1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



6il 



tended, and how, as I g'ot into the carri.iy^e 

 to drive to town, the old gentleman, v\iih 

 that warmth of feeling so characteristic of 

 the man toward those he loved, leane'l for- 

 ward and grasped my hand and hung to it. 

 1 had not at th^t time written much on bees, 

 and he knew me only through m}- father; 

 but from his manner I took it he loved m.e 

 because I was a son of A. I. Root, for in- 

 deed he and my father were very warm 

 friends. 



Years ago Mr. Dadant imported queens 

 from Ital}'. Like all imported queens these 

 were leather-colored and rather inferior- 

 looking comi>ared with the ordinary yellow 

 tjueens of the same race in this country. It 

 was not long before Mr. Dadant was ac- 

 cused of sending out hybrids for imported. 

 At that time my father came to the rescue 

 t)3^ saying that, if Mr. Dadant wanted to 

 send out hybrids, he would mail mismated 

 Italian queens of a bright color rather than 

 to send the dark-colored genuine imported 

 of Italy which he did. This little act pleas- 

 ed Mr. Dadant, and I think he never for- 

 got it. 



Our business connection with the Da- 

 (lants has always been of the pleasantest. 

 Indeed, there are no better or more suc- 

 cessful business men in our ranks than 

 those same Frenchmen; and when they first 

 advertised that every inch of their founda- 

 tion would be equal to the samples, they 

 lived up to the very letter of their guaran- 

 tee. 



I am not so sure but the death of Mr. 

 Dadant will mean more to the bee-keepers 

 of Europe than to those of America. In- 

 deed, it is wonderful that he could wield 

 such a mighty influence in modern apicul- 

 ture at such "long range," and in a foreign 

 countr}', even if it was his old fatherland. 



It is gratifying to know that his son, Ca- 

 mille, is also able to influence, as did his 

 much respected father, at "long range." — 

 Ed.] 



IV/icreas, we have this day received no- 

 tice of the death of the venerable Charles 

 Dadant, of Hamilton, Illinois, at the ripe 

 old age of eighty-five years; and 



Whereas, the services of Mr. Dadant to 

 the science and art of bee-keeping have 

 been of the first order, and his life has 

 been a benediction to all who have been as- 

 sociated with him in business and social 

 waj's, therefore be it 



Resolved, that we, the members of the 

 H.xecutive Committee of the Colorado State 

 Bee-keepers' Association, hereb}' express 

 our appreciation i>f his character and worth 

 as a man and a friend, and that we unite 

 with his friends and admirers everywhere 

 in testifying to his worth. 



k'esolved, that the Secretarj' of this Com- 

 mittee be directed to transmit a copy of these 

 resolutions to Mr. C. P. Dadant with the 

 condolences of the Committee. 



Jamks U. Harris. 

 Frank Rauchfuss. 

 D. VV. Working. 



NATURE'S WAY. 



Best T me to Rear Queens ; ImporLncc of Locality. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



yl/r. Rool: — Have you not been a litt'e bit 

 hasty in saj'ing that queens raised in Au- 

 gust ma3' possibly be not very good because 

 it is nature's way to have queens raised 

 during the swarming season? Take the 

 hives, for instance. It is nature's way to 

 have the bees lodged in a hollow tree, away 

 up from the ground. Why so? So far as I 

 can see, for three reasons: Protection from 

 their four-footed or two-footed enemies; pro- 

 tection from the cold by the thickness of the 

 wood; protection from the hot sun by the 

 foliage of the trees. 



W^e now keep bees in square boxes close 

 to the ground. That, certainly, is not na- 

 ture's way; but if we can fulfill the three 

 conditions named above — protect our bees 

 against kicking calves or other accidents by 

 a fence; protect them against the cold by 

 an outer cising-, or putting them into a cel- 

 lar; protecting them against a too hot sun 

 by some kind of shade, have we not ful- 

 filled the conditions required by nature? 

 And, after all, it is these conditions that 

 are to be met, no difl'erence in what way it 

 is done. 



Take the artificial queen-cells. If they 

 are made of the proper material, of the 

 proper size and shape, and placed at the 

 proper place in the hive, why should they 

 not answer the purpose as well ? And they do. 

 You say it is nature's way to raise queens 

 during the swarming season, That's true. 

 But why? Because at that time the neces- 

 sary conditions for raising good queens are 

 present. Warm weather, plenty of food 

 and abundance of bees, especially nurses. 

 These are the conditions. Now, if we can 

 bring about these conditions in August, 

 why should the queens raised at that time 

 be inferior to those raised in June? And, 

 in fact, they are as good. Our queen- 

 breeders raise queens throughout the en- 

 tire season, and there is no dift'ereuce be- 

 tween them as long as the conditions are 

 favorable. But, on the other hand, an or- 

 dinary bee-keeper might not be as able to 

 secure the necessary conditions as would 

 an experienced and well-equipped queen- 

 breeder. 



After the above had shaped itself in vay 

 mind, the thought occurred to me that the 

 " locality " must necessarilj' be considered. 

 Here the honey-flow ends, practically, be- 

 tween the middle and last of July. I said 

 "honey-flow," but honey 5i?a^ow would be 

 a better word, for it is a succession of 

 small, very irregular, and very variable 

 flows from a number of difi'erent sources. 

 After that there is a period of dry and very 

 warm weather, lasting until the middle or 

 end of September, and, occasionall.y, later 

 in October. That means two months dur- 

 ing which the apiarist can raise queens, 

 make artificial increase, etc., with full 



