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FIG. 4.-Common bees of the northern States. 1. Halictus craterus; a, female; b, male. 2. H. lerouxii: a, female; b, male. 3. Coelioxys rufitarsis, female. 4. Osmia megacephala, female. 5. Halictus hortensis, female. 6 H. vierecki, female. 7. Osmia pumila, female. 8. Andrena vicina; a, female; b, male, 9. A. cratægi; a, female; b, female. 1o. Prosopis modesta; a, female; b, male.

ing it with food. The largest of all bees are the carpenter bees (Fig. 3), socalled because they are able with their powerful jaws to excavate tunnels in solid wood a foot in length. The cells are separated by partitions of small chips cemented together in a spiral; while the masses of bee-bread, or balls of pollen mixed with nectar on which the eggs are laid are about the size of a bean. In the eastern States Xylocopa virginica, a black bee about the size of X. caffra (Fig. 3, 1), is a well known species.

In Fig. 3 are shown three kinds of leaf-cutting bees. They carry pollen chiefly on a stiff brush of hairs on the underside of the abdomen, which in different species is black, yellow, or glistening white. On level-topped flowers, like the sunflower, they are able to suck nectar and brush up pollen at the same time. They are also especially well adapted to pollinate the flowers of the pea or legume family (Leguminosa).

The species of Megachile are called leaf-cutting bees because they line

their burrows with oblong or round pieces of leaves or flower petals, which they cut out with their mandibles. Usually they do little harm to the foliage of plants, but occasionally the injury is more serious. A settler at Springfield, Idaho, relates the following experience:

46

Among the first trees set out about our house were two ash trees. As soon as the foliage began to appear the trees were attacked by leaf-cutter bees, which completely defoliated one and nearly the other. First, we noticed circular holes in many of the leaves, but it was not long, until going to the trees, one noticed the noise made by the bees at work, almost like a swarm of bees intent on gathering honey. Sometimes we could see a bee with a section of leaf so large it could hardly fly, but working diligently, carrying its burden to a sandy spot just outside the yard, where the bees had their tunnels."

The mason bees belong to the genus Osmia (See Fig. 4, 4 and 7), and are closely allied to the leaf-cutters. They

FIG. 5. Two closed bumblebee flowers. A. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus). B Butter and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris). In both species the corolla is two-lipped. Notice how the closed corolla protects both the nectar and the pollen from wet and useless insects. Bumblebees alone can push down the lower lip and enter the corolla.

are robust, blue-green or bottle-green insects, with the pollen brush on the underside of the abdomen. They are called mason bees because many of them construct their cells of mud or clay. A cell sent to me from Massachusetts, was a round ball about half an inch in diameter, rudely fashioned of mud on the outside, but beautifully polished and glazed within. The short-tongued bees are very numerous, and may be taken by the dozen on flowers which have the nectar and pollen unprotected, as the willows, plums, wild cherries, thornbushes, blackberries and sumacs. In Fig. 4 are shown common species of the great genera Andrena and Halictus. As they build their nests in the soil of fields and pastures they are often called ground bees. Each female digs her own burrow, and, as many thousand sometimes tunnel in the same sandy bank, the ground appears as though filled with shot holes. It is a village or

city of homes." The tunnel is straight with several short branches, in each of which a ball of bee-bread about the size of a small pea is placed, ar. egg is laid upon it, the cell is sealed and the offspring are then left to take care of themselves. When it is rainy the females remain at home, and may be seen looking out of the burrows watching for fair weather. A part of the species of Andiena fly only in the spring, and others only in late summer or autumn. Many of them are found on only one kind of flower, some very common species like the willows or goldenrods, which furnish all the pollen and nectar they require.

The simplest and most primitive bees belong to the genus Prosopis (Fig. 4; 10, a and b). They are little coal-black insects with an aromatic odor, resembling ants in general appearance. They are nearly smooth, with broad, flat, wasp-like tongues, which suggests that

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American Bee Journal

they have been derived from the wasps. It is a far cry indeed from Prosopis to the honey-bee.

The wild bees play a very important part in the pollination of many plants both in nature and under cultivation. For thousands of years our American flora was visited by no other bees than the wild species; for the honey-bee was not found in the Western Continent at the time of its discovery, but was introduced later by the early settlers. "The Indians," says Washington Irving, "consider them (honey-bees) as the harbinger of the white man, as the buffalo is of the red man, and say that in proportion as the bee advances the Indian and the buffalo retire. It is said * * that they have always been the heralds of civilization, preceding it as it advanced from the Atlantic borders."

(I trust that some of the younger readers of this paper will begin by making a collection of the wild bees in their locality the coming season; but before doing so they should write to their State Experiment Station and learn how to collect, pin and label their specimens).

B

Waldoboro, Maine.

My Florida Visit

BY HARRY LATHROP.

EFORE leaving for Florida, I had written Mr. Wilder to look out for a camping place for me and a few old tin cans. as I would be only "a tin can tourist." It was with much disappointment that I learned, on my arrival at Bradentown, that Mr. Wilder had gone to his headquarters in Georgia on account of the death of his general foreman. I did not see him at all. Attached is a picture of my camp. Perhaps he can tell where it is? I had several informal visits with A. I. Root; also met Ernest when he was down. Herbert Clute, whom I knew when he had an apiary at Greenwood, Wis., lives at Palmetto, where he is doing well with about 300 colonies of bees. I had a nice visit with him and his good wife. Herbert has traveled over every part of the State. He says the bee

keeping territory lies in narrow strips
around lakes and bays, and at certain
local points. While one can do well
in beekeeping in Florida, it was my
impression that the States bordering
on Lake Michigan are far better ter-
ritory.

color and the name, but, all considered, does not the pure black bee bring more gold to its owner? That is an interesting question which may bring jests first, then criticisms, but perhaps afterwards compliments.

I do not propose to tire the reader with lengthy articles, but hope to be able to discuss the following points in different numbers of this journal:

1. Replies to criticism of the Punic. bee.

2. Its origin and habits.

3. Its culture by the natives. purity. Its faults.

Its

4. Transformation from the native culture to modern methods.

5. Comparative study of the with the Italian and others.

race

6. The future of the Punic bee as re

Florida, to the northern man, is a great botanical garden, a wonder land full of beauty, such as he had never dreamed of because so different from northern scenery. It will pay any beekeeper to make the trip, and once he has seen it he will want to go again. I had some nice times fishing and boating, but most of the time I spent among the truck farms and in the forest, trying to learn all I could about soils, plant growth, timber, fruit and vegetables. I was informed they had been picking strawberries since Christmas, and the quality was as good gards honey, beeswax and queen proas the best we can produce. All the vegetables were of excellent quality. I reveled in sweet, luscious oranges; but I learned one thing, that everybody will have apples. I bought some in spite of the fact that I had so many other kinds of fruit. The apples supplied were from the far distant State of Washington. It would appear that some of the central States could do as well producing apples to supply these markets as the Florida growers do in citrus fruits. Go where you will, the apple is the king of all fruits.

We arrived back home April 1, and
found the bees in good condition in
the cellar. It was on my arrival at
home that I learned of the death of F.
B. Cavanagh. It gave me a sad heart.
While we did not agree as to the price
of honey, I loved him from the first
time I saw him, and esteemed him
highly. He was an honor to the indus-
try of beekeeping, and will be missed
at our gatherings.
Bridgeport, Wis.

Tunis or Punic Bees?

BY A. LENOEL.

T is a rash enterprise to fight fashion, whether in ladies' hats, horses or honey-bees. The golden bee is fashionable. That is a fact. It has the

duction.

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TRANSPORTING ARABIAN HIVES OF BEES IN
TUNIS.

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The Punic bee is the common black bee. But living in a country where it has not been subject to mismating, it is purer, more resistant, and more industrious than the common bee of the continent. The following faults are mentioned against it:

She is small. She is cross. She swarms too much. She builds too little comb.

She is small, yes. That is due to the fact that the Arabs never change her combs. The cell walls are reduced at every hatching, and the development of the bee is cramped. The careful beekeeper helps increase the size of his bees by judicious renewal of the combs.

She is cross. That happens only with unskillful handling. The Arab, three-fourths naked, works with his bees without care and without accidents; the apiaries of the settlers are usually located near the door of the

HARRY LATHROP IN CAMP IN FLORIDA.

American Bee Journal

QUEEN-REARING APIARY OF MR. LENOEL, IN MABEUL, TUNIS.

home; the bees make much noise, but give trouble to neither man nor beast.

She swarms too much. That is because the hives are both too shallow and too narrow. They swarm because they are too numerous for their abode. They multiply very fast.

She builds too little comb. If she really swarms too much it is evident that she must build combs rapidly, for the one cannot go without the other. It is easy to find fault. But I hope, in the last of my articles, to show her good points. Meanwhile, I trust the readers will peruse in an impartial spirit what I will have to say further upon this important question.

Nabeul, Tunis.

[Mr. Lenoel, the writer of the above, comes to us well recommended. It is a hard task to fight for an already condemned cause. We bespeak for him courteous consideration.-EDITOR.]

String Splints

BY DR. A. F. BONNEY.

AM NOT surprised that Dr. Miller makes some guesses (page 161) about my string splints, but I am that he should pass on the matter without a trial, and I trust the Editor of the Old Reliable will let me have a final say.

Dr. Miller is not the only one whom splints have not satisfied entirely. I have yet to see the beekeeper who was satisfied with them, and I am sarcastic enough to suggest that Dr. Miller might not have been had he not invented them. I know I have clung to awkward things because I invented them; but I am a stubborn sort of a brute, to say the least. The Doctor confesses that sometimes they "make a gap of an inch or so in the foundation." With five splints, as I have strings, there would be little foundation or comb left.

Note that the splint is imbedded in

ed wax was poured over them? A cheap string is better than one made of long staple cotton, as it is easier to

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remove.

A thing must not be condemned without trial. These string "splints," let me explain, are used as a temporary support. My frames are wired for permanent support. While "actual trial may show less trouble with strings than imagined," it may also show that it is an ideal way to support combs. I find it so. There is no gnawing away of foundation. The closest scrutiny. fails to show that the comb had been artificially supported. I expect this season to try a hundred new frames with strings alone. If they fail me I shall make chunk honey out of the combs.

The careful experimenter this summer will put a frame in the hive with medium foundation, one with light, two more with wires, two with strings, and two more with both wires and strings, and keep the hive hot. But not one person in a hundred can carry an experiment to a logical conclusion. Dr. Miller can, and I can sometimes. Buck Grove, Iowa.

the foundation while the string merely No. 3.-Doubling the Yield of

lays in contact with it, or barely touches it. Whether the splint is boiled in wax or not the bees often try to take it away. The few splints I used were fine broom straws straightened by soaking, then weighted at one end and dried. I also split bamboo, which gave a hard, tough fiber not much larger than a thread. This idea I got from Mr. Edison's electric light filament experiments.

Dr. Miller is a good guesser. I do not know how much the fuzziness of the string was resented by the bees, but the string was removed before the foundation was fully drawn out, as I expected it to be. However, it had supported the foundation until enough comb had been built to keep it in place.

The strings were saturated with wax. How could they help being when melt

Surplus Honey

BY G. C. GREINER.

HE success of the season's cam

paign depends in a great measure

upon spring management. It paves the way, as we might say, for future operations. Some of the advantages of my method, outside of heavier yield, are directly due to the preparations and treatments our bees receive before the honey-flows are expected. A description of my method would not be complete without a description of preparing them for the harvest. I will, therefore, give a few stray thoughts concerning my spring management.

To produce doubled and trebled yields, your first aim must be to control swarming. (This is one of the inci

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American Bee Journal

dental advantages my method brings about.) We all know, if bees do not swarm and apply all their energy to the production of surplus honey, the yields under favorable conditions may be enormous. At the same time, if we can keep our bees busy, gathering and storing honey, not capping, they are not liable to swarm. These two fea

tures are so closely linked together that either one may be considered the cause of the other.

My apiary, after the bees are placed on the summer stands, usually consists of these three classes: Prime, medium and weak, and I believe the same is the case with every lot of bees at this time of the year. The only difference that may exist is the proportion of the three classes. With one beekeeper, who has the wintering problem at his fingers' end, the first kind may be in evidence, while with a less fortunate brother, the other end of the line may be predominating, but in either case the three kinds are there just the same.

All the colonies that are strong in bees, and have six or more combs of solid brood are classed "prime." Any of these are liable to swarm during the latter part of May. To prevent it they are divided during apple-tree bloom (in this locality about May 10 or 12), the queenless half being provided with a laying queen. In the way of making these divisions, I have nothing new to offer. I practice the old-fashion method of taking the old queen with two combs of brood from the mother colony, place them in a new hive on the old stand, and move the former with a caged laying queen to a new stand. If the operation is properly performed it is the simplest, most convenient, and most workmanlike method of making artificial divisions. The advantages of doing it at this early period are easily explained. No other apiary work is crowding. The beekeeper has plenty of time to execute every detail with care and forethought, while a month or two later the same work would necessarily have to be slighted. The divided colonies, too, have plenty of time to recuperate. Each half has the opportunity to build up to proper working condition before the white-clover flow begins.

I have no trouble with swarming. I am relieved of all the time-wasting useless operations in the line of hunting and destroying queen-cells, clipping queens' wings, which I imagine is the cause of many queens being injured, shook swarming, in itself an unpleasant job, greatly interfering with super work, etc. All these manipulations are pulling at the wrong end of the rope. Instead of removing the cause, they are expected to prevent the effect. It is not the presence of queen-cells, but the disposition to build them, that induces swarming. Cutting them out does no more remove the desire to swarm than clipping the queens' wings.

At the time the divisions are made, all vacant space in the hives is taken up by chaff division-boards, dummies, fillers, or whatever they may be called. The hives that contain the old queens are reduced to five frames; one comb of honey and two empty combs being added to the two combs of brood taken from the mother colonies. The space

of the two combs taken from the latter is also taken up in the same way. To make these changes convenient, the division-boards I use conform to my rule of uniformity. Shorter in length, they are cushioned at the ends to fit against the end boards of the hives; but in thickness they take up the same space as the brood-frames, so that eight, the number of frames I use, just fill the hive. Whenever it is desirable to change from one to the other, the same number of one will fill the space of any number of the other.

As soon as the old queen has started brood-rearing in the two empty combs, I exchange one of the division-boards for an empty comb, the latter being placed in the center of the brood-nest. A little later, according to the progress of brood in this ad led comb, another division-board is exchanged in like manner, and still later the third one is exchanged. With a vigorous healthy queen (we should have no other), this treatment results as a rule in hive full of brood and bees by the time the white-clover flow begins, and if bees are then supplied with the necessary empty combs (extracting supers), we can expect rapid storing.

The removed mother colonies are treated practically in the same way. The spaces of the two combs of brood taken with the queen are taken up by division-boards, which are placed on the outside of the remaining combs. It takes a little longer before the introduced queens are accepted and laying, but whenever this takes place, the changes are made, the same as with the other colonies. From these colonies the comb-honey producers are selected; having all young queens, they are less liable to swarm.

As soon as the season permits, the other two classes, medium and weak, are reduced to as few combs as they can occupy to advantage. With the advancing season, and according to their progress, the former are served in the same way as the divided halves of the prime colonies, and as a rule, they are in fine shape for surplus work, when the flow begins. If any are a little slow to take their supers, the equalizing method, as described before, brings them up to the desired condition. Many of these colonies produce as much surplus honey as any of the divided ones; in fact, they frequently excel some of the less ambitious ones of the latter.

The third class, the weak ones, I consider of little account. Although I nurse them up as their condition may dictat, I do not spend a great deal of time with them. I generally unite the better ones, those that promise any returns at all, when the flow is on, or, for experimental purposes, exchange them with some of the mediums during the forepart of the season. Uncertain and unprofitable as these efforts may seem at the beginning, I frequently take surprising yields from these invalids before the season is over.

Since writing the foregoing it occurred to me that a brief detail of making artificial divisions as I practice it, might be a help to some young beekeeping friend who would like to try my method.

First, some general rules: Handle

bees very quietly and slowly, and prevent all cracking and snapping as much as possible, when manipulating a hive. It is the jarring and quick motion that irritates the n. There is no such thing as cross bees or cross strains in my experience except in very rare cases. Rough and careless handling will turn the most gentle bees into furies.

Always have your smoker ready for action within easy reach, but use as little smoke as possible.

Be master of the situation at all times. Never allow your bees to become uneasy. A very few puffs of smoke over (not between) the frames will keep them quiet, if administered at the right time.

Shaking bees on the ground in front of the hive removes all their disposition to fight. The same holds good after a comb is taken out of the hive. It can be leisurely examined without any objection on the part of the adhering bees.

Use a bee-veil or have one on your hat ready to use. Although I have not used one in 5 or 10 years, I would advise the beginner not to be without it. Its use produces a certain feeling of safety that greatly assists in quietly handling our pets, especially wh n queens are dealt with.

Prepare a new hive with three division-boards and two empty combs, leaving space for three combs in the center. Place it behind the clony to be divided. Loosen the cover of the latter on your side very carefully. If bees em 'rge, a little smoke will drive them back, and the cover may be replaced for a few seconds to let the bees get quiet again. Take off the cover in a slow, quiet way and give it an endwise jar on the round, close to the hiveentrance to drop the adhering bees. With hive-tool (pocket screwdriver) loosen and move the third frame towards the center as much as bee-space will permit without squeezing the bees. Serve second frame in like manner. This will give the first comb plenty of room to be taken out without rolling bees against the adjoining comb. Look it over carefully for the queen. If the operation is performed during the middle of the day, she may be on this very comb. In either case place it in the new hive next the division-board. Take out the second comb and look it over like the first.

If the queen is not on this comb, and it contains mostly young, uncapped brood, place it as second comb in the new hive also, otherwise let it take the place of the first comb taken from the mother colony. Take out and examine the third and all the following combs until the queen is found, when she is placed with the comb and adhering bees into the Dew hive, and the latter closed. In case the second comb remained in the old hive another comb of brood, preferably young brood, must be transferred to the new hive.

All the remaining combs in the mother colony should be moved to one side, allowing a little more than beespace in the center for the suspension of the cage containing the queen to be introduced, and the vacant space filled out by two division-boards and one comb of honey. The latter to replace the first one taken out which generally

American Bee Journal

contains mostly honey. The cage with the new queen should be suspended 2 or 3 inches below the top-bar. A little wire-loop with ends turned at right angles to catch the top-bar will do this very conveniently. The pasteboard cover over the hole to the candy-supply must be replaced by tin or a wooden plug for two days, when this protection may be removed and the bees allowed to liberate the queen by gnawing out the candy. At the same time all combs of brood must be carefully examined,

and all started queen-cells destroyed. For the same purpose I examine every hive daily, until the queen is accepted.

Occasionally it happens that I find a queen liberated and balled on the third day. In this case I disperse the troubling bees with a few puffs of smoke and re-cage her for another 24 hours, after which she is generally accepted. My home-made wire cages are more convenient for re-caging than the mailing cages of the trade. La Salle, N. Y.

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Boardman entrance feeder without startin robbing?

7. I have never introduced new queens, but have the same ones I begun with two or three years ago. Do you think I should introduce new ones, and when?

8, Is it necessary for frames to be wired?
INDIANA.

ANSWERS.-I. On any one day when bees are flying freely it is a simple matter, supposing your hives are all alike, to lift the frames successively out of a hive that needs repairing and put them into another. hive that is in good order. If you have not enough hives in good order to accommodate all, go as far as you can, then put in order the hives you have emptied and fill them on a sncceeding day,

2. Any time is a good time to feed bees if there is any danger of starving. It is also well, even if there is no immediate danger of starving, to see that they have abundance to last until harvest and a little over, Of course, it will not do to have the frames so filled that the queen has no room to lay, but there is not much danger of that, for when brood-rearing gets well under way it is sur prising how rapidly the honey is consumed in preparing food for the babies. The very best way to feed is to give frames of sealed honey. Likely you haven't any, but now is a good time to make a mental resolve that you will have some in readiness for next spring. The best way to feed these heavy combs in early spring is to put one in each hive under the bottom-bars. This is easily done if you have bottom-boards with a space 2 inches deep. If you have no such deep bottom-board, then you must open the hive and put in the frame of honey, then use sugar syrup, half sugar and half water, feeding it in a Doolittle, Miller, Boardman or other feeder.

3. If the frames are of the right size, change the contents of one of the old hives into the new one; otherwise wait until you can put a swarm in it.

4. That will be all right if you want to increase that much and want to stand the extra expense.

5. When a colony swarms, hive the swarm and set it in place of the old hive, putting the old hive close beside it, both hives fac ing the same way. About eight days later move the old hive to a new stand 10 feet or So away. That's all you have to do; the bees will do the rest. When the old hive is moved to a new place, the field bees that go out to forage will go just the same as if they had not been moved, but when they return from the field, instead of returning to the old hive they will return to the old place and join the swarm. The mother colony being thus bereft of its fielders, and finding no honey coming in, will feel so discouraged that the first virgin emerging will be allowed to destroy all its rivals and there will be no further swarming.

6. There is not much danger if you avoid spilling feed and feed in the evening after bees have stopped flying.

7. The likelihood is that you haven't a single queen that you bought two or three years ago. Bees of their own accord generally supersede their queens every two or three years. So there is no need of introducing new queens unless for the sake of having better stock.

8. Not absolutely necessary, but better, to have the combs strengthened by being supported by wires or foundation splints.

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Transferring-Swarming

What is the best way to transfer a swarm of bees from an old box-hive which

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