502 



WHY DO SWARMS CLUSTER BEFORE LEAVING? 



It is also Mr. Anthony's belief that 

 swarms cluster until they can get word 

 from some bees left in the parent colony 

 that all is well — in other words, that there 

 is means for a new queen left, so that the 

 life of the parent colony is assured. To 

 prove this theoiy, Mr. Anthony selected a 

 swarm which left with a virgin, there being 

 at the time one miore virgin left in the par- 

 ent liive. The swarm went into one of the 

 upper branches of a tall tree, and cluster- 

 ed. Without making any effort to reach 

 the swarm he quietly went to the parent 

 colony from which the swarm had issued, 

 and destroyed the remaining queen, so that 

 the condition of the bees of the parent liive 

 was hopeless. In about twenty minutes the 

 swarm in the tall tree broke up; and, al- 

 though accompanied by a queen, they re- 

 turned to the parent hive. Mr. Anthony 

 has not tried it more than this once; and 

 wMle he realizes that liis theory may be 

 wrong, he knows that it certainly worked 

 in this one case and saved him a disagi'ee- 

 able job. 



HONEY STATISTICS FOR OHIO. 



The annual report of the Secretary of 

 State conveys the strange information that 

 Ashtabula Co., with 975 stands of bees, 

 produced 63,268 lbs. of honey in 1910, or 

 an average of 65 lbs. per stand. This (Me- 

 dina) county is credited with 6870 stands 

 of bees that gave only 386 lbs. of honey the 

 same year, or an average of only an ounce 

 per hive. In respect to figures, these cause 

 us to doubt their traditional truthfulness; 

 but the blame may be justly attributed to 

 those who handle said figures. While the 

 yield in 1910 is easily believed for Ashta- 

 bula Co., the tremendous number of colo- 

 nies credited to this county seems all out of 

 proportion, as but few bees are kept in Me- 

 dina County excei)t at the Home of the 

 Honeybees, and even these would not ac- 

 count for more than one-sixth of the num- 

 ber I'eported. 



COMB-HONEY CANARDS AND SUNDAY PAPERS. 



We have never taken much stock in Sun- 

 day papers— not so much because they are 

 printed on Sunday, for, as a matter of fact, 

 they are probably all finished before day- 

 light on Sunday morning — but because of 

 the fact that an immense army of boys and 

 young men, who ought to be in Sunday- 

 school, are engaged in selling these jjapers 

 at newsstands and delivering them in vari- 

 ous homes in our cities. However, the 

 cliief objection we have to the Sunday pa- 

 pers is that the news contained therein is 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



far less reliable than that contained in the 

 papers issued on week days; for, as a rule, 

 such news is garbled so as to be put in the 

 most attractive form, and compiled in such 

 a way as to be made interesting, whether 

 truthful or not. 



An illustration of the fact just mention- 

 ed is given in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat 

 for June 30.. In an article headed "The 

 Busy Bee," the following statement ap- 

 peared : 



In fact, it may be confessed, though with regret, 

 that man has gone still further, and has not only 

 become able to produce honeycomb, but has also 

 successfully, though to no great commercial ex- 

 tent, filled such comb with adulterated honey and 

 capped the cells over, without putting his honey- 

 comb into the hive at all I To such a pass has 

 invention and adulteration of food come. 



We have written the i)ublishers, the 

 Globe Printing Co., protesting against such 

 a statement and have their assurance that 

 they will publish at least a part of our 

 letter correcting the mistake. But probably 

 not more than one in ten who read the 

 original statement will notice our reply. 



MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING V. WINTERING BEES 



IN THE NORTH ; SHIPPING IN CAR 



LOTS WITHOUT COM e ; . 



One of our correspondents, Mr. T. T. 

 Taylor, in the Heads of Grain department 

 of this issue, raises the question why it 

 would not be cheaper to buy bees in the 

 South, where thev can be reared in large 

 quantities, instead of going to the expense 

 and risk of wintering in the North by the 

 use of double-walled hives or elaborate and 

 expensive bee-cellars. His plan seems to 

 be that it is not necessary to keep bees 

 all the year round, especially at such 

 times of the year as they are con- 

 sumers and not producers. At the 

 close of the honey-flow he would double 

 up. his stocks into big ones, and in 

 a comparatively short time have but little 

 brood and fewer bees to destroy or move 

 to pastures new. 



If ever a jDlan of this kind was feasible 

 it was during the past winter and su mm er ; 

 but, so far as we know, Mr. R. F. Holter- 

 mann and ourselves were the only ones 

 in the United States who attempted to 

 shiji bees by the carload from the South 

 to the North. The venture was a financial 

 success with us, and probably was with Mr. 

 Holtermann. In such migratory beekeep- 

 ing every thing would depend on whether 

 there would be a fair flow of honey after 

 the bees were moved northward. If there 

 was a big flow, bees might gather enough 

 to pay the freight or even their first cost; 

 but it would have to be a big yield to do 

 it. So, generally speaking, we would have 



