1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



889 



At Dr. Candy's, Mr. Whitcomb, myself, and Bro. 

 Root were treated right royally. We were taken to 

 his home, every hospitality e.^tended, a team secured, 

 and nearly the entire tir-ie spent in driving about the 

 country visiting his farms and apiaries. Every facility 

 was afforded u-i for learning the truth in regard to his 

 bees and tne artificial pasturage that has attracted so 

 much attention. 



Mr. F. E. Brown, of Hanford, Cal., makes 

 a strong plea in favor of commercial organ- 

 ization among bee-keepers. Among other 

 advantages to be derived therefrom is the 

 following: 



One great point of inducement will be the matter of 

 the g: II a ran tee that we shall be able to place upon our 

 honey. As it now stands, a large amount of the ex- 

 tracted product is tampered with before it reaches the 

 consumer, thus spoiling the flavor by adding foreign 

 material, and increasing the output, and greatly lessen- 

 ing the consumption. If our honey is all packed, aft- 

 er being graded, and sealed with a wax seal bearing 

 our brand, put up in packages that will suit the con- 

 s".mer, then all the honey that does not have our 

 brand with the wax seal will be left tor the man with 

 the glucose, and, naturally, wi'l be sold at a smaller 

 price, that will compel all to come into the pool ; it 

 will do away with all adulteration of honey, because 

 there will be no honej' that they can buy to thus adul- 

 terate. 



Mr. J. M. Rankin, who has been for a 

 long time the foul-brood inspector of Mich- 

 igan, or, rather, inspector of apiaries, has 

 resigned in order to devote all his time to 

 work in a sugar-factory. Mr. Hutchinson 

 has been appointed to fill the vacancy, and 

 there is no doubt he can do it in a very 

 creditable manner. 



\l/ 



One of the most prominent lady bee-keep- 

 ers in the country is or was Ada L Pick- 

 ard, of Richland Center, Wis. But the 

 swarming fever struck that homestead, and 

 Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Boggs will hereafter 

 be hived in Chicago. 



'roth 



HOW FAR APART SHOULD BEES BE KEPT TO 

 INSURE PURITY? 



"Good evening, Mr. Doolittle. The eve- 

 nings are getting to be quite long now." 



"Yes, they are, Mr. Jones; and the win- 

 ter is drawing on apace. It will soon be 

 time to set the bees in the cellar. Are j'ours 

 all in readiness?" 



"Not quite. I have a few light colonies 

 which I had calculated to double up; but 

 the weather keeps so cold all the while that 

 I do not have a chance to do this." 



"Are the bees all in the same kind of 

 hive? " 



"Yes." 



"Well, 5'ou need not wait for a warm 

 day, then; for all you have to do at this time 

 of the year is to set one of the hives right 



on top of the other on any cool day, and the 

 job is done." 



"But it would not do to leave them like 

 that for winter, would it?" 



"No. But, having them all together, all 

 you have to do is to separate the hives on 

 any day when the mercury rises to fifty and 

 above, and set the combs you wish the bees 

 to winter on in one hive. If you smoke the 

 bees quite thoroughly, very few will take 

 wing during the handling necessary to do 

 this." 



"Yes, I underetand that part; but how 

 shall I get the bees off the rest of the combs 

 without losing them, as it will be too cold 

 for those which may fly when I shake them 

 off the combs, and also too cold for those to 

 run in which may fall a little way from the 

 entrance." 



"You don't need to shake the combs in 

 front of the hive as you do in the summer 

 time." 



"How shall I get the bees off, then?" 



"Take an empty hive and set it on top of 

 the one that you have the combs in ready 

 for wintering, and take each comb, as you 

 are abotit to shake the bees off, and lower 

 it down into this empty hive before you 

 shake it, when, during shaking, the bees 

 will fall on top of the frames below, with 

 scarcely a bee taking wing, and all will 

 run down where you wish them, especially 

 if you use a little smoke when all of the 

 bees have been shaken in. The few which 

 do fly above the hive will generally have 

 strength enough to fl}' to the entrance, when 

 all are where you wish them. To be sure, 

 it is better to do this work before cold weath- 

 er arrives; but it is also well to know how 

 you can handle bees on days when they do 

 not readily fly on account of the cold. But 

 you must not attempt this at a time when 

 the mercury is much below 50." 



" Well, I am glad we touched on this sub- 

 ject; but that was not what I came over for. 

 I find I have a ver}' choice strain of Italian 

 bees in mj' yard this fall, and I am desir- 

 ous of keeping them pure. How far apart 

 from other bees must they be kept in order 

 not to have my queens mate with drones 

 from other apiaries?" 



"This is a question which confronts every 

 bee-keeper who is desirous of keeping his 

 stock pure, or the one who wishes to im- 

 prove his stock by a careful selection of the 

 best out of his own yard. It is also one 

 upon which the doctors in apiculture dis- 

 agree." 



"How can any disagree? Is it not a 

 matter of easy finding out?" 



"It maybe such under certain circum- 

 stances; but in the absence of such there 

 can be little more than guesswork." 



"But do not all have these?" 



"If they do they talk very strangely at 

 times. For instance, a man who is consid- 

 ered authorit}' on queen-rearing once wrote: 

 'There are some who entertain the idea 

 that a race of bees can not be kept pure un- 

 less they are isolated several miles from all 

 other races. I have tested this matter pret- 



