GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



off his virgins as soon as they took their 

 wedding-flight. One would think he could 

 have cleaned them out with a shotgun; but 

 they were too numerous. 



The Prospects of the Season ; Prices, 

 etc. 



Clover is just opening up in this locality, 

 June 10 ; and while there does not seem to be 

 as much of it this year as last, there appar- 

 ently will be a fair crop. Indications all 

 over the clover area of the United States 

 seem to show it will be good; but for all 

 that, there may be a short crop. The exces- 

 sive hot wave over the country may blight 

 the crop yet. It is too early yet to make 

 any positive predictions. 



In the mean time there is some uneasiness 

 over the matter of prices. There is no de- 

 nying the fact that there was considerable 

 honey left over from last season. Many 

 producers held out for better prices, and 

 in this they probably made a mistake. If 

 there should be a good crop of clover again, 

 and a fair crop of alfalfa, prices will be a 

 little easier than last year. 



We are requesting our subscribers to send 

 postal-card reports from their respective 

 localities. Do not write more than one or 

 two sentences. If clover is scarce, say so; 

 if the drouth and hot weather have been 

 excessive, indicate that also. 



Later. — Hot weather is drying up the 

 clover, and bees are not doing much. It 

 begins to look bad for clover. 



A Handy Scythe for Beeyard Work 

 It is not often that we refer to articles 

 advertised in these columns; and when we 

 do, it is not because we have been paid to 

 do it. Our editorial space, and space in 

 Special Notices, is not for sale at any price ; 

 but when we do mention favorably any 

 article that has been advertised with us it is 

 because it has unusual merit. A case in 

 point is the imported scythe blades adver- 

 tised by the Marugg Co., Department C, 

 Tracy City, Tenn. The blade is very light 

 and thin — almost as thin as a Gillette razor- 

 blade, but it has a very rigid back. It is 

 very wide nearest the handle, and tapers to 

 a sharp point. The snath that goes with 

 these blades is very light also. The tool as 

 a whole is the handiest thing to mow around 

 a hive with of any thing we have ever tried ; 

 and it is away ahead of a common scythe 

 except for mowing brush. After you get 

 the " hang" of it you will like it and won- 

 der why we Americans do not use it more 



generally. This same tool is used all over 

 Europe. 



We placed one in the hands of an old 

 countryman. His eyes twinkled at once as 

 he said, " Dot's de tool for me." And he 

 knows how to sharpen it too. 



The company furnishes a little anvil and 

 hammer to hammer the blade, and then it 

 has an edge given to it with a special whet- 

 stone. 



Safe Arrival of the two Last Carloads ■ 

 of Bees from Florida 



The last two carloads in charge of our 

 two men, Mr. J. E. Marchant and J. P. 

 Anthony, arrived at Medina June 2. In one 

 of the cars we put 13,000 lbs. of tupelo 

 honey that we extracted, and some wax that 

 we had bought, billing the cars as " bees, 

 honey, and wax." The other car had bees 

 only. Mr. Marchant had planned to bring 

 back 800 colonies and 500 three-frame nu- 

 clei; but he brought back 650 colonies, and 

 nearly the full number of nuclei. The mos- 

 quito hawks (dragon-flies or devil's darn- 

 ing-needles, as some call them) are very 

 destructive to bees and queens in the South 

 at certain times of the year. Said Mr. Mar- 

 chant, "These mosquito hawks did us nearly 

 a thousand dollars of damage. They were 

 so bad, indeed, that we were compelled to 

 shut the bees in the hives in spite of the 

 extremely hot weather. This necessarily 

 caused some bees to worry and die; but the 

 loss in this way was nothing in comparison 

 with letting the bees fly, only to be killed by 

 the thousands by these fell destroyers." 



A northern man can scarcely realize how 

 destructive these agents are. They come on 

 at certain seasons in gTeat swarms in differ- 

 ent parts of Florida and in different months. 

 Sometimes they come early and sometimes 

 late. Said Mr. 0. 0. Poppleton, " It seems 

 almost as though the bees learn to stay in 

 their hives, as they easily recognize their 

 natural enemies in this Southland." 



Our recent trip through Florida was to 

 find some place where mosquito hawks do 

 not get in their destructive work, but we 

 found no such place. The result of closing 

 in our bees, together with the fearful work 

 of the mosquito hawks, cut our shipment 

 down nearly 150 colonies — at least we wei-e 

 that, number short of our original estimate. 



Our Mr. Marchant who went down and 

 came back with the bees says this season 

 has been one of the worst that was ever 

 known. The cold backward weather delayed 

 the blooming of the tupelos; and when they 

 did come out the weather was so extremely 

 Iiot and dry that they were in bloom only 



