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(ilJ'lANlNdS IN Hl'K ClIl/rURl'. 



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A SMALL APIARY CLOSE TO A CAR-BARN IN HARRISBURG, PA. 



attempt at bee-keeping, starting in the 

 spring with one strong and one weak col- 

 on\', was two new swarms and 100 lbs. of 

 fine white-clover honey. 



We attribute our success largely to the 

 valuable information we received from 

 Gleanings and advice from State Zoologist 

 Surface. 



The accompanying photograph is of our 

 four colonies in winter quarters. The hives 

 have a tar-paper covering, and the supers 

 are filled with chaff. Our little apiary is lo- 

 cated at the Central Pennsylvania Traction 

 Company's car-barns. 



Harrisburg, Pa. 



SOME PUZZLING PROBLEMS CONCERN- 

 ING QUEENS. 



Why Did the Queens Die Off so? Some 

 Queer Queen Capers. 



BV F. DUNDAS TODD. 



Some facts of nature are well known, their 

 causes understood; so, given a certain set of 

 conditions, we can generally foresee the end. 

 But, much as we have learned about agricul- 

 tural operations there are many causes about 

 which we know practically nothing; so, when 

 we come to examine critically the results of 

 all our efforts, and try to account for them 

 in an intelligent ithat is, a scientific) way, 

 we are unable to do so, and so we satisfy our 

 minds by changing the term and explaining 

 fverj' thing by charging it to the season. 



Thus, the term "season " is merely a men- 

 tal dust-bin into which we tumble all the an- 

 noying economic agricultural problems we 

 can not solve, and so get rid of them, to the 



great comfort of the gray matter in our cra- 

 nium. A few try to push the issue a step 

 further back, and wrestle with such erudite 

 prophecies as are to be found in Moore's Al- 

 manac or that published by the Rev. Hicks 

 in St. Louis. 



Keeping up the even tenor of my bee- 

 keeping way I have consistently been in 

 several different kinds of trouble, but at 

 present I am going to confine myself to only 

 one kind, principally because it has been a 

 new one to me, but it has, in addition, af- 

 fected other bee-keepers in this outpost of 

 civilization, Vancouver Island; and the sub- 

 ject is queens. 



Now, let it be understood that bee-keeping 

 is conducted here on a rather small scale, 

 and generally on the let-alone plan. With 

 20 hives I am practically leading the proces- 

 sion. The average man never dreams of 

 examining a brood-chamber; most have never 

 seen a queen, and I think I am the only bee- 

 keeper on the island who has seen an egg- 

 in the cell. So when it comes to comparing 

 experiences I am practically limited to my 

 old rival in Illinois, Mr. Russell, who is now 

 located about four miles from me. The oth- 

 er bee-keepers will report so many swarms, 

 so many colonies lost during the winter, or 

 died out in the spring, but are unable to give 

 any reasons for any thing. The definite in- 

 formation I possess is, therefore, limited, but 

 it is substantiated by corroborative evidence 

 of a general character. 



To state the problem, let me say that, in 

 this locality, the most noticeable feature this 

 season has been the frequency with which 

 queens have either died or been superseded 

 between the first of March and the end of 

 August. The first date is fixed by Mr. Rus- 

 sell's purchase of hives; the latter by the 



