APRIL 15, 1913 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Cranb, Middlebury, Vt. 



The so-called " pickled brood " has at last 

 a definite descriptive name — " sac brood." 

 It has also been discovered that it is to 

 some extent infectious, as I have feared it 

 might be. The United States Department 

 of AgTiculture has just sent out Circular 

 169 of Bureau of Entomology, fully de- 

 scribing the disease. This is the disease I 

 spoke of on page 21, Jan. 1. 



* » « 



Dr. ^Miller quotes from Deutsche Bienen- 

 zucht, page 4, Jan. 1, regarding the neces- 

 sity of a brood-chamber so bees can cluster 

 in a sphere. A spherical cluster of bees in 

 winter is not necessary where the brood- 

 chamber is well packed. I often winter 

 bees on four combs, and small nuclei on 

 three combs, with success. It is always well 

 to reduce the size of the brood-chamber to 

 the size of the colony. 



* « * 



The editorial in regard to the color and 

 temper of Italian bees is golden. I was 

 much interested in a remark made to me by 

 Mr. Frank Alexander, of Delanson, N. Y., 

 last spring. He said he didn't like cross 

 bees. I have had some exiDeriences the past 

 year in inspection work that I don't care to 

 have repeated. I have found some that I 

 wouldn't keep if you would give me a whole 

 yard for nothing, set in the richest pastures 

 flowing with honey. 



* * * 



On page 8, Jan. 1, Mr. Doolittle discuss- 

 es the prolificness of queens vs. longevity of 

 bees; and he appears to have the argiiment 

 on his side. It was a favorite theory with 

 Napoleon that Providence favors the larg- 

 est armies, and we beekeepers have been 

 working on that principle verj^ largely. The 

 condition of a colony will often influence 

 the amount of work done. A new swarm 

 will sometimes accomplish twice what it 

 did before swarming. I could not help 

 wondering, after reading Mr. Doolittle's 

 statements, whether there is any thing to 

 hinder our having both a prolific queen and 

 long-lived workers combined in the same 

 colony. If we add to these gentleness and 

 honey-gathering instincts, we shall have al- 

 most ideal bees. 



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From a Straw on page 40 it would seem 

 that Dr. Miller and Mr. Morley Pettit do 

 not think alike on the subject of European 

 foul brood. Well, never mind. I have no 

 doubt they would if they lived in the same 

 locality and kept the same race of bees. A 



great deal has been laid to locality in bee- 

 keeping, and I have come to the conclusion 

 that locality plays quite as much a part in 

 European foul brood as in any thing else. 

 In some sections it spreads with great ra- 

 pidity, but slowly in others. For several 

 years it has existed within two miles of one 

 of our jards, but as yet I have not found 

 a trace of it in our yard. It appears far 

 less contagious in some sections than oth- 

 ei-s. I remember one yard I inspected where 

 it had been for two or more seasons with- 

 out spreading beyond these two or tlii-ee 

 colonies. In low damp or hot localities it 

 seems much worse than on high land or in 

 a colder and di\yer climate. I have noticed 

 a decided difl'erence in different yards in 

 the same locality. Some strains of bees 

 appear to be almost immune, while others 

 succumb to it very quickly. I believe at the 

 present time it is of much more importance 

 to breed a race of bees that will contend 

 successfully with this disease than to breed 

 for the largest number of yellow rings on 

 their abdomens. 



* « * 



Of immense importance is the editorial, 

 page 38, Jan. 15, on the value of windbreaks 

 for winter protection for outdoor-wintered 

 bees. I have called the attention of the 

 readers of Gleanings to this subject sever- 

 al times, and should have said more, but 

 did not want to be considered a crank on 

 the subject ; but when I see eveiy colony 

 dead in that part of a yard most exposed 

 to the prevailing winds I know that this 

 exposure had much to do with the winteiing 

 of bees. For many years in locating a 

 yard of bees on a new site I have consid- 

 ered protection from the wind quite as im- 

 portant as a good range or pasturage for 

 the bees. We winter almost entirely out of 

 doors ; but like other good things, this mat- 

 ter of protection may be overdone. Mr. 

 Halter wisely calls attention to this on page 

 56, Jan. 15. I have known a yard almost 

 completely ruined by too much protection. 

 A friend of mine built a high tight fence 

 on the northwest and south sides of a small 

 yard while his house was on the east side; 

 and when the bright sunny March days 

 came the bees flew, most of them never to 

 return to their hives. The protection should 

 be such that, as soon as the temperature of 

 the yard becomes much warmer than the 

 outside air, the air of the j-ard will rise, 

 and the cool air from outside will quickly 

 take its place, thus keeping the temperature 

 of the vard near that outside. 



