1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



we were talking about stray virgins just re- 

 turning from their mating-trips making a 

 mistake and goiug into the wrong hive. 

 Such a queen will be in the height of her 

 vigor; will be more agile— that is, more ac- 

 tive—than a large laying queen in the height 

 of her egg-laying capacity. Taking the case 

 in point, she goes into the hive by mistake. 

 She knows that, as soon as she gets into 

 the hive, there is a laying queen there, 

 and she makes for her. She is more than a 

 match for her antagonist, and in the com- 

 bat she usually comes out the victor. The 

 colony accepts the situation, adopts its step- 

 mother, and all goes well. In the same 

 way, when we unite two nuclei, each with 

 a laying queen, the stronger queen is the 

 one accepted. Simmering it down into a 

 nutshell, it is simply the survival of the 

 fittest. Apparently you have been talking 

 about a young virgin a day or two old that 

 you let into the hive, and of course it is easy 

 to see that such virgins wall be no match for 

 a laying queen; result, the interloper is dis- 

 patched nine times out of ten — perhaps al- 

 wajs. Of course, young queens are uaually 

 kindly treated by the bees; but when the 

 reigning queen discovers her rival, she gives 

 her altogether different treatment. Mr. 

 Wardell and myself would not disagree with 

 you regarding treatment of young or caged 

 virgins. But a queen from a mating-flight 

 goes into the hive by mistake. She shows 

 no fear because she goes where she supposes 

 she belongs, and conaequently she is treated 

 well, although she may not have the colony 

 odor. A caged virgin when released is a 

 hard proposition, laying queen or not —Ed.] 



from our imported stock in Florida, and ex- 

 pect to make a special yard of them a few 

 miles from Medina, where they can not mix 

 with our yellow strains. 



ANOTHER SPECIAL SERIES OF ARTICLES. 



We expect to have a special series of ar- 

 ticles this fall on how to construct a bee- 

 cellar. These will be from men who have 

 made a success of the cellar-wintering prob- 

 lem, and who will be able at the same time 

 to offer some good suggestions as to why 

 some bee-keepers fail. About September 

 there will be an article on how to winter 

 bees successfully, buried in clamps. This 

 will be followed by the special articles on 

 indoor wintering. 



NO CAUCASIANS FOR SALE. 



We keep getting calls for Caucasian 

 queens. As before stated, we are not pre- 

 pared to furnish them as yet. We are test- 

 ing them quietly, to make sure that they 

 have other desirable qualities than that of 

 mere gentleness. We are rearing queens 



HOW TO move bees A SHORT DISTANCE WITH- 

 OUT LOSS. 



We are often asked how to move bees a 

 short distance, say a rod or two. We gen- 

 erally advise against doing this in the height 

 of a honey- flow. One way is to carry the 

 colony or colonies to an outyard and leave 

 them there for about two weeks, then bring 

 them back and place them at any point de- 

 sired; and another way— one that we have 

 been using with very good results— is to 

 move the hive in the direction of its new lo- 

 cation a foot or more every three or four 

 days until the hive is at the desired point. 

 This summer we rearranged a whole bee- 

 yard on this gradual- moving plan, and soon 

 had them where we wanted them, without 

 any loss of bees. 



sweet clover. 



Sweet clover seems to be unusually abun- 

 dant in our locality, and early in the day it 

 keeps our bees fairly busy. Unfortunately, 

 under our Ohio law, road supervisors are or- 

 dered to cut down the sw6et clover along the 

 sides of the road, in the face of the fact that 

 the plant will not grow on cultivated lands, 

 and is the best thing in the world to preserve 

 embankments on roads where it is so assidu- 

 ously cut down. 



It seems to me I saw a statement some- 

 where to the effect that a prominent rail- 

 road official stated that sweet clover was 

 worth millions of dollars to the railroad 

 companies. Its deep roots, and tendency to 

 grow on banks or side hills, prevent millions 

 of dollars' worth of earth from washing 

 away on railroad embankments. 



We bee keepers must get busy at the next 

 session of our legislatures to get them to 

 strike out from the present laws sweet clover 

 as one of the toxious weeds. You can get 

 the help of our experiment stations, and it 

 will be nothing but pure unadulterated ig- 

 norance that will prevent the amendment to 

 the laws. 



what to do if foul or black brood keeps 

 cropping out in a bee- yard. 



In any yard where there is foul or black 

 brood, especially if it has a tendency to crop 

 out every now and then in other hives, it 

 would be advisable to recomb every colony 

 whether diseased or not. Combs melted up 

 will about pay for new fotmdation. 



Some years ago we had one yard where it 

 seemed impossible to get foul brood out of 

 it. We pursued the policy of giving founda- 

 tion to all the colonies during the honey-flow, 

 melting up the old ones, when, presto! the 

 disease stopped instanter, and has been 

 stopped ever since. In our home yard where 

 we are raising bees and brood for sale, al- 

 though we have no foul brood, and have not 

 had any for years, we are pursuing the poll- 



