American ^gg Joarnal| 



November, 1909. 



not be entire inversion, the inversion 

 of even part is an important matter. 



Latterly it is a common thing to use 

 eqnal parts of sugar and water, the 

 idea being that during the evaporati6n 

 of so much water the bees have a chance 

 to invert the sugar. If the acid pro- 

 duces the inversion, it seems hardly 

 necessary to submit the bees to so 

 much extra labor. Indeed, there seems 

 some indication that there is to be a 

 swing of the pendulum in the opposite 

 direction, and that there will be a re- 

 turn to the old plan of having thicker 

 syrup. Editor Root, who has been an 

 advocate of the half-and-half syrup, at 

 least when fed early enough, now 

 thinks that giving such thin syrup has 

 a wearing effect on the bees, and pre- 

 fers a proportion of 2 pounds of sugar 

 to 1 of water; or, what is about the 

 same thing, 2 pints of sugar to 1 pint 

 of water. 



The writer has fed hundreds of 

 pounds of syrup with excellent results, 

 the syrup being prepared as follows: 



Into boiling water on the stove sugar 

 was stirred in the proportion of 5 

 pounds of sugar to a quart of water. 

 When it was thoroughly dissolved it 

 was taken from the stove, and at the 

 same time an even teaspoonful of tar- 

 taric acid, previously dissolved in 

 water, was added for each 25 pounds 

 of sugar. Quite likely the result might 

 be still better to have the acid added to 

 the water before adding the sugar, 

 thus giving a better chance for inver- 

 sion. 



Energy of Swarms 



The generally accepted view that a 

 newly hived swarm displays an energy 

 that can be secured in no other way is 

 getting some raps nowadays. R. F. 

 Holtermann says this in Gleanings : 



" A swarm does not have to look after 

 brood, the fruit of 3 weeks' la.ving in the 

 liive. and almost all the bees in the swarm 

 can go to the field; but in 3 weeks' time, and 

 if a virgin queen has issued with the swarm 

 in Derhaps 5 weeks' time, tliere are far less 

 bees in the colony; and if at that time a 

 honey-flow is available the bee-keeper who 

 has kept his bees content without swarming 

 will gather with his one colony more than 

 the one who allowed the colony to fall to 

 pieces." 



Nosema Api.s — A New Bee-Foe 



This is the name given to a new foe 

 to bees discovered by Dr. Enoch Zan- 

 der, as reported in Praktischer Weg- 

 weiser. Instead of being plantlike, as 

 the bacilli of foul brood, this tiny mis- 

 creant belongs to the animal kingdom, 

 and is a one-celled affair. It differs 

 also from the foul-brood microbe in 

 the fact that it attacks the mature bee, 

 and not the larvae. Nor does it respect 

 royalty, for the queen may be affected 

 as well as one of her workers, although 

 as yet no drone has been affected. 



Let a spore find its way into the mid- 

 dle intestine of a bee, and a longish 

 parasite emerges from it, which eats its 

 way into the wall of the intestine, in- 

 creasing rapidly in size, and in the 

 course of 4 days spores are produced. 

 These spores are egg-shaped 1-5000 of 

 an inch in length and 1-12500 of an inch 

 in thickness. A bee once attacked is 

 doomed. The wall of the intestine be- 

 comes so crowded with these spores 

 that its own proper texture seems to 

 disappear, and it seems composed en- 



tirely of a mass of the spores. This 

 causes such a change in appearance 

 that the disease can be readily diag- 

 nosed, even without the aid of a micro- 

 scope. The wall of the healthy intes- 

 tine is somewhat transparent, and of a 

 reddish color. In the diseased condi- 

 tion it becomes opaque and milk-white 

 in color. 



Dr. Zander counts the Nosema dis- 

 ease more deadly than foul brood. Yet 

 a colony mildly affected may recover 

 of its own account. It appears in 

 spring as a sort of diarrhea, and may 

 appear again in May, and sometimes 

 in June. But in the advanced stages 

 the dejections of the diseased bee may 

 be solid. 



No sort of treatment can benefit a 

 diseased bee, but attention must be 

 given to prevent further spread, espe- 

 cially in other colonies. The chief 

 means by which the disease is spread 

 is by means of the soiled combs. A 

 soiled comb given to a healthy colony 

 carries with it the disease, as also do 

 robber-bees, and the discharges of the 

 diseased bees being scattered all about, 

 the drinking water of the bees may be 

 contaminated and the disease thus 

 conveyed. 



In a severe case it is recommended 

 to melt up the combs, throwing the 

 bees on foundation in a clean hive, the 

 old hive before being used again to be 

 thoroughly cleansed with hot soda- 

 water. Yet there is some intimation that 

 this may be done in a gradual manner, 

 the brood being left to hatch out. 



Sweet Clover as a Fertilizer 



Prof. Thorne, of the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station, excellent agricultural 

 authority, is quoted in Gleanings as 

 saying, " There is no clover known of 

 so much value in bringing up poor 

 soils and preparing them for alfalfa 

 and other clovers as sweet clover." Add 

 to this the fact that sweet clover is a 

 most excellent honey-plant, and it is 

 made something pretty choice for bee- 

 keepers to encourage. 



Helping- Bee-Patsturage 



As a rule it does not pay to provide 

 pasturage for bees. The bee-keeper 

 goes where pasturage is already pro- 

 vided, and it is generally conceded that 

 there is no paying crop that can be 

 planted for bees alone. The crop must 

 have some value aside from the nectar 

 it furnishes. Yet there are at least two 

 ways by which the bee-keeper — or at 

 least some bee-keepers — may do some- 

 thing to increase their pasturage. 



There are places where the linden, 

 or basswood, is very scarce, perhaps 

 entirely absent, and yet soil and climate 

 are entirely adapted to its growth. It 

 needs but the planting. In such a 

 place an acre rjf ground covered with 

 basswoods, perhaps 100 trees, would be 

 quite an item, and a larger number 

 would be better. But will it pay to 

 buy an acre of ground for this purpose 

 alone? Probably not. But if the bee- 

 keeper can furnish the young trees and 

 get some one else to furnish the 

 ground for them, plant them, and take 

 all the care of them, it would pay, and 

 pay big. And that is exactly what may 

 be done in not a few cases. Sav the bee- 



keeper lives not more than a mile or 

 two from some town where shade-trees 

 are being planted on the streets. Even 

 in some old towns quite a few trees 

 are planted from time to time. Those 

 who plant the trees may have a choice 

 as to kinds, but are guided no little by 

 the matter of convenience and cost. 

 The basswood is undoubtedly a good 

 shade-trees, and if the planter can get 

 it without cost, he is likely to prefer it 

 to any and all others. Perhaps a local 

 nurseryiTian furnishes the shade-trees. 

 It ought not to be a difficult thing for 

 the bee-keeper to make an arrangement 

 with him, by which the bee-keeper 

 would pay a fair price for the young 

 trees, to be furnished free to the 

 planters. 



In some places alsike clover suc- 

 ceeds well, but is little sown because 

 little known. The bee-keeper, either 

 personally or through the local seed 

 merchants, can make it an inducement 

 for the farmer to sow alsike by offer- 

 ing to furnish the seed at a bargain, 

 frankly saying what his object is in so 

 doing. The A. I. Root Co. have been 

 acting on this plan, and say this in 

 Gleanings : 



"The farmers have been putting this in. 

 to a considerable extent, in the vicinity of 

 all our yards. 'The last few years red clover 

 failed to do w'ell. and the price for seed has 

 been exorbitant; and when they could get 

 alsike clover seed at half price, or furnished 

 free if the field was near one of the apiaries, 

 it is not at all strange that they should put in 

 large acreages of it." 



Proportion of Egg.s and Brood 



It is a matter of interest to know 

 what proportion of the cells of a brood- 

 nest are at any given time occupied 

 with eggs, with unsealed brood, and 

 with sealed brood. .A.t a time when the 

 laying of the queen is constant, that is, 

 at any time when for a previous period 

 of 21 days the queen has been laying 

 the same number of eggs daily, the 

 problem is not difficult. Figuring ac- 

 cording to Cowan, 3 days for the egg, 

 5 for the larva, and 13 for the sealed 

 state, 3-21, or 1-7, of the cells will con- 

 tain eggs, while the unsealed larva will 

 occupy 5-21, or a little less than '4 of 

 the cells, and the sealed brood 13-21, or 

 not quite 73. 



But the queen is not always constant 

 in her laying — perhaps never for as 

 much as 21 days in succession. Look 

 into a hive early enough in a season, 

 and it may be found that all the eggs 

 and brood do not amount to more than 

 a single frameful. Look again 21 days 

 later, and 4 frames will be occupied. 

 The queen has been increasing her 

 output, laying daily 4 or 5 times as 

 many eggs at the close of the 21 days 

 as she did at the beginning. If the in- 

 crease has been more rapid at the 

 latter part, it is not impossible that half 

 the cells may be occupied with eggs, 

 the other half with sealed and unsealed 

 brood. 



As the season for swarming ap- 

 proaches, the laying of the queen 

 slackens, and U to ;4 of the cells may 

 be occupied with sealed brood, and not 

 one cell in 20 occupied with eggs. 



AVood Splint.s for Foundation 



Some report failure with foundation 

 splints; others are enthusiastic over 



