NOVEMBER 15, 1912 



743 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Are Redwood Hives More Immune to Bee Disease 

 than Hives of Pine ? 



An extensive beekeeper of Saltriver Valley uses 

 redwood exclusively for the hives in all of his api- 

 aries. He buys a great many colonies of bees 

 throughout the valley, but they must be in hives 

 made of redwood or he passes them by. 



This man claimed bees are free from diseases 

 when occupying the redwood hive. 



If I am not mistaken, the redwood is a species 

 of cedar or fir family ; and I guess the most of us 

 know what a panic the oil of cedar creates among 

 insects when applied to them, that bother us in our 

 houses. My bees are mostly in the redwood hive, 

 unpainted. " The oil in the paint destroys the effect 

 of the oil of cedar in the redwood lumber. Bees 

 could not be healthier than mine are. 



Phcenix, Ariz., Oct. 25. L. M. Beown. 



[Some years ago we traveled extensively through 

 the redwood districts, or, rather, where the redwood 

 hives were used, and our recollection is that foul 

 brood was just as common in hives made of that as 

 ot pine or any other material. While cedar chests 

 are supposed to keep out moths that will eat into 

 fur or woollen goods, it should be understood that 

 the moths themselves are very different in general 

 characteristics from the microbes that cause foul 

 brood, both American and European. Your friend, 

 the extensive beekeeper, must be entirely mistaken 

 in believing that redwood has any thing to do with 

 keeping out the bacteria of bee diseases. If there 

 were any thing in his idea, the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy would have known it long ago. — Ed.] 



A Swarm Hangs on a Limb Nearly Two Montlis 

 without Building Comb 



On September 11, six weeks ago to-day, some 

 boys called my attention to a swarm of bees clus- 

 tered on the iimb of a large white-oak tree, about 

 fifty feet from the ground. As the tree stands in 

 front of my house it has been easy to watch them. 

 The swarm was a large one. No one is positive 

 when the bees settled there, although workmen in 

 the fields near my house say that they saw a swarm 

 pass and go into the grove the last of July, and they 

 tried to find them but failed. To my knowledge this 

 swarm has been there six weeks, and for the past 

 four weeks it has been gradually growing smaller, 

 due to clumps of bees dropping off to the ground 

 from weakness, particularly on cool mornings, until 

 this morning the cluster was not larger than a 

 man's fist. Since I first noticed the cluster it has 

 moved gradually about six feet further out on tne 

 limb. Is it not very unusual for a swarm to hang 

 like this until the bees starve? 



Later. — The last of the swarm dropped from the 

 limb on the 20th or 21st of this month, and all died 

 on the ground beneath the limb. There was no comb 

 built anvwhere on the limb. 



Blackstone, Va., Oct. 16. N. S. Mayo. 



(It is unusual that a swarm should hang on a 

 limb so long in the open without making at least 

 some attempt to build comb. There have been re- 

 ports of outdoor colonies ; but in every instance 

 that we have known, the bees have built combs on 

 the limb and made an attempt at establishing condi- 

 tions as nearly as possible resembling those inside of 

 a hive ; but even such outdooor colonies usually 

 dwindle away to almost nothing at the approach of 

 cold weather.- — Ed.] 



Are Camiolans Prone to Supersede their Queen ? 



In one of Dr. Miller's Straws, page 612, Oct. 1, 

 he quotes Editor Gerstung as saying that bees 

 generally supersede their queens during the spring. 

 Are these bees Carniolans ? My experience with 

 these bees is that they are invariably well ahead in 

 numbers in the spring, and during fruit-bloom 

 supersede, swarming with the first-hatched queen. 

 I have had this happen several times, and with three 

 different strains of bees. I attribute this to the ex- 

 ceedingly rapid way these bees build up, the queens 

 being worn out early. Or is it due to their being 

 naturally short-lived? I am inclined to think that the 

 excessive swarming experienced is due to this super- 

 i«ding. In this country tliey have the reputation 

 of being excessive brood-rearers — that is to say, they 



keep on rearing brood in quantity, right through 

 the honey-flow, using up the greater part of the 

 income. Their crosses, particularly with blacks, are 

 invariably vicious, and on these counts I have de- 

 cided to clear them out. 



I am unable to understand how it is that, with 

 you, blacks have such a bad name. Probably they 

 are not quite the same variety as ours. I am con- 

 vinced that, taking one season with another, blacks 

 of a good strain are the best for us, and particularly 

 is this so when sections are run for. I am free to 

 admit that some Italians I have had are first rate, 

 for extracted. I shall be glad to hear whether your 

 experience with Carniolans coincides with mine. 



H. H. Brook. 



13 Westgate Hall, Altrinchan, England, Oct. 12. 



[Your experience with Carniolans is very much 

 the same as ours. They are excessive swarmers, in 

 season and out of season ; and since you mention 

 it, part of this excess of swarming may be due to 

 the tendency of the bees to supersede their queens. 

 As you say, they are heavy breeders in the spring, 

 and they breed heavily when the honey-flow is on. 

 Naturally enough, this would tend to cause super- 

 sedure a little earlier than it would with the Ital- 

 ians. 



We would be pleased to get reports from those 

 who have tried Carniolans pretty extensively ; be- 

 cause the more thoroughly we understand their 

 peculiar habits, the better able we shall be to hold 

 in check some of these undesirable tendencies. 



With regard to black bees, from reports we have 

 received we are convinced that the English strain 

 of these bees is much superior to those in America. 

 — Ed.] 



A Protest Against Mending Broken Comb Honey 

 with Paraffine 



I note the reference to the plan of mending the 

 cappings with warm paraffine, p. 617, Oct. 1. After 

 looking in vain for a footnote or comment on the 

 above article, I can not but believe that the sin of 

 omission is as great as if not greater than the one 

 of commission. One of the worst of the comb-honey 

 canards is the general belief by the public that 

 paraffine is mixed with honey, or, rather, is manu- 

 factured into comb, and I am surprised that you 

 would permit any one to advocate daubing up comb 

 honey with it, without a word of caution on your 

 part. 



Dewey, Okla. M. H. Hill. 



[The amount of paraffine used would be so very 

 small that there certainly could be no objection to 

 it, providing one could afford to give the time to 

 patch up here and there a broken cell. Moreover, 

 paraffine melts at a lower temperature than beeswax, 

 and this one fact would make it possible to make 

 repairs with it when it would not be practicable to 

 use bleached beeswax. Hot beeswax applied to the 

 cappings of ordinary comb would, of course, melt 

 the other beeswax with which it comes in contact; 

 whereas a hot paraffine, relatively somewhat cooler, 

 would not affect the beeswax. 



While we most strenuously object to making foun- 

 dation out of paraffine or using it in any large way 

 in the bee business we can not see that there is any 

 objection to its use in the manner related by our 

 correspondent on page 617, Oct. 1. As a matter of 

 fact, it will be impracticable to use paraffine to make 

 repairs on comb, for the simple reason that the time 

 consumed in applying it would more than offset 

 any possible increase in price that the section would 

 receive from the repair. We do not think our cor- 

 respondent needs to worry over the thing, for the 

 process can never be a commercial possibility. — Ed.] 



New State Beekeepers' Organization of Massa- 

 chusetts 



On September 14, at the State Mutual Restau- 

 rant, Worcester, Mass., Mr. J. B. Levens, of Mai- 

 den; O. F. Fuller, Blackstone; .1. L. Byard, Marl- 

 boro; A. A. Byard, West Chesterfield, N. H. ; Arthur 

 Monroe, Spencer; and Dr. B. N. Gates, of Amherst, 

 met at an informal dinner for the purpose of dis- 

 cussing the advisability and method of forming a 

 State beekeepers' association for Massachusetts. The 

 invitation to this meeting was extended Vy Dr. 

 Burton N. Gates, of the ^I?'^s^cl\\i,setts Ag^icu.Uural 



