GI.KANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



such a':: ai'e common in northern United 

 States they have considerable heather. In 

 commenting on the thick heather honey Mr. 

 Omdahl says that they now have no dilfi- 

 eulty in extracting it. A roller-like tool of 

 German manufacture, containing a large 

 numbei' of sharp points, or needles, is run 

 rapidly over the combs, the points reaching 

 nearly to the midrib. As we understand it, 

 this is done after uncapping. The thick 

 ■.vaxy honey, which is almost impossible to 

 extract under ordinary circumstances, may 

 then be extracted with ease. Possibly some 

 air is thereby intioduced into the honey, 

 which makes it leave the cells more easily. 

 According to our Norwegian friend, even 

 honey which has started to granulate may 

 be quickly thrown out when this tool is 

 used. 



As reported in the former editorial, Mr. 

 Oradahl uses both Carniolan and Italian 

 queens. He has been buying rather more 

 Italians of late, securing them direct from 

 an extensive breeder in northern Italy. 

 This is a \ery easy way to get imported 

 Italian stcok, as the queens reach him in 

 just three days' time. 



lie told of a peculiar instance which 

 oc(;urred recently. He received a shipment 

 of thirty queens, twenty-five of which were 

 leather-colored; and the other five, golden.s. 

 All were fine-looking queens, but for some 

 reason or other the eggs of the five golden 

 queens would not hatch — all of the other 

 queens being normal in every way. Occa- 

 sionally Ave run across a queen whose eggs 

 do not hatch, but have merely supposed 

 such a queen to be structurally deficient in 

 some way. We could not offer any reason 

 why the eggs of all five queens should have 

 failed to hatch. We suggested that the 

 fact that the queens were goldens could 

 hardly have anything to do with the matter; 

 but Mr. Omdahl says that the general opin- 

 ion of the beekeepers in his vicinity who 

 use both the golden and leather-colored 

 Italians imported dii'ect from Italy is that 

 the leather-colored are far superior. 



Since the war broke out, European mail, 

 of course, has been extremely slow. Under 

 normal conditions it takes only three or 

 four days for mail between Norway and 

 Italy. Under present conditions all mail is 

 " censored," with a resulting delay of a 

 week or more. Importations of queens, 

 therefore, are out of the question. 



Mr. Omdahl believes more and more in 

 pro^■iding an abundance of sugar .<5yrup in 

 the fall. He says there is no danger in 

 giving too niuc^h. for extra combs of stores 

 in the spring always come handy for weak 

 colonies, and, of course, they are much to be 



preferred over spring feeding. The fall is 

 certainly the time to feed in the spring. 



Successful Shipments of Bees in Pound 

 Packages from Alabama to Canada 



Mr. W. D. Acjiord, of Fitzpatrick. Ala., 

 called on us recently. Mr. Achord is a 

 prominent queen-breeder and extensive bee- 

 keeper, owning from 500 to 600 colonies 

 which he operates for bees, queens, and 

 honey. Early this spring he sent something 

 like 1000 lbs. of bees by express in various 

 shipmenis to beekeepers in Canada, with a 

 loss not exceeding two per cent. He began 

 to deliver queens by April 1. Shortly after 

 this his bees were swarming out, and, of 

 course, his hives were boiling over with 

 bees. There is not much honey in sight, 

 and he can, therefore, fill orders for pound 

 |)ackages very easily. In fact, he finds it 

 an advantage to take off the surplusage of 

 bees; and after having done this they are 

 in splendid condition by June 1 to catch 

 the heaviest flow of honey for the year. In 

 this way Mr. Achord is enabled to do (|uite 

 an extensive business in bees, queens, and 

 honey. He is a good business man, and his 

 stock is first-class. The sale of bees in 

 pound packages is just so much velvet. 



One of his customers having experienced 

 a severe Avinter loss said that his pounds of 

 bees did so well that he did not know but 

 that it would be better for him to brimstone 

 his bees in the fall, save the stores, and buy 

 bees in pound packages from Mr. Achord. 

 He says that a pound of fresh bees from 

 the South is more than equivalent to any 

 colony that has been wintered over whose 

 bees are m.ore or less old or worn out by 

 the rigors of winter. Some of these pound 

 jiackages have paid for themselves several 

 times over in honey. 



The Tri-state Field Meet at Hamilton, 

 Illinois, Sept. 7 and 8 



We have just retvtrned from attending a 

 succpspful field-day meet, at Hamilton, 111., 

 ixnd have only just room enough to squeeze 

 in a brief notice. The representatives of 

 some six or seven states Avere present, in- 

 '•luding such men as Dr. L. H. Pammel, 

 botanist, of the Iowa State Agricultural 

 College, xVmes, la. ; Frank C. Pellett, bee- 

 inspector for Iowa; N. E. France, inspector 

 foi- Wisconsin ; A. L. KildoAv, inspector for 

 Illinois; Frank CoA^ei-dale, of sweet-clover 

 laine. Iowa; Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the De- 

 pailmenl of Agriculture. Washington; and, 

 of course, the Dadants. 



A fuller report of this field meet Avill be 

 given in our next issue. 



