July, 1922 



Cr Ij E A N I N a S IN ] 5 K K C U I. T U R E 



449 



I 



N making bces- 

 w ax this 

 spring: T found 



I had 45 pounds 

 of propolis from 

 the scrapings of 

 lust year 's sec- 

 tions, from which 

 we made llVt 

 pounds of bees- 

 wax. It pays to make it up, but it is well 

 to leave it till the last, as it sticks up the 

 press and ruins the strainer. Or perhaps 

 better still, mix it with old combs to be 



rendered. 



* * # 



Swarming is the earliest here I have ever 

 known, and the outlook for a good yield of 

 honey is the best ever. 



* « « 



On page 384 Grace Allen tells how she 

 sorts over her combs before the busy sea- 

 son comes on — a practice that will well re- 

 pay any beekeeper who cares to make the 

 most of his bees. 



» * * 



Doesn't "The Clover's in Bloom" cover 

 page of Gleanings for June look good? I 

 believe there are few more beautiful flowers 

 when massed to cover acres than alsike 

 clover. I noticed last evening that the 

 locust Avas also in bloom. Locust and alsike 

 come with us about a week before white 



clover. 



* * * 



On page 390 Morley Pettit offers a plan 

 to control swarming, that "never fails." 

 Well, I am of the opinion that it comes as 

 near to it as any plan, but suppose we over- 

 look one of those little queen-cells as we 

 sometimes do. With beekeeping as with a 

 good many other things, "Eternal vigilance 

 is the price of success." 



* * * 



Fifty-two years ago last winter I made 

 fifty large double-walled hives and two 

 years later T made seventy-five more. Nearly 

 all of these are in very good condition, aiid 

 in use today. For many years T kept the 

 covers painted, but lately I have found a 

 covering of good roofing paper cheaper, 

 costing about 25 cents a hive or a section 

 of honey and will last from 10 to 15 years. 



* * * 



' ' Phicalyptus groves make good wind- 

 breaks, " we are told below a California 

 picture on page 369. By the way the 

 trees are bent in the picture T should think 

 those California beekeepers would need all 

 the protection from the wind they can pos- 

 sibly secure. It is a good rule never to lo- 

 cate a yard where there is likely to be wind 

 enough to blow covers off. 



» « * 



On page 378 Jay Smith throws some light 

 on the cause of those "cataleptic queens," 

 and it is quite possible he is right. We occa- 



sionally r u n 

 across a queen 

 with a leg para- 

 lyzed, and so far 

 as we can see 

 wholly useless. I 

 have been accus- 

 tomed to think 

 these paralyzed 

 legs come from 

 having been stung, but it verges on the 

 marvelous to think that a queen can stand 

 a sting that would kill a worker. The greater 

 vitality of the queen that enables lier to 

 live two or three years may account for it, 

 enabling her to outlive a sting that would 

 prove fatal to a worker. 



* * * 



A letter recently received from Lewis J. 

 Elwood announces the death of his father, 

 P. H. Elwood, on May 10. Mr. Elwood has 

 been one of the large and successful bee- 

 keepers of the state of New York for the 

 past 50 years. He was much more than a 

 successful beekeeper. Beneath an unobtru- 

 sive exterior he possessed a strong, lovable, 

 Christian character that will long be cher- 

 ished by those who knew him. 

 -» * » 



"Tliou shalt love thy neighbor as tliy 

 self," is a rule as beautiful as beneficent. 

 Like the laws of light it is a universal law. 

 It always has been, it always will be the 

 moral law of the Universe. Its negation 

 always has brought and always will bring 

 discomfort, sorrow and suffering. It mat- 

 ters not whether one nation tries to rob an- 

 other or one beekeeper starts a yard of bees 

 close to another Avho has already all the 

 field will bear. 



* * * 



The discussion of the "Cause of Swarm- 

 ing," by Geo. S.. Demuth, is of unusual in- 

 terest at this season. Among the many 

 things that induce swarming is "conges- 

 tion of the brood-nest," and this, he says, 

 may occur with an abundance of room in 

 the super, for room alone is not sufficient, 

 but the bees must be induced to occupy it, 

 a fact we are inclined to overlook. I re- 

 member, years ago, my sad experience with 

 a yard of bees several miles from home. T 

 tliought if T gave enough room they would 

 not swarm, and as- I was going to produce 

 extracted honey T gave them the room; but 

 they swarmed very freely, in spite of a 

 nice set of combs above the brood-chamber, 

 many of them without storing any honey 

 to speak of in tlie super. Later, T called on 

 a number of beekeepers that had been verv 

 successful in preventing swarming and al- 

 most my first question was, "How do you 

 keep your bees from swarming? T believe 

 every one said that when putting on supers 

 they always raised up some brood from the 

 brood-chamber to the super, to induce the 

 bees to occupv the extra room given them. 

 I tried it and found it a great help. 



