GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1921 



HEADS OF GRAIN TPfiQMlQ jTDIFFERENT FIELDS 



Fogs Affect Nectar I road with interest 

 Secretion in Sage. about Elton Warner's 

 locating- his apiaries by 

 the use of soil maps. In California I locate 

 apiaries by closely watching the rainfall 

 charts of the weather bureau; for, as a 

 rule, the soil here is of a soft granite or 

 sandy composition that doesn't hold mois- 

 ture well if we have hot winds off the des- 

 ert. 



As a rule, these hot winds come about the 

 time the sage is in bloom. Some years they 

 come early enough to kill the orange bloom. 

 I have seen the ground just brown under 

 the orange trees from falling orange blos- 

 soms killed by one of these hot desert 

 winds just as the honey flow started. There 

 are some districts where these dry winds 

 are more severe than others. The sage 

 weevil has caused the beekeepers the loss 

 of many a good honey crop, even after we 

 have had good rains and the honey pros- 

 pects were looking good. 



As a rule, very little sage beyond or above 

 the fog belt will be found giving surplus 

 honey. The sage, like the lima bean, does 

 best and produces the most honey in the 

 fog districts. Owing to the fog, some years 

 we have a fair yield of honey because the 

 sun can't dry out the foliage of the honey 

 plants. Many beekeepers then extract too 

 closely, and along comes one of those hot 

 desert winds and dries up everything. It 

 also drives all tlie haze, smoke, and fog 

 far out to sea. The sun then finishes what 

 the wind didn't. A. E. Lusher. 



Pomona, Calif. 



Sending Queens Living in a place where 

 Long Distance, queens sent me by mail 

 were often three weeks or 

 even longer under way, I noticed that when 

 several cages were sent me, tied together, 

 that the q-ueens in the outer cages were 

 often dead while those in the inner cages 

 were all right. I, therefore, requested the 

 senders to place two empty cages outside 

 those containing the queens, and with per- 

 fectly satisfactory results. An an extra 

 precaution some moist cotton waste can be 

 placed in the outside cages. It is likely 

 that handling, heat, sunlight, etc., affect the 

 outside cages more than the inner ones. 

 St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Axel Hoist. 



This Man I think Allen Latham is right 

 Says They (see February Gleanings, page 

 Don't. 99) in believing that there is al- 



ways a queen present to lay the 

 egg from which to grow a new queen. Last 

 year I had a reason to move a strong col- 

 ony to a new location. Some hours later I 

 noticed manv of the field bees returning to 



tlie old location. An extracting super, 

 which had not been on a hive for six 

 months, was placed there by me for the 

 purpose of catching the field bees. They 

 began to enter without hesitation; then to 

 my surprise I noticed an old crippled queen 

 crawling towards the hive. She was al- 

 lowed to enter; but the next day she was 

 missing, and a few days later I discovered 

 two or three queen-cells, which in due time 

 yielded a good queen. If I had not seen 

 the old queen, I might have believd that 

 the bees had stolen the eggs. 



Fairfax, Iowa. C. F. Wieueke. 



=jo^©p: 



Hiving Swarms on If bees are hived on all 

 Foundation. foundation without a 



queen-excluder and the 

 supers are transferred to the new hive, the 

 queen is very likely to deposit eggs in the 

 supers, even when sections are given. Pol- 

 len also will be found in many cells. A 

 frame or two of empty comb will generally 

 Ijreveut all such trouble. Even if a queen- 

 excluder is used, there will be some pollen 

 in sections when no empty combs are used 

 with the frames of foundation. 



East Avon, N. Y. A. C. Gilbert. 



- . a — lO ^ Ctf w 



Why Drones I have been mucli interested 

 Vary in in a discussion going on in 



Color. your magazine regarding the 



drones of Italian colonies. 

 Last summer and fall I could not under- 

 stand why all my drones bore such a close 

 resemblance to enormous horse flies, almost 

 blue with only occasionally a faint shadow 

 of a golden band. Imagine my surprise on 

 opening my hive this spring to find wan- 

 dering over the frames drones which were 

 almost orange-colored in their markings. 

 They are very different-looking drones' from 

 any I found in my colony last year. Is it 

 possible that the time of the year the 

 drones ar.e reared affects the golden bands? 

 Or does the food or some other condition 

 make the difference? They w^ere all chil- 

 dren of the same queen. 



Freeport, N. Y. Magdalen Sproull. 



Hospital "We got some very valuable in- 

 Yards. formation from our State in- 

 spector, Mr. Schweice, who met 

 with us at our last meeting. Mr. Schweice 

 is one of those pleasing fellows whose 

 suggestions are always bright and up to 

 the minute. One thing Mr. Schweice ad- 

 vised us to try, is a field hospital, equip- 

 ped for handling foul brood, the expense 

 of fitting up this hospital and its mainten- 

 ance to be borne by the association. The 

 members of our association fell for this 



