June, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BKE CULTURE 



471 



HEAD S OF ~ G RA I N IDfeQlffl DIFFEREN T FIELD S 



What the Beginner Dr. C, C. Miller: — 

 Needs to Watch This spring I bought 



for the Most eight colonies of bees 



in good condition at 

 a bargain for $25, including all equipment of 

 extra hives, etc., for comb honey. Because 

 of lack of experience I feel that I have quite 

 a job on my hands to handle them properly. 

 Will you be kind enough to outline the things 

 that I shall have to watch the most? 



Also, would it be worth while to go to 

 the expense of changing my equipment for 

 tlie production of extracted honey next year, 

 with only eight colonies, plus this year's in- 

 crease? I have ten-frame Langstroth hives. 



Washington, D. C. Harold L. Kelly. 



It is a very difficult thing to say what you 

 will have to watch most. I know it's a com- 

 mon thing for a beginner to feel that some 

 one of experience can give him advice that 

 is exactly suited to his particular case — 

 such advice as will obviate the danger of 

 making a whole lot of mistakes. Suppose 

 I should undertake to do that for a number 

 of beginners. I don 't know the circum- 

 stances of each. So far as I know, one is 

 the same as the other. So I write to one 

 of them that he must be on the watch 

 against having an excess of drone comb in 

 his hives. And if it's advisable to write it 

 to one, it 's advisable to write it to all. And 

 then it's possible that each one has frames 

 filled with worker comb and doesn 't need 

 any watching on that point. But I don't 

 know that, so the only safe thing is to ad- 

 vise each. 



Then I think of another thing that needs 

 watching, and each one must be told about 

 it. Then one thing after another comes up 

 as possibly needing watching; and when I 

 have covered about 273 different points I 

 find I have written enough to make a book. 

 That 's exactly what every beginner needs, 

 and exactly that sort of book you already 

 have if you have Eoot's ABC and X Y Z 

 of Bee Culture. 



My word, then, to the beginner is to have 

 a good bee-book — more than one, if he likes. 

 Some subscribe for a bee journal, thinking 

 that is enough. A bad mistake. If you can- 

 not have the book and the journal, by all 

 means get the book and let the journal wait. 

 You may pick out the things in the book that 

 you think you most need; but if the right 

 sort of stuff is in you for the making of a 

 beekeeper you'll be likely to read the whole 

 of the book, and find it as interesting as a 

 novel. Then you will read the book again 

 and again, until you are familiar with all it 

 teaches. 



After you have done your best, not only 

 reading the book, but studying it, there will 

 still be some points not clear to you, or 

 there will come up in your practice some- 

 thing that particularly troubles you, and 

 there's where the bee journal comes in. 



Write exactly what your trouble is, giving 

 full particulars, and then you may expect 

 an answer exactly suited to your case, or at 

 least the attempt will be made to meet your 

 difficulty. 



Now as to changing your equipment for 

 an extracting equipment. The question 

 seems to be whether it is worth while to 

 change with so small a number as 8 colonies 

 with their prospective increase. If it should 

 be advisable to change with as many as a 

 hundred colonies, then I should consider it 

 might be advisable to change for eight, even 

 if there should be no increase. Certainly, 

 if you think of extracting after the number 

 is greater, by all means make the change at 

 once. C. C. Miller. 



Bees that Succeeded Phone just rang — 

 in Escaping from "Wells Fargo" — in 



Prison trouble. From ' ' some- 



where" in California 

 to ' ' somewhere ' ' in Montana, ' ' shipment of 

 bees in packages, ' ' in transit arrived in 

 Portland with, as described by the phoner, 

 ' ' A million flying, and serious trouble in the 

 express car." Could we help? Could we 

 straighten them out? and would we? 



It took but a few minutes to drop these 

 into strong boxes and send them up town to 

 our store, and upon examination found the 

 packages more or less damaged, many of the 

 bees escaping, and whoever gets them will 

 certainly be short some bees and some weight. 

 The trouble seemed to be the wood was too 

 light to hold a nail or tack. These were 

 crated in two bunches of 10, and one of 

 5 — 25 in all. Other than the cages being 

 damaged, the bees seemed to be in good 

 shape, none dead, and a fair average Italian. 



If the shipper perchance sees this we 

 would suggest in after-shipments to bind 

 each end with pieces of tin, wire, or some- 

 thing so that the wire screens will not fall 

 out and release some of the unhappy cap- 

 tives. 



The weather is still backward, cold; bees 

 in poor shape for the coming harvest. 



Portland Seed Companj-. 



Portland, Ore. Per Ladd. 



Effective Spraying; a The treatment of 

 Eeply to L. P. Tanton fruit-trees Hvith ar- 

 page 335, May issue senical or other poi- 

 sons should be so 

 timed as to minimize the danger to bees, not 

 only for the sake of the beekeeper whose 

 interests should be safeguarded, but also on 

 account of the fruit-grower himself. The 

 latter is dependent upon bees and other in- 

 sects to carry the pollen from blossom to 

 blossom, and can ill afford to destroy bees — 

 his agents and benefactors a-^^ well as the 

 willing servants of the apiarist. There is 



