GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Skptembkr, 1919 



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IAEEIVED 

 home last 

 Sunday eve, 

 after a trip of 

 nearly five 

 weeks. I surely 

 had one good 

 time all the way 

 around. I called 

 on Dr. Miller, 



and found him and his dear women-folks 

 just the same as I always found them there 

 during the past 30 or 35 years. While Dr. 

 Miller is in his 89th year, he seems to be 

 as well and chipper as he was nearly 20 

 years ago when we went to the Los Angeles 

 convention of the National. You will re- 

 member that was the time when "A. I." 

 and four others of our party walked down 

 and up the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, 

 and nearly collapsed in the effort. But Dr. 

 Miller was wise as usual, and staid at the 

 hotel "with the rest of the women!" It 

 did me lots of good to see "A. I." and Dr. 

 Miller on my trip. Those two "old boys"' 

 surely have "done their share to put beekeep- 

 ing on an enduring basis. They have not 

 only been blessed, but have been a great 

 blessing to others. — George W. York, Bon- 

 ner County, Ida. 



One would gather from the writers that 

 the skunk should be exterminated. Now 

 as a beekeeper I have had little trouble with 

 skunks. They do not visit the apiaries only 

 in exceptional cases and where one is found 

 working at the hives, it is an easy matter 

 to trap him. Now the skunk is one of the 

 greatest friends the farmer has in that he 

 is a great vermin-destroyer. His natural 

 diet is mice, ants, and all sorts of insects. 

 Also he is a great destroyer of white grubs. 

 One skunk will kill more mice in a season 

 than half a dozen cats. The skunk is pro- 

 tected by law not merely to conserve him for 

 his hide"but for the value of his services as 

 an all-around vermin-destroyer. — P. A. 

 Seager, Allegany County, N. Y. 



* I notice an article in your paper in regard 

 to skunks troubling hives. A fence of poul- 

 try netting around the bee-yard should pre- 

 vent all that. In the last 40 years skunks 

 have done but little damage on this farm. 

 One took six or eight young chickens, and 

 others a few eggs. I think that five dollars 

 would cover the entire amount of loss. In 

 return they have destroyed untold numbers 

 of white grubs. I have seen several acres 

 of pasture land where one skunk family had 

 taken a grub out of about every square foot. 

 Skunks have been almost all trapped off in 

 this locality in late years, and in conse- 

 quence the grubs destroyed almost all the 

 pasture in the country. The sod could be 

 lifted up like a blanket. The little white 

 clover was almost all killed out. It is safe 

 to say that millions of dollars of damage 

 was done to pasture alone — to say nothing 

 of crops destroyed in this one county, a 

 ureat part of which would have been saved 



BEES, MEN AND THINGS 



(You may find it here) 



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if skunks had 

 been let alone. 

 But then if a 

 robin eats a 

 cherry, kill it re- 

 gardless of the 

 good it may do; 

 and if a skunk 

 eats a few bees 

 because the own- 

 er was too shiftless to put a fence around 

 them, kill it also and be sure to give neither 

 of them a fair trial — let it be lynch law. — 

 Wm. C. Kelsey, Cook County, 111. 



Permit me to offer a few thoughts on the 

 question of H. H. Winger, page 387, June 

 Gleanings. He should not give queen-cell 

 till the colony realizes its queenless condi- 

 tion, otherwise, the bees will destroy the 

 cell. Wait till they begin cells of their own. 

 then give them a ripe cell. Emerging first 

 the queen from the cell given will destroy 

 the others. You can depend on this except 

 occasionally, in swarming time when the 

 first queen emerging may lead out a swarm, 

 leaving those started by the colony to hatch 

 later. To avoid this trouble you might de- 

 stroy all the cells started by the colony. — L. 

 K. Smith, Carroll County, Ga. 



In the description of the Jay Smith cages, 

 page 499 of August Gleanings, Mr. Smith 

 in speaking of releasing the queen makes 

 no mention of queen-cells or the time of 

 releasing the queen. The queen should be 

 released in about four days,, and at that time 

 the queen-cells should be torn down. For 

 oftentimes the queen does not tear down 

 these cells, and in that case the colony will 

 swarm or the queen be superseded. — J. E. 

 Thompson, Medina County, Ohio. 



A few nights ago when out listening to 

 the bees ripening honey, I found a big frog 

 at the entrance of a hive. I had noticed for 

 some time that bees were disappearing, so 

 altho I had never heard of frogs eating bees, 

 I killed this frog on circumstantial evidence 

 and next morning I performed an "autop- 

 sy" and found him well filled with bees. — ■ 

 J. S. Ford, Santa Cruz County, Calif. 



You should be SHOT for publishing 

 "Does Beekeeping Pay?" in your last pa- 

 per. The average location and the average 

 market are badly overstocked. Why rush a 

 lot more in? The worst trouble of beekeep- 

 ers is not from disease, but from competition 

 both as to location and markets. In this 

 district the bees are so well hidden that 

 altho we are overstocked and no locations 

 left yet a stranger traveling around could 

 find practically no bees. Naturally we bee- 

 man will sidetrack any one who comes in, if 

 possible. — V. V. Dexter, Kittitas County, 

 Wash. 



I am sorry (or glad) to say, I and my fel- 

 lows have no idea about "foul brood." Thera 

 are not the both (American and European) 

 foul brood in Japan. And, there is no I. O. 

 W. disease. — Yasuo Hiratsuka, Japan. 



