'T^HS mjimMmi^mM mmw j^wmmmil. 



603 



'•^^^^■"•^^^■^ Ai^* ^ *^^^^^^ 



some hives. AVas this caused by the 

 lack of honey y They had plenty of 

 pollen all summer, but there was no 

 honey in the bloom until now. 



We are having a dry spell ; the bass- 

 wood yielded very little, as it was very 

 late and lasted only a few days. 



6. What way should the wind prevail, 

 to have the best honey-flow ? 



Algona, Iowa, Aug. 30, 1888. 



[1. We prefer to use comb founda- 

 tion, rather than any " old black 

 combs." It is false economy. 



2. That is the usual method of the 

 prevention of swarming— but when the 

 " swarming fever " is on them it is diffi- 

 cult to control them. 



3. To persist in putting the bees 

 back, sometimes results in the loss of 

 the swarm, by their going to the woods 

 without alighting. 



4. They are old bees and are often 

 found in strong colonies, but soon dis- 

 appear—dying of old age. 



5. During a dearth of honey, the 

 bees sometimes not only leave the 

 brood uncapped but actually put it out 

 and destroy it — thereby preventing any 

 increase to consume the failing stores 

 in the hive. 



6. We have often noticed that no 

 honey is gathered unless the wind 

 comes from the south, southeast or 

 southwest.— Ed] 



FUMIGATION. 



Bi-Sulpliide of Carbon for Comb 

 Fiiniigalion. 



Written for the Amerlca/n, Bee Journal 

 BY G. K. PIERCE. 



While looking over some of the back 

 numbers of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal a short time ago, 1 noticed a query 

 in regard to the best method of protect- 

 ing spare combs, as well as surplus 

 honey, from the ravages of the larvse of 

 the bee-moth. The reply to the ques- 

 tion, describes the method usually 

 adopted by bee-keepers to accomplish 

 this purpose, ;'. (., to expose the combs 

 to the fumes of burning sulphur, in a 

 closed room. 



In my experience I have found the 

 above method to be crude, more or less 

 troublesome, and by no means reliable, 

 unless the bee-keeper has an apartment 

 that is suited to the purpose ; and even 

 then, if the worms have obtained a 

 foot-hold, or if the quantity of comb to 

 be fumigated is small, the trouble and 

 labor expended by this method is greater 

 than the beneht derived from the 

 comb. 



The principal objection to sulphur 

 fumigation is, that combustion cannot 

 be well regulated. If a small quantity 

 is used, it is soon consumed, and the 

 effect is not lasting enough ; but, if on 

 the other hand a larger quantity is used, 

 care must be taken lest a conflagration 

 be the result. 



Another objection is, that sulphur 

 will not burn readily except in connec- 

 tion with substances that are rich in 

 carbon, i. e., dry wood, resin, charcoal, 

 lycopodium, etc.; and, as these sub- 

 stances are not chemically united with 

 the former, when the oxygen of the air 

 is insufficient in quantity to oxidize 

 both elements, the carbon will take the 

 most, leaving little or none to unite 

 with the sulphur, to form sulphurous 

 acid gas— the larvre destroying agent. 



As has been intimated above, the ob- 

 ject of burning sulphur is to generate 

 sulphurous acid gas, a most potent 

 agent for destroying parasitical life, 

 both animal and vegetable. It is true 

 that there are other substances which 

 would prove equally efficacious, as far 

 as merely destroying the larvse is con- 

 cerned, but they are not available; 

 either on the score of economy, or be- 

 cause they would render the combs un- 

 fit for the further use of the bee. 



A few years ago, having occasion to 

 fumigate some spare combs, and not 

 being satisfied with the methods de- 

 scribed in the different works on bee- 

 keeping, I conducted a series of experi- 

 ments with a view to find some simple 

 and more reliable way to accomplish 

 the object sought. After many trials 

 with different substances— the details 

 of which is not necessary to consider — 

 I decided that the most satisfactory 

 results were obtained by the combus- 

 tion of bi sulphide of carbon. 



As I have stated, the main objection 

 to sulphur is, that its combustion can- 

 not readily be regulated. The first step, 

 therefore, was to obtain a solution con- 

 taining sulphur which might be burned 

 in a lamp ; this would enable the opera- 

 tor to continue the fumigating process 

 at will, as well as to confine the sul- 

 phurous acid evolved, to a very small 

 space if desirable— as it would be when 

 the quantity of comb to be exposed was 

 small. 



At first thought, sulphuretted oil 

 (Sulphuretted oil is made by dissolving 

 sulphur in hot oil. As the latter cools, 

 most of the sulphur is precipitated. It 

 is sometimes called " balsam of sul- 

 phur ") would seem to have a composi- 

 tion that would burn readily in a lamp, 

 and so, indeed, it would when in a free 

 circulation of air, but when ignited in 

 an enclosed space, the products of com- 

 bustion were mainlv carbonic acid gas, 

 sulphur soot, etc. The trouble in this 

 case also was, that the oil was too rich 

 in carbon, especially when the lamp 

 was burned in an enclosed space, the 

 carbon appropriating nearly all of the 

 oxygen, leaving very little to unite with 

 the sulphur. 



The foregoing experiments not being 

 successful, I now turned my attention 

 to bi-sulphide of carbon, to consider its 

 possibilities as a fumigating agent. 

 This substance is a clear, colorless 

 liquid, with a peculiar fetid odor ; 

 volatilizes quite rapidly at ordinary 

 temperatures if exposed to the air ; and 

 boils at about 11«.5 per cent. Fahr. Its 

 chemical formula is C S2 ; contains 

 15.78 per cent, of carbon, and 84.21 per 

 cent, of sulphur. It should be kept in 

 a cool place, and under no circumstances 

 should the container be opened near a 

 flame. 



The main difficulty experienced in 

 using bi-sulphide of carbon as a fumi- 

 gating agent was, to devise a lamp in 

 which it would burn safely, for it is so 

 inflammable that in one of ordinary 

 construction the liquid in the fount 

 would surely ignite from the flame of 

 the wick; this trouble being overcome, 

 the trial was a success in every par- 

 ticular. 



I have no hesitation in saying that 

 fumigation with bi-sulphide of carbon 

 will commend itself to every enterpris- 

 ing apiarist who will give it a fair trial ; 

 a careless man, however, should never 

 handle it, as it is a bad thing to play 

 with, but with care it is as safe as kero- 

 sene or any other illuminating oil. 



The price of bi-sulphide of carbon 

 varies according to the quantity pur- 

 chased. The quotations are from 20 to 

 30 cents per pound, wholesale. I have 

 seen it quoted at 15 cts. per lb. in 5 lb. 

 bottles, the price of the bottles added. 

 It is only persons in the wholesale trade 

 who can buy at these prices, but if the 

 bee-keeper will buy the article in un- 

 broken packages, he can probably ob- 

 tain it from the local druggist at a 

 comparatively small advance. 



Blairstown, Iowa. 



WINTER FOOD. 



The Relation of Food to tbe 

 Wintering of Bee§. 



Written for the Bee-Keepers' Review 

 BY W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



All are agreed that for the successful 

 wintering of bees in our Northern 

 States, good food is of the first impor- 

 tance ; but as to how this shall be best 

 secured, there is some difference of 

 opinion. Pure cane-sugar properly 

 prepared, or fed early enough to give 

 the tiees time to prepare it, stands un- 

 rivalled as a winter food for bees. 



Dr. Miller says his bees made a " poor 

 stagger " in wintering upon sugar last 

 winter, but admits that the same might 

 have been the case had honey been ted 

 instead of sugar, and that sugar fed in 

 the right time and in the right place is 

 probably a safe food. The Doctor asks, 

 who has practiced taking away all 

 natural stores and feeding sugar, and 

 met with unfailing success V I have, 

 Mr. Heddou has, many others have ; in 

 fact we feel like asking the Doctor who 

 has not, when the bees are wintered in 

 a temperature ranging from 35^ to biP'i 



When I was at Mr. Ileddon's last 

 spring, he read a letter just received 

 from Mr. C. E. Boyer, of Ainger, Ohio, 

 in which he recounted heavy losses of 

 sugar-fed colonies that had been kept 

 in a warm cellar. It was the first in- 

 stance of the kind that had come to our 

 knowledge. It was a puzzle to us, and 

 is yet; that is, if the sugar was pure. 

 As a general thing, I think it better 

 that the sugar be fed early, but it can 

 be given late and yet have the bees 

 winter well. 



It was Mr. E. J. Oatman, I believe, 

 who once fed sugar so late, to 200 colo- 

 nies, that it was not sealed over at all, 

 yet they wintered well in a cellar. If 

 fed early the bees have an opportunity 



