1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



641 



keeping is not so much different from any 

 other profession or business that it will 

 change the natural tendency in human na- 

 ture to grow conservative with years. This 

 is a proposition that we can hardly gainsay. 

 I am not an old man by considerable; but I 

 find myself becoming more and more skepti- 

 cal in regard to the value of new things. 

 You may not think it; but if you could see 

 the number of things I turn down, and the 

 way some of my friends complain of how 

 I pour cold water on some of their inven- 

 tions that never see the printed page, you 

 would begin to think that, from their stand- 

 point at least, I was getting to be an old 

 fogy. The time was, perhaps, when I was 

 ready to nibble at nearly every bait that 

 came along; but I hope I am not quite so 

 easy as that now. So you see I can't help 

 judging you by myself; and, honest, now, 

 don't you find yourself clinging to the old 

 true and tried more than you once did? 

 Peer again into the archives of memory. 

 -Ed.] 



The conditions in Texas thus far have not 

 been reassuring for bees, there having been 

 so much rain. How this will affect the at- 

 tendance at the National convention to be 

 held in San Antonio I can not say. It is to 

 be hoped that conditions will soon change 

 for the better. 



THE NEW CAUCASIAN BEES. 



The reader will, no doubt, be interested in 

 knowing what our senior editor has to say in 

 regard to this new race of bees in this issue, 

 p. 676, as he tested them on an island off the 

 west coast of Florida. Let it be understood 

 that we have no Caucasians for sale, and 

 probably shall not have this season. We are 

 testing them carefully on the island, and 

 may test a few queens in an isolated locality 

 near Medina. There are comparatively few 

 bees of this race in the country, and those 

 we may be able to raise we prefer to keep 

 only for testing. 



WHAT TO DO ON BAD DAYS IN THE SPRING. 



There will be bad days during this month 

 when bee-keepers will not be able to do very 

 much work with their bees. It will be a 

 good time to scrape off bottom-boards, clean 

 propolis out of hive-rabbets, scrape and 

 clean all brood-frames containing good sound 

 combs. From a sanitary point of view this 

 may pay a big dividend— especially if foul or 

 black brood should be lurking in the vicini- 

 ty. In addition to the scraping and general 



housecleaning of the hive it would be well to 

 wash them out with a strong solution of car- 

 bolic acid. Buy a bottle of carbolic-acid 

 crystals at the drugstore, and make a solu- 

 tion of one in fifty. This should be strong 

 enough to take the skin off the hands. But 

 be careful to apply the liquid with a broom, 

 paint-brush, or swab. 



queer WEATHER AT MEDINA. 



The beautiful month of April was follow- 

 ed by a cold spell. The same is now on at 

 this writing, and great flakes of snow are 

 falling. The atmosphere is chilly, notwith- 

 standing there is a profusion of fruit-bloom.. 

 This is our luck. Whenever fruit-trees are 

 in bloom it usually happens that it turns 

 cold. Our proximity to Lake Erie probably 

 accounts in a large measure for this, for lo- 

 cal conditions if not general. 



Later.— The sun is shining out of a clear 

 sky, and we are happy again. No knowing 

 what the next hour will bring. 



RIGHT AND WRONG WAY OF SHAKING BEES IN 

 SHOOK SWARMING. 



Attention is drawn to Doolittle's method 

 of shaking the bees. Observe that he stands 

 in the rear, not in the front, of the hive as 

 perhaps a majority of bee-keepers do. He 

 thus avoids bees crawling all over the shoes, 

 up the stockings, and under the pants legs, 

 and at the same time avoids stepping on the 

 bees. Also note his plan of holding the 

 frame just prior to the sharp jar to dislodge 

 the bees. 



Doolittle's series of articles on managing 

 an out- apiary contains a lot of other valu- 

 able hints; and I especially recommend our 

 readers to go over very carefully every par- 

 agraph of the series. Unless you do you 

 may miss something valuable that will mean 

 dollars to you before the season is up. 



Mr. Doolittle has been gathering together 

 a lot of ideas and practices which he has 

 now incorporated in one continuous series of 

 articles that may ultimately be put in book 

 form. Like Mr. Alexander, he has been a 

 constant worker with bees for a period of 

 thirty years, and has now given us the fruit 

 of his ripe experience. 



THE THREE METHODS OF SWARM CONTROL 



ALREADY GIVEN AND TO BE GIVEN 



IN GLEANINGS. 



It is somewhat remarkable, but three 

 men for a few years back, each indepen- 

 dently of the other, and without any knowl- 

 edge of what the others were doing, have 

 been working on non-swarming systems- 

 systems whereby comb honey can be pro- 

 duced without the bother and worry of 

 swarms. Both Mr. Doolittle and Mr. A. K. 

 Ferris have been working on a system, 

 while Mr. Aspinwall has devoted all his en- 

 ergies to a hive. All three of the men feel 

 that they have solved the problem, and it 

 only remains to be seen if others can solve 

 it by following their directions. The Doo- 

 little system does not require any change in 



