1861 





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42dYEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, DEC. 4, 1902, 



No. 49. 



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^ Editorial Comments. 





Non-Swarming Bees. — Few things have advanced so 

 rapidly in general favor as forced swarming by shaking or 

 brushing. A good many seem to regard it as the Ultima 

 Thule, resting content to seek nothing further. Others, 

 while yielding no whit in their appreciation of the value of 

 forced swarming, will still continue to attach importance 

 to the encouragement of non-swarming tendencies in bees, 

 or rather to the repression of swarming tendencies. In a 

 paper at the Denver convention, W. L. Porter said that in 

 running out-apiaries one of the two important things to be 

 considered was " that a stock of bees may be carefully bred 

 which is not predisposed to swarm." 



It is entirely possible that forced swarming itself will 

 tend in the direction of breeding out the swarming ten- 

 dency, but there should be no let-up in the selection of the 

 best stock in breeding, and one of the characteristics of 

 best stock should continue to be considered freedom from a 

 tendency to excessive swarming. Forced swarming is a 

 long step in advance over natural swarming, but it is well 

 that there are those who do not consider it the final good. 



Must Bee-Cellars Be Dark ?— The general teaching 

 has been that absolute darkness was a matter of first im- 

 portance. A few, however, have testified that at times the 

 full light of day might be allowed to shine into the cellar 

 without harmful results. The Canadian Bee Journal gives 

 the testimony of quite a number to this effect, some holding 

 that up to February darkness is not essential, but that later 

 it is important. 



The truth probably is, that the matter is entirely de- 

 pendent upon conditions, the time having nothing to do 

 with it only as the change of time brings a change of con- 

 ditions. Note a oolony of bees upon its stand in the api- 

 ary. When a day comes so cool that the thermometer does 

 not rise above 45 degrees, the bees do not offer to stir out of 

 the hive all day long, even though the bright sun shines 

 directly into the entrance. Why should they any more fly 

 out at the same temperature in the cellar? 



There are two answers to the question. First, the 

 quality of the air. Outdoors it is always pure, in the cellar 

 not always. Second, the overloaded condition of the bees' 

 intestines. Outdoors the bees have had frequent oppor- 

 tunities for flight ; not so in the cellar. Let the bees be con- 

 fined to their hives when outdoors a sufficient length of 

 time to have their intestines loaded, and they will fly out at 

 a much lower temperature than if they had had a flight the 

 previous day. 



But why discuss the question ? Why not keep on the 

 safe side and keep the cellar always dark ? Just because it 

 is quite possible, if not probable, that the safer side may be 



to let light into the cellar when conditions allow. Darkness- 

 continued is not a good thing for the health of man or 

 beast, and it may not be for bee. When bees are first put 

 into the cellar, it often happens that for days the cellar may 

 be left open day and night without the bees flying out, and 

 so long as the temperature does not run down below 45 de- 

 grees, and the bees -show no disposition to fly out, it is 

 pretty sure that the light and the fresh air will do good and 

 not harm. Let a little watch be kept, and if the bees begin 

 to fly out in the bright sunshine, then close the cellar, only 

 to open it again as soon as darkness comes on to keep them 

 in, or rather, when the brightness of the day begins to fade 

 in the afternoon. 



Especially is it important to open up the cellar when 

 warm spells come in winter or early spring. The warm, 

 light air outside will not force itself by its weight through 

 the crevices of the cellar-wall as will colder air, so at such a 

 time the air of the cellar becomes foul. Open it in daytime,, 

 and the bees will rush out of the hives. But open it when 

 darkness falls, and let it remain through the night, so that 

 the cellar may be filled with fresh, pure air, and the bees 

 will remain quietly in the hives for some time after it be- 

 comes light in the morning. As soon as the bees begin to 

 fly out close up the cellar, only to open it again in the even- 

 ing if it is warm enough. 



Instead of continuous darkness, the desideratum may bfr 

 light whenever it will be endured, and fresh air which wilL 

 be endured at all times. 



Knife vs. Scissors for Clipping Queens — Our genial' 

 afterthinker suggests on page 746 that some leaving-out- 

 Hamlet business had been going on at page 643, his idea be- 

 ing that the chief objection to the use of scissors was the 

 danger of cutting off a queen's leg. It had not occurred to 

 lis that there was any serious danger in that direction, and a 

 note from one of the veterans who has clipped hundreds of 

 queens — yes, probably thousands — shows that "there are 

 others " who have never thought of any special danger 

 from leg-clipping. Here is what Dr. Miller says : 



" Has not our friend who takes the forethought to pre- 

 pare us so delightful a feast in the way of afterthought, 

 struck a new thing when he suggests that the principal 

 objection to clipping with scissors is the danger of maiming 

 the queen ? I think Mr. Doolittle has been the leading 

 advocate of the knife, and if he has ever suggested that 

 maiming was likely to occur with scissors, he has certainly 

 not made it the prominent objection. I'm not sure that I 

 ever saw the objection raised before. I think there would 

 be no excuse except extreme carelessness for taking off a 

 queen's leg with the scissors. I have been clipping for a 

 great many years, and I think in all that time I took off' a 

 leg for just one queen. That merely proves that I am not 

 as careful as I should be, for there is never any need to 

 make the cut until the scissors and legs are in such a rela- 

 tive position that there is no possible danger. Neither 

 would it be such a terrible thing to take off a leg. I have 

 had quite a number of queens that were born minus a leg, 

 which, nevertheless, did excellent work." 



The danger of making five-legged queens having now- 

 been brought prominently to the front, it may be left to. 



