GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



THK BACK LOT BUZZER 

 BY J. H. DONAHEY 



Henry Appleblossom has a new patent pending. 

 He has an imitation honey that is nearly as good as 

 the real thing; and, by ginger, it costs only three 

 times as much to make it. 



Bees Creatures of Habit. 



It would seem that there are more in- 

 fluences than at first appear which are given 

 effect by the placing of supers above a 

 colony of bees. During a generous honey- 

 flow many things may be done which, under 

 other conditions, would not be at all advis- 

 able. 



* ' Ample superage ' ' is recommended to 

 lessen swarming, and it usually seems to 

 have that effect, be it more or less. But to 

 secure the best result in that direction, 

 supers must be put on considerably in ad- 

 vance of any sign of swarming. Then if 

 outside temperatures should be rather low 

 (usually at night) this large empty space 

 above is very likely to hamper brood-rear- 

 ing and active "building up," and the bees 

 come to regard that space as something 

 which they "have to put up with," very 

 much as we would regard a vacant upper 

 story in our house which we would come in 

 time to regard as not belonging to us. 



If the farmer has great barns, and an 

 immense hay crop, he just goes ahead stor- 

 ing hay into those barns, and does not 

 worry about their bigness; but in ordinary 

 or lean circumstances he is likely to calcu- 



late where he can stow to the best advan- 

 tage what he has, and it is safe to say it 

 won't be scattered or stowed in some far 

 corner. 



In regard to their housekeeping, bees 

 appear to acquire habits somewhat like 

 human beings. This colony goes and comes 

 via the right end of the hive-entrance, that 

 colony from the left; this one establishes its 

 broofi-nest on the left, while the next has it 

 on the right side of the brood-chamber. One 

 colony is possessed to gum up the rabbets, 

 while another gums up the bottom-board; 

 this one stores honey in the outside frame, 

 while that one stores pollen there. Naturally, 

 when the flow becomes generous, the bees, 

 having acquired the habit, continue to store 

 in the brood-chamber until "it's standing 

 room only. " It is scarcely necessary to 

 point to the result of this in diminished 

 brood toward the end of the season, when 

 extensive brood-rearing is most desirable tor 

 provide young bees for winter. 



The moral of all this is that we should 

 first decide whether then it is profitable to 

 rely upon excessive supering to discourage 

 swarming, or to treat that as a separate 

 problem, and add supers but little in advance 

 of present need, whereby no habit of storing 

 in the brood-chamber is induced. From the 

 1914 season 's experience as here suggested, 

 the writer is inclined to be strongly in favor 

 of the last proposition. 



To sum up, let us say excessive supering 

 seems to have much the same effect as in- 

 sufficient supering — the bees in one case stor- 

 ing below from choice (and habit), and in 

 the other case from necessity — the happy 

 medium being most desirable in order to get 

 surplus stores where wanted. 



Lyndhurst, N. J. B. Keep. 



The Percentage of Mismated Queens Re- 

 ceived from Breeders. 



I gave this matter up years ago. After 

 spending a considerable amount in stamps, 

 and wasting a lot of energy in a futile 

 endeavor to secure something like unifor- 

 mity, after appealing to bee-journals and 

 experts .for assistance, I found that I was 

 simply traveling around in circles. In the 

 absence of a fixed standard, breeders can 

 pass off almost anything upon their custom- 

 ers with comparative impunity. There are, 

 of course, breeders who are reliable, who 

 have brought their stock to a high standard, 

 as bees go, and who are conscientious in 

 their business dealings; but a great many are 

 those who have simply failed as honey-pro- 

 ducers, and turned their attention to queen- 

 rearing. These, having neither the requisite 

 training nor a location where pure mating 

 is possible, are, by glowing advertisements, 

 distributing an inferior strain of bees thru 

 an already non-uniform stock. 



Los Angeles, Cal. Arthur Williams. 



