A' 



C 



ur 



Atril, 1919 



LL in all, 



that is a 



most excel- 

 lent article on 

 ' ' Taking Bees 

 From Cellar, ' ' 

 by Belva M. De- 

 muth, page 143, 

 March Glean- 

 ings, and no 



young beekeeper can go very far wrong by 

 following the advice given. The idea of 

 taking bees out in weather too cold for them 

 to fly is rather new, but it is all right. I 

 have practiced it more or less in recent 

 years and find it works all right. 

 ^ ^ * 



Those letters from California by Editor 

 E. R. Root are most interesting. 



That method of using cornstalks for wind- 

 breaks, as given on page 151, seems practi- 

 cal and within the reach of most beekeepers. 

 It is especially valuable when lumber is as 

 expensive as at the present time. 



* * « 



I am not surprised at the criticisms, found 

 on page 149, of J. F. Right's method of 

 treatment of incipient cases of American 

 foul brood. It seems too much like playing 

 with fire. Better not fool with it. 

 » * » 



As in most parts of this country and Can- 

 ada, the winter in this locality has been 

 very mild, the thermometer registering zero 

 on only a few mornings, with no severe 

 storms. In February bees had a good fly 

 in protected situations. 



* * * 



There, now, Mrs. Puerden, I am surprised 

 that you should even feel like accusing good 

 Mother Nature of partiality because she 

 does not give us six months of strawberries 

 here in the North. Why, we have an abun- 

 dance thru June and early July. Then the 

 season lets up a little that we may enjoy 

 the delicious raspberries and blackberries. 

 In August we may have strawberries again 

 and continue to have them until they freeze 

 up in November, if we plant the right vari- 

 eties and care for them. 

 « » # 



F. B. Paddock informs us, page 165, th^t 

 his bees were gathering pollen from the 

 elms on Jan. 29 in Texas, while we were 

 looking up into the trees at the buds and 

 hoping they would open by April 20. Sure- 

 ly, this is a great country. But if our bees 

 can not gather pollen for a long time, I 

 enjoy sitting with my feet to the fire like 

 that "Back Lot Buzzer," page 169, and 

 reading about the bees in other parts of the 

 country where they are gathering pollen. 



* * ¥ 



"European foul brood, together with un- 

 wise inspection, has decreased the number 

 of colonies in one county in California near- 

 ly 50 per cent," says the Western Honeybee, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



lUl 



233 



as quoted on 

 page 170, and 

 doubtless the 

 statement is cor- 

 rect. The law is 

 good and help- 

 ful, but more 

 and more, I be- 

 lieve, inspectors 

 are coming t o 

 the conclusion that the time of an inspector 

 is best spent in instructing those who are 

 interested and willing to take pains with 

 their bees. The greatest satisfaction that 

 has come to me as an inspector has been in 

 helping those that were willing to help 

 themselves. » « » 



After all I have written about the folly 

 of using shallow extracting-frames I find 

 myself n»aking up a lot this winter for use 

 during another season, more for experi- 

 mental purposes than any other reason. A 

 friend who uses them says that they do not 

 require wiring, and in looking over a lot he 

 had used I could not see that they had 

 sagged enough to do any harm — and he 

 used light super foundation in them, too. 

 Well, in nailing them up I found that while 

 it required more of them to hold 100 pounds 

 of honey than it would of full-depth Lang- 

 stroth frames, it required no more lumber, 

 as a %-inch top-bar is ample to support the 

 lighter comb. I also discovered that I 

 could make enough of them to hold 100 

 pounds of honey as quickly as I could of 

 Langstroth frames, for I am saved the trou- 

 ble of wiring. Now, if it proves true, as 

 some claim, that one can uncap 100 pounds 

 of honey in shallow frames as fast as the 

 same amount in full-depth frames, I am not 

 sure but that those who advocate this style 

 of frame will have the best of the argu- 

 ment. * * » 



Some advice given in October Gleanings 

 page 587, in regard to taking off sections as 

 soon as sealed over, has been given, I be- 

 lieve, many times during the last 40 years. 

 It looks like good advice, and it is good ad- 

 vice in a general way, but— 



Suppose I have a yard of 100 colonies that 

 are filling their supers rapidly, if I were to 

 follow this advice I should need to go over 

 the yard inspecting the sections every day, 

 if I am to remove them as soon as finished; 

 for many will be found finished today that 

 were unfinished yesterday. If one is keep- 

 ing bees where the sections can not remain 

 on the hive a few days after being finished 

 without getting badly soiled, better take 

 surplus honey with an extractor. We go 

 over our yards, removing finished supers 

 and sections once in eight or nine days. 

 Another objection to this advice is that un- 

 less you have a super than can be condens- 

 ed or reduced in size near the close of the 

 season, one must fill the space of the sec- 

 tions removed with empty sections, and so 

 have a large number of unfinished sections 

 to carry over or melt up for wax. 



