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487 



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honey where the bees can get at it in 

 time of dearth. — R. L. Taylor. 



1. Yes. 2. Italians would be the 

 safest bees to keep under such circum- 

 stances. 3. Perhaps so. You can en- 

 close the plat of ground on which your 

 bees are located, with a high, tight 

 board-fence, so as to habituate your 

 bees to a high flight when passing over 

 the adjoining grounds. Under such 

 circumstances I would clip the wings 

 of the queens so as to control the 

 swarms, without having to go after 

 them on adjoining grounds. — G. W. 

 Demabee. 



1. No, I should change them to 

 another place more suitable. Placing 

 a board-fence around the bees, is equal 

 to moving them further from a road or 

 neighbor's lot. 2. Brown German bees 

 are no more liable to sting than other 

 varieties. 3. The best instruction upon 

 the subject will be by reading books 

 and back numbers of periodicals de- 

 voted to bee-culture. — James Heddon. 



As pure Italian bees are less liable 

 to interfere with the neighbors, it 

 would be very desirable to Italianize 

 the bees as soon as possible. A row 

 of trees, an evergreen hedge, or high 

 board-fence would be advantageous, 

 but to move the bees to where there is 

 more room is the best advice which can 

 be given. — The Editor. 



COME!. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



A Report of Some Experiments 

 in Apiculture. 



Report to the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 BY N. w. m'lain. 



(Concluded from page 474-la8t week.) 

 Starred Brood. 



A disorder which has been quite 

 common in several States during the 

 past season, is resultant from condi- 

 tions prevalent during severe and pro- 

 tracted drouths, and long periods of 

 extremely high temperature, such as 

 has existed over large areas. 



The disorder is significant and im- 

 poi'tant, not so much on account of 

 the actual numerical loss entailed upon 

 colonies affected, which in my own 

 case, and in many cases reported to 

 me, have been severe, as in furnishing 

 proof of failure on the part of those 

 food elements indispensable during 

 the breeding season to meet the large 

 demand for larval food, and essential 

 in maintaining the health and vigor 

 of the bees while the digestive and 

 secretory organs are being taxed to 



the limit of their capacity. This fail- 

 ure of natural resources results in low 

 vitality, susceptibility and predisposi- 

 tion to disease, and inability to suc- 

 cessfully perform the function of hibei'- 

 nation. With some exceptions, due 

 to local advantages, throughout the 

 States stricken by the drouth of th3 

 past summer, the bees have entered 

 upon the period of hibernation under 

 conditions more or less unfavorable in 

 proportion as they have suffered in 

 greater or less degree from the efl'ects 

 of the all-consuming drouth and heat. 



The symptoms of starved brood are 

 distinctively characteristic. Upon open- 

 ing the hive a slightly ofi'ensive odor 

 may be noticed if the colony has been 

 sufl'ering for some time. If the comb 

 frame be lifted from the hive, and the 

 bees shaken ofl', few if any eggs can 

 be found. Of such brood as is sealed, 

 the cappings appear to be thin and 

 flat, and slightly sunken, and com- 

 monly of darker color than is usual in 

 prosperous colonies. Upon opening 

 the cells they are found to contain 

 dead pupx in various stages of de- 

 velopment, always inferior in size, and 

 the food supply exhausted. 



In the midst of sealed brood patches 

 of uncapped larva? appear, and some- 

 times a patch of 5 or 6 inches square, 

 and sometimes there seems to have 

 been no eflbrt made towards sealing 

 half the grown larva' in the hive, al- 

 though the time for such sealing may 

 be far overdue. The membranes of 

 such larva; do not present the plump, 

 pearly-white appearance common to 

 well-fed larvffi. On the contrary, the 

 membranes are more or less shrunken 

 and wrinkled, and not unfrequeutly, 

 when the larva; have reached the ad- 

 vanced pupa .stage, the compound eyes 

 begin to color, and the cells are par- 

 tially capped and then abandoned, and 

 the appearance is that commonly des- 

 ignated bj' the term, " bald-headed 

 bees." Sometimes a few of these bees, 

 dwarfed in size, emerge from the cells 

 and engage in the labors of the hive 

 with what vigor and for such term as 

 their limited development will permit. 



In a number of tests made during 

 the past season, the progeny of the 

 same queen, reared imder directly op- 

 posite conditions of larval growth, so 

 varied in size as not to be recogniza- 

 ble as offspring of the same progeni- 

 tors. The reason for this variation 

 was not far to seek. The changed 

 conditions of the colony during the 

 time when tlie different generations 

 were being reared, determined the 

 modification in development. The 

 remedy I used and prescribed for 

 others was a preventive rather than a 

 curative. Starved brood means starved 

 bees. If the cause be removed, the 

 effect speedily disappears. All that 



needs to be done is to supply them 

 with a substitute for those resources 

 essential to their own health and vigor, 

 and indispensable in brood-rearing, in 

 search of which they are rapidly and 

 vainly w earing out their vita lity. ] 

 " The recipe' for preparing the remedy 

 is as follows : 



To 10 pounds of sugar add half a 

 pint of dairy salt, 2 table-spoonfuls of 

 bicarbonate of soda, 2 table-spoonfuls 

 r3'e flour, 2 table-spoonfuls of very 

 finel}- powdered bone ash, and 1 table- 

 spoonful of cream-of-tartar. Mix thor- 

 oughly, then add 2 quarts of hot water, 

 and stir until thoroughly dissolved, 

 then boil for two or three minutes 

 only. To one-half a pint of fresh milk 

 add 3 fresh eggs thoroughly beaten, 

 and when the syrup is cool enough to 

 feed add the eggs and milk, and when 

 thoroughly stirred, feed warm. Feed 

 in the hive as one would feed honey 

 or syrup. 



I used this same food for preventing 

 spring dwindling, and for building up 

 colonies to full strength and efficiency, 

 so that all colonies may be ready for 

 work at the very beginning of the sea- 

 son, when surplus honey may naturally 

 be expected. This food fed in the hive 

 keeps all the bees at home to aid in 

 performing the functions of brood- 

 rearing, and in keeping up the tem- 

 perature of the hive instead of spend- 

 ing their little remaining strength in 

 battling against the cold, damp winds 

 while searching for the food elements 

 needed to repair the waste and drain 

 upon their vitality while hibernating, 

 and indispensable in brood-rearing. 

 This food is not intended for use until 

 after the bees have had a good flight 

 in the spring, and almost any grade of 

 honey or sugar may be used. This 

 special food is a potent stimulant and 

 tonic to the adult bees, giving tone and 

 vio'or to the orginism, and furnishes 

 the elements essential in brood-rear- 

 ing in the place and in the manner 

 suited to the convenience and tastes 

 of the bees. No greater quantity 

 should be fed than is required for the 

 current needs of the colony. 



The Control of Reprodnction. 



In order that the laws of heredity 

 and the active principles of selection 

 may be practically and persistently 

 applied in the breeding of bees, I have 

 in obedience to your instructions con- 

 tinued my experiments, striving to 

 discover a simple and practical method 

 for securing control of the natural pro- 

 cess of reproduction. 



I devised and constructed a fixture, 

 whicli I call a fertilizing cage, 22 feet 

 square and 20 feet high. Selecting a 

 level plot of ground I set 4 rows of 

 posts, 4 posts in each row, forming a 

 quadrangle. The.se posts are 4 inches 

 squai'e, and 30 feet in length, set into 



