748 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J, E. Crane 



IFTING 



laddlebury, Vt. 



We tried this year a small strip 

 of foundation on the bottom of 

 sections as recommended by Dr. 

 Miller, but do not find such sec- 

 tions any better attached at the 

 bottom than those in which we 

 used a full sheet coming down to 

 14 ii'cli ut the bottom of the section. 



* * * 



Passing a field of alfalfa in full bloom 

 yesterday, Aug. 16, on my way to an out- 

 yard, I had the curiosity to see if bees work 

 on the flowers, and found thera in goodly 

 numbers. I presume they have not learned 

 that alfalfa doesn't yield honey east of 

 tlie Mississippi River. 



* '« * 



That photogravure shoAving how bees are 

 kept in the Blue Ridge Mountains, page 

 533, July 1, by J. J. Wilder, is very en- 

 lightening. How little some of us know the 

 way many people live in other sections of 

 the country ! and we may well bo grateful 

 for the enterprise of our journalists for the 

 knowledge we do have. 



* * * 



Mr. Conover's method of fastening foun- 

 dation into sections would seem to make a 

 good deal of work without corresponding 

 advantages as given on page 585, July 15. 

 Xow, after many years' experience I believe 

 that where honey is coming in very fast a 

 small amount of foundation can be used 

 with satisfaction; but where it comes slow- 

 ly a full sheet of foundation is most eco- 

 nomical. 



* * * 



Quinby tells us in his book that clover 

 will sometimes continue to bloom all sum- 

 mer and yield honey. Such a season was 

 18G5, as r remember. I have been looking 

 for another for the past fifty years, and it 

 has come at last; and now, Aug. 12, clover 

 is yielding honey as fast as on July 1. 

 Alsike is still as fresh as it usually is the 

 last of June, and bees are working, when 

 the weather will permit, as fast as at any 

 time through the season. 

 » » * 



In a paragraph on page 570, July 15, I 

 referred to the cei'tainty of bees being poi- 

 soned by the spraying of fruit-trees. 

 Thinking it might throw some light on the 

 question, when I found how badly they had 

 been poisoned 1 gathei-ed up a handful of 

 dead bees in front of one hive, perhaps half 

 a pint, and sent them to Dr. Plullips to be 

 analyzed at the Department of Agriculture. 



His report shoAvs an abundance of arsenic 

 found in the dead bees. Pretty conclusive 

 proof! I have since learned who did the 

 spraying, and that they used arsenate of 

 lead. Tt remains to call the parties to ac- 

 count for it, and settle for damages, as the 

 spraying was illegal. 



» « * 



That article on pages 574 and 575, July 

 25, b3' Chalon Fowls, is of unusual interest. 

 Why shaken swarms should swarm out has 

 given me a good deal of thought and study. 

 1 have not laid it so much to too many 

 young bees as to other causes. Natural 

 swarms often take with them almost every 

 bee in the liive that can fly. My own fail- 

 ures have come largely from shaking colo- 

 nies Avith old queens (two years or older), 

 or by delaying the shaking until the bees 

 were nearly or quite ready to SAvarm. By 

 shaking only colonies having vigorous 

 queens, and those as soon as we find larvae 

 in queen-cells, we have little trouble from 

 their absconding. Old or inferior queens 

 should be destroyed when they prepare to 

 SAvarm, if you can find them; and after 

 destroying queen-cells give a choice virgin 

 queen or a queen-cell. These SAvarms made 

 by shaking have proved my best Avorkei's. 

 Shaking on to frames of foundation is 

 often a cause of absconding, and natural 

 SAvarms are no exception. 



» * * 



" It is a brave man that dares to stand 

 before the king," or stand up and disagree 

 witli our friend R. P. Holtermann Avhen he 

 tells " how not to do and hoAV to do." I 

 shall not quarrel with him for thinking (hat 

 the Avay he describes on page 490, June 15, 

 is best for him to handle com.bs, and per- 

 haps many othei's; but there may be some 

 beekeepers, and myself among the number, 

 who Avould find such a Avay decidedly irk- 

 some. I find I can Avork Avhen the brood- 

 chamber is high enough with the lea.st 

 weariness by standing; but if the brood-box 

 is low I can work best by kneeling on the 

 ground or a cushion of shaving's. It is mv 

 opinion that beekeepers as Avell as other 

 people are built diffei'ently. One may be 

 tall and another short. One may have a 

 large development of muscles in the arms: 

 another in the shoulders, and another in the 

 lower part of body or leg-s. Noav let every 

 one find out for himself hoAv he can Avork 

 easiest and most rapidly, and stick to it 

 until it becomes second or third nature to 

 liim. 



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