JULY 1, 1U15 



525 



BEEKEEPING M CAUFOMNIA 



P. C. Cliadwick, Medlands, Cal. 



the 

 writ 

 leeo 

 veav 



The sad news of the death of 



Mrs. Aeklin has reached me. T feel 



that I express the (houghts of her 



many friends when 1 say that a 



life I hat has filled a place worth 



while has passed. Such a life i^ 



not lived in vain. Mrs. Acklin was 



editor of this department before the 



er took ii}) the work. She has been a 



gnized autliority on bee topics for many 



s. 



* » * 



I am very much surprised al I lie remarks 

 of ^Ir. Byer in commenting- on my third 

 note, page 353, May 1. He says: ''Another 

 mystery to me, surely ! is it the strain of 

 bees or what? " I am truly astonished that 

 it is such a mystery to Mr. Byer. The ap- 

 pearance of laying workers is the most 

 common way of which I have knowledge for 

 colonies to degenerate, while drone-laying 

 queens are a very rare thing with me. I do 

 not believe I have had experience with more 

 than a dozen careers. 



Fertile-worker colonies are the natural 

 sequence of the loss of queens in winter and 

 early spring. Breeding during the winter 

 months is at its lowest ebb. It is no un- 

 common occurrence to find a colony without 

 brood at times. The failure of a queen to 

 lay during this period causes no alarm 

 among the hive force since there is no in- 

 centive for a queen to lay. Naturally those 

 faili)ig during this period are allowed to 

 roach a state of exiiaustion where it is im- 

 possible for them to lay. They die with the 

 colony hopelessly queenless, since there are 

 no eggs from which another may be reared. 

 The colony remains in this condition until, 

 as a last resort, a worker is chosen to per- 

 form the functions of a queen. 



In the same issue, page 433, the editor 

 comments on the situation as varying so 

 widely here from what it is with Mr. Byer. 

 In this he seems to have in mind that Mr. 

 Byer is astonished that so many two-year- 

 old queens disappear, while I take it that 

 Mr. Byer is concerned that so many of my 

 colonies have fertile workers. I have passed 

 the point where I am concerned about the 

 loss of a colony from the fact of its becom- 

 ing a fertile-worker colony. I expect a cer- 

 tain percentage of them to have fertile 

 workers where they are not annually sup- 

 plied witli a young queen. The loss with 

 rce from this cause where requeening has 

 not been nracticed reaches not less than ten 



I'er cent annually. With young queens the 

 loss is a negligible quantity. E. ii. Root is 

 entirely correct, however, when he says a 

 queen's life in this climate is much shorter 

 than it would be in the East where the 

 qnoen is inactive during the winter months. 

 But his surmise that I may have a sprin- 

 kling of Cyprian or Holy Land bees is 

 wrong. 



» » • 



I wonder if it would be out of order if T 

 sliould arise to make a few remarks about 

 the much-discussed question of spreading 

 brood, now occupying the minds of the 

 editor and the department correspondents. 

 Under certain conditions I am a firm be- 

 liever in brood-spreading, but only under 

 conditions jorevailing with individual colo- 

 nies do I practice it. However, it is profit- 

 able to observe the conditions of every colo- 

 ny' to ascertain where it is safe to spread. 

 To my mind there is gain in judicious 

 spreading of brood in early spring, for an 

 extra comb of brood early is worth much to 

 the future of the colony. 



But by the term " spreading " I have in 

 mind not only the parting of combs to in- 

 sert an empty cue, but using other means to 

 the same end. In our climate, conditions 

 may be somewhat different from those in 

 the East ; yet my long experience there, and 

 nearly as long in this state, has not shown 

 me where a bee here differs from a bee in 

 the East, save by her surroundings. Here 

 in early spring I have seen two solid combs 

 of pollen in a hive, one on either side of 

 two to four combs of brood. This condition 

 is deplorable from the fact that the pollen 

 lias checked the work of the queen. It must 

 be 7'emoved or time lost waiting for suffi- 

 cient bees to hatch to cover combs outside of 

 the pollen-bed before laying can continue. 

 In this case the pollen combs can be set out 

 and an emi)ty comb placed next to the 

 brood, wliich is equivalent to inserting a 

 comb between combs of brood. It does not 

 endanger the brood in any manner. 



Often where the side of a comb next to 

 the brood-nest is pollen-bound, aid may be 

 given immediately by simply turning the 

 pollen side away from the brood-nest. When 

 a colony has sutficient bees to cover more 

 combs than those already containing brood, 

 it is always safe to insert an extra comb in 

 I he brood-nest. The value of spreading 

 brood is too great to discourage, and yet too 

 risky to practice in a haphazard manner. 



