AUGUST 15, 1915 



685 



of Qrmm from DiffereeU Fields 



The Backlot Buzzer 



I}Y J. H. DONAIIEV 



Boss, I iilicay.s hear you talkin' 'bout de queen. 

 '•['here im de E>n(/? 



Kansas as a Bee State 



I have be*n a reader of Gleanings for two or 

 three years, but do not recall in that time ever hav- 

 ing seen any mention or comimini cation of or from 

 Kans.as. AVhile this state is not so old a-s California, 

 Ohio, New York, and other states in bee culture, 

 yet, as in many other respects, " Kansas is to be 

 reckoned with." I have no statistics before uie; 

 but for more than twenty years past a considerable 

 (,uantity of honey has been slathered, especially in 

 the western half of the state. In fact, while there 

 is more or less Colorado honey shipped in, yet a 

 considerable shipment each year goes out of Kansas. 



Garden City is one of the best local centers of 

 the bee industry in the state. Within a radius of 

 ton miles of Garden City there are perhaps nearly 

 two thousand colonies at this time. The swarming 

 season beean about the first of June, and is now 

 I>rartically closed. The increase has been quite large 

 this season. 



Our best and most productive honey-plants are 

 alfalfa and sweet clover. Both produce a fine 

 wliite honey, and of the finest of flavor. 



Yes, Kansas as a honey-producing state in the 

 future will, in our judgment, make rapid strides. 

 If this little note finds its way to the readers of 

 Glea.vinos, Kansas may be heard from again. 



The writer handles .some 40 colonics of l>e<« as a 

 matter of recreation, ;i« it were, from the more con- 

 lining duties of office work. 



Garden City, Kan. B. F. STOCK.S. 



[There has been not a little said in these col- 

 umns concerning beekeeping in Kansas, especially 



in regard to sweet clover, which lias begun to iii.iko 

 its way on the uplands where alfalfa could not be 

 profitably grown. In lato years alfalfa and sweet 

 clover both have been making rapid headway over 

 the state, and naturally with them go the keeping 

 of bees. It is but fair to say, however, that con- 

 ditions in and about Garden City are probably more 

 favorable than in inovst portions of the state. — Eii. | 



Where the Moth does Not Corrupt 



Under "Care of Comb Honey," page 11, Jan. 1, 

 Doolittle advises storing honey at a temperature of 

 80 to 95 F. He says, " The supers of sections 

 should be separated so that the warm air can 

 circulate freely all through." 



Now, he undoubtedly meant that this wide- 

 open exposure of the supers to get all possible 

 ventilation should be done in a moth-proof room, 

 as otherwise the wa.x-inoth, ever on the alert, would 

 soon create havoc with the exposed sweets. But 

 he does not say so, and I fear that, unless warned, 

 some of the uninitiated may not think of this dan- 

 ger, and suffer thereby. 



My own plan for keeping comb honey in hot 

 weather that I have found very successful and 

 inexpensive is this: I pile up the supers of honey 

 anywhere in the honey-house, with a double thick- 

 ness of burlap between the supers, supplemented 

 with a sheet or two of newspaper over the burlap. 

 The newspaper takes the drip, if any, from the 

 super above, and obviates a " mess." I am 

 always careful to pile up supers of the same size 

 together, that no little space be left open anywhere 

 that would admit that very sleek and slippery 

 hunter Mrs. Moth. 



From time to time I examine my supers of 

 honey thus stored for a stray worm or two that 

 may have hatched from eggs deposited while the 

 super was on the hive. 



Manawa, Wis. E. E. Colen. 



fin most well-regulated apiaries in the North, 

 especially where pure Italians largely predominate, 

 the bee-moth is almost entirely unknown. Supers 

 of comb honey under these conditions can be stored 

 as ifr. Doolittle directs. Where, however, black bees 

 are pretty common, we may also expect bee-moth. 

 This is particularly true in many parts of the South. 

 It is then that the supers should be protected. — En] 



46 Swarms from 29 Colonies 



We have had a fairly good season, and the bees 

 are now working lively, but my crop of honey will 

 be very much reduced on account of excessive 

 swarming. I have had 46 swarms from 29 colonies. 

 Last year I had only four from 31 colonies, which, 

 as you will see, was quite a difference from this 

 year's swarming. T have even had a second s'warm 

 from one of this year's swarms hived in a ten-fr.n.me 

 chaff hive — something that I never had before — 

 and the said hive is now literally boiling with bees 

 again. One colony that did not swarm this year is 

 now working in the fifth super. This is the b(<st 

 that I have ever seen for building up colonies. We 

 .ire now having a grand rain — in fact, we have had 

 plenty of rain for the past two months and a half; 

 f.nd if the rains contiiitie I may yet have a record 

 .\e;ir notwithstanding so much swarming. 



Ghndon, Md.. .hilv 15. Wai^ter E. Atkin.son. 



Kerosene to Stop Robbing 



\V.' noticed on page G48, I'Jl 1, Mr. Plummer's 

 plan to stop robbing. We tried a similar plan a few 

 weeks ago in our queen-rearing yard. Excessive 

 rains dailv for three weeks left all colonies and 



