1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



colonies standing rip would fly out worse 

 and be lost on the snow during the sunny 

 •davs in whiter, and be lost in the early 

 spring blustry days. On the other side 

 •of the question, where the soil was grav- 

 elly and of a leachy nature, there was 

 just as much difference in the tlying pro- 

 pensities, but those on the ground would 

 •come on as fast, and in as good season 

 as those that Stood on a bench, consum- 

 ing less honey and wasting less by snow 

 or wind. Now, the two locations need 

 Teverse treatment in the spring and 

 fall, while in summer they can be the 

 same. I have noticed the above points 

 closely for about 5 years, taking notes of 

 circumstances and comparing dates and 

 results. 



There are two things that I have oo- 

 ticed regarding wintering— dysentery 

 m\<\ spring dwindling— and tind they are 

 alike, in all cases and situations, attrib- 

 utable to the same cause, though situ- 

 ations will cause some difference in 

 time, but the cause and results are the 

 same. 1st. Colonies on 3 or 4 year-old 

 brood combs, as a rule, are the safest 

 for wintering, the paper making them 

 better absorbents of moisture from the 

 bees, and the warmth of the bees will 

 dry them out. 2d. Bees with a quantity 

 of bee-bread invariably 'have the dysen- 

 tery when long conlined, especially in 

 •da'mp weather when the bee-bread sours 

 and ferments some ; it is then fed to the 

 larvse, and some foul brood is the result. 

 But few cells may show at first, but if 

 the bees have a good supply of combs, 

 the disease will make progress fast 

 enough. On the other hand, if they are 

 given no more combs than they can 

 cover, there is not so much danger of 

 trouble. Now, to keep out of the trou- 

 ble, box all the honey you can or extract 

 it, feed sugar syrup, and be sure that 

 there is no pollen in the combs after 

 Dec. 1st. For the latitude of Connecti- 

 cut or north : Give the colonies as old 

 combs as you have ; try to contract them 

 to 5 Langstroth frames or their equal, 

 that is for ordinary colonies ; pack tliem 

 well at the sides, then lay several strips 

 of lath across the frames to reach from 

 •one division board to the other. On 

 these laths put a piece of pasteboard 

 ■or paper box that will reach two-thirds 

 the length of the top bars, lay on your 

 quilt, and put on the chaff cushion and 

 cap, and be very sure to put a chaff 

 cushion under the bottom board every 

 time. If you do not like this idea, just 

 "knock out the under-pinning from your 

 house, and experience how cold and dis- 

 agreeable it is, or sleep on the slats of 

 your bedstead, piling the bed-clothes on 

 the top and sides of you. It is the same 

 •principle exactly. Then let them alone 

 till about the Ist» of March, and after 

 they have a good flight look them over. 

 If they can spare a comb take it away, 

 and insert a division board. Before 

 closing them up, rub at least half a gill 

 of good, sweet rye flour into one of the 

 center combs— a gill will not hurt a 

 •strong colony — then tuck them up and 

 shut up the hive. The queen will begin 

 to lay immediately, and in as many 

 cells as the bees can cover. 



Let the hive alone till the 1st of April, 

 then look it over and you will find a nice 

 lot of young bees. If the bees are not 

 gathering pollen give them some more 

 rye flour, and your colonies will be strong 

 and healthy. The result generally is 

 early swarms or a good surplus. I have 

 tried feeding sugar syrup in the fall and 

 rubbing rye flour in the combs in March 

 and April, with some of my colonies for 

 the past four years, and every time it 

 has proved a success. This year they 

 are the only ones that are proof against 

 the scourge of this ever-to-be-remem- 

 bered disastrous winter. 



Woodbury, Conn., April 2, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



"Using Separators for Surplus Honey. 



GREINER BROS. 



did not disagree with Mr. Heddon for 

 the sake of being on the contrary side, 

 but our argument was sincere, and based 

 on actual observation. The fact that 

 Mr. Heddon claims "they sometimes 

 kindlv attach the sides of the combs to 

 them'' to be an argument against wood- 

 en separators, is sufficient proof to us 

 that he does not speak from experience, 

 but merely to sustain his argument. 



We are not aware that we declared 

 against tin. as intimated by Mr. Hed- 

 don ; we only gave the reasons of our 

 individual preference for wood. That 

 Mr. Heddon considers himself a " Gali- 

 leo " is undoubtedly true, but the com- 

 parison does not seem to have any bear- 

 ingon thesubject. The Bee Journal, 

 as a progressive apiarian periodical, 

 stands too high and is too valuable, in 

 our estimation, to be used as a debating 

 medium. We want facts and actual ob- 

 servation. If we should differ in our 

 views, let us discuss such questions in 

 a friendly wav for our mutual benefit. 



Naples, N.'Y., April 11, 1881. 



It appears from Mr. Heddon 's reply 

 in the Weekly of April 6th, that he mls- 

 \mderstands the meaning of our article 

 on "Use of Separators for Surplus 

 Honey." We read the Bee Journal 

 with the expectation of gathering in- 

 formation, and the few articles we nave 

 contributed to its columns we hoped 

 might benefit some of its readers. We 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Bee Diseases, Spring Dwindling, etc. 



S. S. BUTLER. 



G. M. Doolittle says to Novice : 

 " Can't you manage to tell us why bees 

 did not spring dwindle prior to 1870 V" 

 Further along he says : " I can't see 

 through it all," and Novice says : " I 

 can't either." — Page 68, Gleanings for 

 Feb., 1881. With a great deal of hesita- 

 tion, after the veterans Doolittle and 

 Novice give it up, I will try and tell 

 what seems to me to be the reason ; it 

 is simply this : the bee has lost so much 

 vim or vitality that it is not able to stand 

 the cold as it used to. I will try to prove 

 my position. I was in Eastern Penn- 

 sylvania in the fall of 1872. and knew 

 two bee-keepers with nearly 100 colonies 

 each in common hives, who kept them 

 in the old-fashioned way, by brimston- 

 ing the poorest, keeping the best, and 

 so keeping up the tone of the colonies, 

 so that when the first disastrous winter 

 came their bees were not affected, be- 

 cause there was not a pseudo scientific 

 bee-keeper near enough to them to lower 

 the tone of their bees by dividing and 

 thus rearing poor queens, which would 

 rear poor drones, and thus lower the 

 vitality of his neighbor's bees. 



Mr. Doolittle gives his own case as one 

 where he had to stop rearing queens by 

 the quantity, and pay attention to qual- 

 ity, before he could get honey returns. 

 I nave never been able to get anything 

 of account from my bees until I got the 

 best stock I could procure and reared 

 my bees by natural swarming. Hear 

 Henry Alley on this subject, although 

 he does not seem to take the same view 

 of it that I do. On page 42, Bee Jour- 

 nal of Feb. 9, 1881, he says : "I have 

 found farmers who have kept bees in 

 the same place upwards of 40 years 

 without indications of deterioration." 

 1 think they will always be found far 

 enough away from frame-hive bee- 

 keepers, so that drones from the di- 

 vided bees have not mixed with their 

 bees. 



If our friends will look around in the 

 cold Northern States, they will find old- 

 fashioned bee-keepers,where away from 

 new-fashioned ones far enough to keep 

 the bees from mixing, also away from 

 sorghum and cider mills, and do not get 

 grape, peach or apple juice, or honey- 

 dew in quantities, are still wintering 

 their bees well. Bees are no better by 

 being kept in the old-fashioned than in 

 a frame hive, if allowed to swarm in 

 the frame hive ; but it is impossible for 

 an old-fashioned bee-keeper to keep his 

 stock good, if others near him divide 

 theirs and rear forced queens. " Five 

 hundred dollars would not hire me to 

 breed all my stock from an imported 

 mother and let my present stock go 

 down." — Doolittle, page 21, Jan. num- 

 ber of Gleanings. Why are imported 

 Italians getting below our best Ameri- 

 can yellow bees ? For the reason that 

 all the Italian exporters are rearing their 

 queens by the forcing process, for quan- 

 tity and not for quality. I would war- 

 rant very fine Italians from a locality 

 in Italy where they had been allowed to 

 always swarm naturally. 



How has it been with the great Dr. 

 Dzierzon, who has uever imported but 



the one colony of Italians, and stocked 

 his large apiaries, sold quantities of 

 queens, and still has good bees after a 

 quarter of a century ? Dzierzon's ex- 

 periment is a very strong argument in 

 favor of in-and-in breeding, as are also 

 the qualities of the Cyprian and Pales- 

 tine bees, where they have bred in-and- 

 in for ages. Dzierzon's success is be- 

 cause he is a real scientific apiarist. 



What say the Hanoverians (bottom of 

 third column, page 30, Bee Journal 

 of Jan. 26, 1881 ) r They think they rear 

 a finer bee by destroying }i of their bees, 

 thus renewing all their combs every 

 three years, and avoiding foul brood. 



1 would like to inquire of Mr. Jones 

 or Mr. Benton if they heard of foul 

 brood in either Cyprus or Palestine. My 

 opinion would be that a colony of either 

 Cyprians or Palestine bees would not 

 take or catch foul brood, if fed with 

 foul broody honey, because they are 

 naturally so vigorous. To try the ex- 

 periment, I should want my queen 

 reared naturally, from a locality where 

 they were all reared the same way. I 

 am glad to see that a few of our best 

 apiarists are giving the necessary atten- 

 tion to their bees, so that others can 

 get queens that will be an honor to the 

 breeder. 



I am getting quite well pleased with 

 the change in the Bee Journal ; I had 

 been used to the Monthly so long that I 

 at first disliked the change ; but now 

 would be very much opposed to having 

 it relapse into a Monthly again. I have 

 just taken out of the hives about 150 

 lbs. of honey, % of which was new, 

 showing the bees to be very forward for 

 the time of year. 



Los Gatos, Cal., March 3, 1881. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The Bee and Grape Controversy. 



L. JAMES. 



Several years ago this same charge 

 was brought against our bees by the 

 vineyardists, and I supposed the evi- 

 dence adduced then by the apiarists 

 had proven satisfactory. But another 

 dry fall has been attended with a heavy 

 loss of grapes, and the bees have again 

 been arraigned as the culprits. If bees 

 were not armed with such sharp weap- 

 ons as to be held in dread by many 

 persons not accustomed to handling 

 them there would be but little difficulty 

 in satisfying our neighbors that our 

 bees are in reality their friends, and 

 that the charges brought against them, 

 though appearing so to a casual ob- 

 server, is an erroneous conclusion drawn 

 from imperfect investigation. 1 am in- 

 terested in both branches, and have 

 been for over 20 years, and although 

 losing grapes in the same way as my 

 brother vinedyardist I say to him, that 

 for many years I have settled this mat- 

 ter to my own satisfaction, and in as 

 few words as possible inform him how 

 he can reach tne positive fact that bees 

 do not injure his grapes if he will spare 

 one hour or less from his pressing du- 

 ties and learn one truth that is worth 

 to him more than a dozen "I think 

 so's." 



The first dry fall that causes the bees 

 to gather in countless numbers on your 

 grapes, call in to your assistance some 

 person accustomed to handling bees 

 and not afraid of being stung (as I pre- 

 sume your are ) , select a cl uster of grapes 

 that is so full of bees that you cannot 

 see a grape, then request him to drive 

 them off by blowing his breath strongly 

 upon them and at the same time whip- 



Sing them with a whisp of soft ^grass. 

 Tow remove every imperfect or already 

 jnjured berry. Do this effectually. Af- 

 ter having done so step to one side and 

 the cluster will in all probability be hid 

 from sight by them again. Sit quietly 

 by and rest yourself for a while and you 

 will observe they will begin to leave, 

 and when all have gone examine and 

 you will find the very end of the stems 

 from which you plucked the damaged 

 fruit sucked dry, and every sound berry 

 will be found just as you left it and the 

 same bees as busy on some other clus- 

 ter, doing a better business. 



This simple test.if properly conducted, 

 will satisfy you that you were in error. 

 What would you think if one of your 

 city cousins should come running from 



your sheep pasture and cry out, "John ! 

 John ! the buzzards are eating up your 

 sheep!" You would no doubt laugh and 

 say, "That's not so, George." The 

 probability is that your blunt contra- 

 diction to his conviction of a fact would 

 probably cause him to retaliate by say- 

 ing, " Well John, they are "your sheen, 

 and if you see proper to let the buzzards 

 destroy them in this way, all right. But 

 I tell you it is a fact fori saw them my- 

 self with my own eyes tearing your . 

 sheep to pieces and eating them, too." 

 I presume such evidence, coming from 

 an honest but decided person, would 

 have but little weight with you. The 

 bees, just like the buzzards, are nature's 

 scavengers in this instance, nothing 

 more, nothing less, and utilize the frag- 

 ments. 



Who are the real depredators ? With 

 us, first on the list stands the grass-hop- 

 per, small in size, great in numbers (in 

 certain seasons) and armed with terri- 

 ble jaws for just such work. In my ap- 

 ple orchard last fall the apples were 

 badly cut in holes by them and crick- 

 ets. Grass-hoppers will either eat or 

 cut almost everything on which they 

 crawl or hop. My orchards are in grass, 

 and some seasons the hoppers very nu- 

 merous. At such times, if clothing is 

 hung up in the orchard it is liable to be 

 damaged by them. Crickets, and other 

 nocturnal insects depredate to a greater 

 or less extent also. The robin and cat- 

 bird are both on hand in grape gather- 

 ing also, but as they render valuable as- 

 sistance to the horticulturist iu obtain- 

 ing his crop of fruit, and as we toil 

 among our vines their outbursts of 

 mimicry or song amuse or elevate our 

 thoughts and we feel disposed to grant 

 them a portion of the crop. The robin, 

 good fellow as he is, should be welcomed 

 to his fill of concords, as he plucks no 

 more than he eats. But when you see 

 the catbird coming, shoot him if you 

 can, and summon all your Christian 

 graces to govern that unruly member — 

 for when grapes are ripe he becomes 

 the meanest bird that wears feathers. 

 He knows just where the best grapes 

 grow, and a second or third rate one he 

 has no use for while a No. 1 is to be 

 had ; very unlike the robin, he does not 

 pull off the berry and swallow it whole, 

 but takes a nip out of one and then an- 

 other in his restless way and by the time 

 he has satisfied his appetite he has 

 ruined enough grapes to furnish a host 

 of bees with employment in rescuing 

 the pulp of these damaged berries, un- 

 til he makes another call. These dam- 

 aged berries are of no value to the vine- 

 yardist, then why object to let this right 

 royal insect gather up the fragments 

 from the catbird's feast, that would be 

 lost V 



It is well known to persons growing 

 grapes that when the fruit is fully ripe 

 that a soaking rain and a warm atmos- 

 phere may cause many of the berries to 

 burst, from the fact that it has ceased 

 to grow and is incapable of sustaining 

 the internal pressure of the extra incom- 

 ing flood of sap. 



" Most bee-men are aware that bees are 

 abl e to gnaw such article as paste-board, 

 sacking, and even wood, yet I am satis- 

 fied they are unable to cut open the 

 grape. My belief is based upon the fol- 

 lowing premises : Paste-board, textile 

 fabrics and wood, however smooth, have 

 sufficient elevations on the surface for 

 the jaws of the bee to get a hold, but 

 the skin of the grape is very smooth, 

 somewhat tough and elastic or yielding 

 in its character as to afford no hold to 

 be had, and I have no doubt a practical 

 microscopist could give an illustrated 

 drawing of the mouth of the bee, show- 

 ing its inability of opening the berry. 

 Again, there is one thing certain, the 

 intense excitement and energy dis- 

 played by bees when engaged m this 

 business would not cease when the 

 already open ones were consumed if 

 they had the power to cut through so 

 thin a covering as stands between them 

 and the so much coveted interior. 

 Atlanta, 111., April 11, 1881. 

 [So far, the preponderance of evidence 

 tends to exonerate the bees from all 

 the charges which have been brought 

 against them ; this is the more gratify- 

 ing, as the majority of it comes from 

 those who are themselves engaged, more 

 or less, in grape culture.— Ed.] 



