rs 
216 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ava., 1901. 
Apiculture. 
GLASS OBSERVING SUPER. 
By H. R. STEPHENS, Toowoomba. 
I wish to call the attention of bee-keepers to a useful apiary appliance 
which I think is not generally known. It comes in handy for examining bees 
without the aid of a smoker, and when some information is required as to the 
strength of the colony without going to the trouble of lighting a smoker and 
lifting out frames. The observing super is a half-depth hive with a two-pane 
glass slide fitted into the top. The method of use is to peel the mat quickly and 
quietly off the tops of the frames and to immediately place the observing super> 
on. Some of the fighting bees will buzz up against the glass for a few minutes, 
but will soon settle down with the others; and the inspection can then be carried 
out at leisure, and a fair idea formed of the requirements of the colony. In 
hives of new swarms, also, the observer would be handy, as it is necessary to 
see if the bees are settling down to work and drawing out the foundation 
satisfactorily, as the latter may sometimes fall out of the frames and cause 
crooked combs if not seen to; and the smoker need not be lighted when it is 
required to get an idea of the breed and quality of the bees, as they can be seen 
very well when on the top bars of the frames, the super being in place. It is 
usually on first opening a hive that bees attempt to sting, and the more so if 
there is any roughness in the operation, but, with an observing super, they 
have not time to come out, and generally quieten down in a few mlnutes ; but 
if, in exceptional cases, they sometimes imitate De Wet and try to carry on a 
guerilla warfare, then get the smoker and push back the glass slide a bee-tight 
space, and fumigate them at pleasure ; but such drastic measures are not often 
necessary, and are merely the exception that proves the rule. 
BEES KILLED, FRUIT INJURED. 
An experiment of spraying fruit trees while in. bloom was tried, not for the 
purpose of finding out whether it killed the bees, but to determine whether 
spraying at such times was injurious to the pollen and its development. and in 
general to the setting of the fruit. The experiment was conducted from the 
standpoint of the fruitgrower, because it is universally conceded among all 
beekeepers who are in a position to know that spraying during the time of 
bloom destroys bees by the thousands. Sometimes whole apiaries are so 
decimated that but few colonies are left from which to make an increage after 
the spraying season is over. Many instances of this kind are on record. Now, 
we know positively that spraying during fruit bloom is detrimental to both bee 
life and to the fruitgrower, and as soon as fruitgrowers themselves discover 
that they are losing money the practice will be discontinued. It is now in. 
order to educate the fruitgrowers that I call their attention to the facts.— 
A. I, Roor, in “Gleanings in Bee Culture.” 
