420 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



ent, and read a paper on the pollination of 

 fruit by bees. An effort will be made to 

 have the present foul-brood law amended 

 during this session of the legislature. The 

 meeting will be held at Hutchinson, during 

 the State fair, in September. The meetings 

 closed with a banquet on the evening of 

 the 28th. 



The following officers were reelected: 

 President, Dr. G. Bohrer, Lyons; Vice-presi- 

 dent,. E. W. Dunham, Topeka; Secretary 

 and Treasurer, O. A. Keene, Topeka. 



Topeka, Kan., Jan. 18. O. A. Keene. 



HOW TO GET RID OF ANTS. 



When our bees are troubled by the ants we 

 put the colonies on benches, the legs of 

 which rest in cans containing a little turpen- 

 tine. After this is done there is no further 

 trouble. Edmund Ulrich. 



Steinauer, Neb,, Feb. 15. 



HOW TO STOP A SWARM OF BEES. 



Please state all of the methods you know 

 on how to stop a swarm which you can see 

 going across tne country. 



BlutTton, Ind. C. H. Sudduth. 



[There is no way to stop a swarm of bees 

 while in flight except by means of a spray- 

 pump and a pail of water. With this you 

 can drive them back, and actually force 

 them to alight. But the water must be ap- 

 plied before they start for the woods. If 

 you can get in front of them before they get 

 started, with the spray you can stop them 

 and confuse them, and finally make them 

 turn back or alight on the nearest bush or 

 tree. — Ed.] 



BEES AND RED PEPPER.' 



There are a great many dogs around my 

 home that dig up the flower-beds. To pre- 

 vent their doing this, mother sprinkled red 

 pepper over the places where the seeds were 

 planted. She did it early in the morning, 

 and when I returned from school at half-past 

 three the ground where the pepper lay was 

 covered with honey-bees. It was early in the 

 spring, and I had not then seen any bees 

 around. I should like to know why the bees 

 came after the pepper. 



Swarthmore, Pa. Alice P. GARWOOd. 



[The above question was sent to Dr. E. F. 

 Bigelow, editor of the Nature and Science de- 

 partment of St. Nicholas Magazine, and he 

 has asked that it be answered by the readers 

 of Gleanings. We have never heard of a 

 case of this kind before, and can account for 

 it only on the basis that the bees are attract- 

 ed by pungent odors. The red pepper fall- 

 ing on the ground probably became moisten- 

 ed, with the result that it gave off an odor 

 which, with their delicate organs of scent, the 

 bees readily detected. That they were ap- 

 propriating any moisture from the pepper is 

 douDtful. Mr. Morrison states that in local- 

 ities where pepper is grown, the bees can be 

 seen gathering it as a substitute for pol- 

 len. — Ed.] 



queen stung BUT NOT KILLED. 



I had a queen stung last year right at the 

 butt of the wing, and she lived. I waited to 

 see if she would die, but she did not. 



Chas. Warner. 



Wait, Ohio, Sept. 19,1906. 



shallow hives in AUSTRALIA. 



We take the following from the Common- 

 wealth Bee-keeper, Melbourne, Victoria: 



I contend that more honey can be extracted from 

 these shallow frames than from deep ones. I mean 

 that they can be handled more quickly. (I fancy I 

 hear some of our readers say, " Nonsense! Fancy run- 

 ning an apiary of, say, 400 colonies with those pesky 

 little frames"). Why, Mr. Editor, in the last red-gum 

 flow, I took off 43 60-lb. tins in eight hours, without 

 an assistant, one man uncapping and one at the ex- 

 tractor, three in all. Besides taking off, brood-nests 

 were examined, as was usual; old black queens be- 

 headed; weakish hives given brood from strong ones, 

 etc. I mean to say that there was no effort made to 

 form a record. I doubt, sir, if this could be accom- 

 plished with the deep frames under similar conditions. 

 If you wish, I could tell some greater virtues of the 

 hive concerning the swarming part. There was some 

 comment in last issue upon a six-tin average, 360 lbs.; 

 some seem to think it nearly impossible. I know for 

 certain that one man in the Western District got 19 

 tons from 192 colonies, almost all from a red-gum 

 flow. I think it would have pulled the six-tin average 

 if the yellow box had been a success. Get your colo- 

 nies strong, supin-ess swarms by the shallow-hive 

 method, give them your whole attention, and, if Prov- 

 idence is good enough to give us a fair amount of nec- 

 tar in blossom, then our task is easy to accomplish 

 the six- tin average. The ton was 2240 lbs. 



ARE THE ORDINARY WHITE SUGARS OF COM- 

 MERCE WHOLESOME, AND FREE FROM 

 DELETERIOUS SUBSTANCES? 



We have already published two or three 

 items to the effect that the white granulated 

 and loaf sugars on the market nave been 

 bleached by chemicals that not only abstract 

 some of the goodness of the sugar, but leave 

 a residue which can not be entirely eliminat- 

 ed, and which is more or less harmful. In 

 the Alabama Times appears the following 

 item, entitled "Sugar under the New Law." 



Washington. Jan. 29. — Southern sugar-rehners are 

 very desirous of having the Department of Agriculture 

 make a ruling as to the manufacture of sugar under 

 the new food law, and a delegation is in the city for 

 that purpose. For a hundred years it has been the 

 practice to bleach sugar with bluing. Years ago in- 

 digo was used to give the sugar brilliancy, but of re- 

 cent years aniline dyes have been employed. Anoth- 

 er method of refining sugar is by the use of sulphur 

 fumes. It is said that, under the pure-food law, unless 

 the Department of Agriculture makes a ruling to the 

 contrary, the use of aniline dyes and sulphur fumes 

 will both be prohibited, and probably the use of indi- 

 go, so that the refiners will have to return to primi- 

 tive methods. In fact, it is said by the cane-sugar 

 refiners that there is a chance that white sugar will 

 be eliminated altogether. The refiners and producers 

 of sugar want a ruling before the appropriation is 

 made for enforcing the law. 



Better have the white sugars "eliminated 

 altogether" if they contain harmful sub- 

 stances. Better by far that we go back to 

 "primitive methods" and get a natural su- 

 gar without any harmful chemicals in it. 

 Hasten the day when we may get a cheaper 

 and better sugar. We hope the Agricultu- 

 ral Department will not let up one inch. — 

 Ed, 



