882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIiTUKE 



Dr.C. 



ITMAY STEAW: 



Marengo, 



Charlie A. Brown^ p. 863, don't you 

 trust to empty sections over tlie brood-nest 

 to keep bees from starting to swarm. I've 

 had it fail liundreds of times, and there was 

 no excluder, either. And I wouldn't want 

 to gamble very high on your crosswise busi- 

 ness, either. 



Wesley Foster, p. 838, favors cleaning 

 and casing sections at outyards, which, I 

 sujapose, means as soon as taken from hives. 

 Locality again. That's all right in the dry 

 climate of Colorado, but it's hardly best 

 here. I prefer to leave it in supers for a 

 time, either cleaned or uncleaned, sticked 

 up in piles to be well aired, putting fire in 

 the room if a damp spell comes. [One should 

 bear in mind that Colorado has a climate far 

 different from that of Illinois and other 

 States in the rain-belt. Hives that will stand 

 and hold together in Illinois will cheek and 

 pull apart in Colorado. In more ways than 

 one, methods of management that apply 

 elsewhere do not apply in Colorado There 

 is more truth than poetry in Dr. Miller's 

 phrase, " Locality again." — Ed.] 



Arthur C. Miller, I accept your "treas- 

 ury notes " as " legal tender," and glad to 

 get 'em. But I'd like a discount on one of 

 them. You say, p. 843, " By putting in 

 each fall young queens carefully raised 

 from good stock we are reasonably sure of 

 having very nearly all the colonies of the 

 same strength the next spring." Granted, 

 and also of much the same quality. But I'cl 

 rather have inequality with a higher aver- 

 age than equality with a lower average. 

 You also say that in selecting breeding 

 queens, "you must begin several generations 

 back," which is true again. It's also better 

 to begin two years back with each queen 

 than only one year. You can't do that if 

 you requeen each fall. In choosing between 

 two queens, you can decide better as to their 

 relative value with two years' record than 

 with one. That and other reasons prevent 

 me from annual requeening so long as I 

 am working for improvement. As a parting 

 shot I'll fling •' longevity " in your face and 

 leave you to your thoughts. 



" Requeening with young vigorous Ital- 

 ian queens, and the shaking treatment, is 

 recommended " for European foul brood by 

 Wesley Foster, p. 838. Wesley, I venture 

 the prediction that in five years from now 

 you'll deprecate such a waste of combs, and 

 will recommend caging the queen for ten 

 days in mild eases, and giving a \'igorous 

 young- Italian queen in severer cases, in 



either case making ten days' break in egg- 

 laying. [This may be all right; but is it 

 not a dangerous suggestion to hold out to 

 the general jjublic — especially to the bee- 

 keepers who might be inclined to be a little 

 bit slipshod or careless? We have never 

 had European foul brood — but if we did 

 we would have followed Wesley Foster's 

 ])rocedure. On the other hand, if we were 

 in Dr. Miller's place, with his knowledge of 

 the business, we should probably do exactly 

 as he has been doing. If locality in one 

 case modifies a method of treatment the 

 man and his peculiar temperament must be 

 another factor that will have to be carefully 

 considered. Not knowing the man, we would 

 advise, in the case of European foul brood, 

 to go the whole limit. 



J. L. Byer says, p. 839, that aster honey 

 " is light in color and nice in flavor, but 

 usually a bit light in body." I think its 

 reputation in general agrees with that given 

 in the ABC book as amber-colored, of 

 heavy body, but of flavor unsuitable for 

 table use — quite a difference, you see. For 

 the first time I have had this fall honey 

 that I think is aster. It agrees exactly with 

 the Byer description. Is it latitude or soil 

 or what that makes the difference? [The 

 name aster when applied to honey covers a 

 multitude of sins. There are so many spe- 

 cies of aster, and so many other flowers that 

 are not asters that are in bloom at the same 

 time, that it is almost impossible to know 

 whether one has a pure aster honey. At 

 our swamp yard this fall we observed that 

 our bees were working on asters ; but there 

 was other flora that was very abundant — 

 just enough to modify the flavor. Several 

 times on opening a hive we tasted the new 

 honey as it came in. At times it was very 

 pleasant and of good flavor, while at other 

 times it was " off." It is our opinion that 

 the statement in our ABC book is prac- 

 tically correct ; but we must remember that 

 the quality of aster honey varies somewhat 

 according to the season, and somewhat ac- 

 cording to the locality. As a general thing 

 we may conclude that, when aster has a 

 good flavor, there has been something else 

 added to it to make it so. 



We must not forget that aster honey is 

 often unsealed, and therefore not ripened. 

 Such honey is apt to have a deleterious 

 effect on the bees before spring. A well- 

 ripened aster honey is one thing, and an 

 unri))ened article is another. The ordinary 

 article that one bu^'s for the table is pretty 

 ajjt to be a combination of the two. — Ed.] 



