GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



What are the Difficulties in Shipping Bees without 

 Combs ? 



Dr. C. C. Miller .- — I want to buy a lot of queens 

 with 1 to 3 lbs. of bees without combs of brood or 

 frames, and put them in ten-frame hives with full 

 sheets of foundation. Kindly advise me what I am 

 to guard against in order to prevent its being a fail- 

 ure, for, buying bees on combs, I am liable to get 

 foul brood. The A. I. Root Co. have shipped bees 

 by the pound this past summer to test it, and have 

 been successful. I will not have any drawn combs 

 or brood — only foundation in full sheets in Hoffman 

 frames. 



Canastota, N. Y., Jan. 6. Wm. P. Fritz. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



I had three separate shipments of this kind, and 

 had difficulty in only one respect ; so I know of only 

 one thing to put you on your guard against. Other- 

 wise a cage of bees shipped in this way may be treat- 

 ed exactly as a swarm. My one trouble was to get 

 them out of the cage. The first lot that came was a 

 beautiful sight to me, they looked so nice and com 

 fortable. They had a pleasant look, too — a smiling 

 look, you might say as if saying to me, " Just see 

 what a nice place we have here, snug as a bug in a 

 rug; nothing better could be desired." "Yes," I re- 

 plied, "that's a nice cage, but I can give you some- 

 thing better. I'm an old beekeeper, and I know all 

 about bees. I'll soon have you out of that." 



I put into an empty hive a brood-comb containing 

 some honey, set the cage in the hive beside it with 

 the opening of the cage directly facing the comb, 

 covered up the hive and went away, leaving the bees 

 to come out and cluster on the comb at their leisure. 

 When I went back later in the day to take out the 

 empty cage, there was no empty cage there. It was 

 just as full of bees as ever. I began to think that 

 may be I didn't know all about bees after all. 



I'll tell you later how I managed to get them out; 

 but first I want to tell you about the rir.-c way, as 

 learned from Medina, to wliich place I applied for 

 light as to the right way. It seems that they too had 

 suffered under tlie delusion that I knew all about 

 bees for they had sent no instructions as to getting 

 out those bees. Promptly came back the response, 

 " Shake them out, just as you would shake out any 

 swarm! " Sure enough! how simple! Why hadn't I 

 thought of that? 



So I was ready when the next lot came. I opened 

 the hole in the cage, and gave it a gentle shake. T 

 didn't want to be too rough with those bees. But the 

 shake w&s. too gentle. The bees stayed right where 

 they were. Then I shook harder, and a few bees 

 were thrown out. To all further shaking the bees 

 replied, " We're quite comfortable where we are, 

 thank you," and stayed right where they were. 



Then I set the cage on the top-bars, the opening 

 of the cage at the bottom, and covered over the rest 

 of the hive with little boards. I then blew a stream 

 of smoke horizontally at the top of the cage, kept the 

 smoke going steadily, and lowered it as the bees 

 went down until the cage was empty. 



You intend to put your bees upon foundation; 

 but I think you will do well to borrow a frame of 

 brood for the bees to go down upon, and then you 

 can take away the brood as soon as the bees are out 

 of the cage. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



[Bees will shake out of a small cage because the 

 filling-hole is relatively large to the size of the cage; 

 but in the larger sizes this is not always practicable. 

 A better way is to take off the wire cloth on one 

 side, shake, and then lay that side of the cage over 

 the set of combs or frames on which they are to be 

 hived. If there is a frame of unsealed brood and 

 honey it \v\\\ be better. A frame of eggs and young 



brood will " draw " as nothing else will. In a few 

 hours all the bees ought to be out of the cage, and 

 on the brood. — Ed.] 



Golden Bees Hardy, Gentle, and Good Honey- 

 Gatherers 



After reading Mr. Snyder's article, Jan. 15, page 

 53, I felt like throwing my hat into the air, it did 

 me so much good. I have noticed that our editor for 

 some time has given the Goldens the " black eye."- 

 I have felt like speaking out for Goldens, but have 

 been afraid to, for we little fellows can't make noise 

 enough for any one to hear us, especially when " one 

 of the largest honey-producers, and a queen-breeder 

 as well," has the floor. 



A few years ago I bought some red-clover queens, 

 and then the season following a Golden queen. I 

 kept them in the same yard and watched them care- 

 fully. I found the Goldens as hardy, gentler, and 

 better licuey-gatherers than the three-banders. I re- 

 member well two three-banded queens and their bees. 

 One queen and her bees were light in color for three- 

 banders, and her bees were more gentle than the 

 darker ones. 



The darker bees swarmed out one day ; and when 

 I undertook to hive them they would sting. So I 

 killed all my three-banded queens and used the Gold- 

 en queen for a breeder. The Goldens worked red 

 clover just as well as the three-banders. After this 

 I saw the queen-breeder that I bought my Golden 

 queen from, and he told me that he had quit breed- 

 ing the three-banders because he liked the Goldens 

 much better, and that they were better honey-gath- 

 erers, and more gentle. 



By the way, I have two Swarthmore pedigreed 

 Golden queens, and I intend to test them out ; but 

 I am afraid they will not have bees gentle enough 

 for my little children to " grab out honey by hand- 

 fuls." But one thing is sure, if they prove to be as 

 cross as the three-banders I just told you about. I 

 will pinch their heads. 



Of the three leading types of beef cattle, two are 

 bred for color as well as beef. The Aberdeen-Angus 

 are black, the Herefords must have white faces, the 

 Durham or shorthorns may be " off " in color. But 

 what of these cattle at the international stock show, 

 Chicago ? The types that carried off most of the rib- 

 bons were bred for color as well as beef. Why not 

 honey and color in bees as well as beef and color 

 in cattle? 



Nay lor, Mo., Jan. 29. R. O. Marlin. 



[Gleanings certainly does not wish to give any 

 strain of bees the " black eye " if such is not war- 

 ranted. We merely maintain, as we have explained 

 before, that, while many individual colonies of Gold- 

 ens are hardy and gentle, the majority of them are 

 below the average of the leather-colored Italians in 

 these two points. Note the opinion expressed by G. 

 .V. Barbisch which follows; also that reported by 

 E. G. Ward on another page. — Ed.] 



Golden Bees Do Not Stand Cold Winters 



I have been experimenting with golden Italians 

 for the last five or six years, sending for queens 

 from queen-breeders all over the country ; but I am 

 sorry to write that I have been disappointed with 

 them in every instance. They can not stand the 

 severe cold and backward springs we have up here 

 in the North. If they do not die altogether they 

 dwindle so that they are no good whatever in storing 

 surplus. They are very l:ackward in breeding up 

 early in spring, and are much slower than the leath- 

 er-colored Italians. They swarm about as much as 

 any bees I ever had, and they are just as cross and 

 irritable as any Italians I ever had' in my yard. 

 These Goldens may be all right in the South; but 



