54 



GLEANINGS IN HKE CULTURE 



The effect i>f juKiily iittaclied starters. Notice the coinljs in the two middle sections have fallen, leaving 

 a space for the bees to till in to snit themselves. — Sires & Sires, Wapato, Wash. 



will be filled. To say the least, however, 

 it is difficult to guarantee to have queens 

 on a given date. 



There are several distinct reasons why 

 the expected queens may not make their 

 appearance as expected. " There's many a 

 slip 'twixt cup and lip" is a very true state- 

 ment when speaking of bees. Our bee 

 pets ( ? ) , as we all know, sometimes disre- 

 gard all rules, regulations, and standards, 

 and apparently set out to see how mean 

 they can act. 



One of the many things that sometimes 

 happen is that, after the cells are started 

 beautifully, a coujale of days later they may 

 be cut down. They may be chilled or possi- 

 bly jarred in handling. An unexpected 

 queen-cell in the brood-frames might hatch 

 and destroy them, or a small virgin from 

 an unknown source might get through the 

 protecting zinc which I use to cover all en- 

 trances of cell-building colonies. 



Then there seems to be nothing easier 

 for the queenless bees in nuclei than to de- 

 stroy the cells or virgins given them, or for 

 the virgins to disappear wliile on their 

 niating-trips. 



The queen-rearing business is not all 

 " beer an' skettles," as one can readily find 

 out by making an experiment when condi- 

 tions are not favorable — when there has 

 been no honey gathered for a month or so. 

 Under the best of conditions it is easy to 

 obtain plenty of good queens; but when 

 conditions are the reverse, then comes the 

 need of skill, patience, and knowledge. 

 Then the weather plays a very im})ortant 

 part in determining the success of all ef- 

 forts, to say nothing of the honey-flow. 



Yet all this can not excuse the queen- 

 breeder in not replying at once to all orders 

 as all up-to-date business men do. He can 

 at least )iromise, and then do the best he 

 can to fill the order on the date promised. 



Personally I can heartily agree with Mr. 

 Tanton in his arraignment of the greater 



number of the producers of bees and 

 queens. It is more than annoying to send 

 an order, and receive no reply, possibly, 

 for weeks — an experience I have liad re- 

 peatedly in years past. " None but the 

 brave deserve the fair." We bee-men can 

 change the above quotation to " None but 

 the prompt deserve our orders," provided 

 they are tilled with good stock in good con- 

 dition. 



PURE GOLDEK BEES ARE NOT CROSS. 



I have a growing complaint to register. 

 The editor invariably, in speaking of "Gold- 

 ens," states that they are often very cross, 

 also that they winter poorly. Now, that 

 may be true of some of the strains com- 

 l^osed of more or less Cypiian blood; yet 

 in the manner in which the term is usecl it 

 gives Goldens as a whole, irrespective of 

 strain, a black eye. 



I have in my home yard about 80 colonies 

 of Goldens, to say nothing of nuclei, and 

 I do not use a veil on an average of one 

 hour out of ten while working in this yard. 

 I can give names of many beekeepers who 

 have been in this yard, who have seen me, 

 without smoke and without preparation, 

 and, last of all, without stings, open colo- 

 nies containing eighteen or more combs of 

 brood. Just after a rain, or during one, I 

 have fi'equently opened the hive containing 

 the breeding queen, and have received no 

 stings. 



Two years ago T sold to a gentleman in 

 Porto Rico a two-frame nucleus with a 

 tested queen. When the hive was full of 

 bees, and they were working on the supers, 

 his two young sons were discovered gTab- 

 bing out the honey by the handfuls from 

 the extracting-combs. The cliildren were 

 more or less covered with bees, yet neither 

 of them received as much as one sting. Are 

 such bees cross? 



Swarthmore Apiaries, Pa. 



[Undoubtedly there are many colonies of 

 Goldens that are gentle and also hardy; 



