1909 



GLEANINCiS IN REE CULTURE. 



109 



THE KENNEDY SISTERS, 

 AN APIA 



that we are inspired by 

 selHsli motives from the 

 fact thit we sell queen- 

 bees; hut as California is 

 so far from us, our trade 

 with that State practic- 

 ally amounts to nothing 

 as other ijueen-breeders 

 are niuch nearer; so that 

 whatever action the legis- 

 lature may see fit to take 

 would not affect us. Hut 

 if the law should require 

 all queen-bees from oth- 

 er States, by mail, to be 

 inspected before they are 

 turned over to the con- 

 signee, the result would 

 be the actual prohibition 

 of the traffic in queens. 

 This would mean hard- 

 ship to the bee-keepers 

 of California, making it 

 practically impossible for 

 them to introduce any 

 new blood from other 

 Stales. 



As a matter of fact, we do not see how the in- 

 spector, no matter how competent he may be, 

 can determine whether a queen with her atten- 

 dants in a cage has disease germs in her alimen- 

 tary canal. Nothing but dissection would show 

 this, and this, of course, means the killing of the 

 queen. Even if the inspector were disposed to 

 allow the passage of such queens, the delay in 

 the postofhce until such inspection could be made 

 would very probably result in the death of the 

 queens especially in the inaccessible mountain 

 districts. 



Some years ago we conducted a series of ex- 

 periments, taking queens from foul-broody colo- 

 nies and putting them in healthy ones. In no 

 single instance was foul brood transmitted in that 

 manner. We seriously question whether it is 

 possible to carry disease through a queen, espe- 

 cially after she has been placed in a new environ- 

 ment on new food for a period of several days. 

 Indeed, the McEvoy treatment itself, which is 

 now recognized as a standard cure, applies no 

 treatment to either bees or queens other than to 

 remove them from their honey and combs and 

 give them new food. That is precisely what the 

 queen-breeder does when he picks up a queen 

 and a few attendants and puts her in a mailing- 

 cage. Hence it follows that, if the queen should 

 be taken out of a diseased colony, and sent 

 through the mails, such queen could not carry 

 the disease. In any event, no reputable queen- 

 breeder would think of taking a ([ueen from an 

 infected colony and sending her to a customer. 



We see no good reason, therefore, why queen- 

 bees and their attendants in an ordinary mailing- 

 cage should be inspected before delivery to the 

 consignee. — Ed.] 



Thi A. I. Runt Co.: — 1 am not keeping any bees, but, like Mr. 

 Thatcher, of New Jersey, I greatly enjoy reading Mr. Root's 

 Home talks, and hope he will continue them for years to come. 



Reading, Pa., Nov. y. H. B. SHOLLBNBERciER. 



WITH THEIR BROTHER, WHO HAVE MANAGED 

 RY FOR THE LAST SIXTEEN YEARS. 



BEES, POULTRY, AND A FARM. 

 A Sure Way to Keep Ants out of Hives. 



BY BERT H. MASTERS. 



I have my colonies on stands or benches. My 

 idea in placing them on stands is to keep the 

 ants away. I put ashes under the stands to pre- 

 vent the grass from growing. Under each leg of 

 the stands I place small lids, filled with pine tar, 

 which need replenishing about twice during the 

 summer. This is the best remedy I have ever 

 tried. 



The poultry business works very nicely with 

 bee-keeping. I have about 400 chickens, which 

 have been averging from 12 to 14 dozen eggs per 

 day. I arrange my work so that neither the bees 

 nor poultry interfere with farming; and as I give 

 these side lines only my spare moments I get value 

 received for my labor. 



Edison, O., Dec. 29. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR WOMEN. 



A Good Record from an Apiary Man- 

 aged by Two Ladies. 



BY LOUISA C. KENNEDY. 



After our father was taken from us, sixteen 

 years ago, my sister and 1 carried on the apiary. 

 That was the spring when everybody lost nearly 

 all his bees. We lost all but eighteen queens 

 with a mere handful of bees for each — perhaps 

 not more than a pint of bees to the queen. We 

 fed and built them up and then divided them un- 

 til we had 35 good colonies. That would have 

 been a pretty good honey year if we had only 

 had the bees to gather it. As it was, we sold 

 about $102 worth of honey. Since then we have 

 had some pretty good honey years, and a good 

 many very poor ones. The poorest year we sold 

 only $31 worth of honey; the best, $578 worth. 



