298 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



what changed and improved. This method 

 is especially for advanced beekeepers. 



Experiment No. 4.- — Method of spring 

 management to get strong colonies for the 

 honey-flow. This includes spring protection 

 and "stimulative feeding. Seventy-nine per- 

 sons tried it last year. 



How Much Wages a Helper in a Bee- 

 yard May Expect 



Tn the course of a year we receive many 

 inquiries from men having one to five years' 

 experience with bees asking how much 

 wages they could exi^eet were they to hire 

 out to some extensive producer. It is im- 

 possible to give a definite answer to such 

 inquiries, for the wage to be expected de- 

 pends largely upon the individual in ques- 

 tion, also somewhat upon the average wage 

 for farm help in the locality, and also upon 

 the employer. There are also different bases 

 of figuring — that is, whether board is in- 

 cluded, whether the board includes washing 

 and clothing, etc. 



A great deal depends upon the references 

 that can be given. But, after all, perhaps 

 the fairest way is for the employee to work 

 a few days in order to permit the employer 

 to judge as to his ability before the wage 

 question is finally decided. We admit that 

 tliis is not always practical. Very seldom 

 would such a plan be practical, indeed, if 

 the employee lived at a distance. However, 

 as every producer of honey knows, there 

 ai^e veritable greenhorns who, after a couple 

 of weeks, are worth more than some " ex- 

 perts " of a dozen years' experience. Yes, 

 it depends on the man, on bis employer, 

 and on tlie average wage paid in the local- 

 ity. 



Are Certain Animals Immune to the 

 Stings of Bees? 



One of our queen-breeders, Mr. Arlie 

 Pritchard, who had charge of our apiaries 

 last summer, had some white rats for pets. 

 During the late warm spell when the bees 

 took a flight he took some live bees and 

 gave them to one of the rats. He eagerly 

 grabbed them up (as if he were in the habit 

 of doing it), holding them between his 

 front paws, munching them as if they were 

 one of the most delicate morsels he ever ate. 

 Stings? Yes, the bees planted their stinss 

 on his pink nose, but, nothing daunted, lie 

 went right on munching his meal as if mill- 

 ing had happened. Mr. Pritchard later 

 pulled out two stings from the rat's nose, 

 but apparently they did not have the least 

 effect. 



He also relates that on another occasion 

 he took some toads and placed them in 



front of the entrance of a hive and watched 

 them lap up with their long tongues bee 

 after bee. After a big lunch he would 

 ojDen the mouth of one of these loads and 

 find it literally filled with stings; but nei- 

 ther the aforesaid rats nor the toads seemed 

 to suffer any inconvenience. 



Certain birds are fond of lunching on 

 live bees. We have repeatedly seen a king- 

 bird catch them on the wing; but apparent- 

 ly his birdship is careful to crush his victim, 

 and so it is claimed he does not swallow it. 

 Reports, however, have shown that there 

 have been found stings in the crops and 

 throats of the birds, but apparently they 

 do not suffer from them. 



Mr. Pritchard once tried a mouse. This 

 was caused to go into the entrance of a 

 hive; but the bees stung him, and he soon 

 came out and died a few feet from the 

 entrance of the hive. There were only five 

 stings, but they were enough to cause the 

 death of the rodent. 



The white rats, except for color, seem to 

 be the same as the common gray ones that 

 are such a nuisance on the farm. It is 

 probable that ordinary rats are as immune 

 as white to the effects of beesting poison. 

 Is it not possible that the common rat does 

 a considerable damage in an apiary at a 

 time of night when his work would not be 

 discovered ? 



A Plea for Warranted Queens 



The following letter came from one of 

 the most prominent queen-breeders in the 

 country — a man who, we know, produces 

 first-class stock; but in view of the fact that 

 some of his fellow-advertisers may feel that 

 we are giving him too big an advantage in 

 an advertising way over all of them we are 

 withholding his name and address. The 

 letter reads as follows: 



In reading Mr. "Webb 's article on mismat- 

 ed queens it seems he has run into some 

 very careless queen-breeders, surely not 

 representative of the majority of queen- 

 breeders. I was a beginner myself once, 

 and bought lots of queens from different 

 breeders, but never had over one mismated 

 out of a dozen. I have been a queen-breed- 

 er myself for some years in a limited way, 

 and find my mismatings run from .3 to 5 

 per cent. 



For the last two years I have been guar- 

 anteeing every queen purely mated, or an- 

 other queen when returned, and find that 

 very few ever come back; and it gives 

 customers confidence, and increases sales 

 over and above what little loss I may get 

 by returning jiure for mismated queens. 



You say in your editorial that guarantee- 

 ing queens would open a way for fraud on 



