152 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



COMMENTS ON SOME RECENT STATEMENTS 



BY J. T. BOWEN 



HOW LONG HAS THE SMOKE METHOD BEEN 



USED? 



A unanimous vote of thanks is due Mr. 

 A. C. Miller for liis smoke method of intro- 

 ducing queens. Nearly 3000 years ag'o Mr. 

 Solomon said there was nothing new under 

 the sun. At said period milk and honey 

 was an article of food, so may be Mr. 

 Solomon or his apiarists knew all about 

 smoking in the queens; at any rate, Mr. R. 

 F. Holtermann has been using it over 30 

 years, page 902. Mr. Hopper, of Jamaica. 

 West Indies, of queen-rearing fame, used 

 the same practice — to what extent I don't 

 know ; but in 1905 I saw his colored assist- 

 ant run in queens at the entrance with 

 smoke, sometimes rolling them first in honey. 



FLOODED BEES. 



Blessed be the beeman who has no need 

 of a bee-cellar and no fear of snowstorms. 

 Page 5, Jan. 1, Dr. Miller is found dreading 

 in what condition he will find his bees in 

 the cellar on his return home; and the A. I. 

 Root Co. is digging colonies from three feet 

 of snow. But " man is born to trouble 

 as the sparks fly upward." December 30 

 it rained and rained, and then rained some 

 mjore. The following morning found every 

 one of my 145 colonies under water from 2 

 to 6 inches. Tlu-ee were floating abroad. 

 Still it rained ; but a big day's work lifted 

 them on to their stands. I feared a tremen- 

 dous loss. January 8 was California weather. 

 Every colony seemed on a rampage. Even 

 tlie three that went swimming suifeved no 

 harm beyond that of moldy combs. 



Page '731, Oct. 15, 1913, John Pashek 

 uses ^-inch mesh to keep out mice. I should 

 think the bees would have a hard time in 

 carrying out their dead. T use %-inch, 

 which is mouse-ioroof, and offers less in- 

 convenience to the bees. 



A GOOD RECORD BY A BLACK COLONY. 



On page 728, Oct. 15, A. P. Haberecht 

 has an apiary ranging from pure blacks to 

 golden Italians, and as honey-gatherers 

 finds no difference. My 145 ten-frame colo- 

 nies are a similar mixture. My record colo- 

 ny gave me two big swarms (i. e., Alexan- 

 der), and seven supers of extracted. I run 

 eight frames in supers. The queen was so 

 black I thought I would end her career in 

 the spring, but hated to do so, as she was 

 beating every other queen at laying. Her 

 progeny were like their mothen — not a 



yellow streak to indicate any trace of Ital- 

 ian blood. With such a record, hands up 

 of tliose who would advocate changing such 

 a queen for an Italian or any other for- 

 eigner ! 



On page 843, Dec. 1, Arthur C. Miller 

 says bees don't sting dead things. Don't 

 you believe it, Mr. Miller. Once in Jamaica, 

 W. I., I threw away a dead rat — yes, sir, 

 really dead. Accidentally it stnick a hive. 

 A few seconds later, not knowing the cause, 

 you might have sworn that colony was 

 swarming. They settled in a heap on that 

 poor dead rat. If they were not stinging 

 it, then what under the sun were they do- 

 ing? Not till I pulled it away with a long 

 stick did they become tame. 



LIVING TO BE 100 YEARS OLD NOT YET OUT OF 

 FASHION. 



A. I. Root expresses a hope that he will 

 live to be 100 years old. That should be 

 easy so long as he continues to behave liim- 

 self. My grandmother went home at 102 

 years, after bringing up to maturity 14 

 children. My great-grandfatlier went to 

 sleep with his fathers at 100. Both were of 

 English stock. Neither of them was a stu- 

 dent of dietetics. They took ho thought 

 what they should eat or what they should 

 drink. 



GREAT DIFFERENCE IN COLOR OP ALFALFA 

 HONEY. 



I wonder if Bi'o. Chadwick is still of the 

 conviction that alfalfa honey is always one 

 and the same color. This is a purely alfalfa 

 district, dependent solely on irrigation. Wild 

 flowers have long since passed before the 

 honey-flow, hence there is absolutely noth- 

 ing to give coloring to the nectar; yet be- 

 tween the flrst and last extracting the dif- 

 ference in color is so pronounced that an- 

 cient Isaac, whose sight was so dim he didn't 

 know Esau from Jacob, could, I think, make 

 a good gTiess as to which was light and 

 which was dark. If the above is not so, 

 then I must be oolor-blind or I need an 

 oculist. 



BEES CHASING BLACKBIRDS. 



Has anybody ever seen bees chase black- 

 birds? In this valley we have millions. The 

 past season I have repeatedly noticed a 

 bee appai-ently making a desperate effort to 

 overtake one of these birds. Whichever way 

 the bird would twist, the bee would follow. 



Dixon, Cal. 



