1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



4d 



In your last note on " Wintering Baby Nuclei " you.=ay, 

 " While that might be done in the mild climate of Phila- 

 delphia, it would 7iot do at all in a colder climate." Our 

 winters for the past two years have been quite as cold 

 as yours, and it is my belief that, if these boxes will 

 winter here, they will winter in Medina. I have a 

 report from a gentleman in England who has succeeded 

 in wintering his boxes on T's in open ground, with no 

 special preparation. Other bee-keepers were asked to 

 try the experiment, but are yet to be heard from. 



The "Sibbald " non-swarming plan, mentioned from 

 the Review, has been used by us for several seasons in 

 our work at queen-rearing; and by reference to our cir- 

 culars you will see that this was published by us long 

 ago, and is quite satisfactory. It has been a part of the 

 Swarthmore method of ctll-getting for the past three 

 years, and is also fully explained in the little book, 

 " Cell Getting," now about ready for mailing. 



Swarthmore, Pa., April 2. E. L. Pratt. 



I still think that baby nuclei could not be 

 wintered here in Medina, for we can not 

 winter even full colonies in single-walled 

 hives outdoors with any degree of success. 

 By looking up the isothermal lines of aver- 

 age temperatures for the United States I 

 find that Philadelphia has the same temper- 

 ature as Frankfort, Ky., or St. Louis, Mo. 

 The former is 258 miles south of us, and the 

 winters there are nothing what they are 

 here. You may have as cold days in Phila- 

 delphia as we have here; but it is not so 

 much extreme cold as it is long- continued 

 moderate cold that has to do with the win- 

 tering problem. 



The basic principles of the Sibbald non- 

 swarming plan, as you will see by references 

 elsewhere, are not new. But none of the 

 other plans so far given are exactly the 

 same as the Sibbald. 



A GOVERNMENT BEE-BOOK FOR FREE DISTRI- 

 BUTION. 



Farmers' Bulletin No. 59, "Bee-keep- 

 ing, by Frank Benton, in Charge of Apicul- 

 tural Investigation," will shortly be issued 

 from the Government Printing-office, Wash- 

 ington. I hold in my hands the advance 

 proof pages of the newly revised bulletin. 

 It has considerable new matter, having been 

 increased by one signature from 32 to 48 

 pages. The edition will consist of 10,OUO 

 copies, which will be immediately available 

 for free distribution to applicants in the or- 

 der in which the requests are received. 



By referring to page 3 of the table of con- 

 tents we find that a number of new subjects 

 have been added, as well as some old sub- 

 jects that have been considerably revised. 

 All parts of the text which are either new 

 or considerably changed are covered in the 

 following headings: 



Page 8. Overstocking. 



Page 10. Pollination of fruit and seed crops. 

 Page 12. Gentle bees. 



Pages 14-17. What race of bees to choose. 

 Page 19. Adding shaken bees to swarms. 

 Page 21. Shaken or brushed swarms. 

 Page 25. Russian or hairy vetch. 

 Page 26. Sulla or Sulla clover. 



Page 30. Use of comb foundation, not artificial combs. 

 Page 32. Correction of artificial-comb- honey reports. 

 Pages 40 41. Utilization of brood, honey, and wax 

 from foul-broody colonies. 

 Pages 42-43. Bee paralysis. 



Page 4.5. Legislation and National Association. 

 Page 46. Journals. 



I have read quite a number of the changes, 

 and note that they are brought clear up to 

 the times. The general subject-matter, so 

 far as I am able to go over it, seems to be 

 orthodox according to the latest methods 

 and practices. 



The matter that interests me particularly, 

 however, are the two emphatic denials, one 

 on p. 32, the other on p. 34, that there is 

 such a thing as manufactured comb honey 

 on the market, or that it is possible to put 

 out such a product. These statements, oc- 

 curring in a government bulletin just as 

 they do, are authentic, and can not possibly 

 smack of any interest in bee-supplies or of a 

 bee journal. As a natural consequence, when 

 these references are fired at offending edi- 

 tors they will carry weight. 



On p. 45 the subject of legislation and the 

 worthiness of the National Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation are presented in such a way as to 

 enlist the support of bee-keepers in general. 



As 1 understand it, this is only one of sev- 

 eral bulletins and pamphlets that will be is- 

 sued from time to time relating to bee cul- 

 ture; and in this connection I should like to 

 speak of the good work Mr. Benton is doing 

 in silencing these comb-honey lies by writ- 

 ing interesting articles on the general sub- 

 ject of honey, comb honey in particular, and 

 the impossibility of its manufacture as has 

 been so often alleged. A very excellent ar- 

 ticle of this kind appears in a late number of 

 the American Agriculturist. Indeed, the 

 editor having had the question propounded 

 to him as to whether comb honey was man- 

 ufactured or not, very properly referred 

 this to the Apicultural Expert in Washing- 

 ton, who, in return, wrote a splendid article 

 which was published. Still another article 

 appears in the same publication, by Mr. Ben- 

 ton, on the usefulness of bees in the polli- 

 nation of plants. 



The hearty co-operation of the Apicutural 

 Expert in the government with the new 

 Honey-producers' League already organized 

 will mean much to the bee-keeping interests 

 of the country in showing the uses of honey 

 and killing the old comb-honey canard that 

 has ever and anon been showing its ugly 

 head. 



APICULTURAL NOMENCLATURE ; SHORT EX- 

 PRESSIVE TERMS. 



Dr. Miller, in one of his Straws in a late 

 issue, in referring to the Sibbald non- swarm- 

 ing plan, .speaks about giving "one brood" 

 to a colony, meaning, of course, one frame 

 of brood. The shorter term is expressive, 

 and would never lead to any confusion, and 

 I would suggest that our correspondents 

 adopt the term. While we are about it, in- 

 stead of saying "bottom-board" why not 

 say "floor," as proposed by Mr. Pettit ? 

 Another expression that has come to be 

 practically universal is "queenless," refer- 

 ring to a colony without a queen. But when 

 we have the opposite condition we have been 

 in the habit of using the circumlocution "a 

 colony with a queen." Mr. Geo. W. Phil- 

 lips, in his book, "Modem Queen -rearing, " 



