 yard. I had never seen a case of it until I 

 got the queen. It might have been carried 

 by the escorts in the cage, and I believe the 

 disease is as contagious, or is tramsmitted 

 as readily, as any other bee-disease. How- 

 ever, the colony I introduced the queen into 

 had it badly, and the second winter it starv- 

 ed out. I burned the hive and melted the 

 combs up. I noticed, however, that sum- 

 mer, that three colonies on either side of the 

 one that first had it were affected, so I shut 

 them up one evening with a wire screen, - 

 and moved them about 200 yards away, leav- 

 ing them shut up about three days; then I 

 took the screens off and left them to shift 

 for themsetves. They still had the paral- 

 ysis. About a week after, I had a prime 

 swarm. The same evening I killed the 

 queens and brushed the affected bees on 

 new frames with starters and new hives, 

 disposing of the old hives and combs as I 

 did in the first place. The next evening I 

 opened the colony that had swarmed and 

 gave a frame with a queen- cell to each of 



the brushed colonies. In due time the 

 queens hatched, and the colonies built up; 

 and I have never seen a paralyzed bee from 

 that time to the present. In my "locality" 

 I either cured it or scared it off by this 

 treatment. 

 New Westminster, B. C. 



[There will be danger, I should suppose, 

 that the wood screws, if they entered into 

 the edge of the end-bar, would be liable to 

 split the wood. Why would it not be better 

 to put those screws into the sides of the 

 top-bar ? 



One objection I see to such screws is 

 that the peculiar shape of the head is such 

 as to act as a sort of hook, while the staple 

 with its rounding head will slip past the 

 top-bar on the next frame. Perhaps the 

 round-headed wood screw might, to a cer- 

 tain extent, overcome the objection. 



The screw would certainly have an advan- 

 tage over a nail in that its depth in the 

 wood could be exactly regulated at any 

 time; and, no matter what the side pressure 

 is in moving the frames back and forth, 

 there will be no danger of crushing the screw 

 deeper into the wood, thus destroying the 

 exact spacing. 



I think it is generally conceded now that 

 bees rarely fly beyond a mile and a half in 

 quest of stores; but that they may fly five 

 or even seven miles has been proven beyond 

 any doubt. Bees will sometimes fly from 

 an island to the main land and vice versa, 

 going a distance of five or even seven miles 

 over water. Perhaps two-thirds of the bees 

 would confine their range to half a mile. 



Bee paralysis can be cured in the way you 

 describe; but from reports we have had 

 from others I should conclude that the same 

 treatment generally applied would result in 

 a failure. I would advise destroying the 

 old queen and sprinkling all the combs, ex- 

 cept those containing brood, and all the 

 bees, with powdered sulphur. The brood 

 may be given to healthy colonies, provided 

 all the bees are shaken or brushed off. Of 

 course, the old queen should be replaced by 

 a young healthy one. — Ed.] 



MORE CONCERNING QUALITY OR QUAN- 

 TITY OF HONEY. 



Improve the Quality Before Advertising it. 



BY GRANT STANLEY. 



The article of Mr. R. A. Burnett, in May 

 15th issue of American Bee Journal, rela- 

 tive to the marketing of unripe honey, is 

 not only one of extreme importance to all 

 bee-keepers, but one that brings out the 

 fact that many bee-keepers in their greed 

 for gain have overlooked the matter of 

 quality entirely. The article, coming as it 

 does from one having a large experience in 

 the handling of honey, should certainly 

 arouse the bee-keepers of this country to 

 more thought in this direction. It has been 

 my opinion for some time that this has been 

 to blame for the trouble that many bee- 



