E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



1 



EDITORIAL 



JULY is an oxeellont time foi- requoeiiiiig. 

 By rejilacing inferior queens now with young 

 q u c e u s carefully 

 Best Time for reared from tlie best 

 RecLueening. stock, the beekeeper 

 should add many (lol- 

 lars to his income next year. If these 

 young queens can be reared during the lat- 

 ter part of the honey flow in July as can 

 usually be done in the North, they will begin 

 to lay just at the right time to help insure 

 a good colony for winter. A young queen 

 that begins to lay in August not only puts 

 the colony in much better condition for 

 winter by laying more eggs late in the sea- 

 son than old queens, but she is also in prime 

 condition for the heavy brood-rearing next 

 spring in building up for the honey flow. 

 Many beekeepers are so busy with their 

 crop of honey at this season that they think 

 they cannot afford to take the time to rear 

 queens to replace old and inferior ones, but 

 it usually pays and pays well to take the 

 time to do this. 



30^W8= 



OWING to the present rate of foreign ex- 

 change and the lack of a market in Europe, 

 immense quanti- 

 Price of Beeswax ties of beeswax 

 Abnormally Low. are being dumped 

 upon the market 

 in this country at heretofore unheard-of 

 prices, which is depressing the market on 

 domestic wax. Just how long this dumjiing 

 will continue no one can tell, for under jires- 

 ent conditions, even a high protective tariff 

 could not be expected entirely to prevent it. 

 This wax is not able to compete with do- 

 mestic wax for all uses on account of being 

 an inferior grade, altho pure. This will 

 prevent the price of domestic wax from 

 sinking to the same level as the foreign 

 wax, which comes originally chiefly from 

 Africa, and domestic wax is holding up re- 

 markably well under this pressure. 



Fortunately beeswax is not a perishable 

 product and does not have to be rushed to 

 market when the price is low. Furthermore, 

 by using comb foundation the beekeeper is 

 both a producer and a consumer of wax. 

 Many and perhaps most of them are larger 

 consumers than they are producers. 



THIS is growing slowly; but owing to the 

 general economic conditions over the coun- 

 try the amounts 

 TheDrMiUer subscribed are 



Memorial Fund, s m all — seldom 



more than a dol- 

 lar, and often less. This morning, June 10, 

 the Alameda County Beekeepers ' Associa- 

 tion of Oakland, Calif., a real live bee so- 

 ciety, by the way, thru its president, Gary 

 W. Hartman, sent a check for $35.00. The 

 association expressed the wish that we 

 might be able to establish a chair in bee cul- 

 ture at some college; but, unless the funds 

 come in much heavier than they have been 

 doing, tliis would not be possible, tho we 

 could put up a monument or establish a 

 small bee library. The action of the asso- 

 ciation is splendid, and we hope that other 

 organizations of a like character, state and 

 county, will follow the example. In the 

 meantime let individual subscriptions con- 

 tinue to come in as before. 



THE heavy brood-rearing in April in many 

 of the northern States this year has brought 

 on certain eondi- 

 Effects of the tions not often 



Break in Brood- encountered in 

 Rearing in May. this portion of the 

 country. Many 

 colonies had as much brood the first of May 

 as they usually have the first of June, and 

 after climbing to the peak of brood-rearing 

 a month or more earlier than usual they 

 greatly reduced brood-rearing in May. Ap- 

 parently after a spurt of such heavy egg- 

 laying the queens must have a rest, not 

 being able to keep up the pace for any 

 great length of time. Many queens were 

 superseded late in April or early in May, 

 and many of the early swarms, which came 

 a month ahead of the usual time for 

 swarming, were a result of supersedure. 



During May the colonies, having their 

 spurt of spring brood-rearing over with, 

 reared brood sparingly even when abundant- 

 ly supplied with stores, and in colonies 

 short of stores the queens in many cases al- 

 most suspended egg-laying entirely, just at 

 the time that spring brood-rearing is usually 

 at its height. Even stimulative feeding at 

 this time could not be depended upon to 



