AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



583 



Wavelets of News. 



More. Sugar for the Money. 



I had occasion to buy a barrel of sugar 

 for feeding bees recently, and intended 

 to buy A sugar. The wholesaler asked 

 for what purpose I wanted it, and, after 

 saying for feeding bees, he said I wanted 

 granulated, as there was more sugar for 

 the money. Their sales of sugar, as he 

 showed me by their books, run five bar- 

 rels of granulated to one of all other 

 kinds. Granulated is 6 per cent, water, 

 A 19 per cent. I write this as I was 

 intending to try A sugar, as you some- 

 times use it. It is an easy matter to 

 figure out the cost of sweet by using the 

 percentage given. — F. A. Salisbury, in 

 OleayuTigs. 



Destruction of Clipped dueens. 



Some say they lose so many queens if 

 they clip their wings. One reason, I 

 think, is because the scissors were not 

 strictly clean, and had been used for 

 other purposes, and so left a scent on 

 the queen, as bees have a very keen 

 smell ; or the fingers were not perfectly 

 clean, or the wing was cut too close, or 

 she was clipped during a honey dearth, 

 when bees are cross. I believe that bees, 

 oftener than we think, kill or ball their 

 queen when handled in a honey dearth 

 (even when the queen is not touched), 

 early in the Spring especially. — Mrs. L. 

 C. AxTELL, in Oleaninqs. 



Proper Time to Spray Trees. 



May is the month in which we do the 

 most of our spraying. 



The first thing to learn is the habits 

 of the insects we wish to destroy. 

 Apple trees are sprayed to destroy the 

 larva of the coddling moth. The moth 

 deposits her eggs in the calyx of the 

 apple, or blossom, from about the fall- 

 ing of bloom until 10 or 15 days after. 

 The larva hatches in a few days, accord- 

 ing to the temperature ; and, if not 

 killed, it begins to eat its way into the 

 fruit. 



About three or five days after blos- 

 soms fall is the best time to spray, and 

 continue so doing for about 20 days, as 

 often as rain washes off the poison. If, 

 after the first spraying, it should not 

 rain for a week or ten days, you will kill 

 75 per cent, of the larvae. 



The curculio does not attack the plum 

 until the fruit is about the size of peas, 



which, in ordinary weather, is a week or 

 ten days after the blossoms fall. 



Spray plums the same as apples, viz.: 

 with paris green, at the rate of one 

 pound to 200 gallons of water, applied 

 with a good spraying-pump. Some use 

 the same proportion of london purple on 

 apples ; but it should be avoided on all 

 stone fruits, a,s it is liable to injure the 

 foliage. 



You will see by the above that it is 

 time and material thrown away to spray 

 trees while in bloom ; for, nine times out 

 of ten, the rain will wash away the 

 poison before the larva is on hand to 

 eat it. — G. H. Ashby, in Oleanings. 



Forcing Increase. 



A simple and safe method for forming 

 new colonies is to go to a strong one and 

 take from it two frames of capped brood 

 and place them, bees and all, in a new 

 hive. From another colony fully as 

 strong, borrow two frames of hatching 

 brood, and place one on each side of 

 those in the new hive. In both cases be 

 careful not to take the old queen. 



Move one of the strong colonies to a 

 new stand, and set the new hive in its 

 place. 



Should more bees leave the colony 

 that was moved than enough to cover 

 the four combs in the new hive, their 

 positions should be reversed until the 

 desired force is in each hive. 



At the end of the third day introduce 

 a young laying queen. 



Empty combs or full sheets of founda- 

 tion should be placed at the side of those 

 occupied as soon as the colonies become 

 strong. The spaces left in the hives 

 from which the brood was taken, can be 

 filled in the same manner. 



Never attempt to force increase unless 

 honey is coming in freely- A comb of 

 honey should be given to the forced 

 colony if the flow should happen to shut 

 down. — E. L. Pratt, in the Apiculturist. 



Excellence is Cheapness. 



I have felt, and still feel, that this 

 cheap queen traffic tends to haste, not 

 care, in breeding, and that with "dollar 

 queens " ruling in the market, there is 

 lack of inducement for the careful, 

 painstaking labor that is absolutely 

 requisite to give us the best race of 

 bees. 



I have feared that this "cheap queen' 

 traffic would crush the hard effort, re- 

 quiring study, time, money, and the 

 most cautious^ experiment and observa- 



