1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1145 



although why a mid-winter flight should 

 help outdoor bees and hurt cellared bees was 

 never explained. I've experimented a little 

 for the past winter or two, but can't say 

 positively whether winter flights for cellared 

 bees are good or bad. I'm on the fence, and 

 I think, Mr. Editor, that very few are on 

 your side of the fence. What was the date 

 of your carrying out, that you thought work- 

 ed so well? [The discussion in regard to the 

 advisability of taking bees out for mid-win- 

 ter flights, and returning them, took place 

 along about the time I was coming out of 

 school, and after I had begun to take edito- 

 rial charge of this journal. It naturally 

 made a strong impression on my mind. The 

 articles were scattered over a long period of 

 time; but my recollection is that the gener- 

 al consensus of opinion was to the efl^ect that 

 there was a slight gain, but not enough to 

 warrant the expense and trouble. But 

 whether a slight gain or not, that does not 

 matter. We both agree that the general 

 sentiment was against it. I am very well 

 satisfied that this conclusion, at least for 

 some localities, was entirely wrong. If it is a 

 good thing for outdoor- wintered bees to have 

 a midwinter flight (and I do not think there 

 is any one who will dissent from this), it fol- 

 lows that it must be beneficial for indoor 

 bees, provided the weather conditions are 

 such as to permit it. In your locality, and 

 in that of Doolittle, and perhaps in a major- 

 ity of places where there is continuous cold 

 from fall till spring, I do not see how it will 

 be practicable to give such a flight. But 

 this would not prove that such cleansing 

 would not be beneficial if it could be had. 

 In our locality, and in many others, there 

 are occasional warm flight-days either in 

 February or March. 



Now in answer to your question, we give 

 our bees one such flight, sometimes two, 

 along in February if we can. If there is no 

 warm day suitable, we give it to them in 

 March. The point I desire to make is this: 

 Where the winters are not so extremely se- 

 vere, permitting flight days, the bees, because 

 of the warm weather, become uneasy in the 

 cellar, overcharging their intestines, and 

 therefore they must have a cleansing. I do 

 not see how there can be a conflict of opin- 

 ion if we take into consideration the matter 

 of locality. But we will take for example 

 the case where the winter is severe. Sup- 

 pose in your case, in February you have a 

 warm balmy day. Now let me strongly urge 

 that you carry half of your bees outdoors for 

 a flight and take them back. If you do not 

 notice any improvement in this half in the 

 way of added quietness and a disposition to 

 stay in the hive, I will buy you the best silk 

 hat I can find in Chicago. One more point: 

 We do not begin to have the number of dead 

 bees on our cellar bottom that we find in the 

 bottoms of some cellars where no midwinter 

 flight is allowed, or we will say possible. I 

 am coming to believe that it is all wrong to 

 conclude that an inch of dead bees all over 

 the cellar floor is a mass of superannuated 

 bees that would have died anyway. —Ed.] 



^J^eiejiborjjieldj 



5? 



To wreak its vengeance on a man, 



A bee one day engaged : 

 It gained its point, but lost its point. 

 And died in misery. 



—From the French. 

 ib 



The editor of Le Rucher Beige inveighs 

 strongly against the use of tobacco in smo- 

 kers, owing to its bad effect on bees. He 

 says, backed by Mr. Weygandt, in the " Im- 

 kerschule, " "If you are not willing to re- 

 nounce tobacco in favor of your bees, do it 

 in the interest of your own health." 

 w 



If there is any one plant that it will pay to 

 raise for honey alone it is raspberry, espe- 

 cially the red kind. The quantity of honey 

 yielded by it is great, and for quality it 

 is at least equal to any ever tasted. It 

 stands in a rank all by itself. But when we 

 add to these desirable characteristics the 

 great abundance of refreshing fruit it pro- 

 duces, and on almost any soil, we may say 

 it certainly deserves all the attention it gets. 

 This seems to be the opinion on the other 

 side of the ocean too. 

 \l« 



Le Rucher Beige says certain communes 

 in Belgium think seriously of levying a tax 

 on bee-keepers who move their bees to such 

 communes to get the benefit of a honey-flow. 

 This seems to be strongly opposed by others, 

 on the ground that bee-keepers are a great 

 benefit to such localities, as they necessarily 

 have to hire considerable help there on ar- 

 rival, besides spending a nice bit of money 

 there during their stay. These advantages, 

 they claim, would all be lost if the bee- 

 keepers were taxed, as then there would be 

 no incentive to go to such places. 

 \«< 



Considerable honey is produced in Europe. 

 According to Handels Museum the annual 

 crop from that continent, leaving out Italy, 

 is as follows, together with the number of 

 colonies kept. I rather suspect that Euro- 

 pean statistics are far more reliable than 

 those obtained in the United States. The 

 figures stand: 



Germany leads off with 1,910,000 colonies 

 and 20,000 tons of honey; Spain has l,6b0,000 

 colonies and 19,000 tons; Austria, 1,550,000 

 colonies and 18,000 tons; France, 950,000 col- 

 onies and 10,000 tons; Holland, 240,000 and 

 2500 tons: Belgium, 200,000 colonies and 2000 

 tons; Greece, 30,000 colonies and 1400 tons; 

 Russia, 110,000 colonies and 900 tons; Den- 

 mark, 90,000 colonies and 900 tons. 



Our old friend the Canadian Bee Journal 

 has not cut as much of a figure in these col- 

 umns lately as its merits deserve. Its pages 



