212 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



December 



after I had "swarmed" some colonies, 

 I would g-ive back brood and honey, for 

 bees are like people, they must have 

 some good reason to stay in a place 

 happily and contented, and I suspect 

 that the ones who have had their 

 swarms leave for parts unknown have 

 forgotten this fact. Only "Pat's" bees 

 can thrive on air. 



A funny thing happened to me last 

 spring. I read one evening G. M. Doo- 

 little's article on clippng queens in 

 Gleanings, and as each point in favor 

 of clipping came up, I, like the three 

 good school trustees, nodded my head 

 and thought "Them's my sentiments 

 too," and rather patted myself on the 

 back and thought "Sally, aren't you 

 glad yours are all clipped." 



Well, next morning my daughter re- 

 ported a swarm. I went out and looked 

 to see where it had come from, and soon 

 I found the hive with the queen in 

 front dead, with about one hundred 

 meat-eating ants stinging her and try- 

 ing to move her to their nest. I looked 

 and thought of the evening before, and 

 could only sit down on a hive and laugh. 

 As you perhaps know, Mr. Editor, such 

 subjects for merriment are the only 

 ones we Florida bee-keepers have had 

 for some years. 



I still believe in clipping all queens, 

 but scald your ant nests before swarm- 

 ing time. 



I also believe that Mr. Doolittle is 

 the best bee-keeper of us all. There is 

 good hard common sense in all that he 

 ■writes or does. May he live long and 

 his bees always find nectar. 



But, Mr. Editor, you don't know how 

 you make me tremble for yourself at 

 times. When the other editors are 

 throwing each other bouquets of for- 

 get-me-not, aren't you afraid that they 

 may get hold of some of A. I. R's. cab- 

 bage or potatoes and throw them your 

 way? You do say so much right out 

 in meeting, and J. Hardscrabble don't 

 help you to keep quiet, either. Do let 

 me give you some motherly advice, be 

 careful, if not for your own sake then 

 for ours. 



Grant, Fla., Oct. 16, 1902. 



MERITS OF QUEENS. 



Like Mr. Somerford, of Cuba, Mr. 

 Albert Gale, of Australia, thinks the 

 cement or concrete bottom for hives 

 quite the proper thing. Their durabil- 

 ity is, of course, the chief claim of mer- 

 it. 



Suggestions of a Careful Observer in Regard to 

 the Qualities of the Mother Bee, and their Re- 

 lation to the Honey Yi«Ul — Statements of 

 a Misleading Character Overhauled, 



(Arthur C. Miller.) 



IN the Bee Keeper for October, page 

 l''^l, at the foot of the second column, 

 appears this paragraph, apparently 

 written by the editor: "The writer has 

 received a queen by mail at a cost of 

 $1.50, whose colony filled over 200 one- 

 pound sections, and that in a season 

 when no other colony in the yard gave 

 over So pounds." 



This was called forth by some of the 

 recent statements regarding the rela- 

 tive value of queens. The remark was 

 timely, but was too broad, and without 

 explanation or modification may be the 

 basis of error. 



Except where the surplus crop conies 

 late in the season the progeny of a 

 queen purchased that season seldom has 

 much to do with influencing the amount 

 secured by the colony in which she is. 

 In the northern states few queens are 

 received before May 15, and at the best 

 very few are introduced and laying be- 

 fore then. Allowing thirty days from 

 egg to the field bee, how many workers 

 from the new queen are likely to be of 

 value in the gathering of a white clover 

 crop? But suppose for the sake of ar- 

 gument that the new queen is intro- 

 duced and laying by May 1st, and that 

 she quickly reaches a high rate of pro- 

 duction. If such is the case she may 

 have put a considerable number of bees 

 in the field by June 15, but the bulk 

 of that colony at that time is composed 

 of bees from the original queen, and 

 the majority of them are under thirty 

 da3'S old. Allowing sixty days as the 

 average life of the workers, it will read- 

 ily be seen that from a third to a half 

 of the crop is all that should be cred- 

 ited to the new blood. But it is folly 

 to attempt to say that the large crop 

 was really due to that source. 



Mr. Hill, I believe, is well aware of 

 these facts, as are also other thought- 

 ful and observant bee-keepers, but 

 many persons are not, particularly the 

 novices, and such unqualified state- 

 ments as in the paragraph noted, and 

 manv of which slip into the papers, 

 lead them astray. 



