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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



September 22, 



good than harm. They are not sufficiently common to kill 

 many bees, and for the most part feed on injurious Insects 

 and so do great good. While I would not complain of Mr. H., 

 or blame him for killing these when he sees them, yet I 

 would have him know that they have their good side, and are 

 by no means exclusive enemies. 



CALIFORNIA BEE-KILLER. 



There Is another animal in California — not at all rare — 

 which I figure and describe briefly, in my book, as the " Cali- 

 fornia bee-killer." It is not an insect at all, but belongs to 

 the scorpion branch of the spider class. Therefore, it is pos- 

 sest of eight Instead of six legs. It looks, as will be seen by 

 the figure (Bee-Keepers' Guide, page 432), like a long spider, 

 but in having a segmented abdomen, and pincer-llbe jaws. It 

 is more closely related to the scorpions. All that I have seen 

 are whitish, gray, or dark In color. These, like the cow- 

 killers, enter bee-hives and kill and eat the bees. I have heard 

 of this work in Northern California, and in Inyo as well as in 

 Southern California. Like the cow-killers, these are preda- 

 ceous, and so do much good — I think far more good than 

 harm. The double-acting jaws which resemble the pincers of 

 the scorpion and lobster enable this animal to give a formid- 

 able bite, as I have often proved by teasing them with a stick. 



ROBBER-FLIES. 



The robber-files (see Bee-Keepers' Guide, page 415, for 

 illustrations), are also very common in Southern California. 

 These large, savage two-winged flies are rightly called " bee- 

 killers" in some sections. They do not enter the hives, but 

 hover about the entrance and, eagle-like, swoop down upon 

 the unsuspecting bees, pierce them with the strong beak, and 

 suck their blood. In some sections these great robber-flies 

 are quite serious pests. Yet they kill so many Injurious in- 

 sects that they are not to be wholly condemned. It Is strange 

 that these flies can do such ferocious work. I have known 

 one to attack, overpower, kill and suck bloodless a big, savage 

 tiger-beetle. 



We have found here that the king-bird, or bee-martin — a 

 different species from the one common In the East — is not 

 about the hives solely to capture the bees. We find more rob- 

 ber-files than bees in their stomachs. Indeed, I have not found 

 a bee as yet, but have taken several robber-flies from birds 

 killed in the apiary, which were supposed to be killing bees. 

 I have, however, pretty good evidence that they do sometimes 

 kill and eat bees. 



DBAGON-FLIES. 



The only other Insects In Southern California that I have 

 known to kill bees are the beautiful dragon-flies, darning- 

 needles, or lace-wings. While these mosquito hawks, as they 

 are also called, are far less common than In the East, they 

 are often seen, and claim not a few bees to make up for their 

 vigilant search for Injurious insects. Like the other species, 

 they rarely do anything like the harm that they do good. On 

 the whole, they are likewise friends. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



Methods of Yeutllatliig Bee-Hives. 



BY Vl'M. M. WHITNEY. 



There seems to be no small degree of agitation lately 

 among the wise heads In our bee-keeping fraternity, respecting 

 ventilation of the bee-hive. Some advocate the use of front 

 wedge-blocks ; some, front and rear spaces ; others, blocks 

 under the four corners of the hive; and still others, raising 

 the cover. 



Now, all of these methods of ventilation, excepting the 

 last mentioned, are applicable only to hives having loose bot- 

 toms, and every one of them, under certain circumstances, are 

 subject to serious objections, which, it seems to me, will be 

 suggested to any experienced bee-keeper. 



My hives are what are known as the two-story Falconer 

 chaff, having tight bottoms — have tried others, but like this 

 better than any other I have seen for wintering out-of-doors, 

 and for manipulation as I have learned to do. 



My colonies are very strong — made so by careful building 

 up as they need room, to two stories of 20 frames, as early as 

 possible after .the season opens ; and when they show signs of 

 " hanging out," I simply remove one or two frames from the 

 brood-chamber, according to circumstances, and re-space the 

 others, which settles the difficulty with my bees. I also re- 

 move the super of frames from the upper story of such as I 

 wish to run for comb honey, and substitute section-cases. The 

 wider spaces in the brood-chamber gives freer access to the 

 upper story, and I find my bees occupy it very fully as soon as 

 the change is made ; and when I raise the enamel cloth, they 



poke their little heads up through the bee-space and say, 

 "Thank you." 



It must be quite a difficult task for a bee to make its way 

 up through a mass of bees to the surplus chamber, when 

 spaced close as we usually put the frames, when brood-rear- 

 ing is started in the spring. 



But, It may be objected to my practice, that the bees will 

 thicken the comb In the brood-chamber so as to reduce the 

 spacing. I think not, if there is a prolific queen to occupy 

 the frames with brood; and especially so if the bees are work- 

 ing in the surplus chamber ; at least this Is my experience. 

 My hives have an entrance of J^x8 inches, and by practicing 

 as above described, I have no lounging outside by the strong- 

 est colonies I can create. If bees need so much ventilation, 

 why do they carefully stop up with propolis every crack and 

 crevice they possibly can ? It Is more room in which to move 

 aoout that mine seem to want, and I think my method of ven- 

 tilation subject to less objection than any other with which I 

 am acquainted. 



Of course, any manipulation of a colony of bees must be 

 done at the proper time and In the proper manner to secure 

 the desired results ; which means that the successful bee- 

 keeper is one who has his eyes wide open all the time, and sees 

 and appreciates what is going on in his apiary from day to 

 day, aud from what he sees, and from what he reads, is pre- 

 pared to take advantage of circumstances. 



The more I study my bees (and that is pretty nearly all 

 the time), watching their various operations, their changing 

 conditions, caused by changes of weather, varying seasons, as 

 well as difference In methods of handling them, the more I am 

 convinced that bee-keeping is not only the most complex but 

 the most interesting of all rural pursuits. 



Will some one of our scientific students of the fraternity 

 tell us why the bees always before leaving the hive for their 

 journey, wipe their eyes with their "forepaws?" You may 

 ask. Do they ? Yes, they Invariably do so. It is done as they 

 approach the exit where the light strikes the eye, or as soon 

 as they reach the alighting-board. 



Kankakee Co., III., Aug. 12. 



Extracting-Supers— Italians Gather Better 

 Honey. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



In the last few weeks I have had several inquiries from 

 bee-keepers who use extracting-supers of the same depth as 

 the pound-section supers, with a request for an opinion In the 

 matter. 



We use an extracting-super that takes a frame 6 inches 

 deep, and after trying both this and the full-frame super on a 

 large scale, that Is, on hundreds of colonies, we have a very 

 decided preference for the former. 



As for the shallow 4-inch extracting-super, we can see no 

 benefit in its use. In the producing of extracted honey we 

 may very confidently expect a yield of honey about double of 

 that harvested in the comb, that is, after the comb has been 

 once built and can be returned to the bees to be refilled at the 

 beginning of each honey crop. An extracting-super only four 

 inches deep gives too little room to the bees, and if two supers 

 have to be used instead of one, there are too many combs to 

 handle to expedite matters and enable us to handle our hives 

 economically. 



On the other hand, a full-depth super very often gives the 

 bees more room at one time than they can readily occupy. If 

 the colony is not strong, and the super is put on the hive 

 early, such a large amount of space Is difficult to keep warm, 

 and breeding is delayed. If the bees begin work In the 

 deep super it often happens that the queen ascends to it and 

 begins laying, and the colony sometimes forsakes the lower 

 story and transports Its entire force to this upper story. With 

 Sframe Langstroth hives the additional room given by the 

 adding of a second full story may very often be welcome to a 

 prolific queen that finds herself crampc for room in the lower 

 apartment, but as the queen is usually unable to entirely fill 

 the whole 16 frames with brood, the result is that a part of 

 this upper story may be occupied with honey and the other 

 with brood, and honey has to be extracted from combs con- 

 taining brood. We found the same circumstances with two- 

 story 10-frame Langstroth hives, and after several years of 

 trial finally fixt on the 6-Inch super as the most practical. 

 With a super of this depth extracting is more rapid than with 

 either the shallow or the deep story, for the combs are more 

 regularly filled with honey, and breeding in these combs Is 

 more exceptional. The outlay in cases for extracting-combs 

 is but a trifle, and. In my opinion it is out of the question to 



