542 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. St, 



SoutJ^err? Departn;)ej;)t* 



CONDUCTED BY 

 DK. J. P. H. BROWN, AUGUSTA, GA. 



[Please rend hU questions rel»tlD(r to bee-keeping In the South direct 

 to Dr. Brown, and he will answer in this depai tment.— Ku.l 



Collfng Out Drone-Comb— Preventing Robbing. 



Dr. Brown : — In replying to J. J. W.'s question (When a 

 queen-excluder I3 used, and brood-fraraes in Ibe upper story, 

 would you cut out all the drone-comb V) you say : "I would 

 cut it out." 



1. The answer fs not explicit, or why would you cut It out 

 of the upper story? That is, would you cut il out of the 

 upper story ? 



2. How would you prevent robbing ? P. A. 

 Evans, Ky. 



Answers. — 1. It is not ribsofi/tdi/ necessary to cut It out, 

 but In order to secure the best results, and to conduct apiary 

 work to the best advantage, it Is wise and best not only to 

 have frames of the same size, so as to be interchangeable, but 

 to have them filled with straight uior/cci-comb. When discuss- 

 ing the natural history of the drone-bee, a few apiarists have 

 ascribed to it several minor functions, aside from that of ferti- 

 lization of the queen, but this latter is unquestionably the ob- 

 ject of its being, (lod did not endow it with the desire nor 

 capacity to work as a gatherer in the fields. It is a consumer, 

 and a greedy one, of the proceeds of the industrious little 

 worker. A hive with two or three frames of select drones 

 will be sufficient to furnish all the males for a large apiary. 

 Uore than this is a waste of honey, labor and time. 



2. If there is any truth in the old adage, that "an ounce 

 of prevention is worth a pound of cure," the full force of it 

 comes In when applied to this question. When bees are gath- 

 ering plenty of honey they seldom show any desire to rob; 

 but when forage is scarce they can, by a very little impru- 

 dence, or want of care on the part of their keeper, imbibe in 

 this vice, and give no end to trouble. At such seasons, to be 

 on the 8afe side, only open hives late in the evening, and 

 •Iways cover the exposed frames with a cluth, and keep the 

 hive open no longer than necessary. Avoid the exposure of 

 all bits of comb and honey — of all sweets that will attract the 

 bees. If feeding is necessary, do it after sundown, and place 

 the feed inside the hive. It is not always the poorest colony 

 robbing the richer one, but more frequently it is the strong 

 colonies robbing the weaker ones. 



Robber bees can always be distinguished from those that 

 have been out honestly foraging, by the peculiar manner in 

 which they approach a hive. Like sneak-thieves, they go 

 cautiously with their heads toward the hive, looking for a hole 

 to enter. They will alight at the entrance, and then dart 

 back as if afraid to enter, particularly if there are guards 

 stationed there. But if the entrance is not securely guarded, 

 they will finally pass in, and when once loaded with stolen 

 honey, they will pass out and make for their own honey. The 

 bees belonging to the hive would come in loaded and not go 

 out loaded. 



The colony attacked at first may show some resistance, 

 but as the number of robber-bees increase, they give up, and 

 frequently join the robber force to the destruction of the 

 colony. You cannot well arrest the evil until you know the 

 hive from which the robbers come. Such bees are out early 

 In the morning before their honest neighbors stir, and are at 

 work In the evening after their neighbors are quietly at home. 

 To be certain, sprinkle sou. c flour on the bees passing out of 

 the attacked hive, and have assistants to watch the entrance 

 of the suspected hives, and the white-coated thieves can be 

 seen entering their hives When you have found them, smoke 

 them thoroughly in order to alarm them, and to check, for the 



time being, their outside operations, and to impart to them the 

 odor of smoke, which will be distasteful to the inmates of the 

 attacked hive. Contract the entrance to the robber hive so 

 that only one bee can pass at a time, and set up weeds, grass, 

 small brush, or boards, in front to obstruct the passage-way. 

 Robber bees dislike winding entrance-ways. Tap a little now 

 and then on the hive to anger the bees, and to get them into 

 fighting trim ; but sometimes tl ev become so discouraged that 

 they lose all desire to defend their home. They nearly always 

 become thus when the robbers have taken all their stores. 

 The only remedy in such cases is to close up the entrance to 

 the weak hive with wire-cloth, and carry it into a cool, dark 

 room, like a cellar ; feed; allow it to remain 48 hours, and 

 then remove it to a new stand, taking the precaution to pro- 

 tect the entrance as previously directed. If the hive is still 

 robbed, you had better unite the bees with the dishonest 

 colony. 



In cases where the robbers would attack in force, I have 

 found it of great advantage to spray them well with a foun- 

 tain pump. Kerosene, creosote, carbolic acid, etc., sprinkled 

 about the entrance and hives of robbers will often result in 

 checking their depredations. The object of these preparations 

 is to give them a disagreeable scent, and to make them obnox- 

 ious to good, honest bees. , 



Bce-Talii for Beginners— Honey. 



Honey Is a sweet substance secreted by the nectaries of 

 flowers. It is also secreted in small quantities by little glandu- 

 lar organs on certain plants, as the cowpea. It is taken up 

 by the proboscis of the bee, and deposited in a special pouch 

 called the honey-sac, and conveyed to the hive. It is possible 

 that the insect imparts to It some little acid ; but honey is not 

 dliiested nectar, as some writers contend. The function of the 

 honey-sac is only that of a receptacle, and not an organ of 

 digestion. The odor, flavor, and qualities of it depend upon 

 the source from which it is gathered. Thus the famous honey 

 of Hymettus has its thyme odor and flavor; the horsemint 

 honey has its distinguishing qualities; the honey of the 

 heatlier has its peculiarities ; the sage, the poplar, the bass- 

 wood, the clever, etc., have all their characteristics. When 

 selecting honey for medicinal purposes, it might be well to 

 consider the properties of the plant from which it is gathered. 



When natural forage is scarce, bees will gather sweets 

 from many sources. They will collect the excretion of the 

 aphis, the waste of cider-mills, cane-mills, melon-juice, fruit- 

 juice, and the refuse of molasses and sugar barrels, etc. But 

 none of such stuff can truly be called honey. Bee-keepers 

 have been charged with feeding their bees glucose, sugar, etc., 

 for the object of the insects storing it In the surplus depart- 

 ment to be sold for genuine honey. But such charges cannot 

 well be sustained. In fact, for a bee-keeper to purchase glu- 

 cose, etc., to feed to his bees with the expectation of their de- 

 positing it as surplus honey to be sold at the price of the pure 

 article, would be to incur a loss In dollars and cents. This 

 has repeatedly been tried. 



In some seasons, when honey is scarce in the flowers, bees 

 will work on fruit ; but it is only when put to great straits for 

 food that they will attack sound fruit. When the skin of 

 grapes, peaches, figs, etc., become punctured, or cut by 

 wasps, yellow jackets, birds, etc., they will proceed to suck 

 the juice. But as all such crai:ked fruit is unsalable, they do 

 compaiatively littl;? harm. Here it should bo remembered 

 that the bee is the friend of the agriculturist, for if It were 

 mit for these Insects, the fertilizing element of many male 

 flowers would fail to reach the pistils of the female, and con- 

 sequently the plant would produce neither seeds nor fruit. 



tW See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 545. 



