1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



27 



HEADS OF GRAIN 



From Different Fields 



THE NEBRASKA STATE FAIR. 



The apiarian exhibit at the Nebraska State Fair this 

 year was of unusual excellence and largely increased 

 size, taxing the limits of the building assigned for that 

 purpose. Seven exhibitors, representing every section 

 of the State, crowded the shelves to the limit, and a pe- 

 tition has gone to the management for increased space 

 for the coming year, as well as for premiums in new 

 classes, which will, no doubt, be forthcoming. 



The substantial special premiums offered by The A. 

 I. Root Co. and others have stimulated competition, 

 and the two splendid silver trophy cups given by the 

 State fair management and the Nebraska State Bee- 

 keepers' Association, added materially to the attrac- 

 tiveness of the exhibit, and the zest of the competitors. 



One of the largest individual exhibits was that of the 

 Trester Supply Co., of Lincoln, the oldest exhibitors at 

 this fair. This splendid exhibit, in point of size and 

 general excellence, probably the best they have ever 

 shown, reflects great credit on this concern, and won 

 the special silver trophy cup offered by the manage- 

 ment of the fair for general display. 



The most interesting display from the point of gen- 

 eral interest was that of Frank G. Odell, of Lincoln, 

 representing Roselawn Apiaries. Mr. Odell showed 

 a collection of four hundred mounted specimens of 

 honey-producing plants, the largest ever shown at 

 any State Fair. This list will be published by the Sec- 

 retary of the State Board of Agriculture. It won the 

 first premium in cash as well as the special tirst premi- 

 um offered by the Bee-keepers ' Review. Mr. Odell 

 showed the prize-winning collection of bees and 

 queens, securing first in all competitions, and three 

 specials offered by The A. L Root Co. for bees, with 

 his showing of fifteen observatory hives and five differ- 

 ent races of bees. 



The display of beeswax and comb-honey designs was 

 especially interesting, this concern showing a model 

 of the Wright aeroplane made of beeswax, and the 

 words " Roselawn " in comb honey, both of which 

 easily won first premiums. Mr. Odell won all specials 

 for which he entered, including a Root ball-bearing 

 extractor, a Hatch wax-press, a copy of the A B C in 

 German, and five pounds of Weed process foundation 

 offered by The A. L Root Co., besides the largest in- 

 dividual winnings of cash premiums of any exhibitor 

 in the department. 



This exhihitor also gave two lectures daily on eco- 

 nomic apiculture, with demonstrations with live bees 

 in a cage, being especially employed by the manage- 

 ment of the fair for that purpose. These lectures were 

 attended by great crowds who listened eagerly to the 

 attractive side of bee-keeping as presented by the lec- 

 turer. 



A special honorary diploma was awarded by the fair 

 management to Mr. Odell as expressive of their ap- 

 preciation of his labors. 



Lincoln, Neb. G. M. PLUMB. 



SHALL WE SHAKE THE QUEEN IN PRACTICING " SHOOK 

 SWARMING"? 



In the A B C and X Y Z the Doolittle method of pre- 

 venting swarming is treated on p. 416, but I do not see 

 where any thing is said as to how the queen is trans- 

 ferred from the old hive to the new unless it is intend- 

 ed to " shake " her off with the rest of the bees and al- 

 low her to find her way into the new hive with the 

 others; but in all I have heretofore seen relative to the 

 handling of queens there is so much caution advised, 

 for fear of doing her some injury, that this seems like 

 rather rough treatment for so delicate a character. 



Greenville, Miss., Dec. 9. N. B. JOHNSTON. 



[When we speak of shaken or " shook " swarms we 

 seldom make any reference to the queen, leaving the 

 matter of how the queen gets into the hive at the op- 

 tion of the apiarist. Probably there would not be one 

 time in three or four hundred colonies shaken where 

 the queen would be lost if the bees were shaken in 

 front of the entrance without paying any attention to 

 the queen. There is a possibility, however, that she 

 might be injured if she were in the height of her egg- 

 laying; but as she will fall, in almost every case, with 

 a buneh of bees she would receive no harm. As a gen- 

 eral practice we might say it would be advisable to 

 pxill out the first two or three frames, and, after the 

 qneen is located, set the frame she is on to one side; 

 shake all the other frames in front of the entrance 



then, last of all, take the queen off the frame and place 

 her among the bees that are running in, after which 

 shake the frame. But if there is a large mass of bees 

 on the ground in front of the hive it would do no harm 

 to shake bees, queen, and all. 



On the other hand, there is a slight objection to the 

 apiarist picking up the queen and handling her at all. 

 The contact of the human fingers sometimes changes 

 her body odor to an extent that will cause the bees to 

 attack her. It would, therefore, be our candid opin- 

 ion that there would be no more loss in shaking with- 

 out paying any attention to where the queen was in 

 the hive than if we take the time to hunt her up, pick 

 her off the comb, and let her run in with the bees.— 

 Ed.] 



an apiary destroyed by flood. 



One of the worst storms in the history of this sec- 

 tion occurred Sept. 20, lasting more than 24 hours. It 

 did great damage to property and life. We have a 

 large body of water in our front, the Mississippi River, 

 and a big lake at our rear. The wind backed up the 

 lake water, placing mine water, and submerging land 

 that has heretofore been free from overflow. One of 

 my apiaries of 75 or 80 hives, in prime condition for 

 wintering, has been completely destroyed. The water 

 is yet on the land; and as there are snakes in and 

 around, it is any thing but pleasant to work gathering 

 up the boxes and combs. 



I have a few hives at my home, mostly nuclei, and I 

 doubt if I can carry them through winter. The apiary 

 that was lost gave me all the extracted I got this year, 

 so I have nothing to look to next year. It took 20 to 

 25 years to build up and 24 hours to destroy. That 

 knocks the grit out of the best of us. 



New Orleans, La., Oct. 11. G. P. HOWELL. 



[We were very sorry to learn of your loss through 

 flood; but we would draw your attention to the fact 

 that you can make very rapid increase with these 

 combs and hives, and you will probably find that the 

 combs themselves are not very badly damaged. It 

 was Mr. Adam Grimm, who, along in the early 60's, 

 made enough money out of his bees to establish a 

 bank. When asked what he would do if he would lose 

 all of his bees during the winter he said, "I would 

 show you how quickly I could get them back again 

 with all these drawn combs and hives." The fact of 

 the matter is, one can make a very rapid increase 

 when he has the full equipment, and this you undoubt- 

 edly have. If the combs happen to be filled with mud 

 or dirt, take a hose and wash them out with a spray of 

 water as best you can, then give them to the bees as 

 fast as they can take them.— Ed.] 



ABSORBENT CUSHIONS BEST FOR DAMP \VTNTERS; WHY 

 BEES CLUSTER TOWARD THE FRONT OF THE HIVE. 



On page 654, Nov. 1, the editor refers to the differ- 

 ence of experiences and opinions respecting the top 

 covering for outside-wintering bees, and seems inclin- 

 ed toward tight or sealed covers. Always having win- 

 tered my bees outside, it has been my practice to use 

 porous packing over the frames, and with most excel- 

 lent results so far as the packing is concerned, except- 

 ing in a single instance, if I remember rightly. The 

 material used has been dry planer shavings. The ex- 

 ception was the use of a sack of sawdust about 6 inches 

 thick, very closely picked over one of the strongest 

 colonies. They came out in the spring in very bad 

 condition because of moisture in the hive. I thought 

 that possibly the cover might have leaked, but found 

 this not the case. The under side of the sack was wet 

 as well as the hive; hence the conclusion that it was 

 the closeness of the packing. 



It occurs to me that, in a dry atmosphere, bees might 

 be wintered safely outside under a sealed cover ; but 

 in a winter of very much moisture a porous covering 

 of proper material, such as planer shavings or ground 

 cork, which might be better, would, it seems to me, be 

 the proper material to use. There is another factor to 

 be reckoned with in my case, perhaps. The covers 

 are four to six inches above the packing, thus leaving 

 a dead-air space above the cushion, v/hich I deem very 

 desirable in outside wintering. 



In reply to a correspondent who asks why bees clus- 

 ter in the front part of the hive, like Dr. Miller, you 

 frankly say, "I don't know." Permit me to suggest a 

 reason for bees doing this. During the summer time, 

 when brood-rearing is going on, th^re is a tendency 

 to put the brood forward and the honey at the back 

 and above. This is partly owing to the fact, I think, 

 that the wind blowing into the hive in early spring 

 when brood-rearing commences strikes across the 

 hive under the frames, then rises, making it more dif- 



