1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



291 



ting In time guarding a little pile of money" Is contemptibly 

 mean and untrue. The history of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union has been a PROUD RECORD OF WORK DONE, and I 

 feel sure that my friends everywhere will each resent such an 

 Insinuation as a personal insult. Its meanness Is only ex- 

 ceeded by Its ingratitude. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Union decided by an over- 

 whelming vote that it would not consent to amalgamation — 

 nor to the use of its funds for a purpose for which they were 

 not created. That matter was settled three months ago. Why 

 not accept the situation ? If the new organization has work 

 to do in another line, let it go about it, and accomplish some- 

 thing to Its credit. Instead of fighting the " Union," which 

 for 13 years has been laboring FOR THE PURSUIT, let 

 these fighters go right to work and tight the contemptible 

 adulterators of honey. Bring them up standing before the 

 law, as the Union has done with those who tried to destroy 

 the pursuit by attacking its very right to exist. That is what 

 the Union was created for, and just what It has done, and Is 

 doing. 



For the past three years, because of the exceedingly hard 

 times, the Advisory Board decided not to collect any " DUES " 

 from the old members. This the editor misconstrues into 

 squandering the-funds by the General Manager. Could any- 

 thing be more unjust and contemptible ? It was to the credit 

 of the members of the Board that they unanimously agreed to 

 remit the " Dues " In these times of financial depression and 

 scarcity of money. 



Again, while I am writing on this subject, allow me to 

 ask. Why the new organization should bemean itself by steal- 

 ing the name of " Bee-Keepers' Union ?" While there are 

 many disadvantages in doing this, there can be no advantage 

 unless it Intends to try to steal its FAME as well as its name. 

 Better be honest and find a new name. There are many ex- 

 cellent ones yet unused. 



Towards any new organization created to "fight adultera- 

 tion and fraud," the National Bee-Keepers' Union has due 

 respect, and will co-operate in every possible manner, if It can 

 do so without being assaulted, misrepresented and reviled. To 

 try to create any other impression is unjust and unreasonable. 

 San Francisco, Cal., April 27. 



[Whenever any person publicly calls us dishonorable, an 

 insulter, "bombastic," "contemptibly mean," and practically 

 says we are a liar, a thief, etc., as the General Manager of the 

 old Union does In the foregoing, why we feel like simply ask- 

 ing, "Couldn't you have thrown your boomerang a little 

 harder?" 



We perhaps ought to remind Mr. Newman that his 

 official acts and utterances, as General Manager, are quite 

 proper subjects of criticism. But we will not lower ourselves to 

 the mire of offensive personalities, and thus admit we have no 

 arguments to defend our side. Just now, however, we prefer 

 to let Mr. Newman's reply, as above given, stand upon its 

 merits, or demerits. Though it is no little satisfaction to add 

 right here, that Prof. Cook, In a letter to us dated April 28, 

 says of that same editorial, on page 248 : '■'■ Your cHiVorial is 

 all right." (Italics ours.) — Editor.] 



Some Important Spring Work. 



Sometimes much harm Is done by opening up hives on cool 

 days early in the season, thus letting the brood get chilled. 

 While care should be taken in this direction, it Is still not best 

 to let the bees always entirely alone. Here are two colonies, 

 one of them very weak, the other comparatively strong. Left 

 alone, the weak one will be about at a stand-still for a long 

 time, and the stronger one, being queenless, will not be at a 

 stand-still, but will for some time be on the decline in num- 

 bers, until the brood from Its newly-reared queen begins to 

 add young bees. The case is still worse if the colony is hope- 

 lessly queenless, that is. It has neither eggs nor young brood 

 from which to rear a queen. In that case it is only a question 

 of time, and not a very long time, when it will become utterly 

 extinct. 



Having two such colonies, the inexperienced with but few 

 colonies and anxious to increase the number, will be very like- 

 ly to give a frame of brood to the queenless colony, providing 

 It has none, feeling that It would be a serious misfortune to al- 

 low the number of colonies to become less. But a lessening of 

 the number of colonies doesn't always mean a lessening of the 



number of bees, and In the early part of the season, especially. 

 It is more important to have a large number of bees than a 

 large number of colonies. If the strength of individual colo- 

 nies be kept up it is not hard to Increase the number of colo- 

 nies later on. 



So the wise bee-keeper will look into his colonies, find 

 which are weak and which are strong, which have queens, 

 either by seeing the queen or by seeing brood and eggs pres- 

 ent, and If he finds one colony queenless will unite it with 

 some other not very strong in bees, but having a good queen. 

 Even if the queenless colony has brood of Its own from which 

 it is rearing a queen, queen-cells perhaps being sealed, it will 

 be a good many days before such a queen will commence lay- 

 ing, and as the bees are every day dying off from old age the 

 strength of the colony will be greatly reduced. The queen in 

 the weak colony Is at the same time doing little laying, be- 

 cause there are not bees on hand to take care of the brood.- 

 Unite the two colonies and the queen will at once increase her 

 laying, and you will have more bees for the harvest than if 

 you had left the two separate. Even if your sole object is to 

 increase the number of colonies, it is still policy to unite, for 

 later in the season you have more bees to make new colonies 

 from. — Homestead. 



The Proper Management of Swarms. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



There is hardly any matter connected with bee-keeping 

 that is more important than a wise management at the swarm- 

 ing season. We used to hear a good deal about dividing bees, 

 or artificial swarming, but in these latter days I think very 

 few attempt any increase except by natural swarming. I have 

 tried both methods for many years, and have come decidedly 

 to the opinion that It Is much better to let the bees swarm nat- 

 urally. I would take all proper precautions to subdue the 

 swarming-fever, or impulse, but think it Is never best to prac- 

 tice division as we used to do in the olden time. 



MR. .T. F. M'INTI-RE'S PLAN. 



I need not say that Mr. Mclntyre is one of the most suc- 

 cessful bee-keepers not only in California, but in the United 

 States, or even the world. Indeed, he Is one of the largest 

 bee-keepers, though I think he has never reacht Capt. Heth- 

 erington's rank, or even that of Harbison, when he kept so 

 many bees here in California. Mr. Mclntyre aims to keep 

 about 600 colonies, and he has things so conveniently arrang- 

 ed that he is able to do a large part of the labor without out- 

 side assistance. Mr. Mclntyre works almost entirely for ex- 

 tracted honey, and notwithstanding the large size of his api- 

 ary I think his average for all the years since he haskept bees 

 in California, has been well toward 100 pounds per colony, 

 per year, while in the best years it has reacht several hundred 

 pounds per colony for the entire apiary. While Mr. Mclntyre 

 has an excellent location, I doubt if it is better than a good 

 many others in this favored clime. 



As I stated above, Mr. Mclntyre aims to keep only about 

 600 colonies. If because of sales, or for any other reason, his 

 number is below this at the beginning of the season, he allows 

 his bees to swarm until he reaches the desired number of colo- 

 nies. It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Mclntyre keeps 

 his queens' wings dipt, for he is a very intelligent apiarist 

 and aims to save all the work possible. After he has secured 

 the number of colonies that he wishes, he proceeds as follows : 



If a swarm issues, he takes the brood away from the hive 

 to a large extent and divides this among other colonies which 

 may not be as strong as he would like, and then suffers the 

 swarm to go back to its old hive. This replacement of the 

 brood witti empty frames or frames of foundation, usually des- 

 troys the swarming impulse and thus the colony Is in good condi- 

 tion to go into the surplus chamber as soon as the honey season 

 opens. In this way Mr. Mclntyre says he has no difficulty in 

 starting in the season with the number of colonies he desires, 

 and all strong and ready for full business. 



Of course, Mr. Mclntyre does everything he can to put off 

 the swarming impulse. This Is done by seeing that the second 

 story of frames is in position early in the season so that the 

 bees shall have plenty of room to store. There Is no doubt but 

 by thus strengthening the colonies so that they are very strong 

 at the dawn of the season, he secures no small gain, and it is 

 very likely due to this, in great part, that he receives such 

 large yields. 



REMOVING THE QUEEN. 



I have known good bee-keepers to remove the queen at the 

 beginning of the harvest In order, as they thought, to prevent 

 swarming and secure a larger crop of honey. If they were 



