August, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



abandoned hives, I found in every case plenty 

 of honey and brood in all stages, but not a 

 particle of pollen, but the hives they entered 

 always had pollen present. 



I have no doubt that when those bees fouid 

 themselves with a lot of brood and no pol'.en 

 to feed them, they left their hives to go 

 where there was some. How they should know 

 where to go to find pollen is more than I can 

 say, but they never made a mistake. 



The conditions being as I found them in 

 every case makes it evident to me that the 

 lack of pollen was the cause of the trouble in 

 my case, and without proof to the contrary, 

 I believe all other cases of spring desertion are 

 from the same cause. The stimulative feedmg 

 brought this about in my case. I have ever 

 since been careful that they had plenty of pol- 

 len, and have had no more trouble. 



Wyoming. 



Answer. — This is an interesting matter, and 

 it is possible that we have here the solution 

 of the problem. It is, however, not impossible 

 that desertions may come from other causes 

 than the lack of pollen. But it is easy to 

 believe thit a lack of pollen would cause de- 

 sertion. I had in former years not a few cases 

 in which the bees left their hives with a good 

 amount of brood and honey, but unfortunately 

 I can not say whether or not pollen was pres- 

 ent. I remember one case in which a colony 

 did not start brood-rearing at M, ifter others 

 did. I found it was without pollen, and gave 

 it some, when it promptly began rearing brood. 

 Mr. Root might say that even if lack of pollen 

 be the cause of absconding in spring, he h^s 

 included that among his causes under the head 

 of "lack of stores," for pollen forms a very 

 important part of the bees' stores. 



It will be well if any who have cases of 

 spring desertion will report whether pollen was 

 present. 



Preventing "Drifting" of Bees — Ship- 

 ping Bees by the Car-Load. 



1. What is the best plan to be adopted to 

 prevent "drifting" when bees are unloaded 

 from a car and take their first flight on their 

 new location? 



2. In loading bees on a car should they 

 be set on the bottom of the car without any 

 straw, or anything under them? These days 

 it is found best in shipping comb honey in 

 cases to set them directly on the car floor, 

 and the most of the honey is shipped in that 

 way. I thought it ought to work as well with 

 colonies of bees as with cases of comb honey. 



3. In loading colonies of bees on a car 2 

 tiers deep, would it be safe to staple a super 

 on each hive in the first tier, before putting 

 boards on top to receive the second tier? I 

 have been told that any super or hive stapled 

 on the first tier of hives would stand a chance 

 to get misplaced on the journey by the jolting 

 the car would get. "Out West." 



Answers. — 1. I don't know. It's the first 

 time I ever heard it hinted that bees were 

 inclined to drift after a journey, although it 

 may be common. In this locality to pre- 

 vent drifting when bees take their first flight 

 after being taken from the cellar, it is thought 

 ■ that giving quite a small entrance helps to 

 prevent drifting. The same thing ought to 

 work at any other time. As I think more 

 about it, I very much doubt if bees are gen- 

 erally inclined to drift on their first flight 

 after a journey, or more would be said about 

 it. Besides, I've had much experience in 

 hauling bees on a wagon, and never knew of 

 any drifting after it; and it seems that haul- 

 ing in cars would be the same. 



2. They ought to carry all right with noth- 

 ing under. It is common for a good car to 

 have springs. 



3. Stapling would need to be very secure. 

 What would do for ordinary handling in an 

 apiary wouldn't do at all for hauling on cars. 

 The staples I use have legs 3-4 inch long, 

 and for convenience in drawing out (although 

 I don't very often draw them out) they are 

 driven in only about 5-8, and occasionally one 

 becomes loose in hauling. Driving in full 

 depth would make quite a difference. A piece 

 of tin or sheet-iron in place of a staple, with 

 a 7-8 nail or two at each end, would hold 

 more firmly. 



Most Likely Honey-Dew. 



1. I send you under separate cover a sample 

 of honey which I have taken from my bees this 

 week. What is wrong with it? We claim it 

 is due to a little green insect that worked on 

 the Norway maple leaves, on the under side 



along the rios of the leaf. The droppings of 

 these insects fell on the leaves like honey-dew 

 and the bees gathered it. Some called it honey- 

 dew, but it lasted about two weeks in succes- 

 sion. The bees worked on it after rains just 

 as before, and it seemed the rains had no effect 

 upon it as upon honey-dew. 



In this section we do not have more than 

 one or two "honey-dews" in a year, and some- 

 times as last year, we do not have any. 



2. Have you had the same trouble ? This is 

 the first time that I have ever had, or heard of 

 any one having noney like this, as tar as I can 

 remember. I askea an old man that had been 

 in the bee-business some years ago, and he said 

 that he did not have any such trouble. 



3. Is that honey fit to use? We can't eat it. 

 Is it saleable ? What would you do if you had 

 the same kind? 



4. Chestnut season is about on, and I did 

 not want them to mix it, so I took ail the sec- 

 tions that were not capped, and extracted the 

 honey from them, and put the empty comb 

 back. Would you have done as I did, or what 

 would you have done under like circumstances? 



5. Would this honey do for the bees to win- 

 ter on ? My apiary is situateu in town where 

 there are a great many Norway maples, but the 

 country people have the same experience. 



Pennsyi^vania. 



Answers. — 1. The sample never came to 

 hand. It makes very little difference, however, 

 for from your description it is practically cer- 

 tain it is honey-dew, as honey is thus named 

 that comes from the secretion of plant-lice. 



2. One year I had quite a yield of it, and it 

 may be some comfort to you to know that that 

 was the only time in 48 years. Possibly you 

 may come otf as well. 



3. It may do to feed after bees fly in spring, 

 so it will be all used in rearing brood. It can 

 be used for mechanical purposes, such as mak- 

 ing printers' rolls. It could be made into 

 vinegar, but I'm a little afraid of the flavor. 

 If you can not eat it of course it is not fit for 

 table use, and yet tastes differ so that it is 

 possible some may like it. It is only _ proper 

 to say, however, that some honey-dew is good 

 to eat, and from plant-lice at that. 



4. You did iust the right thing. 



5. It is possible that some honey-dew may be 

 safe to winter bees, but I'd rather throw it 

 away than to run the chance of trying to win- 

 ter them on it, for honey-dew in general is unfit 

 for wintering. 



A Swarming Experience. 



1. I have 6 colonies of bees. I had 3 swarms. 

 One came out and went back; the other two 

 1 hived all right, set the hive under the swarms 

 with the top off, and shook them in. Is this 

 all right? Will they do as well this way as 

 to let them in the entrance in front? 



2. On June 23, I hived one swarm, set the 

 old gum 'which the swarm came from on the 

 other side of another bee-gum with bees in, 

 and set the new swarm where the old one was. 

 They flew from one gum to the other and on 

 Tune 25, about 5 o'clock, they started to come 

 out of the gum. That is, the new swarm. 

 They had not done very much in the gum. 

 They alighted on the gum that was between 

 them sometimes before they swarmed the last 

 time, and the bees w^ould sting them to death. 

 Was this what discouraged them ? I put a 

 s^rav pump to work, and it was not long be- 

 fore I had them coming back to the hive. They 

 had not all gone out yet. It was thundering, 

 and looked like rain at the time they started 

 out (5 p. m.), so I set a hive in front of this 

 swarm and undertook to smoke them out into 

 it. 1'hey came out all right, but not in this 

 emoty hive. They went back to the hive that 

 they came from; that is, where they were 

 hatched. Please explain this to me as I am 

 new in the business. Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, your way is good when 

 it is convenient. It doesn't make any difference 

 how you get a swarm into a hive, just so you 

 get it in. 



2. It may be that the hive was too close and 

 warm for them, and that June 35 was a very 

 hot day. Perhaps also, the sun came upon the 

 hive hotter about 5 o'clock. A swarm should 

 have abundant ventilation, and should be shad- 

 ed, if only by an armful of long grass on top 

 of the hive held down by 2 or 3 slicks of stove- 

 wood. 



Queen Quit Laying— Getting Brood- 

 Comb Honey into the Sections — 

 Banat Bees. 



1. If not superseded by the bees, will a 

 queen quit laying entirely? If so, what is the 

 cause? This has been the case long enough 

 for everv cell of brood to be hatched out, and 



the queen is as large and looks as vigorous as 

 any queen in the yard. 



-'. \\'hat is the cause after bees have swarmed 

 and are hived on empty combs and full sheets 

 of foundation with 2 supers on top, for them 

 to fill the top super and then fill the brood- 

 combs about 2-3 down to the bottom-bar and 

 crowd the brood down to the lower third of 

 the brood-combs and leave the lower super 

 empty ? 



3. Is there any way to get this honey in the 

 brood-combs into the sections? If so, give 

 plan. 



4. Would not the Banat bees be likely to be 

 the best for this southern country? How are 

 they in regard to temper and honey-gathering 

 qualities? Arkansas. 



Answers. — i. I don't know, unless, as in the 

 fall, all gathering has ceased. If the queen has 

 stopped when brood-rearing is going on in other 

 hives, she is no good. 



2. The only thing I can think of is that the 

 lower super is filled with objectionable sections, 

 perhaps that were on the previous fall without 

 being filled, and varnished over with propolis. 



3. You can extract it. If the bees fill up 

 with brood, that will crowd the honey out. It 

 may not be a bad thing to have the honey in the 

 brood-chamber. 



4. Too little known about Banat bees to say. 



Foul Brood from Dead Brood? 



In your answer to my last letter you say, 

 "But supposing it is a case of foul brood, that 

 doesn't prove that foul brood could result from 

 dead brood killeu by the heat." Now that is 

 where you are mistaken, for that is exactly 

 what it does prove, i do not care how many 

 sources of contagion there may have been with- 

 in reach of my bees, the fact remains that the 

 brood in their hives as well as the brood in the 

 fourth hive was perfectly healthy and all right 

 up to the time it was killed by the heat. You 

 say It would be hard for me to be positive that 

 no diseased colony was within a mile or two. 

 No, I am not, and I care nothing about that at 

 all. The fact remains that the brood in all 4 

 hives was all right up to the time the broo^d 

 was killed by the heat in those 3 hives, and is 

 still all right in the fourth hive. I know that 

 just as much as you know a queen is a queen 

 when you see one, instead of Deing a large 

 worker-bee. 1 am not entirely green as regards 

 bees, it being 32 years since I made their ac- 

 quaintance, and 27 years or more since I read 

 your writings in Gleanings. My father and I 

 kept between 80 and 85 colonies for a number 

 of years. ies, I know that the authorities 

 claim that foul brood can not be caused by rot- 

 ten brood, but the authorities have said a good 

 many things in times past that they afterwards 

 found out weren't so. I do not think I ever 

 hau any brood killed by the heat before, al- 

 though I have had combs break down in very 

 warm weather. But those combs were not very 

 old combs and had considerable honey in them. 

 The reason tne bees did not clean out all the 

 dead brood out of the combs before it rotted 

 was because the weather was too hot day after 

 day for 2 whole weeks. The hives were double- 

 walled hives and did not cool readily at night. 

 Besides, the nights were warm. There was a 

 lot of dead brood to clean out, and more or less 

 was capped over. If tne brood I sent you was 

 foul brood, then I know — whether the authori- 

 ties do or not — that foul brood may be caused 

 bv dead brood killed bv the heat. 



Michigan. 



Answer. — I don't pretend to know every- 

 thing about bees, and certainly not about bee- 

 diseases. Until very recently, all I know about 

 foul brood is what I learned from others. I 

 can only say that you are pretty much alone in 

 your belief. 



Weak Colonies — Requeening in 

 Honey-Flow— Other Topics. 



1. Why would it not be a good way to 

 strengthen weak colonies to exchange places 

 with a strong colony? I had a very strong 

 colony. The bees were hanging out all over 

 the hive. I gave them super-room and put the 

 two on }4-inch blocks, giving them ventilation 

 all around, but it seemed to do no good, so I 

 placed it on the stand of a colony that had 

 swarmed some time before and was small. I 

 left it by the side of the swarm and moved it 

 in a few days. It was very weak. I placed 

 the weak colony on the stand of the strong one. 

 They seemed astonished for some time, but 

 next day they went to work with a vim, and 

 are yet doing better than any other colony I 

 have. And after a few days the strong colony 

 seemed to have plenty of bees, and soon gave a 

 super of honey. I tried it again on another 

 colony. They 'seemed to fight for 2 days, and 

 neither colony has done well since. 



