IU(|] 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



479 



well shaded; and it is our practice to g'ive 

 them twice as much room as they require 

 at the start, sometimes leaving' the cover 

 tilted in such a way that there will be a 

 free circulation of air through the entrance 

 and at the top. After they get "calmed 

 down" the cover is adjusted to position, 

 and the bees are then watched for a day or 

 two to see whether they will begin work or 

 sulk. If they act uneasy, and seem dis- 

 posed to "light out," put an entrance- 

 guard over the entrance to hold the queen 

 if not clipped. If they swarm out, hive 

 somewhere else in a good shady place, giv- 

 ing them a frame of young larvae as before 

 directed. 



6. Yes. The disease originates from a 

 bacillus, or microbe, which possibly may 

 float in the air, but which is probably trans- 

 mitted through honey, combs, or hives re- 

 ceived from another apiary. — Ed.] 



THE UNITED STATES CENSUS REPORT OF 

 BEES AND HONEY. 



When the United States Census Bureau 

 gave out its first report it was doubted 

 whether Texas had exceeded California. 

 Now that the report is published in full, 

 there is no longer any mystery about it ; 

 for, according to the report, in 1900 there 

 were, in the United States, 4,109,626 colo- 

 nies of bees that in that year gave an aver- 

 age of 15 lbs. of honey to the stand, and 

 were valued at $2.50 each. Of these, there 

 were in 



Texas 392,622 



North Carolina 244,539 



Tennessee 225,788 



Alabama 205,369 



Missouri 205,110 



Kentucky 203,820 



Georgia 187,919 



New York 187,208 



Illinois 179,953 



Pennsylvania 161,670 



Ohio 151,391 



Virginia 139,064 



Iowa 138,811 



California 125,444 



Indiana 117,148 



West Virginia 111,417 



Arkansas 111,138 



Missouri 106,090 



Michigan 100,397 



Mississippi 95,143 



This table will afford interesting read- 

 ing, as it shows that sections that have re- 

 ceived no notice have in them more bees 

 than others with an international reputa- 

 tion for honey. E. H. Sch.effle. 

 Murphys, Cal., May 5. 



[The enumeration of colonies for the vari- 

 ous States only goes to show there is some- 

 thing wrong with the report. Alabama, 

 for instance, is credited with more colonies 

 than Pennsylvania ; and California has a 

 much smaller number than some States that 

 have never distinguished themselves in 

 honey production- 



The facts are, there are a good many bee- 

 keepers in California who own nothing but 

 their bees. They are away back in the 

 mountain fastnesses, and the tax assessor 

 never finds them. 



Nor do we find in this list Colorado, 

 Nevada, and some others of our Western 

 States that can outstrip some of the East- 

 ern sisters several times over. While pos- 

 sibly no State is credited with more colo- 

 nies than it has, it seems, judging from our 

 books, and from the general correspon- 

 dence from various States, that the figures 

 above given are far from correct. North 

 Carolina, for example, can not, and cer- 

 tainly does not, have twice as many colo- 

 nies as California; but it is possible in the 

 Southern States that the assessor gets 

 track of all the colonies in the State, while 

 in California he finds only a small portion 

 of them. — Ed.] 



use of entrance-guards during the 



SWARMING season. 



Please tell me whether entrance-guards 

 can be used to prevent queens from going 

 out with the swarms; and, if they can be 

 used, what would be the results if left on 

 during the whole swarming season? 



W. W. Brockunier. 



Sewickley, Pa., Dec. 9. 



[Yes, entrance-guards are very frequent- 

 ly used in lieu of clipping the queen's 

 wings. We use them during swarming 

 when we can not aiJord to take time to hunt 

 up the queen that may have just begun to 

 lay. We clap on an entrance-guard, and 

 that queen, although not yet found, is as 

 good as clipped. No harm will result if 

 the guard is kept on during the whole 

 season; but it should be removed after the 

 swarming time, as it obstructs, to a certain 

 extent, the flight of the bees. As a rule we 

 prefer to clip the queen's wings on the 

 ground of economy, and because that plan 

 g'ives a free unobstructed entrance during 

 the height of the honey-flow. — Ed.] 



THE WORST SPRING IN YEARS. 



This has been the worst spring for bees 

 that I remember during the ?>2, years I have 

 kept bees. We have had but one warm 

 day, when the mercury went to 80 at 3 p. m. ; 

 but before the next morning it had dropped 

 to 28°. This was May 2. The 8th it com- 

 menced to snow, snowing more or less dur- 

 ing the forenoon. In the afternoon it clear- 

 ed, with a gale blowing from the north, 

 and the mercury standing at 34 at sunset. 

 We hoped that, if the wind kept up, our 

 peaches, plums, and pears, which were in 

 bloom, would be spared. The wind did 

 keep up, but it continued to grow cold till 

 nearly 7 o'clock the next morning, when the 

 mercury stood at 22°, or ten degrees below 

 freezing, and every thing which was " kill- 

 able " by frost was ruined. Ice formed 

 fully an inch thick; and at the cottages 

 along the shores of our lakes, where the 

 high wind blew the spray against the docks 



