Septejiiber, iQio. 



American ISee Journal 



eciual strength to make a fair compari- 

 son. They must stop breeding in the 

 fall at the same time. A colony that 

 stops breeding in August ought to 

 show a greater proportion of dead 

 bees than one which continues a month 

 or two later. 



Why not measure the longevity of 

 the workers by the longevity of the 

 queen .' If the queens of one strain of 

 bees live longer than those of another 

 strain, is it not a fair guess that there 

 will be a proportionate difference in 

 the lives of the workers ? One man 

 says his queens do their best work in 

 their lirst year, and that he wants to 

 requeen annually. Another says his 

 queens do as good work in the second, 

 or even in the third, as in the first year. 

 The difference may be in the bees 

 themselves. But the question still re- 

 mains : If a worker lives longer than 

 the average, will the nurse-period and 

 the lield-period be both extended, or 

 will the extension apply only to the 

 lield-period of its life ? 



Few or Many Colonie.s for Great- 

 est Eujoyineut? 



One of the brightest of apicultural 

 writers of the present day is L. S. 

 Crawshaw, who, under the title " Cap- 

 pings of Combs ■' serves up regularly 

 for the readers of the British Bee Jour- 

 nal a feast of good things. He gen- 

 erally confines himself to comments 

 upon items that have appeared in pre- 

 vious numbers, and whatever writer 

 makes a slip in any way is likely to be 

 held up by the aforesaid Mr. Crawshaw. 

 So reliable is Mr. Crawshaw generally 

 in all his views, and so rarely does he 

 lay himself open to criticism, that when 

 occasion offers one can not resist the 

 temptation to make the most of it, 

 although one may be fairly certain of 

 being gibbeted by Mr. Crawshaw for 

 such temerity. Yet the gibbeting will 

 be sure to be done with such good na- 

 ture that the victim will feel that it is a 

 favor rather than a punishment. 



Mr. Crawshaw says this in the British 

 Bee Journal : 



It is possible that some sort of belief ob- 

 tains tliat happiness increases with posses- 

 sion even of bee-hives. May I assure those 

 enthusiastic beginners this is by no means 

 necessarily the case, but rather the reverse. 

 In the first ecstasy of bee-delight a beginner 

 is apt to outrun his powers. More true enjoy- 

 ment can be obtained from one or two hives 

 than from a large apiary. There comes a 

 time when the work detracts from the pure 

 pleasure of the amateur and the unalloyed 

 delight of study. There is even a reduction 

 in the record harvests which may be ob- 

 tained from a few thoroughly-understood 

 and properly-tended hives. 



.'\s a preliminary question, one may 

 ask whether the enjoyment of the bee- 

 keeper is really in the possession of 

 " hives," or in what the hives contain. 

 In other words, has so accurate a 

 writer as Mr. Crawshaw sufficient ex- 

 cuse for following the too common 

 error of saying " hive " when " colony " 

 is meant ? 



Passing that, however, as of minor 

 consideration, let us come to the more 

 serious part. Mr. Crawshaw desires to 

 warn the beginner not "to outrun his 

 powers," and so not to increase the 

 number of his colonies faster than he 

 gains ability to manage them. And in 

 that he is quite right. Hut in trying to 

 inak ■ him content witli his present 



numbers is there any need to dampen 

 unnecessarily the expectations of the 

 beginner as to the future ? Practically, 

 Mr. Crawshaw says. "My young friend, 

 make the best of the present, for you 

 will not have the same fun out of bee- 

 keeping when you have a larger apiary ; 

 . what is now delight will become 

 drudgery, and even the yields from 

 your colonies will not be what they are 

 now." Will not the poorer outlook for 

 the future largely reduce the joy of the 

 present ? For the beginner's enjoy- 

 ment generally has principal reference 

 to the big things he is going to do in 

 the future. 



One can not help wondering whether 

 Mr. Crawshaw is speaking from his 

 own experience. If so, is it an average 

 experience ? Certainly it does not 

 agree with the experience of the writer. 

 Take that last statement in the passage 

 quoted, the reduction in record har- 

 vests. That, of course, refers to the 

 yield per colony. The writer had 

 smaller yields per colony when he had 

 only half a dozen colonies than when 

 the number neared 400. 



Note the fallacy involved in that "few 

 thoroughly understood and properly 

 tended hives." As who should say: 

 " A man has only a certain amount of 

 understanding. If it be divided among 

 a few colonies it will cover the ground 

 well, but if it be divided among a large 

 number it will be too thin." In all 

 conscience, if a man understands thor- 

 oughly what to do with one colony, 

 will he not understand just as well 

 what should be done with two, or with 

 a hundred ? Can he not tend the hun- 

 dred or more just as well as he can 

 tend the one, so long as the number is 

 not too great for the time he has to de- 

 vote to them ? 



Even if the yield should be less per 

 colony, as it may be in some places, on 

 account of the smaller pasturage per 

 colony with the greater number, there 

 is more real enjoyment in the thought 

 of 5000 pounds from 100 colonies than 

 in the thought of 1000 pounds from 10 

 colonies. At least that is the case here, 

 whatever it may be in Mr. Crawshaw's 

 " locality." 



"There comes a time when the work 

 detracts from the pure pleasure." The 

 writer can not deny that there have 

 been times when he has been so tried 

 that he almost wished he might never 

 see a bee again. But those times were 

 the exception and not the rule; and 

 after a good night's rest he was eager 

 to get at the work again the next morn- 

 ing for the pure joy of it. Nor is it an 

 absolute necessity that one should have 

 so many bees that the care of them is 

 beyond one's time and strength. One 

 can have a smaller number, or more 

 help. 



" More true enjoyment can be ob- 

 tained from one or two hives than 

 from a large apiary." Does Mr. Craw- 

 shaw speak from experience, or where 

 did he learn that ? This deponent has 

 now what might generally be consid- 

 ered "a large apiary." and although 

 the time when he had only " one or two 

 hives" stretches back nearly half a 

 century the memory of the enjoyment 

 he had at that time is still quite vivid, 

 and he is ready to take this affidavit 

 that the amount of true enjoyment 

 from the "one or two " did not compare 



with that from the present number- 

 The feeling experienced when contem- 

 plating a pile of several tons of snow- 

 white sections leaves very much in 

 shadow the delight in the returns from 

 the few colonies, great as that delight 

 was. The unsolved problems of the 

 present day are struggled over with 

 just as keen a relish as were the more 

 elementary problems of ')0 years ago. 



No ; let not the beginner be discour- 

 aged with the thought that as he ad- 

 vances his enjoyment will be less. Let 

 him heed Mr. Crawshaw's warning not 

 "to outrun his powers," and he will 

 find it is better further on. "The best 

 is yet to come." 



Now, Mr. Crawshaw, bring on your 

 gibbet. 



Objection.s to Alexander Treat- 

 ment ol'Kuroi)eaii Foul 

 Brood 



Alfred L. Hartl says in Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture : 



"I have had no experience with European 

 foul brood; but it seems to me that if the 

 Alexander treatment is a success the dis- 

 ease would never have existed, for the bees 

 would naturally cure themselves every year. 

 All these writers agree that in the period of 

 oueenlessness. since no eggs are laid, and 

 there are no larva- to feed, the bees have 

 time to clean every cell in the brood-area, 

 since in the 27 days all healthy brood 

 emerges. Now, does not this same thing 

 happen every spring ? The bees stop brood- 

 rearing every fall, and begin again in the 

 spring; and the colonies are not only brood- 

 less 27 days, but often for two months, even 

 here in the South. The queen is present, 

 but she lays no eggs. When spring comes 

 the bees set to work cleaning the cells, and 

 they not only clean them half way. but they 

 polish them besides. A few daj's later the 

 queen starts to lay in these polished cells, 

 and she will not deposit one egg in a cell 

 that is not perfectly clean. Now. does not 

 this fulfill every requirement? Yet the dis- 

 ease is spreading over all the States." 



If absence of brood be all that is 

 necessary, then certainly European 

 foul brood ought to be automatically 

 cured during winter. But as Mr. Hartl 

 says, it is on the increase, although 

 winter, as ever, faithfully returns once 

 a year. And if a broodless period of 

 several weeks or months in winter does 

 not effect a cure, why should it in sum- 

 mer ? Yet the results of actual trial 

 are not to be ignored, and if a sufficient 

 number say that a cure has actually re- 

 sulted froin the treatment, it is hard to 

 kick against facts. The question is: 

 Has there been that sufficient number '' 



Foul Hrootl C'ondition.s iu l>r. 

 Miller's Apiary 



After the severe season of 1909, with 

 European foul brood in most of luy 

 colonies during a season of dearth, it 

 was a matter of no little interest to 

 know in what shape things would be at 

 the opening of the season of 1910. As 

 was the case more or less throughout a 

 large scope of territory, the season 

 here was phenomenal. Phenomenal in 

 having summer weather at the usual 

 time of spring, and phenomenal in hav- 

 ing everything frozen up somewhat 

 later, the foliage being frozen on trees 

 so that many of them were as bare as 

 in the midst of winter. 



As already intimated, it was with 

 keen interest that tlie frames of brood 

 were scrutinized at the first overhaul- 

 ing to see how much evidence of foul 

 brood was to be found. What a delight 



