Junk, 1922 



GLKANTNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



385 



to the already frajj^raiit air, uiifil tlic entire 

 eouiitryside was transforiiieil witli the 

 beauty of them and heavy with their sweet- 

 ness. On every side of our little country 

 bungalow we could see them like fountains 

 of white against the new tender green of 

 other trees. Across the hill to the south 

 they stretched like a band of unmelted 

 snow. 



Tliis period of black locust bloom is all 

 too often one of cold rains aiid general bad 

 weather. It Avas cold this year — so cold 

 that the bees accomplished little really vig- 

 orous, roaring work except from about 11:00 

 to 3:00. Yet while this low temperature 

 may have distressed apiarian hearts, still 

 the days, one after another in their breath- 

 less succession, Avere fair and bright and 

 tingling. And with the Avorld so beautiful 

 around us, shall Ave let ourseh^es measure 

 our delight in it only by the treasure 

 brought to our hiA^es? Or shall Ave count 

 over with gusto the treasures folded away 

 Avithin our hearts for our eternal keeping? 



There haA'e been — of course— other dis- 

 couraging things, too. There ahvays are. 

 In the honey-house, moths got into our 

 stacked supers, some of which Ave had taken 

 from the hives so late last fall that Ave had 

 persuaded ourseh^es (for the last time, be 

 assured) that all danger of moth was 

 passed. Many good combs were found bad- 

 1a' injured by these pests. Hoav quickly one 

 dose of carbon bisulphide killed them and 

 put a stop to their unkind actiAnties. There 

 Avere other combs shoAving cells of spoiled 

 pollen: others with cells of bubbly honey. 

 eA-idently soured. 



Tn the yard, seA'eral liiA^es had combs Avith 

 great discouraging holes where the bees had 

 gnaAved away places too moldy to clean up. 

 One hiA'e was queenless. Another had a 

 large part of tlie otherAvise nice Avorker- 

 conib al} knobby and distorted with the 

 disastrous signs of n failing queen, drone 

 brood in Avorker-cells. Tn this hive there 

 were sealed queen-cells and also one that 

 shoAved recent emergence of the nueen. Sure- 

 ly the only AvaA^ in Avhich bees in such cir- 

 cumstances could get a normal queen, unas- 

 sisted. Avould be by haA-ing started to rear 

 one before the old queen completely failed 

 to produce fertilized eggs. This particular 

 young queen, of Avhich Ave caught a erlimpse 

 a foAV days later, looked like anv other. 



Tn one hiA^e an old bottom-board had rot- 

 ted partiallv a'wav, and up through the 

 open space thus afforded had come a coIoua- 

 of white ants, the first ones I can remember 

 eA-er seeing. The floor of the hive was 

 heaped with fine earth, and upAvards to the 

 very top of each of two full-depth combs 

 stretched — what shall T call them? — ^sort of 

 dirt roads or passages, reaching to a corner 

 of the hive where there was a verv City 

 of Ants, or at any rate a very popular and 

 populous suburb. We gaA'e the bees a new 

 Tiottnm-board and brood-clin'uber. scraped 

 the hard-caked nuid from tlie combs and 



[loured gasoline into the hole in the giound 

 that looked like ant head(|uarters. Several 

 times, as usual, in the warm snug place be- 

 tAveen the inner and outer covers, Ave found 

 black ants. And as usual we sprinkled lib- 

 erj^lly with borax, which lias never yet failed 

 to drive them off. Chilled brood Avas being 

 dumped out on soA^eral doorsteps. 



But Avhat of it? — wliat of all these aAvk- 

 Avard, incouA-enient, disappointing and un- 

 profitable things? We could not care deeply. 

 Mocking birds Averc singing and black locust 

 Avas in bloom and beauty laid her magic on 

 the hills. 



Then, too, there was a mystery. Every 

 beeyard has at least one mystery a year. 

 Just as I reached the yard one noon I saw 

 a SAvarm in the air near a hive not yet ex- 

 amined. At first glance T thought it Avas 



By the chorry orchard wilh the liills beyond. 



coming out, but the next instant discoA^ered 

 tliat it Avas entering the hiA'e, the front of 

 Avhicli Avas a solid curtain of bees. Clipped 

 queen, T thought A\4th satisfaction. The re- 

 turn of the SAvarm being so far accomplished, 

 I merely sat doAvn on the hive and Avatched 

 the entrance idly — scarcely hoping to see 

 the queen come in. But T did see her — and 

 she Avas not clipped. On opening the hive 

 a few hours later, I found queen-cups Avith 

 only eggs in them. I clipped the queen, put 

 her on a frame of brood with nine empty 

 combs in a ncAv brood-chamber, Avith a 

 queen-excluder and the old brood-chamber 

 above. There they still are, apparently con- 

 tent. O you Avho are wiser than T, why, 

 ha.ving swarmed Avith aa undipped queen, 

 .lid thoA' come back? 



