August. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



605 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



courage— at any rato, after half an hour's 

 talk he actually invited him in to look over 

 his colonies to see whether there was disease 

 pi'^sent ! I never saw Kob so pleased over 

 anything- — eveiy few minutes he chuckles 

 to himself and I know he is thinking how 

 Mr. Tait got around crusty Mr. Spaulding. 

 Tomorrow Rob and tlie inspector are to 

 spend the day treating the Spaulding 

 apiary. 



Billy considers Mr. Tait a hero, and the 

 girls talk of nothing but his victory. I 

 wouldn't mind a change of subject myself, 

 and shall be delighted when you come to 

 create a diversion. Of course that isn't the 

 only reason I am so impatient to see you ! 



As ever, 



Mary. 



My Last Year's Experience in Beekeep- 

 ing 



After enjoying and financially profiting 

 by a year's reading of Gleanings it seems 

 a duty to give a little of my experience, hop- 

 ing that it may be of benefit to others. I 

 am drawing near my " Forty Years Among 

 the Bees," and if I had the faculty of obser- 

 vation and the facility of expression 

 possessed by the venerable C. C. M. or the 

 alert and versatile Arthur C. Miller, the 

 rather unique experience of caring for 

 about 20 permanent apiaries, some of which 

 are more than 50 miles apart, would doubt- 

 less make interesting reading. 



Altho located in a section where great 

 profits can never be expected, I have found 

 the returns very satisfaetoiy, the work 

 pleasant, and the acquaintances formed, 

 most delightful and inspiring. The con- 

 stant study involved has kept me younger, 

 as it unfolded a new world in the study of 

 botany and biology. Even the unwelcome 

 advent of disease gave a chance for a little 

 work in elementary bacteriology, stimulat- 

 ing to more intelligent work ; and, altho 

 there was a temporary loss, still my best 

 record last year was from a yard that had 

 suffered quite seriously a year before. 



So it is with pleasure that I report the 

 past season as the best in this locality for 

 six years. For this there were two reasons 

 — the excellent work of Dr. Gates, State In- 

 spector, who by his courteous and tactful 

 methods has placed beekeeping on a higher 

 and safer level and also the fact that 

 constant rains prevented about half of the 



usual spraying. Now do not think that I 

 condemn all spraying — 1 use a small outfit 

 myself; but the fact remains that less sj)ray- 

 ing this year resulted in considerably less 

 defoliation. 



In all my work I saw but one bad case of 

 poisoning. I had five colonies tliat were 

 exceedingly strong and entering the supers; 

 but a Aveek later I found them so reduced 

 that, even if united, they would scarcely 

 have formed a swarm. My first thought 

 was, " Bad case of European foul brood " 

 — " sac brood too." Then, " Where could 

 the adults have all gone?" A careful ex- 

 amination of the frames showed dead brood 

 enough for any or all diseases — too much, 

 in fact, for European foul brood, if one 

 considered the age and jDlacing of the dis- 

 eased brood. The sac was evident enough ; 

 but in sac brood we expect from 2 to 40 

 per cent of diseased brood. Then I noted 

 that the bald brood, while abundant, a^jpear- 

 ed to show an absence of nurses rather than 

 a change of quality. There was absolutely 

 nothing diagnostic except the sac brood; 

 and as it was the wrong time of year for 

 spraying I was completely puzzled until I 

 called the gardener and learned that immedi- 

 ately after every rain a power sprayer had 

 been used in the hard-wood forest. For 

 some reason this forest spraying had proven 

 nearly as bad for the bees as spraying dux'- 

 ing fruit bloom. At first the outlook 

 seemed rather dark; but I finally succeeded 

 in building up four colonies and even se- 

 cured some comb honey in the fall. 



A honey crop will always sell, and, if 

 kept, there is practically no shrinkage or 

 deterioration ; also that, for the capital in- 

 vested, no other stock than bees yields quite 

 as high a per cent profit. 



Rowley, Mass. George W. Adams. 



Sunday Selling 



In " Stray Straws," March, I notice that 

 Dr. C. C. Miller regrets that Sunday is of- 

 ten the best day for roadside marketing of 

 honey. My grandson, Robinson Newcomb, 

 has a sign on the roadside, and it reads 

 like this : 



" Honey for Sale. Sound Sparton. No 

 Sale on Sunday." 



He can sell honey six days in the week, 

 and still remember the sabbath day to keep 

 it holy. 



Cleveland, Ohio. Susan R. Newcomb. 



