1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



621 



if it is not strong enough it will not do much 

 in a comb honey super, and in that case one 

 of the stories to brood-chambers must be taken 

 off, and in its place should be put on comb- 

 honey supers — not one, but two — enough to 

 accommodate all the bees comfortably. 



I do not care what you call it — substitution 

 or contraction. If Bro. Taylor prefers con- 

 traction, then I am willing to call it such; but 

 I have explained in another column that it is 

 not the same kind of contraction. — Ed.] 



RANDOM SHOTS. 



Swarming. 



BY W. A. H. GILSTRAP. 



Some bee-keepers worry about swarming as 

 if it could not be prevented. With the Hed- 

 don hive you can have the lower story on the 

 bottom-board all the season, and put another 

 story of combs or foundation on this one when 

 the hive becomes sufficiently crowded, and 

 ^'ou will have practically no swarming. If 

 you are afraid to have colonies " too strong " 

 you had better not take the advice above, for 

 a four or five story Heddon hive, when the 

 honey-flow begins, is liable to "boil over" 

 during the honey-flow. My divisible-brood- 

 chamber hives contained the first strong colo- 

 nies this year, and could be run for swarming 

 if you do not care to manage them otherwise. 



My bees will not carry honey " upstairs " a 

 la Heddon when the cases of the brood-cham- 

 ber are alternated. Are my bees too nmch 

 Italian, or am I too green to manage the hive 

 properly ? I use ^s"i"ch hive-rests for sides 

 and back of hive, leaving the front open dur- 

 ing the honey-flow, with a stick about like a 

 leadpencil under one side of the lid, which 

 gives ample ventilation. 



The above will prevent swarming, with my 

 bees at least. After the swarming-fever com- 

 mences the only way I know of to stop it at 

 once is to kill the bees or close the hive so 

 they can not fly. 



THE u. S. B. K. u. 



Skylark proposes to have all articles exclud- 

 ed from the bee-papers if not written by mem- 

 bers of the above Union — Am. Bee Jour., page 

 404. Mr. Israel never said any thing that 

 struck my fancy better, and still it might ex- 

 clude some good material from the public. 

 How would it do to give the members of the 

 Union a decided preference ? 



I believe Gleanings is still 75 cts. a 3-ear to 

 members of any bee-keepers' society, local or 

 national, on certificate of membership from 

 the secretary of such organization. The sec- 

 retary of the Union would be glad to send out 

 5000 such certificates to Gleanings, I think. 

 I can't indorse all the editor's variety of relig- 

 ion ; but as a bee-keepers' paper Gleanings 

 appears to me to be in the front, and deserved- 

 ly so. Just think of a membership in the 

 Union, and Gleanings one year, for $1.75 ! 

 pacific bee-papers. 



They never live long. The Fresno County 

 Bee-keepers' Association voted money out of 



its treasury to pay for " our California news- 

 paper " on the generous terms offered by the 

 publisher. Months have passed, and no pub- 

 lisher, paper, nor money has been located yet. 

 I guess California soil or climate is not good 

 for such literature. 



APIS DORS.\TA AND OTHER PESTS. 



This State is the dumping-ground for pests. 

 We had jack-rabbits, dry years, alkali, etc. 

 Johnson grass was brought in to flourish in 

 our fine country, and it proved to be a curse. 

 Bermuda graSS is a genuine curse when it gets 

 into orchards or vineyards. It can be plowed 

 as easily as sole leather, and can be killed ; 

 but the weak-kneed and faint-hearted had bet- 

 ter not try it. However, it makes good pas- 

 ture during the hottest part of the year. 



Apparently we are to escape the Apis dorsa- 

 ta invasion that was threatened. This tickles 

 me. Please don't worry us with any new 

 troubles. Irrigation has caused the alkali to 

 come to the surface seriously in places. Some 

 land that was splendid ten years ago is almost 

 worthless now. Some land stands irrigation 

 well. Large tracts of our land can not be ir- 

 rigated because we have so much more land 

 than water. Do vou blame us for calling a 

 halt ? 



COMB HONEY. 



One of our worst drawbacks here in comb- 

 honey production has never appeared in print, 

 so far as I know. The desert sand settles on 

 the section before and after being filled with 

 honey unless you are very careful. Add this 

 serious obstacle to a usually weak honey-flow 

 and you will see why we can most of our 

 honey. 



Caruthers, Cal., July 14. 



NON-SWARMING SYSTEM. 



Contracting the Brood-apartment. 



BY B. F. AVERILL. 



iSfy. Root: — Noticing the article on page 

 549, describing the non-success of the non- 

 swarming system with which I experimented 

 several season, I beg permission to reply that 

 there must have been some serious fault in 

 the writers' method of manipulation. I 

 should like to inquire of expert apiarists who 

 are readers of your journal, what would be 

 the per cent of swarming under the following 

 conditions of management. For instance, 

 take in spring, at tne commencement of the 

 swarming season, a colony of bees having 8 

 frames of brood in a hive containing 10 

 frames. If worked for extracted honey, give 

 to the division in front of hive with queen the 

 5 frames of brood that are liable to hatch first. 

 To the rear of the zinc division-board place 

 three frames of empty comb, and a comb con- 

 taining young larvse at the rear; or occasion- 

 ally, if early in the season, the weather being 

 cool, the larvte should be placed between the 

 frames of empty combs. Above in the sur- 

 plus apartment' are to be placed the two re- 

 maining combs of brood, appropriately hang- 

 ing them above the zinc division-board of the 



