1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



181 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Seasonable Hints.— The Indiana Par- 

 mer gives the following seasonable 

 hints : 



The bee-keeper's wealth is not esti- 

 mated by the colonies of which he is 

 possessed, but by their strength, and 

 the power and ability with which they 

 are able to gather surplus honey. 



Extra frames of comb packed away 

 should be examined often. If they 

 show signs of worms, they must be fu- 

 migated with sulphur. 



Keep the grass and weeds cut away 

 from around the hives. Much time is 

 lost by bees falling in the grass. They 

 may become chilled by the rain or dew 

 in cool weather, or before they regain 

 the hives fall victims to toads or spi- 

 ders, and young queens returning from 

 their bridal trip are liable to fall in the 

 grass and be lost. 



While working with the bees, avoid 

 all sudden jars, quick, active motions, 

 and never fight them. Careful hand- 

 ling will cure nearly all cross bees, 

 while with careless rough handling, the 

 most quiet will become cross. It is a 

 part of the nature of bees to gorge 

 themselves with honey when alarmed, 

 and when in this condition, they rarely, 

 if ever sting, unless pinched. "Use the 

 smoker judiciously, and avoid the disa- 

 greeableness of stings. 



Transferring is best done early in the 

 spring before the colonies become 

 strong, or during fruit bloom, but by 

 careful management, it may be safely 

 done up to the middle of June. Avery 

 good time to transfer is after a colony 

 has cast a swarm. At this time there 

 are very few bees left in the old hive 

 to be in the way of the operator. The 

 combs being well tilled with brood are 

 strong and tough, and less liable to 

 break down. To those of you who still 

 have your bees in box hives, we would 

 say, make or buy a frame hive and 

 transfer your bees immediately. The 

 advantages to be gained will well repay 

 you for your trouble and expense per- 

 taining to the change, and though you 

 have only 1 colony, have it in good 

 shape, and in such condition that you 

 can examine it thoroughly, in case all 

 should not be right with them. 



even factory cloth," it is something 

 analogous lo the tearing open of grapes. 



1 am not able to sec that it is analo- 

 gous. Paper and cloth arc manufac- 

 tured from fibrous materials and the 

 bees are able, with their mandibles, to 



separate the fibres, but not cut them. 

 In my earlier experience with bees, 1 

 used strips of cotton cloth and pieces of 

 cotton string to tie the transferred 

 combs into frames, and would remove 

 them in -1 or:; days, and always found 

 that the bees had attempted to remove 

 them by tearing the fibres apart, but 

 never saw a string or piece of cloth cut. 

 If bees were able to cut open grape 

 skins, we would all know it; there 

 would not lie any doubt about it; the 

 grapes would disappear more rapidly 

 than cherries, before, the cherry birds 

 and potato vines— before the Colorado 

 beetle." 



Mr. D. J. Ellsworth, of Connecticut, 

 gives the following facts : 



" The damage done to grapes is get- 

 ting to be a serious matter. I wonder 

 I have seen so little in print about it, 

 and that we should be kept so long in 

 doubt of who the enemy is. I have a 

 single hive of bees, and we naturally 

 inferred it was their work, but last fall 

 I was informed by a neighbor, that it 

 was all the work of the fire-bird (Balti- 

 more oriole), that he had seen them at 

 work, and 1 readily gave them credit 

 for it; they are adepts at opening peas. 

 This man has quite a number of bees, 

 but he declares they are innocent. I do 

 not believe bees can break through the 

 skin of the grape, and the work is done 

 with a rush." 



The Large Bee of .lava.— Mrs. Harri- 

 son in the Prairie Former, gives her 

 views thus : 



Much money and time is now being 

 Spent l'\ Several parlies, to introduce 



tin 1 Apis dorsata, whose habitat is Far- 

 ther India and adjacent islands. This 



bee has never been civilized, but at- 

 taches its comb to the limbs of trees, 

 and is said to build its comb 6 feet in 



length. It is doubtful whether it could 



be taught to dwell in a hive, or endure 

 the winter's cold. The desirable trail 

 sought in this bee, is the great size. 

 Many of the flowers of the Torrid zone 

 are of great size, and an all-wise ( !rea- 

 tor adapted the bee to their wants. 

 The Apis dorsata, if successfully intro- 

 duced into this country, may be as 

 much too large for our flora as the na- 

 tive bee is thought to be too small. A 

 bee that can work upon red clover, has 

 been much sought for by apiarists, and 

 some now claim to have it, and obtained 

 it by carefully breeding those of the 

 longest tongues. Hardiness is another 

 desirable trait to be sought after by 

 those desiring the best bee. 



GLEANINGS. 

 Glucose for Feeding Bees. Mr. Root 



cautions all ag i feeding grape sugar 



for winter stores, and says : " The Brst 

 experiment I ever made with it, for 

 wintering, caused the death Of two col- 

 onies." lie then adds : 



The case Mr. Langstroth mentions in 

 the Bee Journal of May it. seems to 

 show very conclusively that grape sugar 

 should not be used for winter stores, 

 and I cannot see why our friend McCord 



should have done so foolish a thing as 

 to have given the greater part of the 

 stores of 36colonies a feed mostly grape 

 sugar. Although 1 have never known 



a good article to produce dysentery, I 

 should have certainly supbosed it would 

 have hardened in the cells so as to 

 starve them. 



The Care of Swarms.— Mrs. L. Harri- 

 son, in the Prairie Farmer, says : 



As soon as a swarm is fairly clus- 

 tered, it should be hived, before the 

 scouts return, who have been sent out 

 to find a suitable home. If they have 

 clustered upon a limb of a tree, which 

 the owner is willing to cut off, it is 

 easily done by sawing it off with as lit- 

 tle jar as possible, and laying it in front 

 of their future home. A little smoke. 

 may be used to drive them in. The 

 hive should be cool and clean, and 

 placed in the shade. A new swarm will 

 often desert a hive, if left in the sun af- 

 ter hiving. Where the owner has a 

 hive of comb, free from moth worms, 

 it should be given to a new colony, for 

 while they are building one pound of 

 comb, they will store 20 lbs. of honey. 



Birds, Grapes and Bees.— The New 

 York Tribune gives the following facts 

 concerning the bee and grape contro- 

 versy. Its correspondent, W, who 

 made the charge that the Italian bees 

 had punctured his grapes, says : 



" In fairness to the bees, I wish to say 

 that my charge against the Italians was 

 expressly circumstantial only— the cir- 

 cumstances against them being a mad 

 onset on the grapes of a Concord vine, 

 which was covered with bees and roar- 

 ing with their hum, about September 

 10, and on which nearly every grape was 

 sucked dry. Such a thing had never 

 been seen before, in more than 30 years' 

 experience with bees and grapes, until 

 now that Italians were established in a 

 large apiary near. Circumstances in 

 favor of the bees are: 1. That some 

 berries escaped, that bunches left acci- 

 dentally on other vines near were un- 

 touched—the whole crop having been 

 gathered rather prematurely in alarm ; 

 2. That there were but few bunches, 

 and those very large, owing to frost 

 having killed the blossoms in May ; 3. 

 A heavy continuous rain in the early 

 part of September so urged growth that 

 it is possible that the tender skins of 

 the Concords on this vigorous vine may 

 have bursted from the gorge. We may 

 find out more hereafter." 



Another of its correspondents, Mr. J. 

 H. M., North Evans, N. Y.. gives 

 the following criticism on Prof. Cook's 

 article on this subject : 



"Prof. A. J. Cook leaves your read- 

 ers to infer that he now inclines to the 

 opinion that, " from the fact that bees 

 are able to cut away strong paper, and 



Clipping Queens' Wings.— The In- 

 diana Farmer contains the following : 



Although there be some disadvanta- 

 ges in having the wings of the queen 

 clipped, still we believe the advantages 

 are in favor of the clipping, while, as a 

 general rule, the bees do not leave for 

 the woods without first settling, they do 

 sometimes leave, without any forewarn- 

 ing. The clipping of the wings does 

 not prevent the bees from swarming, 

 but the queen being unable to accom- 

 pany them, they will return to the hive 

 as soon as they have discovered her ab- 

 sence. They may try again next day, 

 if something is not done to prevent. 

 If let go they are likely to try several 

 times, or in waiting until the young 

 queen is hatched will come out with 

 her, when they have cast a swarm and 

 gone back to the hive ; the combs must 

 be examined, divided, or the cells cut 

 out, the latter of which is a poor pre- 

 ventive, as they will soon build them 

 up again. It is only necessary to clip 

 the tip of one wing. This will prevent 

 her flying, and does not disfigure her. 

 The queen should be handled as little 

 as possible. In clipping, take the 

 queen by the thorax between the left 

 fore-finger and thumb, raise the wing 

 with the point of the scissors and clip, 

 being careful not to injure her. Never 

 take her by the abdomen, as a slight 

 squeeze is liable to kill her. If you 

 practice natural swarming with the 

 queens' wings clipped, as soon as they 

 commence coming out, keep a look out 

 for the queen, secure her, put her some 

 place out of danger. Remove the old 

 hive, place an empty one on the stand, 

 wait until the bees commence coming 

 back, turn her loose with the bees. 

 They all go in together, and the hiving 

 is done. 



Uses for (ilncose and Grape Sugar. 



—The Popular Science Monthly contains 

 an article by Professor Wiley on the 

 manufacture of glucose and of grape 

 sugar, the latter being simply an exten- 

 sion of the process for making the for- 

 mer. 



This industry sprang up about 12 

 years ago, and is rapidly extending. 

 Glucose is a sweet syrup made from 

 corn starch, resembling in appearance 

 the molasses of cane sugar, and by 

 reason of its greater cheapness largely 

 affecting the consumption of the cane 

 product. Grape sugar is made to re- 

 semble a finely-powdered sugar, and is 

 used extensively to adulterate the su- 

 gar of commerce. 



Glucose is used chiefly for the manu- 

 facture of table syrups, but also in can- 

 dies, as food for bees, by brewers both 

 in this country and in England, and 

 for making artificial honey, the combs 

 being moulded out of parafflne. 



Grape sugar is also applied to some of 

 the same purposes, but principally for 

 the adulteration of other sugars. 



The cheapness with which glucose 

 syrup and grape sugar can be produced 

 has led to its extensive use. The most 

 flourishing manufactories are at the 

 West, where corn was bought last year 

 at a little over 30 cts. per bushel. As 

 from 26 to 32 lbs. of glucose syrup or of 

 grape sugar are made from a bushel of 

 corn, the average cost of either to the 

 manufacturer is about 1 ct. per lb. As 

 he sells either article at 3 to 4 cts. per 

 lb., the business is a very lucrative one, 

 and is rapidly extending. 



On the 1st of August, there were 10 

 factories in operation in the United 

 States, consuming daily about 20,000 

 bushels of corn. There were, also in 

 process of construction 9 other factor- 

 ies, with a total daily capacity of 22,000 

 bushels of corn. Prof. Wiley estimates 

 that not less than 11,000.000 bushels of 

 corn will be converted into glucose and 

 grape sugar during the present year, 

 and says that "every indication leads 

 to the belief that the amount will be 

 doubled in 1882." 



In the above extract Prof. Wiley is 

 forced to admit that glucose has no le- 

 gitimate useful purpose to which it is 

 put, or for which its manufacturers dare 

 to advertise it ! In the third paragraph 

 he admits that its use is " principally " 

 for "adulteration," and the only ex- 

 cuse for making it, is the fact that it 

 can be manufactured at a cost of one 

 cent per pound, and can be sold for 3 or 

 4 cents— thus making it a lucrative busi- 

 ness. It seems to us that any respec- 

 table journal should " blush to mur- 

 mer," or even to breathe, an excuse for 

 making the villianous trash, whose 

 only excuse for existence is fraud and 

 swindling, cheating and imposition, de- 

 ception and adulteration ! 



The Best Bees for Wintering.— Mr. H. 



B. Harrington remarks : 



The Cyprians wintered the best of 

 any bees'I had. The Holy-Lands did 

 not winter quite as well, but were not 

 in as good condition in the fall. They 

 will get up earlier in the morning, lly 

 faster and further than any other bees 

 I ever saw. The queens are very pro- 

 lific, and they build up si rung, very 

 quickly in the spring. 



New Way of Putting Wires into Foun- 

 dation.— Mr. A. I. Root gives the fol- 

 lowing plan : 



I picked up an ordinary button- 

 hook, such as ladies use for button- 

 ing their shoes, and after filing a lit- 

 tle groove in the back of the hook, so it 

 would not slip off the wire, I found it 

 was even belter than the. wire, friend 

 Bliss sent. You want your frame all 

 wired as usual, and your sheets of foun- 

 dation cut so as to just fill the frames. 

 Have a board also, cut so as to just slip 

 inside the. frame. Lay the wired frame 

 over the board, and put the sheet of 

 foundation between the diagonal and 

 upright wires. Now run your button- 

 hook along on each wire, with force 

 to imbed the wire slightly. Turn the 

 frame over, and do the same with the 

 diagonal wires, and it is ready to hang 

 in the hives. 



Stingless Bees.— In reply to several 

 important questions, Mr. II. Burmeis- 

 ter, of Buenos Aires, South America, 

 says : 



Stingless honey bees are without ex- 

 ception melipones. 



They live in hot and woody countries, 

 and are not found near Buenos Aires. 

 Near Mendoza I found a plentiful kind 

 of Melipones anthidiaides ; another 

 smaller and more unknown kind I 

 caught near Tucuman. Both of these 

 kinds produce no honey. The honey of 

 the insects of this hot climate is pro- 

 duced by a kind of wasp, such as Lechi- 

 guanaor Polybia sceetellaries and Camu- 

 'uli. known 'as JVectarinia lechiguana; 

 both of these kinds are plentiful, but 

 not as far south as Buenos Aires. 



The honey-gathering melipones live in 

 large companies, as do our honey bees : 

 but it is not yet known whether tbey 

 send out swarms, or how they multiply. 

 In Brazil it is the custom to take a few 

 egg-containing combs (of several kinds) 

 and put them in boxes near by, to in- 

 duce them to be domesticated, and 

 sometimes with success; but not al- 

 ways, and their new home must always 

 be near their old one in the forest. 



The honey of these melipones is more 

 flowing than the honey of our house 

 bees. If it can be crystallized, it is not 

 known. 



The webs are, upright, and the cells 

 horizontal, like those of our bees, but 

 are generally much smaller; the wax is 

 dark— almost black. I got. some in 

 Tucuman to look at. 



It is impossible to cross them with 

 our honey bees, as both live in greal 

 hostility to each other. 



The melipones have the power, like 

 ants, to eject a biting fluid, which pro- 

 duces a burning sensation; there are 

 about 40 different kinds known: they 

 attack persons in the face who disturb 

 their home, and are very troublesome. 



