FEBRUARY 15, lOlT. 



l:-!7 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



TEAY STMAW! 



lareMgo, 



C. r. Bender writes : " My ex- 

 l)erience is different from that of 

 ]\lr. Herrod, p. 5. I have always 

 jmt away my extraeting-eonibs wet, 

 and have had much trouble with 

 inolh larvas." 



1''ii:li). when 1 ax^e a queen in a 

 mild case of European foul brood I do noth- 

 ing- whatever with the brood — just leave it, 

 and in most cases tlie bees will clean it out 

 wiien it dries up. 



F. M. Baldwin calls for experience as to 

 introducing queens by daubing with honey, 

 p. 67. That plan was common 50 years 

 ago. As little has been said about it lately, 

 I suspect it was not always successful. 



James D. Benson, p. 82, when a colony 

 swarms, kills cells, and puts " back four or 

 Hve frames of brood in an eight-frame hive." 

 In other words he rei^laces three or four 

 frames with foundation. I should expect 

 my bees to swarm again within 24 hours. 



D. E. Lhommedieu, p. 125, objects that 

 Miss Wilson let the bees be queenless a day 

 before smoking in the new queen, and says 

 the queen should be smoked in just as soon 

 as the old queen is caught out of the hive. 

 But that's not accordin.g to Arthur C. Miller, 

 friend Lhommedieu, who says the bees may 

 be queenless any length of time. 



" It is suggested . . . . that a smoker 

 be held " at the Denver convention, says the 

 program. Is that suggested by some one 

 who doesn't know that few beekeepers use 

 tobacco, or has there been a deterioration in 

 late years? [Some of us who do not use the 

 weed might use a bee-smoker filled with 

 greasv waste; then we can all "smoke." — 

 Ed.] " 



T. Maguire, Beekeepers' Gazette, 120, 

 says : "Last May we had, perhaps, the most 

 severe frost in living memory, and, notwith- 

 standing this, we had also one of tlie finest 

 crops of fruit gathered for a long time. 

 . . . But, again, in certain seasons a slight 

 frost seems to kill off tlie blooms." In the 

 latter case he thinks tlie frost is not to 

 blame for the loss of the crop, but the 

 persistence of cold winds which prevent the 

 bees from flying. He is likely right in 

 thinking that few realize the full value of 

 bees to the fruit crop. 



J. L. Byer is quite right, p. 97, that 

 sometimes one may better his chances for 

 wintering bees by moving further north. 

 Not only snow, but wind, makes a big dif- 

 ference. I'd rather take my chances 200 



miles north of Marengo in a still place than 

 to stand the jiiercing prairie winds here. 

 [We agree with you and Mr. Byer; and we 

 also agree with you that a spot protected 

 fiom high winds is much better for bees 

 wintered outdoors than a place that is 

 exposed. AVe are beginning to believe that 

 bees in single-walled hives in a protected 

 location are better off than in double-walled 

 hives in a place where fierce piercing winds 

 can strike them. Of course it is better to 

 have both the double-packed walls and the 

 protection from winds. — Ed.] 



Wesley Foster, p. 98, like J. G. Brown, 

 wants me to substitute something else for 

 white clover in this two-for-one-ready-for- 

 tlie-clover-harvest business. Not on your 

 life, Wesley. White clover is what I was 

 talking about — not sweet clover, alfalfa, 

 buckwheat, nor any thing else. You say you 

 can increase your crop of white sweet clover 

 by early dividing. So can I — at least I 

 think I can — right here in Illinois, without 

 going to Colorado. I notice you specify 

 tvhite sweet clover, which, I su^jpose, means 

 you want to leave out yellow sweet clover, 

 which comes earlier. Now I wonder if you 

 Colorado fellows realize that white clover 

 comes still earlier than yellow sweet clover. 

 Last year I noted the first Avhite-clover blos- 

 som May 27, and the first white-sweet-clover 

 blossom June 23, just 27 days later. (The 

 harvest begins about 10 days later than the 

 first blossom.) That, you see, gives my 

 bees, and I suppose it does yours, 27 days 

 more to build up for the white sweet clover, 

 and that 27 days is enough to make all the 

 difference between success and failure. You 

 say the two colonies build up steadily dur- 

 ing June, ready to store surplus July and 

 August. Yes; but while they're building up 

 in June, two or three weeks of the best of 

 the white-clover flow is on, and I've known 

 the harvest to cease July 4. In 1913 the 

 flow continued late — I don't know just when 

 it did stop — and it is just possible I might 

 have gained by dividing; but 1913 was one 

 year in fifty. Now please let's understand 

 each other. I don't object to the Alexander 

 plan of incerase — it's good. I do object to 

 telling the beginner that he can divide by 

 the Alexander or any other plan and have 

 two good strong colonies in place of one 

 ready to commence — not to work on the 

 fag end of, but to commence — on the clover 

 harvest. He'll get left nine times out of 

 ten if not ninety-nine in a hundred. I'm 

 ready to be shown, but that's my honest 

 conviction. 



