1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



727 



COLONY MANIPULATION — QUKSTIONS CON- 

 CKKNING. 



If the brood-chamber and contents of a 

 colony be placed over a bee-escape board on 

 a hive (on same stand) containiu','- frames 

 or combs, would the bees ffoiny down, and 

 making' this lower hive a storehouse for hon- 

 ey, etc., be likel.v to produce fertile workers? 

 and for how many weeks do you think the 

 upper brood-chamber with the queen would 

 continue to produce young^ bees, provided 

 they had plenty of honey, the escape proper 

 being- covered with excluding- metal to re- 

 strain the queen.' Do you think that wire 

 cloth, instead of the board, would make the 

 escaping bees less likel3' to raise fertile 

 workers? Would the presence of a caged 

 queen in a broodless colony prevent pro- 

 duction of fertile workers? 



Is it advisable to use a covering- between 

 the hive or super and the cover proper of 

 the Danzenbaker hive? and if so, of what 

 material and under what conditions? 



Should the super be used in connection 

 with the hive for wintering? What are the 

 advantages and the disadvantag-es? 



Would a common drygoods box of inch 

 stuff fitting down over a hive, with suffi- 

 cient space all round for the introduction of 

 chaft", straw, or other non-conducting ma- 

 terial between, prove a good and sufficient 

 winter protection for bees? 



My hives now face north because the pre- 

 vailing severe summer winds are from the 

 south and southwest, and the bees can bet- 

 ter effect their exit and entrance in the lee 

 of the hive. Should the hives be faced 

 south for -wintering? J. Albert Smith. 



Lincoln, Kansas, July 18. 



[But why put a colon}' above the escape- 

 board? I can see no possible advantage in 

 such a procedure. Whether fertile workers 

 will be started will depend somewhat on 

 what kind of bees are used. If they are 

 Eastern races, such as the Holy Lands or 

 Cyprians, fertile workers might be devel- 

 oped below. If they are Italians, the prob- 

 abilities are that the bees would dwindle 

 down into a discouraged condition. The 

 presence of the wire cloth in place of the 

 board would not make very much difference 

 with the result either way. 



When a queen is caged in a hive, the col- 

 ony is to all intents and purposes queen- 

 less, and the bees behave just as if she 

 were not in the hive at all. 



I would not advise using a super filled 

 with sections in connection -with the hive 

 for wintering. If the sections be removed, 

 and packing-material be poured in the su- 

 per on top of the frames, the results may 

 be very beneficial. In climates where the 

 winters are not too severe, a super filled 

 with packing-material is indeed a very 

 great help. 



A drygoods-box as a winter-case will 

 give excellent results providing- the roof or 

 top is tight enough to shed water. If it is 

 not, wet packing-material is worse than 

 nothing. — Ed.] 



BIRDS AND BEK-STINGS. 



In Gleanings for Oct. 1, 1896, page 715, 

 is an article of mine dealing with the above 

 subject; and as your footnote thereto is very 

 brief, and no comment has since been made 

 upon my statements, I am afraid they have 

 been received with the proverbial "grain 

 of salt." I may say that, on several occa- 

 sions since then, I have made post-mortem 

 examinations on these birds, with corrobo- 

 rative results; and now a bee keeper resid- 

 ing about 25 miles from here reports an ex- 

 perience even more incredible than mine. I 

 am inclosing his letter for your perusal, 

 which kindly read in connection with mine 

 mentioned above. I am also sending in one 

 of your mailing-blocks portions of two stom- 

 achs taken from these birds, showing scores 

 of stings imbedded in them. Just imagine 

 97 stings, with their accompanying poison, 

 piercing the alimentary canal of one bird, 

 and that bird apparently suffering no in- 

 convenience therefrom ! The scienti fie name 

 of this bird is Oriolus viridis, and, fortu- 

 nately for us, they are not at all numerous. 



H. L. Jones. 



Goodna, Australia, April 11, 1903. 



[The stomachs sent were filled with 

 stings. No one has or could question the 

 evidence, for we have had from time to time 

 other corroborative proofs. Here is the let- 

 ter referred to above. — Ed.] 



Dear Sir: — With reference to the green, 

 orioles as bee-eaters, I am forwarding you 

 two gizzards out of three, taken from two 

 green orioles that I shot to-day. The third 

 one had lb stings in it. I thought it was 

 not worth sending as compared with the 

 two. I am very much obliged for the infor- 

 mation that these birds eat bees. They are 

 naturally fruit-eaters. I think it might be 

 worth our while to make it as widely known 

 as possible to bee-keepers. 



These gizzards, when taken out of the 

 birds, were of a bright yellow color, so that 

 the stings were very plain to be seen. I 

 counted 97 in one of them. It seemed to me 

 a most extraordinary state of affairs. 



W. R. Crust. 



Enoggera, Australia, Oct. 2, 1902. 



HOW BEES PACK POLLEN. 



I note from the new edition of the ABC 

 that you still cling to the old idea that bees 

 pack the pollen in the cells by utilizing 

 their heads as a battering-ram; but I can 

 assure you they do nothing of the kind. 

 The facts are, that, as soon as a field-bee 

 has kicked off the pellets into a cell, anoth- 

 er bee comes along and distributes the pol- 

 len slowly and evenly with the aid of its 

 tongue — simply plastering it as it were. I 

 have watched them scores of times at this 

 interesting occupation; and any one who 

 possesses an observatory hive can do like- 

 wise and prove the facts himself. W^hen 

 bees become crowded for room in an obser- 

 vatory hive they will frequently build some 

 cells on the glass; and as the glass will 

 thus form one side of the cells, many inter- 

 esting events connected with the internal 



