442 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



WASHINGTON AS A HONEY STATE. 



Will some one tell me what he knows 

 about Washington as a honey State, espe- 

 cially the southwest part, south of Tacoma, 

 where the heavy timber has been cut off? I 

 spent two weeks in that part of Washington 

 last summer, but did not have a chance to 

 learn much about bees there. I could not 

 find any apiaries except a few colonies own- 

 ed by farmers. Does the red or white fir 

 tree furnish any nectar for honey ? If so, 

 what kind of honey is made from either? 



Rocky Ford, Colo. E. J. Johnson. 



CAUCASIANS IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE 

 EARLY '80'S. 



On page 1240 E. F. Phillips speaks of the 

 Caucasian bees as recently introduced. 

 Some year in the 1880's Capt. Hetherington 

 divided with me the four colonies that he 

 imported. I have two of them. I liked 

 them well, but their swarming was constant. 

 See what I have to say in regard to it in the 

 American Bee Journal in the '80's, published 

 previous to Mr. Newman's selling out, un- 

 der the head of "Asiatic Bees." 



Capt. Hetherington condemned them. My 

 bees were well marked. I could distinguish 

 them plainly. They were of a dull brown- 

 ish red. They are a very hardy race of bees, 

 and make their capping frost-white. 



TuUy, N. Y. J. W. Tafft. 



[Dr. Phillips, in speaking of the recent 

 importation of Caucasians, could not mean 

 by that expression that they were a race 

 new to this country, as I happen to know he 

 well knew of the earlier importations by 

 others.— Ed.] 



A METAL SIDE AND END SPACER FOR BROOD- 

 FRAMES. 



I am sending you a drawing of my idea of 

 the way the metal spacers should be made. 

 If the upper one were nailed to the top- bar 

 I do not see why it would not strengthen the 



localities (ask Dr. Miller) . It might be bet- 

 ter to have just two pieces to one frame- 

 one at each end of top-bar, but stamped 

 three places, and put on the other way, so 

 as to form the end-spacer as well. 

 Chadbourn, N. C. K. B. Morris. 



[It would be perfectly feasible to put on 

 spacers such as you show; but I think you 

 would find they would not work as freely, 

 when so adjusted, as by the plan we origi- 

 nally showed— the embossed strips running 

 perpendicularly up and around the top-bar. 

 -Ed.] 



frame comer. I should not want the lower 

 spacer as now made, because bees would 

 surely fill in between with propolis, in most 



[As promised in our last issue we now take pleasure 

 in offering to our readers a series of articles.or, rather, 

 a book, detailing Doolittle's method of controlling 

 swarming when running for comb honey at outyards— 

 a method whereby he is able to make a substantial 

 increase in the crop of honey. Nor does it require the 

 presence of any one at the outyards except to carry out 

 the manipulations prescribed, take off the honey, and 

 — well, perhaps we had better let Mr. Doolittle tell his 

 own story about his system, in his introductory words. 

 That reminds us that he will probably have it published 

 in book form at the close of this series of articles, and 

 hence the preface. — Ed.] 



PREFACE. 



Immediately upon the publication of ' ' Sci- 

 entific Queen- rearing, ' ' in 1889, 1 began work 

 upon the problem of non- swarming, either 

 with or without manipulation, putting fully 

 as many years and as much thought into 

 this problem as I did to bring about the 

 matter published in the queen-book. It is 

 not my intention, in this work, to go over 

 all the ground ' ' traveled ' ' during the past 

 sixteen years, used in fully perfecting the 

 plan as given in this book, as the book is 

 written for the specialist, and particularly 

 for one having or desiring to keep bees in 

 out-apiaries. 



While the book is intended for the special- 

 ist, it is none the less desirable for the 

 plain, every bee-keeper, with his one-home 

 apiary, or for the amateur with his five to 

 ten colonies; and because this book is for 

 the specialist in bee-keeping I have not gone 

 into first principles or the A B C of our pur- 

 suit, as the specialist has passed these rudi- 

 mentary things long ago. There are plenty 

 of good books before one, and all who are 

 desirous of learning of the "foundation 

 structure," therefore, have no need of re- 

 peating here. 



For these reasons I have "jumped right 

 into the arena, ' ' without fear or asking any 

 favors, and told the reader, in as simple 

 language as I could, and as briefly as possi- 

 ble with a full understanding of the plan in 

 sight, just what was done at the twelve dif- 

 ferent visits I made to the out-apiary, dur- 

 ing one year, and the results accruing there- 



