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12^ PER^AR.'^'Xs'nEDiNA- Ohio • 



Vol. XXX. 



MAY I, 1902. 



No. 



A CORRESPONDENT watits to know if I 

 think a supersedure queen best of all 

 queens, and, if so, why. I don't know ; 

 but I have an impression that a supersed- 

 ure queen is no better than a queen of the 

 same colony raised at swarming- time. If 

 a colony should for several years refrain 

 from swarming-, renewing- its queen at 

 proper intervals by supersedure, I should 

 have some preference for such a queen be- 

 cause of its non-swarming- blood. [That is 

 orthodox for our localitj^. — Ed.] 



E. Laglaine says in Revue Eclectique 

 that bees occupy old combs only when they 

 can not do otherwise, preferring- to build 

 new. It passes my comprehension to un- 

 derstand how the experience and observa- 

 tion of others can be so different from my 

 own. Over and over ag-ain I have had the 

 strong-est proof that the bees preferred old 

 combs to foundation or empty space, or 

 even fresher comb, and I have yet to see 

 the first case in which any thing- else was 

 preferred to old comb, unless the old comb 

 was moldy or otherwise in bad condition. 

 [So here.— Ed.] 



Larch lumber, s?Lys, Illustrierfe Monats- 

 blaetter, is not suitable for hives, among- 

 other reasons because the wood is not suf- 

 ficiently porous for g-ood wintering-. If that 

 is so, it supports Doolittle's contention that 

 hives should be unpainted. [Larch is a 

 species of pine ; and I find by the Century 

 Dictionary that the wood is tough, buoyant, 

 and elastic ; but there is no wood in the 

 world that quite equals the northern white 

 pine, such as we g^et from Michigan and 

 Canada. The yellow pines are pitch3% 

 heavy, difficult to work, and do not g-ive 

 the satisfaction that the white does. But 

 in Arizona and California, redwood, a spe- 

 cies of cedar, has the preference in certain 

 localities to even white pine, for hives. It 

 seems to be especially adapted to a hot dry 

 climate. —Ed.] 



Black bees are in better repute across 

 the water than on this side. Illustrierte 

 3/oTiatsblaetter says the best bees aire the 

 natives, and next to them the Carniolans. 

 [On this side the averag-e honey-producer 

 would just as soon have hybrids ( a cross 

 between blacks and Italians) as the pure 

 Italians. They will certainly get as much 

 and possibly more honey, but they are not 

 so pleasant to handle. Black bees are very 

 much inferior to either so far as the amount 

 of hone}' is concerned. Years ag-o, when 

 we had about 25 colonies of such bees in 

 the apiary, it was very plain to be seen 

 that the Italians would outstrip them; and 

 this was especially so when it came to the 

 red-clover season. — Ed.] 



For those who must find queens each 

 spring- so as to know whether the clipped 

 < ueen is still there or has been suoerseded 

 by a queen which must be clipped, it is 

 well that the work be done as soon as the 

 weather is warm enoug-h. It is much eas- 

 ier to find a queen in a small colony than 

 after it has become overflowing- with bees. 

 On the other hand, it is frequently the case 

 that, in a very weak colony, it is almost 

 impossible to find the queen. I don't know 

 why. [Yes, indeed; now is the time to clip 

 queens' wing^s. It is penny wise and pound 

 foolish to put it ofl^ till the busy season, 

 when the hives are boiling- over with bees, 

 and when it may sometimes take an hour 

 to find a queen. One can clip ten queens 

 now where he can clip one along- about the 

 middle of June. — Ed.] 



Carl F. Buck says, p. 329, that I "claim 

 that alfalfa does not yield honey except on 

 irrig-ated land." Not quite that, friend 

 Buck. It was not so strong: as a claim; 

 only a question, and that with no reference 

 to irrig-ation. I supposed it would yield on 

 unirrig-ated land, for I think I have read of 

 the difference in the yield on irrigated and 

 unirrig-ated land close by. My question 

 was whether it would yield east of the 

 Rockies — a question I should not have ask- 

 ed, for I knew it yielded east of the Rock- 

 ies in Colorado. What I suppose I had in 

 mind — a question still in order — was this: 

 Does alfalfa yield honey east of the Missis- 



