u 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Fei5. 



BEK MOTH, HOW D« THEV LIVE OVER 



WlI^TKlt? 



/P|^F late litllL' has been siiil about the bee- 

 '^^ moth, bnt it may be well to keep posted 

 in regard to its habits, especially, as it some- 

 times does imicli dainasje to combs that are 

 removed €rom the hive diirin.2 warm weather, 

 and thoiiirhtlessl}' allowed to lie close to each 

 other. 



Wliat becomes of the moth miller or in other words 

 where do they come I'roni in the spring. I see that 

 some say the eggs in the comb? all get lillled l)y 

 b> freezing. I would lllvC to know this much anyhow ; 

 why the egg3 do not all freeze ? W.^i. St. Martz. 



Moonshine, lils., Dec. 29th, 187(i. 



The eggs, larva-, cocoons and all, if we are 

 correct, are entirely klled at a temperature of 

 about 10" notwithstanding the statements made 

 to the contrary. The bees keep a temperature 

 considerably above freezing, for quite a dis- 

 tance around the cluster, and it is in and 

 about these combs that the eggs are kept 

 over. In a community where all are good 

 bee-keepers, it would seem there would be lit- 

 tle chance for them to live over, and such is 

 indeed the case ; for in apiaries where all are 

 movable combs and Italians, it is sometimes 

 almost impossible to find a trace of them. 

 Friend Stanhope, of Pentwater, Mich., said 

 that he used to be greatly annoyed by their 

 presence in his comb honey, but since Italian- 

 izing; his bees, he has given up fumigating his 

 honey entirely, he so rarely finds a worm in a 

 honey box. I\Ir. Quinby, years ago advised 

 taking the bees away from their combs and 

 giving the combs a good freeze, that they 

 might be entirely cleansed from this old time 

 pest ; and before Italians, it certainly might 

 have been a wise undertaking. Bee. keepers of 

 the present day, should be ashamed of having 

 webs or moths seen about their premises. We 

 believe it has been pretty generally agreed, 

 that moths do little damage to empty combs 

 if they are placed an inch or two apart; and 

 our experience is that they only trouble combs, 

 that are nearly touching each other. Combs 

 that have been well frozen, we have never 

 found infested unless the miller had access to 

 them during warm weather, and we have kept 

 them two or more seasons in an empty box. 



Si:«AK OF COMMERCE. 



IS IT ADULTERAEli t 



^iin^|DlTt)R GLEANINGS:— I notice an article going 

 j°pl,/| | the rounds of the papers, headed, "Poisoned Siig- 

 ars." The principle items of interest to bee-keep- 

 ers, are as follows : 



"Adulteration and poison are tho order of the day.* * * 

 Almost all the refined sugars sold in this country are 

 poisoned in relining with chemicals to a greater or loss 

 extent.* * * Formerly sugar was relined with blood and 

 i)one dust, and was wliolesonic; but latterly the manu- 

 facturers have found that they can rcline cheaper liy the 

 use of alum, sulphate of zinc, sub-acetate of lead, etc. 

 Uompetitiou has compelled one firm after another to 

 rtdopt this n.odo or fail. Ths last company who continu- 

 (3d to rerin(; by the old process were driven iii'.o bank- 

 ruptcy a year or more ago. * * * The colfee sugars, 

 both while and brown, are much m n-o objectionable than 

 the cruslied and granulated, inasmuch as they produce 

 more imniedijte and acute sntTering to invalids. * * * 



A wholesale m?rchant siys that ths saccharine matter 

 of this class of sugars is frequently so destroyed that they 

 stink when the barrels are opened. Therefore, when you 

 purchase sugar which fails to sweeten your tea or colTee. 

 beware; there is" death in the i)0l," in proportion to the 

 destruction of the saccharine matter."' 



Now the above was written for the benefit of dyspeptics 

 and invalids, but may it not be that we have poisoned our 

 dear litto pets, the liees, by giving them nice colTee A sug- 

 ar for winter stores, and may not that account for the di- 

 verse reports from apiarians that have fed sugar? Some 

 may have procured sugar that was not poisoned in refin- 

 ing, and it may also account for the mortality in winter 

 and dwindling iu spring, that has lately visited apiaries 

 that were once healthy on .sugar stores. 



Last spring, I was feeding my best stock of Italians so 

 as to rear drones early ; sudderly they had a most aijgra- 

 vated form cf dysentery, bees would crowd out of the hive 

 in the morning and being unable to fly or discharge their 

 faeces, would wallow in the dust awhile and die. I took 

 their sugar siores away from them, gave them sealed hon- 

 ey, and they soon recovered. iL.i Michenee. 



Low Banks, Out. Can. Dec. 'J7.h, 187(5. 

 We are very much of the opinion that the 

 item is only one of the sensational ones that 

 are sure to be copied, if they once get started ; 

 and that the one who first wrote it, was pro- 

 bably a near relative of the fellow who started 

 the item about bees gathering 50 lbs. of honey 

 in a day. Have we among our readers, one 

 who is chemist enough to give xis the real 

 truth of all these surmises ? The "wholesale 

 merchant" quoted, certaiidy was not much 

 versed in chemistry, and his statement savors 

 strongly of interested motives. 



MAIfvBIVfitlliaOEIVS B!V WI1VTE5C, BEES 



FREB3'^n\c;, sEr'a'ii<r»>' b«»xes, hoiv 



TO SHIP HOrVEV IN, ETC. 



ON the 3d of this month (Dec.) I sent W. A. 

 ) Douglass, O.ttord, Ohio, a queen by ruail as an 



'~' expei'impnt. Slie arrived on the Gtli, alive, all 

 the workers dead but one, the queen died next day. 

 I did not get as many worker bees in the cage as I in- 

 tended, there were bnt 12 or 15 with her. 



After the weather gets cold enough to recjuii-e lire 

 all tlie time in tho cars and oftices, it is safer to ship, 

 than say in May and October, when most of the time 

 no fire is kept except at night. I did not get my bees 

 here, put in the cellar till the IGth, and 21st, of Dec. 

 On the 9th, the temi>erature was down to 20 and 22 

 below zero. The eiiie* of the hives and some of the 

 combs were covered witli icre, even the carpets on top 

 of the frames were white with frost; and the hives 

 are full of honey, so that the bees are clustered in the 

 lower part of the combs. I think that from a pint to 

 a quart of bees to each Live were killed. On the 12th, 

 they had a good tly. I have hopes that I can keep 

 them in the cellar till April. I have 3 stocks out 

 doors, one in double cased hive, and two iu ordinary 

 hives as an experiment. Those in the cellar are 

 quiet and the temperature lias been 36" to 40'. 1 want 

 some section frames, will wait to see what you will 

 get up between this and spring. It seems to me you 

 do not make your frames heavy enough to shi)) honey 

 in. The Harbison iraaie has more wood than is 

 needed. T. G. McG.vw. 



MonmiuUi, 111. Dec. 2Slh, 187L'. 



Queens have before been mailed in winter, 



but the trouble seems to be to care for them 



after they arc received. If we have made no 



mis'ake, a good covering of chill', will avoid 



