592 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



count}' will be poor on account of disease; 

 also weather has been cold up to the present 

 time. We had frost in mountain districts 

 up to the 20th of May; climate seems to be 

 chang-ed altofjether. A. L. C. 



New Almaden, Cal., May 29. 



[The brood has been examined, but I am 

 unable to diag-nose it. It seems to have 

 none of the symptoms of foul brood, black 

 brood, or pickled brood. If you were not 

 practical bee-keepers I should say that this 

 sample of comb had been chilled or over- 

 heated at some time. Heat or cold would 

 cause the 3'oung- bees to hatch without 

 wing-s. We are sending- your letter, to- 

 gether with the brood, to Prof. Frank Ben- 

 ton, Apicultural Expert at the Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. But I 

 would suggest, in the meantime, that, if 

 heat or cold is not responsible for the con- 

 dition, it is poison. The bees have gather- 

 ed this poison, either from the spraying of 

 trees or because certain persons have set 

 out the pois:)n with a view of killing off the 

 bees. The poison theory seems to be the 

 most probable of any thing. — Ed.] 



DO BEES EVER LEAVE A STING IN A BALLED 

 OUEEN? 



If what j'ou say is true on page 395, in re- 

 gard to bees leaving their stings in a queen, 

 it must also be true that they leave their 

 stings in drones and robber bees. And, if 

 this is so, please inform me how long a col- 

 nj' of bees will have a standing army. 



Matanzas, Cuba. C. E. Woodward. 



[But the drones and workers are of small 

 importance compared with a queen; and if 

 the bees, we will say, in rare instances, 

 would leave a sting in a queen, it would 

 not necessarily follow that they would also 

 leave a sting in drone and robbers, because 

 the desire to make way with a queen is 

 much more pronounced ? After all, I am 

 only referring to the exception that proves 

 the rule. That I saw the sting in the 

 queen's body, I know. In proof that I was 



not mistaken, I submit for your considera- 

 tion the testimony of one who has seen just 

 what I saw. Just listen: 



I notice on page 395 what both Mr. C. E. Woodward 

 and yourself have to say about bees leaving their 

 sting' in a queen. Mr. W. is wrong, as I have taken a 

 queen from a ball of bees with three stings stuck into 

 and adhering to her. D. Chalmers. 



Poole, Ont , May 11. 



Mr. Chalmers is an old correspondent. 

 But if this is not enough, there is more 

 proof that we could get. — Ed.] 



the second drive of bees in a forced 

 swarm; will they fight? 



When you add the bees that have hatched 

 from the brood of the old hive to the new 

 forced swarm, will the bees belonging to 

 the forced swarm not treat bees from that 

 source (the old hive) as strangers? 



Trair, Iowa. Robert Provan. 



[As a general rule you can shake a sec- 

 ond lot of bees after they have hatched 

 from the brood-comb? in front of the hive 

 having the first lot of bees. The old hive 

 should, of course, be removed then to a new 

 stand. There may be fighting on the part 

 of the bees; but in the case of the average 

 Italians, when a lot of bees are dumped in 

 front of an entrance there will be no quar- 

 reling. If perchance there should be, 

 smoke them a little. — Ed.] 



A BRICK hive. 



Would it be a success to build a hive on 

 a solid rock, with brick plastered for sides? 

 That would give a 4-inch wall all round. 

 I think it would be cool in summer and 

 warm in winter. John C. Hamilton. 



Henderson, Okla., May 20. 



[Such a hive as you outline would be al- 

 together too cold in winter. The brick 

 wouH convey the cold air of the outside 

 clear into the cluster of the bees; moreover, 

 such a hive would be too expensive. — Ed.] 



HIVELESS BKES in COLORADO. 



What kind of weath- 

 er does it take for 

 flowers to secrete hon- 

 ey? What is the mat- 

 ter when drones are 

 led out in the spring 

 and killed? 



H. M. Pace. 



Kj'sburg, Ky. 



[Generally speak- 

 ing, hot weather with 

 hot nights, with every 

 now and then a warm 

 rain, produces condi- 

 tions favorable for nec- 

 tar secretions. When 

 drones are killed in 

 the spring it would 

 indicate that the bees 

 are possibly short of 

 stares. — Ed.] 



