GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Each ease looks like every other one, and. 

 moreover, the entrances are side by side. 



Not only the home yard but at the out- 

 yards we have discovered that some colonies 

 that were strong a week ago are now very 

 weak, while the colonies with entrances 

 alongside of them are abnormally strong. 

 In some cases one hive in a pair will be so 

 strong thei-e is hardly room to get in another 

 bee, while in the next hive in the pair there 

 are but very feAv bees left. 



Our winter cases were placed last fall with 

 the entrances facing all points of the com- 

 pass, for the express purpose of avoiding 

 this drifting; but apparently it failed to 

 some extent. We hope to overcome the 

 difficulty another year by placing each case 

 near some shrub or bush, and at the same 

 time paint the sides of the case over tlie 

 entrance a different color from the other 

 side. Otherwise these big cases seem to be 

 a success. 



Cherr} -growers Want More Bees 



What beekeepers may say in regard to 

 the value of bees as pollinators is some- 

 times considered biased, even tbo the bee- 

 keeper is also a fruit-grower himself. When 

 fruit-growers, however, who have no inter- 

 est at all in the bees aside from their value 

 to the fruit crop, demand bees, and more 

 bees, it is pretty convincing evidence. We 

 clip the following from the March 11th 

 issue of The Packer, a California paper. 



BEES TO AID IN POLLINATION. 



Hood Eiver, Ore., March 10. — Growers of 

 the Mosier district have reached the conclu- 

 sion that the district needs more bees to aid 

 in the pollenization of tracts at the bloom- 

 ing season. The Mosier cherry crop was 

 very light last year because of rain during 

 the blossom period. Growers say that the 

 crop would have been made much heavier if 

 bees had carried the pollen, which was too 

 moist to have been transported by winds. 

 The Mosier growers are adding apiaries to 

 their orchards. 



Concerning Queens Mailed from States 

 Having No Inspection Laws 



Several breeders living in states having 

 no foul-brood law or bee-inspection law of 

 any kind are asking for particulars as to 

 shipping bees into other states. 



There need he no difficulty along this line 

 provided the honey used in making queen- 

 cage candy is diluted and boiled at least 

 twenty minutes. A statement signed by a 

 notaiy slvould be secured, and a copy of this 

 in the form of a printed certificate put on 

 the mailing-cage. This conforms to the 

 postal regulations. Unfortunately, how- 



ever, as pointed out elsewhei-e in Stray 

 Straws, boiled honey is not as good for the 

 purpose as the unboiled. Where possible, 

 an inspector's certificate should be used to 

 comply with the ruling, and an unboiled 

 honey from a source where there is no bee 

 disease. A honey of unknown source should 

 not be used. 



Some New Automatic Folding Machines 



We explained that our last issue was late, 

 owing to the fact that we were unable to 

 get the paper for GtLEANings, notwith- 

 standing that our order for a carload of 

 paper had been placed months before. It 

 has been very difficult to get print paper, 

 and some of the smaller magazines and pa- 

 pers have been compelled to suspend pub- 

 lication. Paper has gone up two or three 

 times its ordinary price ; and the worst of 

 it is. it is very difficult to ^q\. We finally 

 secured a couple of carloads on contract, 

 and hoped we should be able to get Glean- 

 ings out promptly; but the installation of 

 some new automatic folding machinery 

 delayed us again on our issues for April 15 

 and May 1. We will soon catch up now. 



By the way, one of these folders will pick 

 up and fold 64 pages at a tim.e. The other 

 machine does smaller work, including the 

 cover of Gleanings. Gleanings office now 

 has the latest there is in printing machin- 

 erv, and it needs it. 



How the Bees have Wintered 



IjAter reports show that bees have win- 

 tered remarkably well all over the country 

 with one or two exceptions. Severe losses 

 are reported in Montana, Wyoming, and 

 Idaho. How general these losses may be 

 thruout the territory named we are unable 

 to say. The spring is, perhaps, a little 

 late, but the conditions for the growth, of 

 clover have been remakably favorable. 



How the bees have wintered in Ontario 

 is thus summarized in a report of the Pro- 

 vincial Apiarist, Morley Pettit, Guelph, 

 Ontario, Canada. 



Up to the present date, April 20, about 

 700 persons keeping 20,000 colonies of bees 

 have reported a winter loss of about 13 per 

 cent. The loss was largely due to starving, 

 owing partly to an insufficient supply of 

 stores on account of the high price of sugar, 

 and partly to a mild spell in January, which 

 caused the bees to rear brood and draw 

 heavily on their stores. The few warm days 

 early in April gave the bees a splendid 

 cleansing flight, and their general condition 

 now is reported as very good. Few really 

 heavy losses have been reported from exten- 

 sive beekeepers. More report-forms than 



