GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping Among the Rockies 



Wesle i' Foster, Boulder, Col. 



BEES AND PARCEL POST. 



I had two two-pound nuclei shipped April 

 15 from Texas. These bees were not ship- 

 ped in the regular packages as shown in 

 April 15th Gleanings, but were sent in the 

 two-frame nuclei boxes with one frame and 

 a bottle of water. The queens were caged. 

 The sponges jjlaced in the bottles came out 

 during the trip, but the bees had not ap- 

 l)arently suft'ered. One package weighed 9 

 lbs. and the other jy^. When started from 

 Texas, three and a half days before, they 

 weighed 18 lbs., according to the express 

 billing. 



The cost of shipping these two nuclei, 

 Aveighing 18 lbs. combined, was $2.63, or at 

 the rate of 15 cts. a pound. By mail it 

 would not have amounted to more than 

 about five or six cents a pound. And, bee- 

 men, there is no reason why we can not take 

 this matter up with the Postmaster General 

 and get bees sent in pound, two-pound, and 

 five-pound packages by parcel post. The 

 Postoffice Department does not put all mail 

 into sacks. The postmaster at Boulder told 

 me that all fragile goods are handled out- 

 side of mailsacks just as carefully as is 

 done by the express companies. Eggs are 

 being sent all over the country for setting, 

 and baby chicks are being sent the same 

 way; and I should like to have some one 

 tell me why it would hurt a postal clerk to 

 get stung any more than an express agent. 

 Why can not the Postoffice Department 

 handle this business as well as the express 

 companies'? We will see that they can very 

 soon, for we can not have discrimination. 

 * * * 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INCREASE. 



We have the psychology of business, the 

 psychology of success, the psychology ot 

 the mob — nearly every thing is psychologi- 

 cal these days, so why not put bees in the 

 psychological category? There is about as 

 much psychology in a hive as in any thing 

 I know of, and Mr. Maeterlinck would 

 probably say there is a great deal more. All 

 of which, by the way, is introductory to 

 what I want to say regarding making in- 

 crease without lessening the honey crop. 

 Coming back to psychology again, it should 

 be remarked that the Alexander plan of 

 making increase is taking advantage of 

 colony conditions at the psychological mo- 

 ment. 



Bees built up with gratifying rapidity 

 last spring. Tn an apiary of 100 colonies, 

 one- fourth of tliem had brood in all their 

 ten frames by April 30. Combs of sealed 



brood ai:d hatching bees were given to all 

 weak colonies, and many hives with more 

 honey than needed were relieved of some, 

 and empty drawn combs were put in their 

 places. Forty combs of honey were taken 

 out in this way to give room for breeding. 

 This honey went back to the bees again a 

 little later to feed the brood and young bees 

 coming on. 



Our main honej'-flow does not begin until 

 early June, so that, in order to keep our 

 bees on the up grade, we use the Alexander 

 plan of increase on all we can. The cjueens 

 must be kept busy laying until June. If 

 we can keep them laying, there will be less 

 swarming, and we will have twice as many 

 workers for the alfalfa harvest in June, 

 July, and Augiist. When we take eight or 

 nine frames of hatching brood and place 

 them over an excluder with the queen be- 

 low, and an abundance of combs all clean 

 and ready for the laying of eggs, tliat queen 

 just gets busy, and it keeps her busy for 

 some little time too. In ten days the upper 

 hive with queen-cells, perhaps, may be set 

 aside, tlie cells cut out, and a young queen 

 given. Feeding may be necessary, but it 

 Arill pay "well to feed both lots of honey if 

 necessary to keep up brood-rearing. A hive 

 jammed full of brood June 1 to 10 is going 

 to Ijegin super work much sooner than one 

 that is half full of brood. The first forty 

 ]>ounds of honey will go below if there is 

 room for it. 



The defects in the queens will show up 

 right along when conditions are such that 

 the queens are unhampered for egg-laying 

 room. You will soon realize the need of 

 extra queens. One, two, or three dozen on 

 liand all the time these days will be an ad- 

 vantage. 



Educational Apiary in London 



In the 1912 Reports of the Zoological Society of 

 London which I have just received I find the fol- 

 lowing on pages 8 and 9 : 



BEEKEEPING. 



The Council arranged with the British Beekeep- 

 ers' Association, which had received a grant from 

 the Development Commissioners for the establish- 

 ment of an experimental and educational apiary in 

 London, to provide accommodation at the Gardens. 

 A site on the north uank of the canal was selected 

 for the apiary, made suitable for hives and for dem- 

 onstrations, and the use of the lecture-room for 

 lectures was given. The association paid the society 

 a small rental to cover expenses, and agreed to re- 

 move the bees if their presence proved injur! nns to 

 visitors or to the animals. So far as the society is 

 concerned, tl;r arrangement worked satisfactorily iu 

 1912. 



Valparaiso, Chile, -June 10. J. A. Wolfs.SOHN. 



