622 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



feel like hiking out. Three frames of brood 

 with adhering bees taken from a colony that has 

 been queenless two days or more will stay in sat- 

 isfactory numbers, wherever put, without any 

 imprisonment. If only two frames are taken, 

 the entrance should be plugged with green leaves 

 or grass, which may be removed in three or four 

 days, or the bees may be allowed to dig their 

 way out as the leaves dry. No danger of smoth- 

 ering in a full-sized hive. 



D. M. Macdonald objects to the limited 

 sense in which we use the word "tested" when 

 speaking of a " tested queen." I do not blame 

 him. ["Tested" has come to mean, by common 

 consent, unless otherwise modified by some ad- 

 jective, a pure queen and nothing more; that is, 

 pure Caucasian, pure Carniolan, pure Italian, 

 etc. It takes about 30 days to test her for this 

 purpose. A select tested queen means one that 

 is of good size and color, fairly prolific, with 

 good-looking pure bees. "Extra select tested" 

 means that she is" extra in the qualities named. 

 "Breeding queens" takes in the next higher 

 grade, and has reference to a queen that has been 

 tested for queen daughters as well as bees that 

 she can produce. A queen that will not produce 

 a fairly uniform marking of queens, whose bees 

 do not show some of the qualities of the bees of 

 their grandmother, can not be used for a breeder. 

 She may show up well herself; but it is what her 

 daughters will do that determines her value to 

 the queen-breeder and to the man who would 

 buy her. Then the word "breeder" is further 

 qualified by the phrase "select" and "extra se- 

 lect." Extra and extra select take in all the de- 

 sirable qualities usually named for a good strain 

 of honey-gathering bees. 



The Alexander plan for weak colonies in 

 the spring was a dead failure the first time I tried 

 it. I put a very weak colony over a very strong 

 one, with an excluder between, and within 15 

 minutes the lower bees were carrying out dead 

 bees from above. Since then I have put a wire 

 cloth between the two stories for the first three or 

 four days, and it is an entire success. After re- 

 moving the wire cloth I take ripe brood from be- 

 low without bees and put above. The bees 

 promptly come up, making the upper colony the 

 stronger. Then when it is returned to its own 

 stand it will be weakened by the loss of field 

 bees, making the two colonies of equal strength. 

 lA good many had trouble with the Alexander 

 plan when they first tried it, and so did we. It 

 is important to put the two lots of bees together 

 with as little disturbance as possible. But in 

 spite of any thing that can be done, bees, espe- 

 cially some strains, will be stirred up, and then 

 there will be trouble. The only sure way of 

 keeping them from fighting is to place a w-ire- 

 cloth screen between the upper and lower stories 

 for two or three days, as you suggest. At the end 

 of that time it may be removed, when every thing 

 will move along harmoniously. We therefore 

 advise and recommend in our A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture, where this method is given, the use of wire 

 cloth for three or four days as a precaution. 



The Alexander bees are a very gentle leather- 

 colored strain, and, when handled by a man who 

 knows how, the wire cloth may be omitted. But 

 the average beginner — yes, we may say the aver- 



age bee-keeper — will do well to use the screen. 

 —Ed.] 



Ye editor figures, p. 557, that a queen-trap 

 does not shut off much ventilation because the 

 area of passage in the trap is greater than the area 

 of the hive-entrance. I don't believe you are 

 figuring on the right basis, Mr. Editor. One 

 year I had combs melt down in hives because of 

 a cornfield on one side and dense underbrush on 

 the other, although the area of passage through 

 the corn and underbrush was many thousand 

 times greater than the area of the hive-entrance. 

 Will not the trap close to the hive be as bad as 

 the underbrush a rod away.' [It can hardly be 

 possible, doctor, that a cornfield on one side and 

 underbrush on the other would so obstruct the 

 entrance that the combs would melt down. Was 

 there not some other untoward condition? As 

 long as the sun does not strike directly on the 

 hive, the bees, in the northern States at least, can 

 make up for lack of circulation of air around the 

 hive by an artificial circulation of their own in- 

 side of the hive to prevent melting down, provid- 

 ing the entrance be large enough. Of course, a 

 perforated zinc or wire guard might cause some 

 friction in air-currents; but as long as the passage- 

 way is four times that of an ordinary entrance, 

 we do not believe that the item of friction of the 

 air in passing the bars or perforations would cut 

 much of a figure. It never has with us, and we 

 have had hives exposed to the heat of the sun. 

 But if, on the other hand, we have too small an 

 entrance on a hot day in a strong colony there is 

 almost sure to be trouble. — Ed.] 



Editorial 



The National Irrigation Congress meets this 

 year at Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is expect- 

 ed to be the most successful meeting yet held. 

 More particulars later. 



There will be a land-opening at Twin Falls, 

 Idaho, on June 1, when 80,000 acres of irrigable 

 land will be disposed of under the Carey act. 

 Homesteads may be obtained by power of attor- 

 ney. 



In the case of weak colonies we are not sure 

 that the storm-doors were an unqualified success, 

 although we believe they helped in the case of 

 the strong ones. We will explain this matter a 

 little more fully next fall, and will at that time 

 be prepared to submit several models which we 

 hope will overcome to some extent the defects of 

 those already tried. 



The National Bee-keepers' Convention meets 

 this year at Detroit, Oct. 13, 14, 15. Make a 

 mental resolve to be there. Also, promise your 

 wife that you will take her along. The oppor- 

 tunites are great for a real good time for every 

 one. Besides, Detroit is central, and an admira- 

 ble place for a convention. Probably you will 

 take care of the bees with greater zest this sum- 

 mer if these hints are taken to heart. 



