756 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 1 



when the first shift is made, which is desir- 

 able when forming increase. 



Proceed as usual with the first shift; but 

 instead of making a second shift we w^ould, 

 ten days after the first shift, remove colony 

 No. 1 to a new location, putting an empty 

 hive in its place, first placing in the center 

 of it two combs of brood and bees from No. 

 1; then fill the empty space with combs or 

 full sheets of foundation and give colony 

 No. 3 a queen. 



We have now trebled our number of colo- 

 nies with very little manipulation, and 

 there will be plenty of time to build them 

 up strong in time for a late harvest. In or- 

 der to build them up rapidly, such colonies 

 should be fed when there is no nectar to be 

 gathered. This is easily done since the 

 equipment includes a feeder that is always 

 in position ready for instant use. 

 Ift^The slight manipulations necessary for 

 the perfect control of bees under the new 

 system can hardly be considered as labor. 

 It is mere child's play compared with other 

 methods of swarm control. In all my bee- 

 keeping experience nothing has given me 

 greater pleasure and satisfaction than this 

 simple equipment for controlling bees. Its 

 principles are applied in such perfect har- 

 mony with the instinct of bees that it " hoo- 

 doos" them completely, and they work 

 with a vim and energy fully equal to a 

 natural swarm. 



Its usefulness is by no means limited to 

 swarm control, but continues all along down 

 the line of bee-keeping methods with equal 

 l)ower for economizing labor. This system 

 will give 100 per cent increase and one-third 

 more surplus honey than any method of 

 swarm control that has yet come to my no- 

 tice, and w ith one-fourth the labor, the hives 

 being so close together there is no traveling 

 back and forth from one hive to another. 

 Then at the close of the season the two col- 

 onies may be packed for wintering on the 

 tenement-hive plan without moving a hive. 



The swarming problem is solved, and the 

 hive question is no more a fruitful subject 

 for discussion, since one hive is practically 

 as good as another, and all hives are but an 

 open book when correct principles are ap- 

 plied by correct methods. 



The only unsolved problem that I can 

 now think of in connection with bee-keep- 

 ing is, " What are the writers upon apicul- 

 tural subjects going to do for subjects to 

 write about?" Doubtless the new system 

 will receive its share of attention; and when 

 the battle of opiwsition and conservatism is 

 over and the smoke has cleared away, its 

 virtues will shine with an added luster. Its 

 fundamental principles are as solid as the 

 universe, and will so remain until the in- 

 stinct of bees and the reasoning powers of 

 man are no more. 



The writer is preparing matter for a book- 

 let entitled "Bee-keeping by Twentieth- 

 century Methods," setting forth in a clear 

 and concise manner the many ways in which 

 the new system may be utilized to lessen 

 labor and reduce the cost of honey produc- 



tion, thus reducing the complex methods of 

 honey production to a simple science with 

 few manipulations. A careful reading of 

 this will enable any one to produce paying 

 crops of honey, and have his bees under 

 perfect control all the time. Inquiries rela- 

 tive to the new system should be addressed 

 to The A. I. Root Co., with whom we have 

 made arrangements to furnish the equip- 

 ment to bee-keepers. 

 Birmingham, Ohio. 



HONEY-BEES, BUMBLE-BEES. AND WILD 

 BEES FOUND IN THE SAME FLOWER. 



BY T. P. ROBINSON. 



Last year I observed what I term a "phe- 

 nomenon" in the bee-world. In this coun- 

 try all members of the cactus family abound 

 abundantly in many places; but in my im- 

 mediate locality there are only the fewest 

 to be found of any variety. Yet not over 

 100 feet from my house, just out of the yard, 

 in fact, a very large cactus grows, known 

 here as the prickly pear, and it was on the 

 first blossom to appear on this bush in the 

 spring that I saw all the bees above stated 

 at work at the same time. I chanced by 

 this bush, noticed the blossom, and there, 

 to my astonishment, saw a huge bumble- 

 bee, three honey-bees, and three wild bees, 

 all in the same flower. I looked at them 

 for quite a while, and saw that not one of 

 the bees of the different species paid the 

 least attention to the rest. Th*^y would 

 tumble and root each other out of their way, 

 and crawl over and under each other in the 

 best of good nature, each one doing his very 

 best to get all that there was in the flower. 

 All were yellow with pollen. I am sure 

 that this was the first bloom of its kind this 

 season. 



What made the episode more interesting 

 was the fact that the bumble-bee was as 

 large as all three of the honey-bees combin- 

 ed, and one honey-bee was as large as all 

 three of the wild bees combined. 



Bartlett, Texas. 



Will Cotton Supplant Alfalfa in Imperial Valley, 

 California? 



You can see by the enclosed clipping that my 

 "holler" in (let. 15th Issue, about cotton supersed 

 ing alfalfa in Imperial Valley, had a good founda- 

 tion, and that there is cause for alarm among bee- 

 men here. 



Imperial, Cal., Oct. 29. .J. W. George. 



[The following, from the Imperial Daily Standard, 

 is the clipping referred to:] 



THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT STAPLES. 



No one can tell how large the next cotton-crop 

 acreage will be: but it is certain that it is going to 

 be much greater than that now being harvested. 

 In all parts of the valley, land is already being rent- 

 ed for the next crop, much of it to persons who have 

 not heretofore taken part in the new industry. Es- 

 timates of the coming acreage run up to 50,000 and 

 even 100,000. Certain it is that cotton has, in the 

 average case, made good: and each year, as the 

 growers become better acquainted with local re- 

 quirements in the industry, the average yield will 

 increase. Many lessons have been learned this 

 year by the growers, and soon cotton-growing will 

 be reduced pretty nearly to an exact science. 



