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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping Among: the Rockies 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Col. 



Fair time comes too close upon the hon- 

 ey crop to give beemen time to exhibit as 

 they should; but the advertising of honey 

 is a matter that needs sex'ious thought. 



* » * 



Bees were poisoned badly this year in 

 Delta Co. and parts of Montrose. Little of 

 this seems to have come about by spraying 

 in blooming time, but the late sprays falling 

 on clover when the bees were working on it 

 caused the trouble. 



If a number of nuclei are started during 

 midsummer they are always very handy 

 when fall comes, to use in strong colonies 

 that are queenless. 1 always have a few 

 queenless colonies in Sejjtember and Octo- 

 ber, and these nuclei save the day in very 



good shape. 



* * * 



PECULIARITIES OF THE SEASON. 



This year colonies of bees occupying two 

 full-depth Langstroth bodies had, without 

 exception, more brood sealed and hatching 

 than single-story colonies. It seems to be 

 during late September and early October 

 almost an invariable rule that colonies oc- 

 cupying single bodies had little if any brood. 

 Many had a patch of eggs, but no larvae or 

 sealed brood, showing that the queen appar- 

 ently had difficulty in shutting down her 

 egg-laying. Colonies with young queens of 

 this year's rearing have more sealed brood 

 than the others. Our fall flow has been 

 better than common ; breeding has been 

 ample, and our colonies will go into winter 

 with good stores, and large numbers of 

 young bees. 



The last two weeks have brought us sev- 

 eral very good rains, and killing frosts have 

 been later than usual. Sweet clover and 

 alfalfa have been wonderfully helj^ed by 

 these late rains. These rains liave been in 

 the valley; snow has fallen on the moun- 

 tains in some parts of the West, so that 

 prospects for next year look encouraging. 

 The late rains will also probably destroy 

 many of the grasshoppers' deposits of eggs 

 in the ground. Dampness is very destruc- 

 tive to them. 



* # * 



GEORGIA vs. COLORADO. 



It is interesting to read of Mr. Wilder's 

 success in beekeeping in Georgia, when one 

 of our largest and most successful beekeep- 

 ers in Colorado came from Mr. Wilder's 

 country because there were no opportunities 



there. He told me recently that he probably 

 would have done as well to stay in Georgia. 

 What we should like to know of Mr. Wilder 

 is whether there is flora enough to support 

 several lumdred specialist beemen with three 

 hundred to three thousand colonies, or will 

 Mr. Wilder own all the bees and have all 

 the capable beekeeping timber among the 

 darkies working for him before some of the 

 rest of us get settled there? 



Two hundred thousand jDounds of honey 

 is nearly as much as we can produce in our 

 county, and here it takes twenty-five men 

 and a dozen automobiles to do it. But we 

 raise comb honey almost exclusively. For 

 fear that Mr. Wilder will get all the good 

 beemen trailing toward Georgia, I will say 

 that Colorado still has opportunities, and 

 we have the climate, the flora, the goud 

 roads, and a fine class of people. Many 

 beemen are making their living from keep- 

 ing bees, and do not follow it as a side line. 

 * # * 



SWARMING IN COLORADO. 



This has been another swarming year, 

 violating all rules of good behavior that we 

 generally expect from " mile-high " bees. 

 We lost a good many swarms, and the de- 

 moralization has caused the loss of a good 

 deal of honey. The bees swarmed with or 

 without cells or eggs in them. The only 

 thing that seemed to prevent it was to kill 

 the queen. We had to shin up trees as the 

 editor of Gleanings did, but perhaps we 

 had better success in catching the queen at 

 the entrance as she came out. Even though 

 only a virgin, I had very few get away from 

 me. One needs to be quick if he wishes to 

 catch a queen the minute she stops to look 

 which way to take wing. If he misses a 

 virgin on the first grab, the chances are that 

 she will get away; and then if she is not 

 caught there are probably other virgins 

 with the swarm. But if I caught the prime 

 swarms I did not have any second swarms, 

 and very few of them did I liave this year 

 as it is. 



The editor has come forward with an 

 almost sure cure for swarming by the use 

 of inch blocks. We in Colorado have been 

 envied for our freedom from swarming 

 troubles, but we had them this year and 

 last. The plan of Mr. Vernon Burt is as 

 old as the hills (almost), and is good; but, 

 oh don't give it out as a cure or even a 

 preventive! it will delay swarming some- 

 times until a few cold cloudy days come, 

 and the flow lulls; then the bees tear down 

 the cells, but the cool weather or the lull in 



