AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



805 



Giving Instruction in Bee-Culture. 



East Tennessee is a superior place for 

 bees. My bees commenced bringing in 

 pollen Feb. 17, white clover in April ; 

 poplar, May 1 ; and there is a regular 

 succession of flowers until about Nov. 1. 

 I bought 6 colonies, and have taken 100 

 pounds of honey, and the season is not 

 over yet. In connection with U. S. 

 Grant University, located here, there is 

 a school of technology, and there is talk 

 of giving instruction in bee-culture. 

 Please answer the following questions 

 through the Bee Journal, : 1. How 

 many schools in the United States are 

 giving instruction in bee-culture? 2. 

 Have any of them a well defined course 

 of study? 3. Do classes graduate and 

 receive diplomas ? J. G. Teter. 



Athens, Tenn., June 5, 1891. 



[Will Prof. Cook please answer the 

 above? — Ed.] 



Smoke from Passing Trains. 



My bees are dying with what seems to 

 be diarrhea. They wintered well, and 

 were all right until ten days ago. Would 

 smoke from a passing train injure them? 

 They are located about 30 rods from the 

 track. C. Abbott. 



Wood River, Nebr. 



[It all depends on the lay of the land, 

 and whether the smoke usually beats 

 down on the ground as the trains pass. 

 Of this you can determine on the spot 

 better than any one could at a distance. 

 If the bee-hives are enveloped in the 

 smoke, even occasionally, it would be 

 quite detrimental. The soot would then 

 injure both the color and flavor of the 

 honey, more or less, according to the 

 frequency of contact with the smoke, 

 and the density thereof. It would be 

 better to move them on general princi- 

 ples, rather than let them continue to 

 die off.— Ed.] 



Refuse to Rear Queens. 



We had extremely dry weather until 

 the latter part of May, but the rains 

 then changed our prospects for the 

 better by starting the white clover, 

 although it will be light at best. Cater- 

 pillars are denuding the basswood, but 

 in some localities it has, so far, escaped 

 the pests. Bees have bred up finely, 

 and are swarming some, having worked 



largely on the dandelion, the stunted 

 red and scattering white clover, and 

 gathering pollen from the wild grape, 

 which is quite pentif ul. Bees wintered 

 well on the summer stands, but queens 

 have mysteriously disappeared, and the 

 bees refuse to rear queens, although 

 supplied with brood and larvae, and 

 there are many peculiarities manifested 

 that I never noticed before. Our drouth 

 is now of three years' duration, with 

 some rain, bift not enough to thoroughly 

 moisten the earth, and the lakes are 

 lower than ever known before. 



S. D. Haskin. 

 Waterville, Minn., June 5, 1891. 



Dividing- for Increase. 



On May 21 I took brood and bees 

 enough from my 5 colonies for 3 new 

 ones. On June 2 I examined all of them 

 again, and found larvae less than 4 days 

 old in the conibs. When I divided I did 

 not see any queen-cells on any of the 

 combs. For the past week I have had 

 drone and queen-excluders at the en- 

 trance of all the hives, which would have 

 prevented the queen from coming out to 

 mate with the drones. Should there 

 have been a queen hatched since 

 dividing ? Why should there be larvae 

 in the combs of all only eleven days after 

 dividing ? Lone Star. 



Batavia, N. Y., June 3, 1891. 



[The larvse in the combs 11 days after 

 dividing were undoubtedly from eggs 

 laid by worker-bees in at least 3 of the 

 divisions. — Ed.] 



Bees in First-Class Condition. 



My first swarm issued on June 1, and 

 another June 4. The 2 colonies casting 

 the swarms were hybrids, and had been 

 wintered in chaff hives. Last Fall I had 

 225 colonies, and have only 206 now. 

 Bees are in first-class condition in this 

 vicinity. G. G. Baldwin. 



Port Huron, Mich. 



Black, Shiny Bees. 



I am iu the same perdicament as 

 Messrs. Wilson, Craig and Peck (see 

 page 737). I have 2 colonies affected — 

 one slightly, the other badly. At any 

 time of the day the bees may be seen 

 tugging at the little black, shiny fellows, 

 as though they wished to get rid of 

 them. They are much shrunken in 

 body, and this makes the head look 



