1909 



GLEANIN(;S IN BEE CULTURE 



775 



A FRAME FROM A COLONY THAT WAS PREPARING TO SWARM. 

 The combs had been spaced a little too far apart, and this gave the bees an excel 

 lent opportunity to build queen-cells. 



course, the bees and cattle might live with- 

 out the shelter, but they do much better 

 with it 



>kLFALFA IN UNIRRTGATED REGIONS. 



In the A B C of Bee Culture the statement 

 is made that alfalfa is not known to produce 

 honey outside of the arid districts. I want 

 to say that this is a mistake, for I have been 

 raising alfalfa for ten years, and find it a 

 great honey-producer as well as a hay-pro- 

 ducer. 



Noel, Missouri. 



[Mr. Williams may be right in his estimate 

 of the value of bee-sheds; but no less an 

 authority than Mr. E. W. Alexander, and 

 o'.her bee-keepers of some prominence, have 

 questioned whether or not the shutting off 

 of the sun's rays is not detrimental to the 

 best interests of the colony in the early 

 spring weather. These sheds would cut off 

 the sun's heat at least half of the day. Dur- 

 ing the hottest weather this would be an ad- 

 vantage, perhaps; but in the spring it might 

 be too much of a good thing. As we have 

 before reported, we find that those colonies 

 at our home yard that are shaded a good 

 part of the forenoon do not make as good 

 progress in brood-rearing in the spring as 

 those out in the open, exposed more to the 

 direct rays of the sun. 



It would be our opinion that the chief val- 

 ue of the sheds here shown is not so much 

 in the shutting-off of the sun and storm as in 

 cutting off possible wintry b'asts. In this 

 connection we find that those of our colonies 

 that are situated so as to be exposed to a 

 clear wind-sweep, the draft coming through 



a gap in the ever- 

 greens, do not win- 

 ter as well as those 

 that are protected 

 more from the pre- 

 vailing winds. The 

 sheds would cutoff 

 wintry blasts as 

 well as the cold 

 winds in early 

 spring. This of it- 

 self is of some im- 

 portance; but could 

 not practically the 

 same results be se- 

 cured by a high 

 board fence, with- 

 out any roof? We 

 simply raise the 

 question. We do 

 not know. Of 

 course, this whole 

 proposition will be 

 modified by locali- 

 ty. In the warm 

 countries sheds are 

 almost indispensa- 

 ble, for direct trop- 

 ical or semi-trop- 

 ical sun rays are 

 very severe upon 

 the combs of a pop- 

 ulous colony. 

 In the last edition 

 of the A B C of Bee Culture, now on the press, 

 the statement regarding alfalfa for the east- 

 ern sections of the country has been modi- 

 fied; but it is a fact that, outside of the irri- 

 gated regions, except in some particular lo- 

 calities, alfalfa does not yield any honey, or 

 at least not very much. — Ed.] 



QUEEN-CELLS GALORE. 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



:^<:^: 



.•«-« 



Last spring, while manipulating among the 

 bees I found a co'orty that was mak'ng great 

 preparations 

 for swarm- 

 ing. I think 

 it contained 

 more queen- 

 cells in A ari 

 ous stages of 

 completion 

 than I ever 

 before saw in 

 a colony. Be- 

 tween two 

 frames that 

 were spaced 

 a trifle fur- 

 ther apart 

 than they 

 shouM have 

 been the bees 

 had filled in 

 the unneces- 

 sary space 

 with thin 

 sheets of 







•? 



A small piece of comb containing 

 an unusuil number of queen- 

 cells. 



