1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1441 



THE ALEXANDER METHOD OF BT ILD- 



ING rv WEAK COLONIES IN THE 



SPRING ENDORSED. 



"Wintering- AVithout Bottom-boards in a Drv 

 Cellar. 



liY CHA5. G. MACKLIN. 



Early iu March I took my bees out of win- 

 ter quarters and found a good many very 

 light in stores: in fact, all Imt about six Avere 

 too light to last until fruit-bloom. They had 

 been out of the cellar only a few days when 

 the weather turned very cold, and I had to 

 hustle them back: l)ut lief ore I did so I gave 

 each colony ten pounds of partly capped sec- 

 tions. They remained in the cellar until set- 

 tled weather came in April: but the moving 

 was a detriment to them, and I lost half as 

 many during the five weeks they were in the 

 cellar the second time as I did all winter. I 

 gave them a careful examination when set 

 out the second time, and found quite a large 

 percentage with duly a handful of bees, and 

 with some brood and nice-looking queens. 

 These were pkn-ed over my strongest colo- 

 nies, with a queen-excluding board between, 

 and left in this condition possibly four weeks. 

 Tlie treatetl colony was then left on the stand 

 of the strong colony while the latter was 

 moved to a new location. In every instance 



I met with success, liari'iug one exception, 

 and that was where the colony had contract- 

 ed the swarming fever. This colony swarm- 

 ed out a few days after being treated, and 

 the queen in the upper colony was killed, no 

 doubt by the rush of bees past her in making 

 their exit. Several colonies were qi;eenless, 

 the reason for which I will explain further 

 on. and these were treated by the method 

 recommended by Mr. Alexander. In each 

 case I liuilt them up into strong colonies be- 

 fore June 15. Several parties have reported 

 that the Alexander plan did not prove a suc- 

 cess with them: but at the present writing I 

 do not know of a better plan to use, nor one 

 with which I have lieeu more successful. 



When my bees were placed in the cellar 

 last winter I decided to try both plans advo- 

 cated as to bottom-boards. Half of them 

 were left with an inch space below, and the 

 other half were piled up without any bottom- 

 board. I found no queenless colonies in the 

 spring among those left with a bottom-board, 

 while those from which the boards were 

 taken away had two queenless colonies. It 

 is possible that the queen fell down upon the 

 cellar bottom during the winter, and was 

 lost: while if there had been a bottom- board 

 on she could have crawled up among her 

 tlock again. 



Morrison, 111. 



SEE 





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UNCLE SAM: " GET OUT O' THERE. Y' FOOL ! " 



iThe cartoon above appeared in the Plain Dealer, of Cleveland, illustrative of an internatienal complication 

 that arose. The Japanese as a race are not unlike a colony of bees, which, when their rig-hts, fancied or real, 

 are molested, are quite quick to resent it. The cartoon, at the time of its appearance, therefore, was not in- 

 appropriate as illustrative of the condition as it then existed. Uncle Sam's expression of disapproval of the 

 boy's expected fun is very apparent. The rest of the story is easily imagined.— Ed.] 



