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J^BBlCi^ 



43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, SEPT. 3, 1903, 



No. 36. 





Editorial Comments 





The liOs Angeles Convention is now history. It was a 

 large meeting of large bee-keepers. There were more colonies of bees 

 represented, and more pounds of honey, than in any National conven- 

 tion of bee-keepers ever held before in this country. The following 

 were elected as officers for 190-4 : 



President — .Tames U. Harris, of Colorado. 

 Vice-President— C. P. Dadant, of Illinois. 

 Secretary — Geo. W. Brodbeck, of California. 



We expect to begin the publication of the report of the proceed- 

 ings in full next week, and from time to time we will alstf give some 

 notes and comments on the trip and the convention. 



Ho«- to Write Questions. — An editorial in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture gives rise to the suspicion that the urbane and usually patient 

 editor of that paper has had his patience somewhat tried by the sort 

 of letters he gets containing questions. He says in part: 



" Now, I have something to do besides answering letters; but I 

 am perfectly willing to respond to all inquiries. But our friends will 

 save me a great deal of time if they will make their questions brief, 

 write on only one siilf of the sheet, and number the pages. Long let- 

 ters are apt to be delayed, and perhaps never answered. It takes lime 

 and brains to dig a question or two out of a long, rambling letter. Get 

 down to the meat of your inquiry at once, leaving out all unimpor- 

 tant details." 



Among the many letters sent in for " Dr. Miller's Answers,'' some 

 are models of neatness and clearness, but some of them would hardly 

 be placed in that category. It is well always to give in connection 

 with the questions any information or explanations to give a clear 

 understanding of the case ; other matter should hardly be mixed up 

 with the questions, but given in a separate part of the letter. Besides 

 having pages numbered, as suggested in the clipping, it is a great help 

 to have the questions numbered. The reasons for writing only on one 

 side of the sheet are more than one, hardly necessary to be given here, 

 but it you want to be good you'll not write on both sides. 



It is a real pleasure to receive some letters containing questions, 

 which show at a glance just where each question begins and ends, and 

 require no great amount of study to tell just what the questions are 

 about. 



"A Colony that Never Thinks of Swarming ;" A Con- 

 fession. — Under this caption appears the following editorial in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture: 



Some little time ago Dr. Miller and I had a little tilt over the first 

 part of this subject. I was taking the ground that the new shaken- 

 swarm plan was going to do away with many of our difficulties. 

 While Dr. Miller admitted that shaking was efteelive, and could be 

 made very useful, yet he still expressed a hope that we might some 

 day breed a race of bees that would go on storing honey without 

 swarming, the same as poultry-men have bred several varieties of 

 hens that are non-sitters. I argued that the gain would be only 

 trifling, because a colony could be shaken at the convenience of the 

 apiarist, and thus all desire to swarm be taken away fronn them in 

 advance. Well, now, for that confession. The events of the last few 

 days have completely converted me to Dr. .Miller's view of the matter. 

 While I still have as much faith in the shaken method as I ever had, 

 and while not one of the swarms we shook this season has essayed to 



go out again, yet a colony that will xtaij on its brood-combs in its old 

 brood-nest, and allow all its brood to hatch, is to be preferred because 

 of the saving in the labor. 



At the Harrington yard we shook perhaps a third of our colonies— 

 perhaps the strongest ones. The remainder we left just as they were. 

 When the honey-tlow came on it was apparent that the shaking had 

 set them back a little. They had, temporarily, at least, been deprived 

 of their brood, and it takes a day or so right in the honey-flow for the 

 bees to recover themselves again to begin work. Then the brood, 

 after it hatches, requires to be shaken again at the old entrance; and 

 this causes another interruption, and possibly the loss of a queen. If 

 the brood is not shaken back with the swarm after it hatches, then 

 the shaken swarm will, before the season is entirely over, begin to 

 feel the need of the young blood that would recuperate their fast- 

 waning strength when it is most (if ever) needed in the whole season. 

 But Dr. Miller's ideal colony that mrrr thinks of swarming will at 

 least keep right on working— keep allot its brood, save all the fuss 

 and bother of shaking frames with starters in, the building of drone- 

 comb, and with all its reserve strength will go on magnirtcently pro- 

 ducing honey. But the never-think swarm I think is still largely a 

 will-o'-the-wisp, and so we will have to content ourselves with shaking 

 for the time being, and occasionally shinning up trees to bring back 

 runaway swarms. 



The question whether it is worth while to work toward a non- 

 swarming strain of bees is one that will receive different answers from 

 different persons. Some will say that the results with shaken swarms 

 are so satisfactory that nothing further need be desired. There has. 

 been, however, testimony to the effect that in some cases shaker* 

 swarms have not had all the swarming mischief shaken out of them. 

 Even if entire reliance could be placed in the shaking as a sure cure 

 against any further attempt to swarm, according to the observation of 

 Editor Root and perhaps others, ■' a colony that never thinks of 

 swarming" will give at least a little better result than if interrupted 

 by shaking. 



There is no question as to the fact that there is a notable differ- 

 ence in different strains of bees as to the matter of swarming. Some 

 are so given to swarming as to impair their value greatly, while here 

 and there are reported cases where there is little or no swarming. A 

 man who has bees that are greatly given to swarming will gain to in- 

 troduce queens of stock noted for little swarming. If now he breeds 

 persistently from those colonies that show the least inclination to 

 swarm, will not swarming in that apiary become a constantly dimin- 

 ishing factor? He may never reach absolute non-swarming, but he 

 may approximate it; and approximation is worth something. 



What Kills a Queen in a Ball? — A difference of opinion 

 prevails."" Some think the queen is stung to death, others that she is 

 starved to death, others that she is sutt'ocated. Proof that stinging 

 is the mode of execution is offered by the fact that the sting has been 

 in more than one case actually found in her body. To this it is re- 

 plied that these are exceptional cases brought about by the interfer- 

 ence of the bee-keeper. If the effort be made to disengage the queen 

 from the ball by pulling the ball apart, she will most likely be stung. 

 If //(/( smoke be blown upon the ball, she will be stung. No one, how- ' 

 ever, has reported flnding a queen stung in a ball when the smoker 

 has been held from the ball at such a distance that no heat could be 

 felt from it, the stream of cool, dense smolce being played continu- 

 ously upon the bees until no longer endurable, when the bees of their 

 own accord would separate from the queen. Neither has anyone 

 reported finding a queen stung in a ball if the ball is thrown into a 

 dish of water. The water seems to dampen the heated fury of the 

 bailers, and it is every fellow for himself (or herself) to escape a 

 watery grave, leaving the queen, like the rest, struggling to escape. 

 That does not prove, however, that the bees never sting a queen in a 



