408 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Room for More Bees in Idaho. 



In reply to Wendt Brothers, page 240. March 15, I 

 win say I was more fortunate than the writer of 

 that article In securing a homestead, for 1 got a 

 claim with bee-range attached, and there is still va- 

 cant land in the same township; but it has been 

 withdrawn from entry, so I was informed by the 

 Bols6 land office, Feb. 11th, some time after I wrote 

 the letter which appeared In Gleanings for March 

 15. This is now known as segregated land, and 

 will probably come in under a reclamation act at 

 some future time. 



In regard to the overstocking of our bee-range, I 

 do not think we are hurt yet, or have any cause for 

 alarm. A Colorado man landed a carload of bees 

 in our midst a few days ago, and was shown a good 

 location. This man shipped here just because he 

 wanted to move somewhere, and Caldwell looked 

 good to him on the map. 



No one should move his bees here, nor anywhere 

 else for that matter, without first making a person- 

 al investigation; but I fully believe that, under ex- 

 isting conditions (a few scattering foul-broody colo- 

 nies in the hands of careless farmers or inexperi- 

 enced people), if this whole bee-range were occu- 

 pied by competent bee-men it would be a matter 

 of only a short time when all foul brood would be 

 wiped out; but as it is, we are too few in numbers 

 to make our presence felt. We have a very good 

 foul-brood law, but no appropriation with it, so the 

 Inspectors get no pay, and, consequently, they do 

 but little work. I do not know of a worse-infected 

 apiary than that of our worthy inspector at the 

 present time: but, as before stated, he gets no pay, 

 and can not be expected to work for nothing. 



I am not a locator, neither am I advertising bee- 

 pasture; but if Wendt Brothers are getting crowd- 

 ed it may be they could find room for a few colo- 

 nies In this neighborhood; and if they are good foul- 

 brood fighters we will give them a hearty welcome 

 and render every assistance possible. I know of 

 but two locations in the United States where a good 

 man and a few clean bees would not be welcome — 

 Imperial Valley, Cal., and Parma, Idaho. 



Caldwell, Ida., May 1. J. E. Miller. 



Bees for. the Southland. 



In your talk about a different bee for the South, 

 you hit the nail square on the head. I have known 

 it for four or five years, although 1 had it impressed 

 harder on me last fall than ever, when colonies of 

 100.000 bees dropped to 10,000 in 30 days on aster, 

 there being no brood hatching to take their place. 

 All would have died out if we had had a hard win- 

 ter. We must do something in that line or quit. 



Wallsend, Ky., May 29. O. R. Weaver. 



Sweet Clover : Putting the Horses on the Witness- 

 stand. 



Replying to your favor of the 23d, asking for a re- 

 port on our sweet-clover results. I will say that we 

 sent up, in addition, to the seed purchased of you, 

 some 60 lbs. that we purchased cheap of a bee-keep- 

 ing friend of ours here. We gave instructions to 

 lay out eight small experimental plots, and the rest 

 to sow out through the pasture. Instructions were 

 given to inoculate as much as possible with what 

 soil could be obtained. We are stirring up a hor- 

 nets' nest among some of the farmers; but we al- 

 ways win — hy feed ilia xireet clover to their own horses. 



We will report results to you as they become no- 

 ticeable, and you will probably have some nice or- 

 ders for seed from us along in the fall if this is suc- 

 cessful. 



Peoria, 111., May 24. W. R. CONE. 



The North Texas Bee-keepers' Convention Report. 



April 5 and 6, 1911, the North Texas Bee-keepers' 

 Association met at Enloe, with a good attendance. 

 After a call to order by the president, and invoca- 

 tion by W. II. White, the president appointed a 

 committee to draft a program, as none had been 

 arranged. While it was being drafted there was a 

 general hand-shaking, and an opportunity to get 

 acquainted. 



After the program had been handed in, there was 

 one of the most lively and enthusiastic discussions 



that we have had for many years. The following 

 was discussed: "Why keep bees?" "Location and 

 arrangement of the apiary." 



At 1:30 P.M. the following subjects were discussed: 

 "The Inhabitants of the Hive;" "How to Begin 

 Bee-keeping;" "Swarming, and How to Control;" 

 "Feeding Bee.s — the Proper Feed, and how to Feed;" 

 " Enemies of Bees." 



At the business session on the second day, J. M. 

 Hagood, Enloe, was elected president; J. R. Scott, 

 Brookston, First Vice-president; J. W. Traylor, Lake 

 Creek, Second Vice-president: W. H. White, Green- 

 ville, Secretary, W. T. Moore, Enloe, Chaplain. 



Greenville, Texas, was selected for the next place 

 of meeting. 



"Honey-plants of North Texas," "Honey from 

 Cotton," as mentioned in the A B C of Bee Culture, 

 page 131, was discussed. 



A resolution was offered and adopted, " Be It re- 

 solved by the North Texas Bee-keepers' Association 

 that the statement as a whole, made by the ABC 

 and X Y Z of Bee Culture, page 131, concerning cot- 

 ton honey is erroneous, and misleading." 



"Comb Honey," "Extracted Honey," and "Mar- 

 keting Honey " also received due share of discus- 

 sion. 



[The item in regard to cotton honey has been 

 marked for correction in the new edition. — Ed.] 



Is it Safe to Clip Queens When there are Lizards 

 in the Grass Around the Hives? 



I notice in your ABC book you strongly advise 

 clipping the queen, in order to prevent her leaving 

 the hive with the swarm: also that the queen is often 

 found in the grass in front of the hive, trying to fly, 

 while the swarm is in the air. In this country we 

 have in our apiaries a great number of lizards that 

 would soon pounce on a queen or a bee as soon as 

 it strikes the ground, and devour it In an instant. 

 Considering this, would you advise clipping our 

 queens? 



MAKING INCREASE RAPIDLY, LEAVING HONEY OUT 

 OF CONSIDERATION. 



In making new colonies I am using the following 

 method: When a colony is very strong I am taking 

 out three frames of capped brood with the queen, 

 and placing them in a nucleus box, taking care to 

 leave uncapped cells and eggs in the original hive. 

 Within three days 1 find the queenless colony be- 

 gins to draw out queen-cells, and set about rearing 

 a queen. In this way I think the queen reared in 

 the original colony is much stronger than one rais- 

 ed in a nucleus. 1 should like very much to hear 

 your opinion on this matter, and will appreciate 

 any suggestions you may make as to the best meth- 

 od of increasing numbers of colonies (honey being 

 no object) for several months, as we do not have to 

 consider winter stores in this country, as the forest 

 here is all honey-producing. 



Ponce, Porto Rico. W. K. Andrews. 



[Under the conditions named, it would certainly 

 be unwise to clip the queen. We would, therefore, 

 advise the use of Alley traps, or just plain drone- 

 guards. 



Your niethod of increase would, we think, be sat- 

 isfactory. For a general method of increase we 

 would recommend the plan given in Alexander's 

 book.— Ed.] 



Trouble in Transferring. 



Since reading the letter of V. A. Texera, page 187, 

 I have been desirous of writing you with regard to 

 the matters set out in said letter, but have been put- 

 ting it off from time to time. However, the inquiry 

 of M. lAicy Fritz, page 28;i has finally impelled me 

 to write the letter 1 have been wishing to write. 



Two other people and myself tried the plan of 

 transferring set out in the two letters above this 

 spring, and in each case, except one, the outcome 

 was very disastrous. To make plain what we did, I 

 herewith set out the way each of us, acting indepen- 

 dently of the other, transferred some colonies: We 

 took a new hive with frames with full sheets of 

 foundation. We then found the queen and put her, 

 together with some bees, in the new hive; then put 

 on a queen-excluder, and, on top, the old hive. In 

 every case, except one, the bees deserted the queen 

 and stayed up in the old hive; and the spring, being 



