AUGUST 15, 1913 



515 



looking on, nobody was stung — much less 

 the inspectors and ourselves. The bees were 

 verj' quiet. 



" We have a story for next Gleanings, 

 telling how you were stung when using dry 

 cotton waste." 



" Have, eh ? Well, it is my opinion that 

 the late hours of the day and the cheeking 

 of the honey-flow would account for the 

 ugly temper of the bees rather than the fuel 

 in the smokers." 



There, dear reader, you have all the pros 

 and cons; and if you have any facts that 

 bear on this question, speak out j'our mind. 

 Mr. Miller has a complete analysis of the 

 case, and he is at liberty to diagnose it as 

 he likes. 



FAIR QUESTIONS: IS IT EVER NECESSARY TO 



SHIN UP TREES AFTER SWARMS IN A 



MODERN APIARY? 



The following letter is a very natural 

 inquiry. We knew it would come, and here 

 it is: 



I noticed last year at swarming time you said in 

 Gleanings you were all shinning up trees for 

 swarms and that next year there would be none of 

 that ; but this year I notice you are at the very same 

 thing again. What kind of system are you working 

 your bees on that gives such results ? Readers would 

 probably like to know, so as to steer clear of it. 



Galena, Kan., July 6. J. P. Beumfield. 



One apiarist and two helpers are taking 

 care of 500 colonies of bees. These men 

 are able, in connection with the automobile 

 truck, to take care of the whole proposition 

 when conditions are normal. When they 

 are abnormal, they necessarily have to have 

 help at times; and that help this season has 

 had to come from the editorial force, as all 

 other departments were too busy to supply 

 any men; and, besides, we feel that editors 

 ought to rub up against the real proposition 

 from time to time in order to have a proper 

 working knowledge of actual conditions in 

 the j-ards. But the real question is, " Why 

 is it ever necessary to shin up trees after 

 swai'ms in the modern apiai-y? " Dr. J\lill- 

 er once said that he did not have to climb 

 trees for swarms, because he clipped his 

 queens' wings. But we can not practice 

 clipping, because many of our customers 

 do not want the symmetry of their queens 

 marred. Then why not use drone-traps? 

 These put more or less obstruction at the 

 entrances, and interfere with the proper 

 ventilation of the hive. It necessarily fol- 

 lows, then, that when a swarm takes a no- 

 tion to cluster in a tree somebody will have 

 to do some shinning. But the next ques- 

 tion to raise is, " Why allow the swarms to 

 come out in the fii-st place 1 " Why not cut 

 out all cells, and thus keep swanning down ? 

 This will go a long way; but in the height 



of queen-reai*ing operations, fui*nishing bees 

 in pound packages, sometimes at the rate 

 of 100 lbs. a day, it is impossible to get 

 around to all the colonies if there comes a 

 heavy rush of honey. We had weather con- 

 ditions for a few days when the bees would 

 fill up their super in five or six days; and, 

 mind j'ou, some of these were ten-frame ex- 

 tracting supers. The honey came with such 

 a rush that it was impossible to get it off in 

 time. Swarming cells got started, and, of 

 course, swarms would come out with supers 

 nearly completed. You may say we ought 

 to have had more men ; but when an abnor- 

 mal and unexpected season comes along it is 

 practically impossible to get all the help 

 needed. 



But we are here confronted with another 

 condition. We have one apiary of Carni- 

 olans, and these bees will violate every 

 known rule of swarming. For instance, 

 they will continue swarming, even after the 

 honey-flow has stopped. They will swarm 

 without a queen. We have demonstrated 

 that time and again. We had one queenless 

 colony of Carniolans that swarmed, went 

 across the countiy, and was finally hived by 

 a man about five miles away. The next day 

 he brought them to us, and it took a five- 

 dollar bill to get them. We put them into 

 a hive and gave them a frame of unsealed 

 brood, and they began building cells. It 

 may be said that they lost their queen ; but 

 we have had so many cases of Carniolans 

 absconding without queens that we know 

 that this one had none. During the past 

 few days we have had at the rate of five 

 swarms a day from our Carniolan apiary 

 after the honey- flow had stopped, and rob- 

 bing would start up if we were not careful. 

 The other apiaries of Italians ceased all 

 attempts at swarming; but they will not 

 stand overloaded supers or swarming cells. 



One of the best beekeepers in Ontario 

 wrote us a few days ago, saying that he 

 was nearly worn out; that he had secured 

 an enormous crop of honey ; that the swarms 

 were getting away from him ; and, while he 

 would like to get honey, he believed he was 

 about ready to have the floAV let up, as he 

 could not do the work. Other practical bee- 

 keepers have been hit the same way. Even 

 when clipping is practiced, a swarm will 

 sometimes come out with a virgin, and make 

 for the top of a tree. Somebody has got 

 to do some shinning; and usuallj- it is the 

 ovei'worked apiarist, who can not get help 

 at that season of the year for love or monej'. 



FOUL-BROOD INSPECTION. 



For the past few daj-s we have been hav- 

 ing some experience in going around with 



