GLEANINGS IN BEE ('TTT,TITRe 



MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE AT THE CALIFORNIA STATi 



Row 1. left to right. 1. Mrs. A. B. Shaflner: 2. Mrs. O. J. I,ynn: 3 —. 4,—: 5. H. Perkins; 6, A. Seligman; 7, M a giii 

 B. <;. Burdick: lii. A. B. Shaffner: 17, W. H. Allen: 18, M. Andrews: 19, Frohllger: 20, Emerson: 21, Oorry; 22. .s'ohrort 

 5. Mra Andrews: 6,—; 7.—: 8. Wilder: 9,—; 10. Maden: 11,—: 12.—: 13.—: 14,—: 15, Ballet: 16.—: 17. Plesanis: 18— 19 k 

 31. Mrs. Martin. Row 3. 1, Bennett: 2,—: 3, Delos Woods: 4, Maxfleld: 5, Hatch: 6, Mercer: 8,—: 9, Honey: 10, Larn'iB 



WHY CERTAIN SWARMS DO NOT CLUSTER 



The Story of "Giantess," of Forty-five Years Ago 



BY A. I. ROOT 



On page 284, May 1, is an article entitled 

 "A Swarm that did Not Cluster." By 

 some oversight a footnote was not added, to 

 the effect that, when a colony of bees select 

 a home before swarming, they seldom if ev- 

 er stop to cluster on a limb in the orthodox 

 way. My first e.xperience in this line may 

 be remembered by some of our oldest read- 

 ers. After getting that $20.00 queen of L. L. 

 Langstroth I reared a large number from 

 her the following season. One in particular 

 was so very large, and had such an extreme- 

 ly prosperous colony, that I called her "Gi- 

 antess" as a bit of pleasantry. Well, when 

 white clover opened, my Italian bees were 

 going in great droves off toward a piece of 

 timber in the northeast. They not only 

 made a great ado in the morning when they 

 started, but there was such a roaring over- 

 head that people thought my bees were 

 swarming; and one morning I started out to 

 find what called them off in that particular 

 direction. I think I had a hive on scales at 

 the time that was showing large daily gains. 

 Sure enough, there were great fields, with an 

 unusual crop of red and white clover, and 

 every thing was going on swimmingly and 

 to my great delight, until one bright morn- 

 ing in June, when clover was just doing its 

 best, a great swarm issued from the Giant- 

 ess' hive, and made a beeline without any 

 preliminaries, circling off to the northwest. 



I was so vexed and put out by losing this 

 great swarm and that valuable queen that 1 

 declared I would have her yet if it was a 

 possible thing. Of course my friends and 



acquaintances who had laughed at me be- 

 fore on account of my enthusiasm laughed 

 harder still, and joked about chasing after 

 runaway bees. I hired an experienced bee- 

 hunter, the one mentioned in our ABC 

 book; and as soon as the honey-yield was 

 partly over so he could get the bees to work 

 on "bait" he located the colony in the top 

 of a large oak-tree a mile away in my fa- 

 ther-in-law's woods. The tree was soon cut 

 down, and the Giantess put into a hive and 

 brought back home. This whole matter was 

 given in Gleanings at the time, and numer- 

 ous letters were received to the effect that 

 bees often select a locality before swarming. 

 Quite a number of careful observers had seen 

 them going out and in holes and hollow 

 trees, quite busy for several days he/ore the 

 swarm actually took its departure, led by 

 the queen. The case mentioned in the com- 

 munication referred to was one of this kind. 

 The bees had made all arrangements for 

 migrating to the new domicile by repeated 

 visits each day for several days before the 

 swarm came out; therefore there was no need 

 nor sense in their clustering anywhfre. 



ARE WE READY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF 

 STOCK? 



,KE-KEEPERS' CONVENTION, LOS ANGELES, FEB. fi-8. 



'. n ne Sellera- 10, Metcalt; U. Mrs. Wiggins: 12, M. II. Mendleson: l.'i, ,1. W. Ferree. 



; Ti^ R Shaflner- 24.—: 25 —: 2li,— : 27, Klmhall: 28, .1. IC. Williamson. How 2. 1.—: 2. N 

 ■V '0 Moffat- 21,—; 22,—; 23,— : 24,—: 25,—: 2R. -: -27. Mrs. Crane; 28, Mrs. Sliaffner: 20. M 



IR. Battey: 18,—. 



Pres.: 14. Kilph Benton; 15. 



Naylor: A. Lynn; 4. Andrews; 



rs. Blocker: 30. Mrs. Honey; 



Does it Pay Now? 



From time to time articles appear in the 

 bee papers on the desirability of breeding 

 bees, or suggestions as to methods whereby 

 this may be done. There seems to be a 

 practical unanimity of opinion that, if we 

 could but control matings, the bees would 

 be vastly improved, and that the beekeep- 

 ing industry would be benefited beyond our 

 fondest hopes. That bees could be changed 



and improved may be accepted as certain 

 in view of the marvelous changes that have 

 been made in plants and other animals. 



The present article is written anonymous- 

 ly, for the reason that the thoughts herein 

 expressed are not the opinions of the writer, 

 but are merely questionings that have come 

 to his mind. It would be a terrible blow to 

 be credited with believing every doubt that 

 luay arise in one's mind. 



Let us suppose a ease. Two men in the 

 basswood section of Wisconsin are engaged 

 in producing comb honey. One has 150 col- 

 onies of fine stock which he is constantly 

 seeking to improve, and actually is improv- 

 ing, by selecting his best queens as breeders. 

 The other has '250 colonies kept in good con- 

 dition; but he spends no energy or time in 

 breeding. Assuming that the two men are 

 identically situated and similarly equipped 

 in apparatus and experience, and that they 

 spend the same time in the apiary, will the 

 first get 66-3 per cent more per colony, and 

 harvest as large a crop as his neighbor with 

 the same labor? 



Another case of A and B may be supposed. 

 A is a breeder of fine bees, and maintains 

 an apiary in Southern Michigan. He runs 

 200 colonies for extracted honey, and values 

 his colonies at $10.00 each because they are 

 of superior stock. They have actually cost 

 him that in time. B has his $2000 in cash 

 (and as much ability as a beekeeper as A), 

 and goes to Kentucky to buy cheap bees. 

 1' ive hundred colonies ranging in price from 

 $1.00 to $2.00 in box hives are shipped north 

 into a locality exactly comparable to A's. 

 Loming as they do from further south they 

 are stronger at the beginning of the clover 

 'low than those in A's apiary. At the end 

 Of the supposed good season, A has a nice 

 crop of honey. B extracts all the honey in 



his colonies, melts up the combs, and burns 

 up the boxes and poor hives which were 

 used as brood-chambers. The wax is worth 

 at least $500, and with that start does it seem 

 likely that A can close the season with a>i 

 much cash as B has, over and above his 

 original capital? If A clears $10.00 per col- 

 ony, it is necessary for B to clear $4.00 plus 

 the cost of the colony, and minus what he 

 gets for the wax. It is a safe bet that A will 

 work as hard requeening his prize apiary 

 and carefully manipulating his colonies as 

 B will with his 500 wrecks. 



I have (supposedly) a fine apiary in Cen- 

 tral New York. I must leave at least 30 

 pounds per colony for outdoor wintering, 

 which is worth, at a low estimate, $3.00. I 

 can buy bees in Pennsylvania, and move 

 them north for $.3.00 per colony in the 

 spring; and on account of the more advanc- 

 ed season in Pennsylvania they will arrive 

 actually stronger than I can get my own. 

 If I kill my colonies after the honey-flow I 

 save at least $.'5.00 per colony, and get the 

 wax. I eliminate winter loss as well as ex- 

 pense, and have nothing to worry me in the 

 winter except my bank account. 



Being nomadic I also own a string of api- 

 aries in California. These too are composed 

 of supposition colonies. I must leave 40 or 

 50 pounds to get bees through from one flow- 

 to the next. All around me are men who 

 do not know what bees are worth. Shall I 

 melt up my combs and buy new colonies 

 next year and sell that honey for $2.50 or 

 more, and the combs for $1.50? 



My Uncle Tobias has an apiary of 100 col- 

 onies in Northern Indiana. His location 

 would support more colonies, or he can im- 

 prove his stock so that the same number 

 will cover the territory. He probably gets 

 on an average 75 per cent of the nectar. 



