AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



9 



The Suoject of Bee-Culture 



has been a particular subject of investi- 

 gation by the Government — so says Hon. 

 J. M. Rusk, Secretary of Agriculture, in 

 his Report for the year 1891, a copy of 

 which we received a short time since. 



Under the head of "Apiculture" is a 

 description of what was done during the 

 year in the interest of bee-keeping. It 

 states that Prof. A. J. Cook, of the 

 Michigan State Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, was commissioned Jan. 1, 

 1 81 11, for a period of six months, and 

 Mr. J. H. Larrabee, of Vermont, was 

 appointed to assist him. Experiments, 

 some of them in continuation of those 

 instituted previously by the Michigan 

 Station, were undertaken with a view of 

 determining the value of special plant- 

 ing for honey ; the effect on bees of the 

 poison used in spraying fruit trees ; the 

 value of bees as fertilizers ; the intro- 

 duction of an improved strain of bees ; 

 a determination of the amount of honey 

 required to produce one pound of wax ; 

 whether the worker-bees feed the drones 

 albuminous food ; and to determine the 

 conductivity of wax. 



Among the results apparently proven 

 by the experiments of the season, we 

 may mention the following : 



A number of honey-plants were 

 tested, and the conclusion was reached 

 that none of them would pay for cultiva- 

 tion for honey alone. 



A second experiment indicated that 

 spraying with arsenicals should not be 

 carried on while the bees are visiting 

 the blossoms of fruit trees. 



Another series of experiments showed 

 conclusively the value of bees as ferti- 

 lizers. 



The result from the next series of ex- 

 periments seems to indicate that 11 

 pounds of honey is the amount required 

 to produce one pound of comb. This 

 result is at variance with the results 

 obtained by other workers. 



The experiments made by Schoenf eld, 

 of Germany, on the character of the 

 food of drones resulted in the same con- 



clusion, viz. : that drones are given the 

 same kind of albuminous food as the 

 queens and the larvae, and that without 

 this food the drones cannot live longer 

 than three days at the outside. 



Experiments upon the conductivity of 

 wax indicate that for practical purposes 

 it has about the same as the board par- 

 titions of hives, and rather greater than 

 the full comb. 



On July 1, Mr. Frank Benton, a well- 

 known apiarist, was appointed for the 

 purpose of conducting further investi- 

 gations. Mr. Benton has been stationed 

 at Washington since the date of his 

 appointment, and has been engaged for 

 the most part in placing the apicultural 

 work upon a good footing, and devising 

 a series of experiments to be carried out 

 during the next season. 



Sick or Starved Bees.— Mr. C. 



F. Lang, of La Crosse, Wis., wrote us as 

 follows recently regarding his bees 

 which seemed to be affected by some 

 disease, and sent a sample of the bees : 



I notice on page 771 of the Bee 

 Journal of June 9, 1892, that Mr. 

 Otto Semke wrote that some of his bees 

 are sick. I have one colony infected 

 with the same disease, from which I 

 send you a sample. They are strong 

 otherwise, but are losing every day from 

 50 to 100 bees, where the others, I 

 notice, have hardly any in front of the 

 hive. I tried to cure them with a few 

 drops of carbolic acid on a rag. It did 

 not do any good, and I gave them salt in 

 sugar syrup, but that did not help any, 

 either. C F. Lang. 



Prof. Cook, to whom we forwarded 

 the bees for examination, says : 



The bees from Mr. Lang seem exactly 

 like those from Mr. Semke. I presume 

 the better weather of the last few days 

 has put all to rights. — A. J. Cook. 



Mr. P. L. Norton, of Lanesboro, Pa., 

 also had some bees affected somewhat 

 similarly to those of Mr. Semke and Mr. 

 Lang, and on June 14, 1892, wrote 

 thus concerning them : 



I send a few workers and drones 

 afflicted the same as are Mr. Otto F. 



