808 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



The hay was not cut until the plants were 

 dead and yellow. 



I hived a swarm of bees this spring- on 

 full sheets of foundation, and placed an ex- 

 tracting-'Super full of empty combs over 

 them at once. The queen went right to 

 work filling the super with brood. Last 

 week when I was extracting I took off two 

 full supers of honey, and the bottom of the 

 hive was overflowing with bees, all the 

 foundation being built out and full of brood, 

 but no brood in the supers. Other swarms 

 on which I did not place combs until the 

 hive-body was full had no surplus honey 

 whatever, and were much weaker. 



Douglass, Kan. D. E. Rose. 



[From my knowledge and experience in 

 the alfalfa country throughout the West, 

 ■where much sweet clover as well as alfalfa 

 is grown, I should say that the average cow 

 or hor-e would take alfalfa in preference. 

 It is my impression that, if you were to of- 

 fer another horse his choice, he would eat 

 the alfalfa first. Sweet clover can be 

 g-rown very easily on some of the semi-al- 

 kali lands; and if stock can be induced to 

 eat it with a relish anywhere near the ex- 

 tent that they will aifalfa, it would be cul- 

 tivated. There are very few places in the 

 West where I did not see sweet clover, but 

 nowhere did I see it grown as a distinctly 

 hay crop. As in the East, it springs up 

 spontaneously on Western lands; but it very 

 seldom occupies cultivated fields, if I am 

 correct. If this be true it would seem to 

 show that the preference of stock, based on 

 the experience of the ranchers, was decid- 

 edly in favor of tlie alfalfa. I will Ptdmit 

 that we have horses and stock here in the 

 East that verj- often browse on sweet clover 

 in preference to ordinary good grass; and 

 it is far better than some of our wild grass- 

 es that grow so rank in our pasture lands. 

 Your queen, in the case cited, did exact- 

 ly what I should suppose she would. She 

 would occupy drawn-out combs in prefer- 

 ence to foundation. As a rule, a colony 

 will make the center of its brood-nest on the 

 drawn comb, and then gradually work both 

 ways on the foundation after it is drawn 

 into combs. Your experience in getting 

 more honey from the hive with drawn combs 

 is nothing unusual; indeed, it is generally 

 considered that there is no better capital in 

 a bee-yard than g-ood combs. While foun- 

 dation serves an excellent purpose for the 

 hiving of shaken or natural swarms on, in 

 order that the bees may be forced into the 

 supers, yet in the production of extracted 

 honey it will not compare with the complet- 

 ed combs. — Ed.] 



fore was all bustle and hum), it was quite 

 noticeable to me that there was a great re- 

 duction in the flight of bees; and at the 

 same time beautiful weather prevailed with 

 dandelion, goos>eberry, etc., yielding abun- 

 dance of honey. One colony I examined 

 had few bees fl3ung, and a few sickly ones 

 crawling about the entrance. This colony 

 but a few days previous covered three to 

 four frames, I would say half full of brood, 

 with new honej' stored round the top of each, 

 and one or two back ones (being a Jones 

 hive), with preparation to cap begun in odd 

 places. Not a worker seemed to be left, as 

 I could handle them without smoke. There 

 was brood in all stages in the frames, with 

 apparently nothing but the young downy 

 bees with their queen to care for it, and 

 which could not be covered by them. A 

 few of the neighbors confessed to poisoning 

 their gooseberries at the very time of the 

 disappearance of the bees, thinking it no 

 harm; but none live nearer than fi to ^ a 

 mile from the bees. 



In the case of the one I examined, the 

 queen laid from one to four eggs in a cell. 

 Where did the workers go? This colony I 

 lost with a few others, and with plenty of 

 honej' still in the frames. Am I wrong in 

 saying it was a case of poisoning? 



iSTotwithstanding the apparent reduction 

 I had in bees in the early part of the season, 

 I have secured from 37 colonies over 3100 

 lbs. I expected better results, but the sea- 

 son was disappointing at times by occasion- 

 al cold waves, one of these coming right in 

 the begining of basswood bloom, which is 

 my best source for honey. 



George W. Strangway. 



Elora, Ont. , Canada. 



[From the evidence you have presented, I 

 see no reason to doubt that your bees were 

 poisoned; and if I were you I would enter 

 into some amicable arrangement with the 

 neighbors by which this loss on your part 

 can be avoided. The fact that poisonous 

 liquids are administered to plants where 

 there is no nectar or pollen would surely 

 seem to indicate that the bees were short of 

 water, and took this means of supplying 

 themselves. In that case j'ou had better 

 distribute water-troughs of pure water all 

 about the apiary, during the time the 

 gooseberries are being sprayed. — Ed.] 



MORE BEES POISONED FROM SPRAYING. 



With regard to the poisoning of bees here, 

 and as evidence to the same, I can only say 

 that the poisoning of bees has never been 

 noticeable to me with the exception of last 

 May. I perhaps am wrong; but if so, it is 

 certainly a mystery to me. as, upon enter- 

 ing the bee-yard (which but a day or so be- 



MORE SPRAYING, AND MORE BEES KILLED. 



I notice on page 676 that you desire a re- 

 port of those who had bees poisoned by 

 fruit-growers who had sprayed during full 

 bloom. I am glad you made the request, 

 as I think such a report may have a good 

 influence. Last j'ear I had my colonies 

 very strong in order to get as much of the 

 apple honey as possible, that being my 

 favorite honey; and just when the bees be- 

 gan to store rapidly I noticed all at once 

 thousands of them dropping around the 

 house-apiary and in mj' yard; and mj' col- 

 onies were depopulated a half, if not more, 

 in two days' time. I was satisfied that poi- 



