Gleanings in Bee Culture 



me they usually get their second swarms 

 about eight days after the first (or prime) 

 swarm issues. Supposing the cell to be 

 capped one day when the prime swarm 

 issues, and the"^ virgin that leads out the 

 after-swarm is one day old, this would agree 

 with our experience. ( )f course, some swarm 

 before capping queen-cells. In rare cases 

 bees swarm without any apparent prepara- 

 tion for swarming in the way of cells. In 

 Mr. Crane's case, page 781, Dec. 15, 1910, 

 where virgins were caged from the parent 

 colony after the issuing of the first swarm, 

 the bees were probably held back by un- 

 favorable weather or honey conditions, as 

 he says this is more likely to occur during 

 the fore part of the season, when we may 

 suppose the weather would be more likely 

 to be unfavorable. If we see virgins with 

 the swarm when hiving them, as with a 

 superseding or after-swarm, then we go to 

 the parent colony with our cages, a la 

 Crane, and cage some nice virgins if we are 

 in need of them. But if we go to a colony 

 after it has cast a swarm, with normal 

 weather and other conditions, we usually 

 find, instead of virgins hatching, cells as I 

 have described above, but no virgins. In 

 this controversy, in my humble opinion Dr. 

 Miller is right, and Mr. Crane and the edi- 

 tor wrong, supposing conditions are normal. 

 Remus, Mich. E. D. Townsend. 



SWARMS ISSUE BEFORE CELLS ARE SEALED. 



I wonder where I could get some bees 

 accommodating enough to wait until vir- 

 gins hatch. Mine are so inconsiderate as 

 to swarm before cells are sealed, in many 

 cases, and never wait long after sealing 

 unless bad weather prevails. 



Washington, D. C. Geo. S. Demuth. 



[The "goak" is on us; and we suppose, 

 by all rules of warfare in cases like this, we 

 owe Dr. Miller a box of cigars; but as the 

 good doctor and ourselves don't smoke, and 

 neither of us has any use for tobacco in 

 any form, we owe him a hilk hat. If he 

 will go to the store and buy one we will pay 

 the bill; or we will send him ours, because 

 ours is too big now. 



Joking aside, we are frank to admit that 

 we may have been misled by conditions of 

 locality or by a condition like that men- 

 tioned by Mr. Couper above, or, what is 

 more probably true, by unusual weather 

 conditions at the time the fact (?) was re- 

 corded in our mind. No matter now, the 

 rule is that a prime swarm comes out about 

 the time the first cells are sealed, and after- 

 swarms about the time the first virgin is 

 hatched. — Ed.] 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE SALT RIVER VALLEY, 

 ARIZONA. 



Moths and Crickets do Much Damage. 



BY L. M. BROWN. 



Does it ever get hot in Salt River Valley, 

 Arizona? Well, let me tell you about it. 

 Tallow will melt in the shade, and have the 



fluidity of water. Let the contents of a 

 broken egg be spread out on a stone, and 

 the sun's heat in the stone will cook the 

 egg done. Of course, the stone must be ex- 

 posed to the direct rays of the sun, some 

 time between 11 and 3 o'clock. Some days 

 are cooler than others, and some days hot- 

 ter than any; but let me tell you nine- 

 tenths of the Salt River Valley people — 

 Indians, Mexicans, white people, and all, 

 sleep out. Any old place will do — under 

 sheds, on the house roofs, under trees, un- 

 der the starlit sky — anywhere. And what 

 nights ! Usually there is a gentle breeze, 

 cool enough so that a blanket makes one 

 comfortable. Sleep? As the Colorado man 

 says, " You just bet.'''' 



I am running for comb honey, and am a 

 novice at that particular branch of the 

 business. From 1881 to '86, in Nebraska, I 

 produced extracted honey exclusively. 



I want some advice about my crop of 

 comb honey. I have lo colonies, and shall 

 have somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 

 lbs. I am just letting them fill one super 

 after another, slipping the empty one with 

 emi)ty sections supplied with surplus start- 

 ers under the fiUed-up supers, next to the 

 brood-frames. I have an idea that it would 

 be for the best to remove the capped and 

 completed surplus; but we have drawbacks 

 here that we are not all in a condition to 

 combat. Crickets will uncap our surplus, 

 and keeping out the moths is another seri- 

 ous difficulty. Will it damage our capped 

 sections to a great extent where they are 

 left on, giving the bees access to all the su- 

 pers ? If so, will that damage equal the one 

 of moths and crickets ? 



Why don't some queen-breeders put the 

 Caucasian queens on the market? I don't 

 believe the Italians are the bees for Salt 

 River Valley. We are likely to have a 

 honey-flow of some kind here — little or great 

 — at almost any season. 



Phoenix, Arizona, Aug. 19. 



[If there is no way to keep finished comb 

 honey away from crickets and moths ex- 

 cept to leave it on the hives, then we should 

 certainly do so, for the travel-stain would 

 not detract so much from its value as un- 

 capped, moth-eaten cells. But we can not 

 believe there is no other way. Honey fu- 

 migated with carbon-bisulphide and then 

 put direct into tight shipping-cases should 

 keep safely. 



A number of the queen-breeders are fur- 

 nishing Caucasian queens. — Ed.] 



Paste for Labels on Tin. 



Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of gloss starch In as 

 little water as possible to make a thin solution. 

 Then dissolve four tablespoonfuls of caustic soda 

 in a glass of water. Pour the caustic solution into 

 the starch solution, stirring it. Add enough of the 

 caustic solution to cook the starch, when it will be 

 ready for use. If the labels will not stick, add 

 more caustic. This paste will keep three or four 

 weeks, and then may be renewed by adding more 

 caustic. I advise the use of rubber finger-stalls if a 

 large number of labels are to be put on, as this 

 paste is likely to make sore fingers. 



Cauley, Wyo. B. F. Smith, Jr. 



