1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



61 



hear them roaring and then pound on 

 the hive while the others were flying. 

 BIRDIE M. HARTLE, 



Reynoldsville, Pa. 



Your anxiety for the welfare of the 

 bees is commendable, but in this case 

 hardly well founded. Please note 

 that you are advised to pound on the 

 hives of those that are quiet while 

 others are flying, and not after they 

 have ceased flying. If it is warm 

 enough for them to fly they will 

 likely be flying within five minutes 

 after you begin pounding, and as it 

 is not at all likely to cool down in- 

 stantaneously, they are practically 

 sure of having abundance of time to 

 fly if they should. Indeed, if you 

 should delay pounding until flying 

 had about ceased, any colony that 

 had not flown would still find it 



warm enough to fly if any flight 

 should be heeded. 



You say "the large amount of 

 honey they had taken up * * * 

 might cause dysentery." So it might 

 if they consumed the honey, but car- 

 rying honey up and emptying it in 

 the cells is entirely different from 

 consuming it. for in the former case 

 there is no loading of the intestines, 

 and in the latter there is. Loading 

 the honey-sac with honey does not 

 produce dysentery, but loading the 

 intestines with what remains after 

 digestion does. 



It would do no harm to listen at 

 the entrance, but it would hardly do 

 any good, for if the bees should be 

 stirred up to the point of roaring, 

 they would quite surely be flying. 



'Beedonv^ 

 'Boiled T>owiv; 



I 



Italians Resist I. O. W. Disease 



I have had a good year, as trade 

 has been good for both bees and 

 honey. Isle of Wight disease is still 

 with us, but the nearer pure Italians 

 I keep, the less I lose with it. I have 

 never lost a pure Italian stock. 



HERBERT WATTS, 

 Holmleigh, England. 



No Failure in Ontario 



I extracted over two tons of clover 

 and basswood honey from thirty 

 colonies of bees and sold it all at IS 

 cents per pound. I am a beginner 

 with bees, but like them very much. 

 Being a machinist, I have made my 

 own extractor, five frames working 

 direct, with no gears. 



E E. MOTT. 

 Honey Springs Apiary, Ontario. 



No. 4, 112 pounds; No. 5, 149 pounds; 

 No. 6, 117 pounds; No. 7, 127 pounds; 

 No. 8, 198 pounds, in all 1,084 pounds. 

 Of the eight colonies fed on sugar 

 syrup, five swarmed, while there 

 were only two swarms from the colo- 

 nies fed on honey. There is soon a 

 difference in the appearance of 

 queens in colonies fed on sugar 

 syrup; they become dark and slick, 

 while those in colonies fed on honey 

 remain bright yellow. I lay the dif- 

 ference in behavior of the colonies 

 above mentioned to the difference in 

 the feed. LOUIA SHERMAN, 



Little River, Ala. 



Feeding Sugar Affects Laying of 

 Queens 



I have made a comparative test of 

 feeding sixteen colonies of bees. 

 Eight colonies were fed sugar syrup 

 and eight were fed honey. All queens 

 were from the same hatch, so there 

 should be no difference in that re- 

 spect. I started feeding February IS 

 and continued until titi began to 

 yield nectar on March 7. Eight colo- 

 nies were stimulated by feeding a 

 half pint of sugar syrup daily, the 

 other eight colonies received an 

 equal amount of honey daily. 



The eight colonies fed on sugar 

 syrup stored surplus as follows: No. 

 1. 82 pounds ; No. 2, 73 pounds ; No. 3, 

 91 pounds ; No, 4, 79 pounds ; No. 5, 

 87 pounds; No. 6, 108 pounds; No. 7, 

 86 pounds; No. 8, 71 pounds, in all 677 

 pounds. 



The eight colonies fed on honey 

 stored as follows: No. 1, 123 pounds ; 

 No. 2, 116 pounds; No. 3, 142 pounds; 



A Season of Failure 



Last season was the nearest a 

 failure with me that I have had in 

 more than thirty years of beekeep- 

 ing. When basswood began to yield 

 the bees were on the' point of starva- 

 tion. The flow only lasted four or 

 five days, but served to rally the bees 

 and keep them in shape until hearts- 

 ease. I only had two swarms and 

 they had a hard pull to build up. The 

 prospect for next season is good, as 

 white clover came from seed and 

 made a fine growth. 



B. A. MANLY, 

 Milo, Iowa. 



A Poor Season 



We had a poor season here and 

 there will be a big loss of bees this 

 winter for lack of proper care. 



JOSIAH SWINEHART. 

 Wooster, Ohio. 



Starts With Stray Swarm 



I am just starting in the bee busi- 

 ness from a stray swarm which came 

 to me in 1915. I now have eleven 

 colonies, all packed with forest 



leaves. I expe.t to increase to 25 

 colonies this year. Hereafter my 

 little truck and bee farm will go by 

 the name of "Honey Hill," and I 

 hope the bees will keep it true to 

 name. ELMER KOMMER, 



Cambridge, 111. 



A Price Booster 



I am selling my honey to consum- 

 ers for 25 cents a pound for ex- 

 tracted and 30 cents for fancy sec- 

 tions. When I find a fellow who cuts 

 the price of honey I try to buy him 

 out. 



S. M. VARNIE, 

 Thompsonville, 111. 



Gets Some Honey Anyway 



The past season was a bad one for 

 most beekeepers in this section, but 

 I averaged 100 pounds surplus per 

 hive; not so bad for my second year 

 with bees. HUGO E. BARTZ, 



Keytesville, Mo. 



From Across the Sea 



. I am from the old country, raised 

 in Alsace, about eight miles from the 

 r-rench border, i learned the Ger- 

 man methods of beekeeping My 

 father was an old-time beekeeper 

 who kept bees in straw hives (Strah- 

 koerbe). For the last few years be- 

 fore I came over here I had a house 

 apiary, but on account of poor sea- 

 son I came here in 1912 to study 

 American bee culture. I have done 

 well so far. JOSEPH GARRE, 

 Janesville, Minn. 



Ridding the Apiary of Ants 



Here, if unhindered, the ants mul- 

 tiply until unendurable. When they 

 become so numerous as to be found 

 all over the hives and combs they 

 annoy the operator as well as the 

 pees. If the pest is in the open, boil- 

 ing water or disulphide of carbon 

 may be used to destroy them by 

 wholesale. Soapy water will discour- 

 age them somewhat. A thick syrup 

 ot sugar and water, containing to 

 each pound of sugar one-twentieth 

 ounce of sodium arsenite will get 

 them in the apiary or honey room. 

 If they do not take the uncooked 

 syrup readily, beat it thoroughly us- 

 ing care not to scorch it. Soak 'bits 

 of cloth in the syrup and put it 

 back out of the way in a tin can 

 opened just far enough to permit the 

 ants to enter. 



LEE ELLIS KERR, 

 Fort Smith, Ark. 



Concrete Without Stones 



Finding it desirable to convert a 

 disused hen house into a honey 

 house, a four-inch wall was needed 

 to raise the house twelve inches to 

 give head room. Cement and sand 

 in plenty were available, but no 

 stone or cinders. Tin cans, glassware 

 and crockery of all sorts were sub- 

 stituted to good advantage. The con- 

 tents of that wall will delight anti- 

 quarians in time to come. 



D. QUEEN, New Jersey. 



