380 



[)K. H. C. ULEICH KKAMER 



liar climatic and other conditions of the 

 country. At the same time he started the 

 " pure-breeding courses," which took place 

 yearly, and were usually attended by about 

 a hundred beekeepers. One of his best- 

 known writings deals with this matter {Die 

 Rassemucht). The facts prove that Kra- 



GLEANOGS IN BEE CULTURE 



mer's idea was correct. The select Swiss bee 

 of to-day represents an excellent strain. 



But Kramer was also gifted with a prac- 

 tical turn of mind. When, in view of the 

 increased production, many a beekeeper was 

 afraid that the product would go down to 

 an unsatisfactory price, Kramer showed the 

 way — the honey control (introduced in 1897, 

 and directed by himself for several years) 

 in connection with an active propaganda 

 based on the controlled pure product. The 

 public now usually asks for controlled hon- 

 ey, the purity and quality of which is war- 

 ranted by the Beekeepers' Union. 



As a regular contributor to the Swiss 

 Beekeepers' Review, and for many years 

 director of the bee department in the Agri- 

 eultural Journal, and by publishing several 

 works, partly in connection with other au- 

 thorities, he had sown many a grain of 

 wisdom that brought forth fruit. No won- 

 der that, on various occasions, he was hon- 

 ored with diplomas and other distinctions, 

 and in 1908 even a doctorate {honoris cau- 

 sa) was conferred upon him by the Univer- 

 sity of Bern in consideration of his scien- 

 tific and practical merits in apiculture — the 

 first similar honor since the days of Dzier- 

 zon. 



These few notes will suffice to show the 

 gTeat debt of gratitude the Swiss beekeepers 

 owe to Dr. Kramer. It seems unnecessary 

 to say that he was a good man, a straight 

 character, with an ideal disposition, and in 

 his life he fully realized one of his expres- 

 sions: "A right man must leave a good 

 trace of hi^ activity in this world." 



Basel, Switzerland. 



WHAT HAPPENED TO THE QUEEN; SOME DIARY NOTES 



BY J. P. BRUMFIELD 



All queens were clipped during the fruit 

 bloom of 1913. 



March 13, 1914 : " All queens clipped in 

 the latter part of January started up a little 

 brood, but they have been pretty steady 

 until now." 



March 15, 1914 : " I gave some partly 

 filled combs of honey to some light ones and 

 noticed some with a patch of sealed brood 

 and some with recent eggs and larvae. All 

 the colonies in the yard have some brood." 



April 15, 1914 : " There is a colony that 

 has no brood. I am not certain whether 

 they have a queen. I did not find her when 

 clipping (fruit bloom)." 



April 16, 1914 : " I found an undipped 

 queen in the colony, but she does not lay. 

 I put a frame of eggs and larvae in, think- 



ing it would make her show her hand, but 

 did not clip her." 



April 22, 1914 : " The queen is laying. 

 There are drones flying in the yard." 



April 29, 1914 : "Her brood turned out to 

 be drone. I united the colony by setting it 

 on top of another hive." 



M.y explanation is that about March 15 

 the colony lost their queen, probably by 

 balling on account of an early disturbance. 

 I have had this happen so often that I have 

 resolved never to disturb a colony again 

 before fruit bloom. The bees then raised a 

 queen, and, on account of unfavorable con- 

 ditions or lack of drones, she did not get 

 fertile at so early a date. 



Galena, Kan. 



