(§) (^OLDEST BEE PAPEI 

 IN AMERICA 



^^ 



ESTABLISHED q\/G? 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MARCH 9, 1881. 



No. 10. 



Sliliiilii 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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For the American Bee Journal. 



Do Bees Injure Grapes? 



U. E. DODGE. 



There seems to be quite a spirited dis- 

 cussion going on in horticultural circles 

 in this part of the country, in regard to 

 the above question, some taking the 

 ground that the bees puncture the skin 

 of the grape, and from the opening draw 

 the juice and appropriate its sweets to 

 their own use ; others, that wasps are 

 the first transgressors, and puncture 

 the skin of the grape with their stings, 

 and the bees follow and suck the much- 

 prized fluid from the openings thus 

 made. 



Now, being something of an apiarist 

 in a small way, and a grape-grower and 

 market-gardener quite extensively, I 

 naturally feel a deep interest in this 

 question, and if the annoyance contin- 

 ues (i. e., the destruction of grapes in 

 this way in the same ratio it lias for the 

 last two or three years), either the grape- 

 grower or the bee-keeper will have to 

 retire from the contest. Being fully 

 aware that your facilities for acquiring 

 knowledge on all subjects appertaining 

 to the bee and its habits, and ever ready 

 to impart that information to the read- 

 ers of your most exceellent Journal. 

 I should, as a grape-grower and apiar- 

 ist, esteem it a favor if you put this 

 question to the bee-keepers of America. 



Prof. Cook, in his " Manual of the 

 Apiary," page 50, tells us that the bee's 

 jaws or mandibles are on either side, 

 just below and at the side of the labium 

 or upper lip. These work sidewise, in- 

 stead of up and down as in higher ani- 

 mals, are frequently very hard and sharp 

 and sometimes armed with one or more 

 teeth. Now, this is the same general 

 construction of many of our leaf-eating 

 and vegetable-destroying insects. 



Although the nectar of the flowers 

 may be the natural food of the bee and 

 her delght to gather and store, may she 



not in times of scarcity or total failure 

 of nectar in the flowers, witli her indus- 

 trious habits of utilizing every shin- 

 ing hour, and being provided with such 

 facilities, be tempted to vary somewhat 

 from her natural propensities and en- 

 croach a little upon other interests V 

 Our grapes, in all the grape-growing 

 regions of this part of the country, were 

 very badly injured the past season, and 

 our pets of the hive have incurred the 

 prejudice of the grape-growers against 

 them, especially of those who do not 

 keep bees. 



As a grape-grower and lover and ad- 

 mirer of the honey bee, and almost an 

 enthusiast upon its habits of industry 

 and economy, I would not be willing to 

 say a single word against it unjustly, 

 yet I must say that I investigated th'is 

 subject closely last season, for I was 

 receiving severe injury from this cause, 

 and I saw motions and actions that jus- 

 tify me in saying that I think the bee is 

 the principal actor in this work of de- 

 struction, and punctures the fruit by a 

 saw-like motion of the head and body, 

 a charing or rasping motion which rup- 

 tures the skin of the grape, and accom- 

 plishes the purpose, namely, the skin is 

 ruptured sufficient for them to sip the 

 juices from the interior of the fruit, 

 which is spoiled ; it also destroys the 

 market value, and increases the labor 

 in the preparation of the fruit left un- 

 touched upon the clusters. 



Another thing leads me to this con- 

 clusion : the absence of almost all other 

 insects at that season of the year [Sep- 

 tember and October), the most of the 

 insects having gone into a semi-torpid 

 state. Almost all our fruit and vegeta- 

 ble insects do their greatest injury in 

 the earlier part of the season, and in the 

 later months are spun up in their 

 cocoons and numerous other protections 

 for winter, ready to emerge in early 

 spring, when warmed by the genial rays 

 of the sun, to prey upon the early and 

 tender vegetation, live a life of luxury 

 and gluttony, return again by their 

 progeny to the torpid state, and year 

 after year pass through the rigors of 

 winter, generation succeeding genera- 

 tion with scarcely a variation. 



The wasp theory I cannot believe, 

 from the fact that I do not find one wasp 

 to thousands of bees, and if I did, I 

 would be loth to believe, without occular 

 proof, that they accomplished injury by 

 the sting, for they are possessed of a poi- 

 son sack, and the mechanical action in 

 stinging is the same which forces the 

 poison through the sting into the object 

 stung, and it is not reasonable to sup- 

 pose that the wasp would turn around 

 and sip its own venom with a relish, or 

 that bees would follow up and gorge 

 themselves with this poisonous mixture. 



With the Weekly Bee Journal I am 

 highly pleased. Prof. Cook's " Manual 

 of the Apiary" I consider a very valua- 

 ble addition to apiarian literature. 



Fredonia, N. Y., Jan. 27, 1881. 



[Mr. Dodge's point is well taken, in 

 regard to the improbability of the punc- 

 i ture being made by the wasp with its 

 ] sting. We have frequently seen the 

 damage attributed to the sting of the 

 wasp, but it seemed too unreasonble to 

 deserve a refutation, though we do be- 

 lieve that, with its powerful feet and 

 jaws, it is the author of much of the 



mischief. Prof. Cook, in his " Manual 

 of the Apiary," page 219, refers to this 

 matter, attributing the work to the jaws 

 of the wasp.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Fair Crop in a Poor Season. 



.1. w. PORTER. 



The season was a poor one here, as in 

 much of our broad country. Many 

 apiaries in Va. produced no surplus, 

 but in most cases it was the result of 

 bad management. No prudent apiarist 

 will neglect his bees, nor a prudent 

 pomologist his trees, because the sea- 

 son is not to prove remunerative. Such 

 a course leads to sure disaster. As I 

 succeeded in securing a fair production 

 in a poor season, it may prove of inter- 

 est to show how it was done. 



Had I bought good queens for half of 

 my hives that were nearly unproductive, 

 or had I taken time to rear them. I 

 would, doubtless, have largely increased 

 my production. 



Out of 78 colonies in March, I had 

 only six natural swarms and made 

 enough strong ones to keep the number 

 84, after doubling up six, I successfully 

 prevented swarming by giving room, 

 and building up weak colonies. As my 

 whole surplus came from 50 colonies, it 

 illustrates the waste by keeping unpro- 

 ductive queens. 



While my best colony produced two 

 strong natural swarms, April 29th and 

 May 6th, the united products of which 

 was 232 lbs., 168 lbs. of it in sections; 

 very many produced no surplus. From 

 the 50 I had 2400 lbs. in sections, and 

 600 lbs. of extracted, which was sold 

 foi' $460. over freights and commissions. 



The free use ot comb foundation and 

 rapid building up just before fruit 

 bloom, was the secret of such success 

 as I had. It proved to be a great help 

 to have flat-bottom foundations built 

 out in the brood chamber for the sec- 

 tions. Some of my bees built out two 

 frames in a night, while others would 

 not touch it, if left in for weeks. In 

 every case the, Dunham foundation was 

 taken with avidity. It is surely a grand 

 advance to furnish such foundation 

 at the low rates at which it now is of- 

 fered, but it surely indicates an era of 

 lower prices for honey during our first 

 good season, and we must be prepared 

 for it. 



I notice the size of sections is still 

 discussed. Bees cannot make as much 

 in 4ix4i as in larger. I found a decided 

 difference in favor of the larger of the 

 only two sizes I used, 4ix5 2 : ; and 5x5%, 

 It may be caused by the relative dimi- 

 nution of attached surface as well as by 

 its allowing a larger force to work to- 

 gether. I use the smaller size to sus- 

 pend in wide frames in the second story 

 and can force bees into boxes to work 

 in them. Cases above brood are prefer- 

 able when bees will work that way. 



I have tried many times, even with 

 full comb sections, but never had the 

 least success in side storing, as recom- 

 mended by Mr. Doolittle. 1 have had 

 them remain empty below, with a third 

 story filled, while it was empty in a 

 ten-frame Langstroth hive, that had 

 filled several sections above. " Why is 

 this thus?" 



Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 7, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees Destroyed by Worms. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



We often read something like this : 

 "Five colonies were queenless, 3 starved 

 and 2 were destroyed by worms." What 

 are we to understand by colonies being 

 destroyed by worms ? As we can see 

 no sense in the expression, and as such 

 a statement tends to make the beginner 

 fearful of loss of bees from the ravages 

 of moth worms, we propose to say a few 

 words on this subject, explaining the 

 workings of the larva? of the bee moth, 

 and the only fear we need have of it. 



\£^ 



r?\V/ > » . - V ^ 



7|S 



Bee Moth or Miller. 



In the first place permit us to say, that 

 expressions similar to the above come 

 only from those who are careless or ig- 

 norant. From the careless, because 

 they do not attend to their business as 

 they should, so they do not discover 

 that their bees are gone till the combs 

 are destroyed by worms. From the ig- 

 norant, because if well posted in all 

 that is going on inside the hive, at all 

 times, they would know better. 



We do not propose to tell here what a 

 moth miller is, how she gets her eggs 

 in the hive, how the worms look, etc., 

 for this can be found in any of the books 

 on bees now before the public. If you 

 have not one of these books, our advice 

 would be to get one at once, for you can- 

 not well understand the Bee Journal 

 unless you know the first principles of 

 bee-keeping. Of one thing we are cer- 



Male. Female. 



tain, that if the combs are not occupied 

 by bees, and have not been exposed to 

 the cold as low as 15° above zero, when 

 warm weather is the rule, we always 

 find the larvae of the wax moth upon 

 them, and more abundant in those that 

 have had brood in them. When once 

 under headway, it takes but a short time 

 to reduce the combs in a whole hive to 

 a mass of webs. Now the worms can- 

 not come into full possession of these 

 combs as long as there are bees upon 

 them, although we find here and there 

 a worm that has eluded their vigilance 

 for a time. The Italians keep them out 

 much better than the blacks — a small 

 handful fully protecting a whole hive of 



Larva: of Bee Moth. 



combs, the worms being kept in submis- 

 sion so long as the bees remain. If, 

 from any cause, a colony becomes hope- 



