458 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June ]5. 



" When my bees get the upper story filled 

 with brood and honey, the}- are apt to swarm, 

 regardless of room below, either with empty 

 combs or empty frames," says DelosWood, p. 

 399. This butts squarely against the Simmins 

 theory, which has held a respectable place in 

 England for years, and is substantially, I be- 

 lieve, that, so long as bees have room to build 

 below the brood-nest, they will not swarm. I 

 have had bees swarm without touching the 

 empty story below; but perhaps it was because 

 there was a big gap to cross between the two 

 stories. 



C. Preuss, in his new book on bee-manage- 

 ment, says that he took careful notes in the 

 spring of 1893; and in 33 days, from April 3 

 to May 5, 29 colonies consumed an average of 

 11 quarts of water each, the heaviest drinker 

 taking no less than 16 quarts ! He thinks it 

 would have cost the lives of many bees to go 

 out after so much water, especially on cold 

 windy days. [There is, no doubt, a good deal 

 in this, and yet for some reason or other the 

 general bee-keeping fraternity has paid but 

 little attention to it. It might pay well to 

 feed simply water every spring. — Ed.] 



H. W. Brice says in Brit. Bee Journal that 

 post-mortems show clearly that bees and queens 

 are affected with foul brood, so no cure can 

 be effectual that treats brood alone; the colo- 

 ny must be requeened with a perfectly healthy 

 queen. In this view Mr. MeEvoy will hardly 

 agree. [Cheshire, Cowan, Brice, and other 

 scientists, say that foul-brood germs are found 

 in adult bees and queens. But we never had 

 a case yet when bees affec.ed with foul brood, 

 and placed on foundation, were not complete- 

 ly cured; that is, there was no further visible 

 evidence of foul brood. If the disease re- 

 mained in the living organisms of the bees, it 

 did not seem to go from them to the brood. 

 Our own experience is quite in line with that 

 of Wm. MeEvoy. 



JUNE 5. A superb crop of white clover — 

 never saw it plentier — but can't make out that 

 bees are getting any thing from it. Is this to 

 be another year of failure ? [There is a su- 

 perb crop of white clover around here. When 

 it first came out the bees did not seem to care 

 for it; but now they are busily roaring over 

 our heads, and pouring into the hives There 

 never was a better prospect for clover honev 

 than this year; and basswoods in our vicinity 

 look equally promising; but many of our col- 

 onies were too weak to be in prime condition 

 to get the honey when it does come. The se- 

 vere winter put such a damper on them that 

 they have scarcely recovered from it yet; and 

 this, I think, is the general condition through- 

 out the country. — Ed.] 



' ' The Earuest strawberry ' ' seems to be 

 what you are after, friend A. I. In this " lo- 

 cality " we're after the latest. We could buy 

 plenty of strawberries here at three boxes for 

 a quarter (one day five boxes for a quarter) 

 before a strawberry-blossom was to be seen on 

 our vines ; but the latest berries find a better 

 market. [Why, doctor, I am after both earli- 

 est and latest, and just now our best late ber- 

 ry seems to be the Brandy wine. Perhaps it is 



not the very latest, but it holds its fruit away 

 up out of the dirt. Its color is very beautiful 

 — one of the most brilliant scarlet. It is a big 

 berry, and is, as a rule, beautifully shaped. It 

 is also a large yielder. There are many other 

 candidates for the very latest, but just now I 

 do not know of a better one than the Brandy- 

 wine. — A. I. R.] 



Prof. Eaton says in Chicago Record : " In 

 England the consumption of sugar is 88 lbs. 

 per capita. In the United States it is about 

 64 lbs.; but in France it is 31 lbs., in Ger- 

 many 27, in Austria-Hungary 20, in Russia 11, 

 and in Italy only 4.7. And when granulated 

 sugar is selling retail in the United States at 

 5 cents a pound it sells in Germany at 9 cents, 

 in France at 10 cents, in Russia at 13 cents, 

 and in Italy at 14 cents. [It would look as if 

 the consumption of sugar were in an inverse 

 ratio to its price, i. e., the greater the cost the 

 less the consumption. Then the question will 

 arise, Does this large consumption in any way 

 affect the consumption of our product, honey ? 

 or does the one beget a desire for the other, 

 like beer for whisky? —Ed.] 



" We are raising CEIXS in the lower story 

 of the hive with a laying queen," says the ed- 

 itor, p. 401. I've done that (sometimes it 

 didn't work) with the queen in the upper sto- 

 ry; but if you mean you do it in the lower 

 story with the queen in the same story, then 

 you're ahead of me. But I'd give a good deal 

 more to know how to keep queen cells out of 

 the lower story when the queen is there. [Yes, 

 we can raise queen-cells in the same story of a 

 brood nest already having a laying queen, long 

 before the swarming season. The queen-cells 

 are reared in a portion of the brood-nest shut 

 off with perfora'ed zinc, the laying queen be- 

 ing confined to the other portion. Of course, 

 the bees have access to both divisions. The 

 whole secret of the plan rests in having the 

 artificial cell-cups perfectly made, and supplied 

 with the royal larvae and jelly. To make cell- 

 cups that the bees wiil accept is an art, but 

 not a difficult one. Without the artificial cups, 

 nothing could be done. — Ed.] 



' 1'wixt scalding; suns and thunder-showers 

 The bees aie hard at work; 

 " We'll get a mightv crop " says Drone, 

 '• If none of you do shirk." 



% 

 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 Mr. W. W. Lathrop, of Connecticut, gives 

 a picture showing some sweet clover 9 Let 

 high. 



ifc 

 Mr. C. A. Bunch, ot Indiana, sa\ s he has 

 used the Simplicitv-L^ngstroth frame for 13 

 years, and thinks it is all right for comb hon- 

 ey ; but for extracted honey he wants the 

 frame two inches deeper. He finds the frame, 



