THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Septempei 



REMOVING PROPOLIS. the verge of ruin by being placed i 



The ado over the removal of propolis such a depository with the tempera 



from hands or utensils suggests that ture considerably above the freezin 



more or less persons regard it as some point." Who was right? 

 strange and peculiar substance. Treat We have good reason to believe tfia 



it as anj' pitch or gum is treated and it a high death rate, with or withou 



yields readily. Rub on a little grease dysentery is due to the efforts of th 



or oil and follow with soap in warm bees to keep their cluster temperatur 



water. A strong solution of an alkali normal by the consumption of store' 



such as washing soda, potash or am- 

 monia will remove it as will also al- 

 cohol, naptha, gasolene or kerosene. 

 With one or another of these substan- 

 ces it can be removed from most any 

 article without damage thereto. 



ABOLISH THE FEEDING PRAC- 

 TICE. 

 In reviewing the report of the last 

 meeting of the N. B. K. A. attention 

 was arrested by comments on the 

 feeding of sugar for producing honey. 

 Some earnest men in their efforts to 

 show that the possibilities were over- 

 drawn compared the prices of sugar 

 and of honey, saying that with sugar 

 at six cents and honey at nve cents 

 obviously there could be no profit to 

 induce the practice. In their zeal they 

 quite overlooked the fact that the 

 six cents' worth of sugar makes three 

 pounds of feeding syrup and two 

 pounds \Vhen stored and thickened. 

 Sixty-six per cent gross profit is quite 

 a temptation to a good many men, 



deficient in heat producmg element 

 namely, the sugars. When bees hav 

 the time and the population to propei 

 ly treat and thicken fall noney it i 

 quite as good as any other as a winte 

 food and inuch safer than sugar syru 

 fed late, as the latter often crystallize: 



ODOR THEORY AGAIN. 

 The editor of the Review commen- 

 ing on our remarks on the odor facte 

 in queen introduction and in unitin 

 bees, cites the followmg strong ev 

 dence of the fallacy of the odor the 

 ory: "In making up colonies i usuall 

 take combs, with the adhering bet 

 from about three different colonic 

 put them all together in a n^-w hi\ 

 and give them a queen. Such colonie 

 defend themselves from intrudei 

 from the very first." It would seem < 

 though the different 'scent' would I 

 so badly inixed up as to be of litt 

 value. Further on reference is mac 

 to the odor left by a queen on objec 



she has been in contact with as show 

 and when a three-cent-per-pound stor- ^y ^^e ways bees run over andexamir 

 ed syrup can be sold for fifteen cei>ts ^^^.j, objects. It is probably from th 

 there is temptation enough to warrant 

 a lot of strong preaching against the 

 feeding of any syrup for any purpose 

 except prevention of absolute starva- 

 tion. 



that the odor theorj^ first arose, bi 



the fact was overlooked that an 



bees pay the same attention to sue 



objects regardless of what queen le 



the odor, or whether the bees wei 



'_„ ^, queenless or not. It is difficult to ui 



WHO WAS RIGHT? derstand just the nature of the quee 



An early writer said "If bees are odor which thus attracts any workt 



obliged to live entirely upon hoiaey bee, because a fertile queen bee diffei 



after having exhausted their stock so greatly from higl'-er orders of an 



of pollen, they are in general attacked mal life with which we are familia 



with dysentery, and the best method A virgin queen does not leave an ir 



of curing them is to place .-*ome combs citing odor, neither does a droni 



in their hive, the cells of which are Possibly a laying queen generates a 



filled with pollen. odor peculiar to her condition an 



A later author said: "Colonies which analogous to that of higher animals. £ 



have no stores of pollen or are only the mating period. Certainly a fertil 



meagerly supplied therewith will not queen which is not develop'Mg eggs- 



be injured but rather benefited by be- 

 ing placed during winter in a dark 

 depository vv'ith a moderate tempera- 

 ture. On the contrary colonies well 



during periods of quiescence— attract 

 far less attention from the worker 

 while a virgin receives little if any a 

 all. In studying the subject of odo 



supplied with pollen wi^l be brought to it is quite important that the studen 



