1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



or bad queens. On the whole I am inclined 

 to the opinion that the furnace is a good 

 thing for the bees. The chief objection is 

 that they need as much food as if wintered 

 out. But practically it makes a mild winter 

 for them, the cellar being kept so open most 

 of the time that the air was as pure, almost, 

 as outdoors; no appearance of diarrhea 

 except in a very few hives, and, strange to 

 say, the fronts of those few hives were very 

 badly daubed. But inside the hives it was 

 clean and sweet, and the bees showed no 

 appearance of having suffered. It rather 

 looks as if the warm temperature allowed 

 the bees to go outside, empty themselves, 

 and then go back into the hive in a more 

 comfortable frame of mind. If future win- 

 ters turn out the same, the furnace will be 

 a good thing. [An ordinary bee-cellar with 

 a furnace affords almost precisely the same 

 conditions that we have in our machine-shop 

 cellar, where we have scored such splendid 

 results in wintering. Notwithstanding some 

 experiments that were made some years 

 ago, showing that dampness was not detri- 

 mental to bees in a cellar, I am satisfied 

 that dryness and a temperature of 45 or a 

 little above, with a large amount of ventila- 

 tion, are very important essentials. At two 

 of our outyard cellars we have dampness, 

 even to the extent of mud, in one of the 

 cellars. The mortality was heavy in both. 

 Now, then, with a furnace in the cellar we 

 can have plenty of ventilation, perfect dry- 

 ness, and a better control of the tempera- 

 ture. If the temperature gets too high, 

 opening the windows will bring it down, and 

 at the same time supply the essential venti- 

 lation. If I mistake not, doctor, you win- 

 tered your bees last winter the best you 

 ever did, because you had perfect dryness, 

 and because you gave a large amount of 

 ventilation. We are beginning to learn 

 something on this wintering question. — Ed.] 



Bee Keepin&among the Rockies 



BE A BOOSTER. 



Join the Honey-producers' League, and 

 lend your money and your influence to the 

 first organized effort to improve the condi- 

 tion of the honey market by the use of mod- 

 ern business methods. Your help is needed. 

 Lay aside your selfishness, and do not be 

 afraid to help yourself, because in so doing 

 you may help others. 



GIVING BROOD TO FORCED SWARMS. 



Opinions differ as to whether it is advisa- 

 ble to give a frame of brood to a newly 

 hived swarm. My experience is that a sha- 



ken swarm to which a frame of brood has 

 been given is much more apt to swarm out 

 than one hived in an empty brood-chamber— 

 this when they are hived in one section of 

 my hive, equal to about five L. frames. 



R. C. AIKIN AS EDITOR. 



The bee department of the average agri- 

 cultural journal is usually not much credit 

 to anybody; but one of the brilliant excep- 

 tions to the rule is that of Irrigation, which 

 has been selected as the official organ of the 

 Colorado State Bee-keepers' Association, 

 With our old friend R. C. Aikin, secretary 

 of the aforesaid association, in charge, it is 

 destined to be both reliable and interesting. 



LEGISLATION AGAINST SWEET CLOVER. 



Some misguided individual introduced a 

 bill during the last session of the Colorado 

 legislature, declaring sweet clover a noxious 

 weed, and requiring its cutting before com- 

 ing into bloom, under penalty of a heavy 

 fine. Fortunately the bee-keepers had some 

 good friends in the legislature, with saner 

 ideas on the subject of weeds, and the bill 

 was effectually killed in committee. 



SOLAR EXTRACTORS. 



Have you a good solar wax-extractor? If 

 not, better buy or make one. There is no 

 other way by which as nice wax can be 

 made with as little labor as by the use of a 

 good solar, properly managed. Solars can 

 not handle old dry brood-combs profitably; 

 but for all other kinds of wax refuse they 

 are ahead of any other process. There is 

 some wax left in the refuse from a solar. 

 To get this out profitably you need some 

 kind of pressure combined with boiHng or 

 steaming. If you own more than a few col- 

 onies you can profitably own both a solar 

 and a wax-press. 



HELPING WEAK COLONIES. 



Many bee-keepers consider it the proper 

 thing to help along and build up weak and 

 queenless colonies found early in the spring 

 by giving them frames of brood and bees 

 from stronger colonies. Better not. The 

 queenless colony at this season of the year 

 is usually worthless, and the weak colony 

 had better be left to its own devices until 

 later. The frame of brood you would give 

 to it is worth more in the colony from which 

 you would take it. If a colony is strong 

 enough to spare profitably a frame of brood, 

 better give it to a colony of medium strength 

 than a weak one. Remember the harvest 

 depends on the number of bees at work, not 

 on the number of hives with bees in them. 



VETO OF MISSOURI'S FOUL-BROOD BILL. 



It must be conceded that Governor Folk, 

 of Missouri, is an able man. His record in 

 fighting corruption in that State, rewarded 

 by his practical indorsement by both par- 



