1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



425 



"We have tried the bee game in 

 other sections throughout the middle 

 west," she continued, moving on to 

 the next liivc, "and experience has 

 taught us that with a knowledge of 

 the business the bee farmer can make 

 good, on a big scale, in this cut-over 

 country." 



Just between j'ou and me and the 

 twelve bees that left me only when I 

 sought refuge behind the wheel of my 

 car, there is a future in bee farming 

 for the upper Michigan farmer, if he 

 will grasp his opportunity. It is 

 somewhat of a "new thought" in the 

 utilization of upper Michigan's 8.000.- 

 000 or more acres of clover-laden 

 cut-over lands, and bee farming is 

 going to be the subject of a wide- 

 spread campaign among the farmers 

 of northern Michigan from this time 

 on. 



Michigan. 



DEMAREE SWARM PREVENTION 



In March I had a very heavy hive 

 (A) with 8 frames of brood and some 

 queen-cells fairly well advanced. 1 

 decided to try the much-advocated 

 plan of "anti-swarming," thinking 

 that a few days would not matter 

 much, or at least could be easily re- 

 dressed. 



Another hive-body (B) was placed 

 above A, and in it the old queen, 

 (saved from a nucleus the previous 

 autumn), 2 combs of young brood 

 and the rest filled with frames com- 

 pletely built, and, of course, an ex- 

 cluder between. 



The 10th day, or about, the queen- 

 cells in A were all destroyed except 

 the best one. 



Soon began a series of adventures. 

 On a fine day, the bees m A swarmed 

 twice, clustered upon a privet at 

 hand; but, finding that somebody 

 had played "foul," returned home, 

 ashamed of their misadventure. 



Is not this the evident proof that 

 the worker-bees swarm out of their 

 own initiative, without guidance or 

 "mot d'ordre" from the queen? 



In due time the new queen in A 

 had emerged and was doing pretty 

 well, not troubling herself in the 

 liast with swarming. But the bees 

 surely had gotten the fever and were 

 always on the lookout for an outing. 

 So another fine day they swarmed 

 twice in the morning, and a third 

 time at 2 o'clock. But, strange to 

 say, after a while, they returned 

 home, where there began an earnest 

 fight, in wliich half a swarm was 

 killed. I smoked them thoroughly till 

 anger vanished. Calm having pre- 

 vailed, I decided to make a thorough 

 investigation of that queer occur- 

 rence. 



Lo, on the bottom of A there were 

 two queens being balled — an old one 

 and a young virgin. The old queen 

 I understood later, was the one of a 

 small swarm which had issued just 

 in the time when the bees of A were 

 coming back. Both queens were set 

 free, the virgin caged for a moment. 



Fearing more mishaps with those 



bees, I determined to divide them 

 and set them at peace. I opened the 

 hive B and looked for the queen, but 

 could not find her. I was at a loss. 

 Reviewing the frames carefully, I 

 noticed under the top-bar of the last 

 frame a group of bees, very earnest 

 at some business, like they are when 

 after moths. There was my good old 

 queen furiously attacked by her 

 bees — playing "foul!" She must have 

 the penalty. What to do.' Thinking 

 the new queen would fare better, I 

 killed the old one and gave the new 

 queen in a new hive (C). 



Result: The three queens have 

 been lost — two weaklings instead of 

 a strong hive which could have 

 stored 50 pounds of honey. Much 

 trouble for nothing. Mais peut etre 

 que la lecon vaut la chanson. 



What do you think of that? There 

 is much said for and against that 

 anti-swarming plan. Perhaps the 

 difficulty came from the circum- 

 stances when it was applied. 



Shanghai, China. 



Answer. — Undoubtedly the trouble 

 came, as you say, from the circum- 

 stances. Had not another swarm 

 joined this one, there would have 

 probably been no fight. But two 

 queens in one hive of two stories 

 only, separated by a mere queen- 

 excluder, will sooner oi later cause 

 trouble, especially at the end of the 

 honey harvest. At best, the Dem- 

 aree system serves only as a tem- 

 porary prevention of swarming, if no 

 unusual occurrence interferes. 



In many instances, the bees of a 

 colony with a virgin queen attempt 

 to swarm when their queen goes out 

 to mate. In such circumstances, how- 

 ever, they do not usually return, un- 

 less the queen herself returns. — Ed. 



HERE FROM PALESTINE TO 

 STUDY BEE CULTURE 



To study American methods of bee 

 culture and honey production in or- 

 der to introduce them into Palestine, 

 Alexander Livshitz, of Jaffa, Presi- 

 dent of the Beekeepers' Association 

 of Palestine, has just arrived in this 

 country. He plans to spend four 



months in California studying mod- 

 ern agriculture, principally bee cul- 

 ture. 



Mr. Livshitz, who is the leading bee 

 cultivator in Palestine, heads a finely 

 developed co-operative association, 

 which has increased the number of 

 bee hives in Palestine from 100 eight 

 years ago, to 4,000 today. With 

 the machinery he intends purchasing 

 here, together with the new ideas he 

 will take back with him, Mr. Livshitz 

 declares his association will possess 

 20,000 bee hives within several years. 



He expects to disseminate the in- 

 formation he will secure here by pub- 

 lishing agricultural texts in Hebrew, 

 based on his California investiga- 

 tions, which will be distributed 

 throughout Palestine by means of 

 traveling libraries. Mr. Livshitz is a 

 typical Eastern Europe Zionist, who 

 studied agriculture in Russia in or- 

 der to establish himself in Palestine 

 and aid in developing it into the Jew- 

 ish national homeland. — New York 

 Post. 



ODDS AND ENDS 



Convention Dates 



We wish to remind our readers of 

 the dates of the following conven- 

 tions which are held near together: 

 Wisconsin at Madison, on December 

 2 and 3; Chicago Northwestern at 

 Chicago, on December 6 and 7; Min- 

 nesota at Minneapolis, December 7 

 and 8, and Illinois at Springfield, on 

 December 14 and 15. 



Minnesota Convention 



The annual meeting of the Minne- 

 sota Beekeepers' Association will be 

 held at the meeting rooms of the 

 Medical Association, Donaldson 

 Building, Seventh and Nicollet, Min- 

 neapolis, Minn., December 7 and 8, 

 1920. 



OTTO L. WILLIE, Secretary. 



Illinois Convention 



The State Association meeting will 

 be held in the Leland Hotel, Sun Par- 



Part of ai'iary of Ugo Lori at Pratoliiio, ntar l''Iorcnce, Italy 



