68 DR. miller's 



Desertion of Swarms. — Q. A neighbor of mine says that when 

 he kept bees and was ready to hive a swarm, he would first wash 

 the hive thoroughly with salt water, and then hive the bees; and 

 said he never had a swarm leave when he hived it in that way. 

 What do you think of it? 



A. Washing out a hive with salt and water is an excellent 

 thing, if the hive is dirty. It might do as well without the salt. 

 If the hive is clean, it may do as well without any washing. The 

 principal precaution against having a swarm desert the hive is to 

 see that the hive is well shaded and ventilated. You can wash a 

 hive in an ocean of salt water, and if you set it in the hot sun 

 with a small entrance, a swarm may desert it. 



Q. I had 32 colonies of bees, and I have lost five of them. They 

 will swarm and come out of their own hive and settle on the out- 

 side of some of the other hives, and leave their own hives empty, 

 with lots of honey in them. When they settle on the other hives 

 it causes a fight. What makes the bees do this? 



A. Bees sometimes seem to have a mania for deserting their 

 hives in spring and trying to force their way into other hives, and 

 it isn't easy to say just why. Some think because they are weak 

 and discouraged. Some think because they have started a lot of 

 brood, and then the old bees have died off so rapidly that enough 

 are not left to cover the brood. In any case the advice given is 

 to have only strong colonies in the fall. This is sound advice on 

 general principles, even if there should be some absconding the 

 following spring in spite of strong colonies. 



Diseases and Enemies of Bees (See Foulbrood, Dysentery, Bee 

 Paralysis, Moths, Isle of Wight.) 



Distance Bees Fly. — Q. How far will Italian bees go for nec- 

 tar in a fairly good clover location, with 100 colonies in the apiary 

 and about 100 acres of alsike within two miles of the apiary? 



A. Italian bees, or any other bees, work perhaps to good ad- 

 vantage a distance of one- and one-half to two miles — perhaps 

 farther. In the cases you mention they would probably go that 

 distance. The lay of the land governs to some extent the distance 

 oi their flight. 



Q. My apiary is l^g miles from the Red River bottom — a bot- 

 tom about eight miles wide, containing a very dense forest. It is 

 about five miles to the river where there is a very extensive agri- 

 cultural business carried on. I can see my bees going to the bot- 

 toms. How far do you think they will go in the bottoms? 



A. Bees have been known to go as much as seven miles, but 

 probably not with profit more than two or three. 



