JULY 1. 1915 



521 



Mr. Wilmon Newell, who furnished the 

 bees, has been breeding some very superior 

 strains of bees, and among them were Car- 

 niolans. In fact, he has been conducting 

 some valuable experiments in breeding bees, 

 a report of which was given in a late bulle- 

 tin from Texas. See Gleanings, page 214, 

 March 15. That he got results is shown in 

 the Carniolan strains at least. 



Our Carniolans are now placed in out- 

 yards by themselves, to prevent cross-breed- 

 ing with the Italians. We find this partic- 

 ular strain very gentle, and regular hustlers. 

 We have no Carniolan queens — only bees — 

 so we cannot be accused of booming some- 

 thing for the sake of selling. 



While we have somewliat opposed these 

 bees on account of their swarming propen- 

 sities, we are glad to say a good word in 

 favor of any strain of bees that is not 

 afraid of the cold, and that works early and 

 late, even if they do have an inborn propen- 

 sitv to swarm in season and out of season. 



The Arrival of the Second Car of Bees 

 in Medina 



The second carload of bees arrived at 

 Medina at 4 p. m. Sunday, June 20. Had 

 they arrived on schedule time they would 

 have reached here sooner by about twelve 

 hours. They started from College Station, 

 Texas, on Tuesday night, June 15, making 

 four days and five nights on the road. The 

 conditions at College Station were very un- 

 favorable. High temperature and prolong- 

 ed drouth had made it impossible to feed, 

 and in consequence the bees before they 

 started, or at least a good portion of them, 

 were short of stores. The shipper, Mr. 

 Wilmon Newell, asked us whether it would 

 be practicable to feed the bees en route, as 

 he found it almost impossible to feed on 

 account of robbing. We ad\ased against it, 

 fearing it might stir up the bees, get them 

 excited, and, being unable to discharge their 

 feces, they would die before they reached 

 Medina. As Mr. Newell, however, found it 

 utterly impossible to feed before starting, 

 on his own responsibility he directed our 

 man to feed on the way. He furnished for 

 the purpose several cans of thick horsemint 

 honey from a locality where foul brood had 

 never been known. With a large spoon or 

 ladle this honey was spread thinly over the 

 wire cloth of the colonies that were short of 

 stores. Not enough was put on at a time 

 to run through. This was done at intervals, 

 and, contrary to what we had feared, colo- 

 nies so fed came through in nice condition. 

 The only losses were dead bees on tlie wire 



cloth in colonies so strong that they died 

 from excessive heat ; for be it known that 

 the car started when the temperature was 

 110 in the shade. 



The method of loading the bees will be 

 fully described and illustrated in another 

 issue. 



Carelessness in the Matter of Managing 

 Foul Brood ; Bees on Shares 



We have complaints from two or three 

 beekeepers who have placed their bees in 

 the hands of Geo. H. Kirkpatrick, of Rapid 

 City, Michigan, to run on shares. It seems 

 that the deals did not prove to be very 

 satisfactory to any of the parties, and now 

 they have complained to Gleanings that 

 there has been unfair treatment on the part 

 of the caretaker. After reviewing quite a 

 mass of correspondence we are inclined to 

 believe that Mr, Kirkpatrick, who was fair- 

 ly successful before foul Ijrood got into 

 his territory, had all kinds of bad luck after 

 the disease got started. At all events, foul 

 brood developed among the bees in his 

 charge, and the disease kept going on from 

 bad to worse, with the result that they 

 nearly all died. Two different parties com- 

 plain that bees they placed in Mr. Kirk- 

 patrick's charge contracted foul brood, and 

 finally died so that they lost the value 

 of their investment. 



It appears that Mr. Kirkpatrick has had 

 a great amount of sickness and death in his 

 family. It also appears, if the testimony of 

 reliable people can be believed, he leaves 

 combs, honey, old hives, and frames scat- 

 tered over the premises. That he has made 

 an effort to cure foul brood among the bees 

 put in his care, there can be no doubt; but 

 no one can cure that disease and have his 

 combs and hives scattered about in promis- 

 cuous heaps, as one of our reliable beekeep- 

 ers who called on him testified. 



One man, Mr. L. C. Woodman, put in 

 the hands of Mr. Kirkpatrick a carload of 

 bees. The former says that the following 

 spring 100 of his colonies had starved in 

 the cellar, notwithstanding in the contract 

 Mr. Kirkpatrick was to feed 25 lbs. of 

 stores to each colony. The expense of this 

 was to be divided equally between them. 

 Foul brood developed later, and things kept 

 going on from bad to woree until all were 

 dead, Mr. W. E. Forbes says he lost 100 

 colonies placed in Mr, Kirkpatrick's charge 

 under similar circumstances. Still others 

 have made like complaints. 



While we do not believe that Mr. Kirk- 

 patrick is dishonest, we cannot advise any 

 one else to furnish him bees to be worked 



