May, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



319 



food" (Hartlib). (2) "Take ten figs, seeth- 

 ing thorn in five pints of spring water; oth- 

 ois soethe honey and water together" 

 (Hvll). (3) "Beer and sugar is their best 

 winter food" (Cotton). (4) "Turn up your 

 hives (in winter) and sprinkle them with a 

 little warm sugar and sweet wort" (Eve- 

 lyn). "Aristotle mentions figs or any sweet 

 things. Pliny recommends raisins or figs. 

 Other ancients advise the use of bean flour, 

 ground malt, roasted wardens, apples, sweet 

 wort, and even the flesh of a chicken! But- 

 ler recommends the last-named; and so re- 

 cently as the issue of Dzierzon 's ' Rational 

 Beekeeping' it was believed in as a food 

 for bees. Who will try it?" 



* * * 



That buying package bees from the South 

 does not pay is the opinion of John A. Mc- 

 Kennou in the March Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist and Beekeeper. He claims he can raise 

 bees a good deal cheaper than he can buy 

 them, and that he will thus have a strain 

 better suited to his climate. To make in- 

 crease as soon as the colonies are strong 

 enough in the spring he allows the queen 

 two brood-chambers, and above these places 

 a queen-excluder and a super of combs, one 

 comb being replaced by a bar of grafted 

 cells. The next day he grafts. The first 

 time it may be necessary to do so without 

 jelly. Eleven days later he makes increase 

 by using one or two combs of these frames 

 of brood with adhering bees and a comb of 

 honey. For making increase, the last of 

 July he removes the supers, and over an 

 excluder places a hive of extracting-combs 

 containing some pollen and one frame of 

 brood. The next morning the bottom hive 

 is moved to a new location, and the top 

 hive placed on the old stand and a young 

 queen given. [We find it a better plan to 

 graft into a queenless colony.] 



* * * 



Foul brood has now reached Jamaica, 

 which has been so long free from bee dis- 

 eases. In mentioning the reason for burn- 

 ing colonies, Arthur W. Eogers in the Febru- 

 ary Jamaica Agricultural Society speaks of 

 the menace of the disease, and mentions how 

 serious it has become in the neighboring is- 

 land of Cuba, 90 miles away. He says that 

 it is only due to seasonable weather condi- 

 tions and abundant flora that good returns 

 are obtained from the bees under the great 

 scourge of foul brood now prevailing in 

 Cuba. * * * 



It has been claimed by some that the 

 largest and best-looking queen-cells do not 

 hatch. S. B. Bisbee, in the March Canadian 

 Horticulturist and Beekeeper, says this is 

 because they are not handled properly. They 

 are carried about the yard, wrong side up, 

 and also, when handling the frames, the 

 combs are turned over instead of being 

 turned end for end. The largest and best 

 cells, he believes, are more easily destroyed 

 than the smaller ones because more room is 

 left in such cells for the growth of the lar- 



va;; and the larvae, being heavier, are more 

 easily separated from the royal jelly. lie 

 advises not distributing queen-cells until 

 they are just about ready to hatch. [Mr. 

 Pritchard does not think it is entirely the 

 handling that causes the largest cells not 

 to hatch. He believes that, on account of 

 the unusual size of the. cell, the larva drops 

 away from the food and therefore starves. 

 He has known the larvae to drop, even before 

 the cells were completely sealed.] 

 » * * 



"Based on an original gift of 20 hives by 

 the American Red Cross, bee-raising as an 

 employment for soldiers recovering from 

 wounds or fever is being developed in the 

 vicinity of Verdun, where reconstruction is 

 receiving expert consideration. " " The 

 Friends ' unit of the American Red Cross, 

 which is doing this specific work, hopes that 

 in a few months it will have enough bees for 

 every one who has kept bees before the 

 war." — J. N. Harting, American Bee Jour- 

 nal, April. 



* * * 



In stating his objections to the long-idea 

 hive, G. A. Deadman, in the March issue of 

 the Canadian Horticulturist and Beekeeper, 

 says he has used the hive both with queen- 

 excluding division-boards and without, and 

 has produced both comb and extracted hon- 

 ey; but he does not like the hive, and feels 

 convinced that its entire principle is wrong. 

 Bees will store honey, he says, at the sides 

 of the brood, but never much by choice, 

 whereas they delight to store it above. 



* * * 



The difference in yields between pollinat- 

 ed alfalfa and unpollinated is clearly shown 

 in the Western Honeybee (March), where 

 we learn that Mr. Warren of Nevada who 

 owns 1,000 colonies, and grows alfalfa for 

 seed, has this last year, from 800 acres, har- 

 vested 800 pounds of seed to the acre, which 

 he declares is nearly four times the yield 

 of another alfalfa-seed grower in his valley 

 who has no bees to pollinate his crop. 

 » * # 



Some objection has been raised to migra- 

 tory beekeepers of other States moving api- 

 aries to California for a part of the season. 

 In the March Western Honeybee the Supe- 

 rior Honey Co. briefly defends such migra- 

 tion, and ends by inviting the California 

 beekeepers also to increase their crops by 

 migrating to Utah or Idaho for the alfalfa 

 flow. ^ ^ ^ 



The Honey Producers' Exchange has, in 

 the March issue of the Western Honeybee, 

 started a five-page department regarding 

 the progress and plans of the California 

 Honey Producers ' Co-operative Exchange. 

 « * * 



That southern California is now to have a 

 good queen-breeder in the person of P. C. 

 Chadwick is stated in the March Western 

 Honeybee. We understand the beekeepers 

 have felt this need for some time. 



