620 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 1 



the exaggerated head-gear of the lady stand- 

 ing in front of us we chanced to make out 

 the form of a stately man in white uniform, 

 apparently in the service of Uncle Sam's 

 army. This proved to be Capt. Wm. A. 

 Selser, of Company B, First Pennsylvania 

 Honey Guards; and evidently Capt. Selser 

 has great confidence in his army, for he ex- 

 plained that he had enough bees with him 

 to kill every one before him. Don't be 

 alarmed. He was merely revealing some of 

 the secret defenses of his army and their 

 great power over foreign intruders. He 

 showed us how harmless his soldiers are to- 

 ward their friends by having them push 

 numerous stings into his arm. He after- 

 ward placed these stings on a sheet of white 

 paper and handed them to his assistant, 

 who showed them under a microscope. 



Mr. Selser gave an exceedingly interesting 

 lecture, not in great technical terms, but in 

 a simple manner, so that any one listening 

 could understand him. He told us what a 

 wonderful work the Lord had accomplished 

 in the bee; how intelligently they work, 

 and what an object-lesson they ought to be 

 to us by the way they govern their commu- 

 nities. He gave a detailed explanation of 

 their workings, and explained the functions 

 and person of the queen. He concluded his 

 talk by entering into the commercial part 

 of the business, indirectly urging people to 

 buy honey and keej) bees, and, in general, 

 by arousing enthusiasm in our industry. 

 Thanks to Mr. Selser for his endeavors in 

 the missionary field. The points he drove 

 home in my mind are three: First, that the 

 bee is one of the everlasting testimonies of 

 the greatness of our Lord and his love to- 

 ward man; second, the necessity of bees 

 and honey in every community; third, the 

 fact that honey is an essential in house- 

 keeping. From my talk with several listen- 

 ers I feel that Mr. Selser's work will bring 

 fruit. 



After the talk, all hands in charge were 

 kept busy answering questions and giving 

 descriptions regarding the various imple- 

 ments exhibited. General enthusiasm pre- 

 vailed, and for the time bees were the cen- 

 ter of attraction of the whole show. This 

 showed me the importance and good work 

 of exhibitions, which ought to be supported 

 by all real bee-keepers. Any business man 

 will agree that advertising pays, and here is 

 where we all get the benefit of the efforts of 

 those who exhibit. They advertise honey 

 and bees in a general way. When a pur- 

 chaser enters a store and asks for honey the 

 chances are that he or she will not ask for 

 Root's honey or Brown's honey, but for pure 

 lioney put up in a presentable condition. 

 She has been taught that Root's bees can 

 not produce better honey than Brown's nor 

 Brown's better than Root's. If Brown or 

 Boot is careless in preparing and marketing 

 his honey it will be a case of the survival of 

 the fittest. At any rate, a demand for a 

 good product has been created wherely the 

 tumbledown lazy element will be eliminat- 

 ed, and the progressive, industrious fellow 



elevated. What better can happen to bee- 

 keepers? 

 Whitestone, L. I., August 27. 



THE SWAHMING tendency ELIMINATED. 



But this Year Every Colony Swarmed and 

 Swarmed. 



BY J. C. BAIiCH. 



I have been trying for eight years to elim- 

 inate the swarming instinct in my apiary, 

 and thought I had it down about right — 

 only three natural swarms in eight years. 

 Last year, instead of honey we had honey- 

 dew (black strap) , and nearly all the bees 

 ia the country died. A neighbor lost 29 out 

 of 30 colonies, all run for comb honey. I 

 lost 10 out of 27; and of the 17 left, there 

 were only 5 that were in good shape the 

 first of May. Then we had a scourge of cat- 

 erpillars the year before, and the orchards 

 were full of eggs of the tent caterpillar, and 

 they began to hatch the last of April and 

 first of May, and every fruit-grower sprayed 

 with arsenate of lead, Paris green, etc., with- 

 out regard to bees, apple-blossoms, or any 

 thing else. The consequence was, a half or 

 more of the flying bees were killed. I did 

 not lose any hives or colonies, but they 

 were kept back so that they did not get to 

 breeding well till about the 10th of .June. 

 Then they began to swarm with but little 

 honey in the hives (I had put on my ex- 

 tracting-supers and they had filled them 

 with brood). I was surprised. I thought 

 the bees were crazy, and they were crazy to 

 swarm; but I hived the swarms on the 

 combs that the bees had died on in the win- 

 ter with diarrhea, and began to cut out 

 queen-cells, all but one, in the hives that 

 had swarmed, and they went to work and 

 built more right away, while there were 

 eggs in the hive, and in ten days they 

 would swarm again. I could not explain 

 that at first, but they swarmed all through 

 the honey-tiow, during which time 1 never 

 saw honey come in so fast in my life. I 

 had the best colonies built up three stories 

 high with queen-excluder over the brood- 

 chamber after the first of July, and I ex- 

 tracted every ten days. The two top stories 

 were filled and sealed solid from top to bot- 

 tom. I got from 17 colonies, spring count, 

 over 1800 lbs. of the thickest and best white- 

 clover and alsike honey I ever saw. I s^ved 

 24 swarms; but quite a number went to 

 parts unknown. I cut out queen-cells all 

 summer. 



I have come to the conclusion that, if the 

 weather and the season and the honey-flow 

 are right, bees will swarm, for they were 

 made so; and while I prefer to control the 

 swarming habit as much as I can, when it 

 comes a year like this they just go wild and 

 do pretty much as they please if the boss is 

 not in the yard with them all the time. I 

 had a fruit-farm to look after, so I could not 

 live with them. 

 Ferndale, Wash., Sept. 1. 



