1202 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



But our correspondent finds it profitable to sub- 

 stitute the syrup for the honey — not by extract- 

 ing, if we may judge by what he writes, but by 

 so placing the shallow frames that the honey in 

 them will be carried into the supers, where it 

 will be in marketable shape. If he can make 

 the bees do the extracting, or, rather, move the 

 honey into sections, there is no question but that 

 it will pay to trade the sugar for the honey that 

 was taken away in the supers. But it is not al- 

 ways that bees will take honey from one com- 

 partment of a hive and put it in another. A good 

 deal depends on conditions, and on how the hive 

 is manipulated. We shall be glad to have our 

 correspondent tell us just how he does it, for 

 therein, it would appear to us, is the secret of his 

 success. 



We also wish to indorse what Mr. Gately says 

 regarding the losses that one encounters in feed- 

 ing, especially when unsealed brood is in the 

 hive. If the hive is full of old bees, say during 

 the latter part of August, after a heavy harvest, 

 the sugar converted into brood or young bees is 

 not a loss, but a splendid investment. Indeed, 

 after a colony has gone through a honey-flow it 

 will have a lot of worn-out bees which will die 

 off in the fall or winter; and unless there are a lot 

 of young bees brought about by a late honey- 

 flow or by feeding, the probabilities are that such 

 a colony will succumb before spring. By feed- 

 ing the thin honey in little dribs in the fall, there 

 will be a large shrinkage; and if there should be 

 a lot of young blood already in the hive, with 

 very few old ones, such kind of feeding would, 

 to a great extent, be unprofitable. We are now 

 using a thick syrup, and giving it in large feeds 

 where we only desire to supply a colony with 

 stores; but if the colonies generally are short of 

 young bees, then we feed to stimulate. It seems 

 to be the verdict now that it is much more profit- 

 able to feed in the fall than in the spring. — Ed.] 



THE CALIFORNIA SAGE. 



Some of its Enemies; Raising Queens 

 Above Excluders. 



BY M. H. MENDLESON. 



Mr. Ralph Benton, of Berkley State University, 

 has been sent as a representative to investigate 

 the sage-worni that is doing us so much harm 

 here. He is competent, and doing good work. 

 He is also experimenting in other lines of the 

 business. Results will be published in bulletin 

 form. Mr. Benton is teaching bee-keeping at 

 the college, fitting young men to assist in and 

 take charge of apiaries. Mr. Benton uses good 

 judgment by visiting bee-keepers on this coast, 

 getting information advantageous to his teaching. 

 He has been making frequent trips among us. 

 He has a fine disposition, and is capable, and is 

 well liked at the college. 



Dodder is spreading at an alarming rate among 

 the sages and other honey-producing plants. It 

 also does much harm in the alfalfa regions. It 

 is a yellow fungous growth, attaching itself to the 

 sages and other plants, and saps the life from 

 them. It produces seed which drops to the 

 ground and takes root (during the wet season), 

 then attaches itself to the plants. It worries me 



considerably, and I shall watch its development 

 and general results. I have never seen so much 

 of it as this season. 



Much rust, also, is forming on the sages, turn- 

 ing the leaves yellow. The University profes- 

 sors think this rust is not harmful, but I notice 

 that the sages are drying up wherever this rust 

 affects it. Lack of moisture in the soil might be 

 the cause ; and cloudy, foggy, dewy nights might 

 also affect it. 



There was much frost-bitten sage this season, 

 the frost affecting the new growth only. It then 

 turned yellow, and new growth (after good rains 

 came again) was checked later, from lack of suf- 

 ficient moisture to develop it. 



The great number of worms on the sages is 

 remarkable. They eat to the base of the bloom 

 and destroy the source of secretion, like the cut- 

 worm. These worms can not withstand extremes 

 of heat from the run's rays, and yet they can 

 withstand a much higher temperature than the 

 cutworm if we attempt to destroy them. The 

 amount of heat or temperature that will destroy 

 them will be reported later on. In the 80's 

 they were destructive near the coast. Each sea- 

 son they seem to be on the increase. 



All the enemies of our honey-producing plants 

 seem to be on the increase. I think this is 

 caused by conditions unfavorable to nectar secre- 

 tion, which conditions, in turn, are favorable to 

 their development. Cool cloudy weather is fa- 

 vorable to the development of the cutworm; the 

 same for this worm. The difference is, these 

 sage-worms are so very much smaller that .they 

 can get in the shade away from the rays of the 

 sun. 



For the past few years California has not been 

 the great honey-producing country as of yore. 

 Bee-keepers here are of a hopeful, persevering 

 class ; but these continuous adverse seasons are a 

 trial to any patient person, and eventually will 

 cause many to look for other sources of a liveli- 

 hood. 



For the past few weeks I have been quite suc- 

 cessful raising many fine virgins above a queen- 

 excluding brood-apartment, to supersede old 

 worthless queens below ; but one needs plenty of 

 bees in the super to protect and keep cells warm. 

 If there are insufficient bees in the super to cover 

 cells well, then I raise up some capped brood and 

 some advanced larv;?. There must be plenty of 

 bees in the super, with some honey coming in, 

 to insure success. 



Heretofore I have had many fine queens raised 

 and fertilized from the super, the old queen con- 

 tinuing egg-laying during the whole process — a 

 continuous increase of bees coming on without 

 loss of time. To me it is the best practical 

 method to supersede old queens, and for divi- 

 sions and surplus of queens for out-yards during 

 the beginning of the season, and especially dur- 

 ing short seasons when laying up honey for win- 

 ter stores. It is a poor success when the honey- 

 flow slackens, for then cells will not be drawn 

 out. I am thankful to Mr. Doolittle and others 

 for this process, with some of my own methods 

 combined. 



I had Mr. Erwin Williams, of Colorado, raise 

 many fine queens for me one season by the com- 

 bination of the Doolittle, Alley, and Atchley 

 methods, all from the super. That season in two 



