450 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



not all, in saying we are very happy to have 

 with us to-day Mr. A, I. Root, of Medina, 

 Ohio. We are not only glad to have him 

 with us, but I am sure I voice the senti- 

 ment of quite a good many when I move 

 that we as a convention give him a hearty 

 welcome; and since we have become better 

 acquainted with him, express regret for the 

 unkind things that have been said in regard 

 to Mr. Root in some of our previous con- 

 ventions." 



If I have not gotten the above con-ect, I 

 think it was the sentiment of what he said. 

 I was at the time greatly impressed with 

 Mr. Root's ability as an officer, as well as a 

 beekeeper and as a genial Chidstian charac- 

 ter. Since that time there has existed only 

 the most friendly relations between our- 

 selves and the great beekeepers of New 

 York; and I am glad to add that the fash- 

 ion of having unkind spaii'ing and jangl- 

 ing in print in the bee journals (American, 

 at least) has been done away with. I be- 

 lieve all now recognize that we have no 

 room in our journals for personalities — 

 especially iDersonalities among good men. 



When a gi'eat man dies, a kind Provi- 

 dence seems to have so ordered it that his 

 mantle shall fall on the shoulders of some 

 younger man. This seems to be emphati- 

 cally the case with our good father Quin- 

 by. In an edition of the book, "Quinby's 

 New Beekeeping," published by the 0. 

 Judd Co. in 1899, we find the following 

 which we take fi'om the opening words of 

 the publishers' preface : 



After the death of Mr. Quinby, the preparation of 

 a new and revised edition of his work, which he 

 had in contemplation, fell into the hands of Mr. 

 L. C. Boot, his relative and long-time business as- 

 sociate. This secured the incorporation of Mr. 

 Quinby's latest views and methods, and the intro- 

 duction of important improvements that had then 

 just been tested, especially that of comb foundation, 

 and the treatise thus embodied the experience of 

 two skilled apiarians. The work was so largely re- 

 written by Mr. Root that he might in justice have 

 claimed to be its author ; but with rare modesty, 

 and in a spirit of reverence to the memory of one 

 who had devoted his life to the advancement and 

 popularizing of bee culture, he preferred to retain 

 the title of "Quinby's New Beekeeping." 



AN OUTSIDER IN COLORADO 



Swarm Control 



BY DR. E. P. PHILLIPS 



Continued from June 15 



In comb-honey production in the East, 

 all other problems fade into insignificance 

 in comparison with the control or preven- 

 tion of swarming. The number of colonies 

 that can be kept is limited by the number 

 that can be examined about once a week 

 during the swarming season to do whatever 

 is necessary' to keep the bees at home and 



working. It is, therefore, unusual to find 

 men with 600 or 800 colonies run for comb 

 honey in a number of outyards. Although 

 some of the beekeepers of Colorado do not 

 agree with the idea, it seems almost certain 

 that conditions are not so conducive to 

 swarming in Colorado as they are in the 

 white-clover region. The usual methods of 

 control seem to be about the same in Colo- 

 rado as they are in the East. The best 

 practice seems to be to examine every col- 

 ony once a week for queen cells; and with 

 several hundred colonies in yards scattered 

 over the country this is no sinecure. A 

 beekeeper who is kept busy with seventy- 

 five or one hundred colonies should begin 

 to suspect that he is wasting time and en- 

 ergy somewhere when he learns what is be- 

 ing done in Colorado. It is not exactly 

 necessary to keep the grass worn away in 

 an apiary in order to give the colonies the 

 care necessary. 



An important consideration in favor of 

 the Colorado beekeeper is the fact that he 

 is not interrupted in his work by inclement 

 weather to the e.xtent that the eastern bee- 

 keeper is. It is rather safe to plan for six 

 days of work a week, with a chance at one 

 more if the beekeeper can persuade himself 

 that his bees have fallen into a pit. 



NO WAX MOTHS. 



As has been mentioned a number of 

 times, the common wax moths which add 

 interest to the monotony of beekeeping in 

 the East are absent in Colorado. As Mr. 

 Foster mentioned in a recent number of 

 Gleanings, the Mediterranean meal-moth 

 sometimes eats the pollen from stored 

 combs. Messrs. Dyer and Burrows, of 

 Boulder, brought a large number of colo- 

 nies from Arkansas not long ago and inci- 

 dentally imported the larger wax moth. 

 Not being accustomed to thinking of dam- 

 age from this source they were surprised 

 to find a mass of webs in their workshop 

 where the empty combs were stored. Since 

 then the moths have entirely disappeared. 

 Some entomologists would confer a favor 

 by learning what there is in the climate of 

 Colorado which is injurious to the bee-moth. 



BEES AND FRUIT. 



The value of bees in carrying pollen is 

 seemingly quite generally recognized by 

 Colorado fruit-growers, and I learned of a 

 number of instances where a few colonies 

 were kept solely for that purpose. This is 

 gratifying; but at the same time the prac- 

 tice opens up a source of danger to the pro- 

 fessional beekeeper. It can scarcely be ex- 

 pected that a beeowner who is not a bee- 

 keeper will know how to detect and eradi- 

 cate disease, and such apiaries may become 



