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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



July 20, 1899. 



h'eJti^s a Jjeaxt foi' the work, so. that he finds some deg^ree of 

 pleasure in caring for thein, he had better not attempt to 

 keep them at all. as they will only prove a source of annoy- 

 ance without profit. 



"" To make a successful bee-keeper requires a special gift, 

 or a natural' aptness for the business, the facultj- of per- 

 ceiving what needs to be done, and an inclination to do it 

 promptly.' The old Spanish adage, " Never to do anything 

 to-daj' vrhich can be put off until to-morrow." does not apply 

 to bee keeping, as it savors too much of slothfulness ; but 

 the old Anglo-Saxon maxim, "Nev^r leave until to-mormw 

 vrhat can well be done to-day," will be found more applica- 

 ble, being much more in harmony with the assiduous activ- 

 ity of the bees. 



We are living in a progressive age. No other period in 

 the world's history has ever been signalized by such won- 

 derful developments in science and art as has been brought 

 to light this 19th century. The great labyrinth of Nature's 

 mysteries has seemed to be set open unto men, and forces 

 and principles which have lain dormant since the beginning 

 of the creation, have in our day been brought forth and 

 made subservient to the will of man with astonishing re- 

 sults. And while such unparalleled progress has been made 

 in other directions, bee-keeping has also received its share 

 of attention, and I feel quite safe in saying that more pro- 

 .gress has been made in the management of bees, during 

 the latter part of this century, than during all the thou- 

 ■sands of years of previous historj'. 



Bee-keeping in its present stage of development is fully 

 entitled to take rank as one of the arts, and were it, not for 

 -the variableness of the .seasons, the changeableness of the 

 .weather, and other atmospheric conditions vipon which the 

 secretion of nectar in the flowers is so largely dependent, 

 and upon which hing-es the turning-point of success or fail- 

 lire, all of which are entirely beyond our control — I say, 

 were it not for these uncertainties, then bee-keeping might 

 .properly be clast as a science ; but inasmuch as the varia- 

 tion of seasons necessitates a variation in management cif 

 the bees, therefore no set rules can be establisht which will 

 work satisfactorily under all circumstances that may arise ; 

 •but, the judgment and skill of the apiarist needs to be con- 

 stantly exercised in order to discover just what needs to be 

 done, and when and how to do it. 



Altho the manipulations of an apiary are widely difter- 

 ent from farm work, as the practice of medicine is different 

 from the practice of law, yet a few bees in the neighbor- 

 hood are a real benefit to every farmer or fruit-grower, be- 

 cause the bees evidently perform a very important part in 

 the fertilization of the blossoms of fruit and seed bearing 

 trees and plants. Therefore, let the farmer, fruit-grower, 

 and bee-keeper, live in harmonj' and good-will, for that 

 .which promotes the interest of one, promotes the interest 

 of all. Give the bees a chance. Ada L. Pick.\rd. 



Pead Brood— Kingbirds— Honey-Dew. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



IT will be rememb^ed that in 1894 there was much com- 

 plaint of dead brood in the apiaries of Southern Califor- 

 nia. The present sea.son shows the same condition 

 again. I have received samples from nearly every section 

 .of Southern California within the past few weeks, always 

 attended with the inquiry, " Is it foul brood "? 



This dead brood is not at all like foul brood, and any 

 one who attends to the following description carefully, will 

 •have no difiiculty in distinguishing the one from the other : 

 In this case, the characteristic, most disagreeable, odor of 

 foul brood is wholly wanting ; the sunken cell-cap, with its 

 frequent perforation, i§ also absent. The dead brood is 

 always in the form of larva;, and never in the sticky, pasty, 

 unctuous mass so characteristic of foul brood. We insert a 

 pin and draw a decaying larva from the cell, and it is not a 

 stringy or ropy substance which springs back when it lets 

 go the pinhead, as is true of foul brood, on the whole, yet 

 it often appears coffee-colored or a rich, dark brown, as does 



foul Iprood. The surest way to.teU is in the character of the 

 decaying substance in the cell. If the larva is always found, 

 showing the form even in its decay, instead of the stringy, 

 elastic, past)' mass, then it is not foul brood. 



I had a good deal of this in my hives in 1894, but I found 

 it only in colonies in a starving condition, and as soon as I 

 fed the bees properly the trouble disappeared. I have re- 

 cently examined several colonies, where there is abun- 

 dance of honey and pollen in the hive, and I found no sign 

 of the disease. I believe it comes from some condition 

 which kills the larva;. I have pretty good reason to think 

 that this is usually lack of stores. If it is sometimes pres- 

 ent with abundance of food, as is reported by some of our 

 good authorities, then it must be some other cause that 

 brings death to the brood. Once dead, natural decay com- 

 mences. The number of dead bees is not usually sufficient 

 to produce any serious stench about the hive. 



I suggest to all who are disturbed with this dead brood, 

 to feed the bees, or see that thej- have plent.v of honey, and 

 I predict that their experience will be like mine in 1894 — the 

 trouble will disappear. 



It is significant that we hear nothing of this trouble in 

 good seasons, and, so far as I have observed, see it onlj- in 

 apiaries where stores are very short in the hives. Nearly 

 all who have sent me this dead brood this year, have stated 

 that the bees are very short of honey. 



THE KINGBIRDS. 



There are two birds in the United States that kill bees, 

 both workers and drones, and I feel sure that they would 

 not hesitate to take the finest queen should opportunity 

 offer. The birds are wholly insectivorous. They belong to 

 the family Tyrannida;, which also includes the common, 

 well-known pewee. Both, or possibly all three, species be- 

 long to the genus Tyrannus. They are all known as king- 

 birds, bee-martins, or tyrant fly-catchers. The Eastern one 

 is Tyrannus tyrannus, while the one here in Southern Cali- 

 fornia is Tyrannus serticalis. Another species I have 

 taken here is T. vociferans. The Eastern one is dark ash, 

 almost black, while the California species are ashy with yel- 

 low bellies. All have a characteristic red patch on the 

 crown of the head. 



I was interested in the account in the last American 

 Bee Journal of these birds. We have found them here right 

 at the apiary, and I have seen them dart dowji to the hives. 

 They were taken, their stomachs examined, and no bees 

 found, but, instead, the robber-flies, which are among the 

 worst bee-enemies we have. So about here, I feel confident 

 that they are more friends than enemies, even of the bees. 

 Yet I know from actual examination that the Eastern king- 

 bird does upon occasion take bees, and workers at that. I 

 presume the California species may rarely do the same 

 thing, tho none of those killed here have shown any bees in 

 the stomach. Robber-flies, cut-worms, grubs and locusts 

 have been found abundantly in their stomachs. Even 

 granting that they do levy occasionally on the apiary, they 

 take without doubt a score of harmful insects to one bee. 



I should like to know how they manage the stings when 

 they kill worker-bees. If they swallow the bees instanter, 

 they must be stung, as the bee is too quick with its defense- 

 organ to permit escape. I have taken five stings from the 

 throat of a toad that had taken five worker-bees just before. 

 We can believe a tough, non-sensitive toad might wink at 

 such misfortune, but the more sensitive kingbird, we should 

 think, would wince, and feel the pain acutely. Can it be 

 possible that they have some way of avoiding the sting ? I 

 hope any who have opportunity will observe on this point. 

 I should like to receive stomach and head and throat of a 

 kingbird that had been really taken after eating worker- 

 bees. 



HONBY-DKW— ITS ORIGIN. 



I am surprised at Mr. McKnight's article critique in 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review, of my position regarding honey- 

 dew. I did not suppose I needed to prove that honey-dew 

 was generally from plant-lice (aphides) or scale (not scab) 

 insects (coccids). We have only to observe to see the ex- 

 udation and fall of the nectar from the insects. Whatever 

 may be the ultimate truth, this is certainly true : Nearly 

 all such honey-dew is from insects, as any one will see upon 

 superficial examination. Very little, if any, is secreted by 

 the plants, and none at all falls from the sky. Mr. M.'s 

 suggestion that the plant forms the honey-dew, and the in- 

 sects (plant lice and scale insects) sip it up, can be refuted 

 by a very little close observation. We see the nectar com- 

 ing from these insects, but we never see them sipping it up, 



