1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



763 



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It is an encouraging sign for bee-keepers 

 when the press in general devotes so much 

 space to illustrating the mysteries of the 

 hive. The Cleveland Press for June 20 

 gives about half a page in describing H. G. 

 Quirin's methods of raising queens artificial- 

 ly at his yards in Bellevue, Ohio. Further 

 than that, the article is well illustrated. 

 The writer was in the dark, however, on 

 some points. He says, "Mr. Quirin is the 

 only man who is known to be successfully 

 hatching out queen-bees by artificial meth- 

 ods. " That statement will make G. M. 

 Doolittle and E. L. Pratt open thejr eyes, I 

 think, as well as many others. Further- 

 more, the reporter conveys the idea that it 

 is a great secret, while in fact it is as well 

 known as the use of the incubator for 

 hatching chickens. In reading interviews of 

 this kind one is often surprised to see how 

 much behind the times in point of general 

 information the reporter is. But the article 

 as a whole is very gratifying, as it indicates 

 the general interest in bees from an eco- 

 nomic standpoint. It will be interesting to 

 note the estimated annual income of Mr. 

 Quirin from his bees, saying nothing about 

 the net profit. We note: 



3000 queens at $2 $6000 



6000 lbs. comb honey at WA 750 



2000 lbs. extracted honey at 9 180 



100 colonies of bees at $6 600 



100 nuclei at $2.50 250 



Total $7780 



The reporter says Mr. Quirin beats Dame 

 Nature at her own game. Not at all. Na- 

 ture has no game. Mr. Quirin simply ena- 

 bles Dame Nature to work to better advan- 

 tage than is usually the case. 



Mr. J. S. Barb, of Spokane, Trumbull Co., 

 0., made us a visit last week. To the great 

 surprise of the writer he said he wanted to 

 "see Stenog " before going home, and he 

 did. Mr. Barb is a veteran in bee-keeping, 

 and has read this journal for 21 years. He 

 mentioned a skep which his grandfather 

 made and used in 1821—84 years ago. I'm 

 looking for somebody who can beat that. I 

 understood Mr. B. to say his family had oc- 

 cupied that place since that time. It is a 

 pleasure to meet these old bee-keepers. 



The Leipziger Bienenzeitung sounds a 

 warning note to those who climb trees to 

 capture runaway swarms. A German bee- 

 keeper in Neuschleibach, Germany, had the 

 misfortune to fall from a ladder which he 

 had ascended to get a swarm. Immediately 



under him was a picket fence on which he 

 fell, literally impaling himself through the 

 abdomen. He soon died in great agony. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



The Avierican Bee-keeper for June is fully 

 up to its average point of interest, especial- 

 ly in editorials, which constitute a remark- 

 ably large part of that journal. 



The following, concerning artificial swarm- 

 ing, is worth keeping: 



We would caution all inexperienced bee-keepers who 

 are planning to experiment with artificial swarming to 

 be sure that the bees, before forcing, are given an 

 opportunity to fill their honey-sacs with honey or else 

 supply the new colony with a comb of honey. In 

 default of this, give them a feeder of honey and water, 

 half and half. If the honey is very thick, more water 

 may be used. Use warm water in mixing, and let the 

 mixture become quite cold before giving it to the bees. 

 If honey is not available use sugar and water, taking 

 one part of sugar to three of water. Never use sugar 

 if it can be avoided, for, while it is a perfectly good 

 food, so far as the bees are concerned, it gives good 

 ground for charges of feeding sugar to make honey. 



If the condition of things implied in the 

 following, under the head of " Dupes," re- 

 ally exists, something ought to be done: 



It is a strange commentary on the simplicity of bee- 

 keepers, their blindily following biased advice, wasting 

 money on one fad after another, while the vendors of 

 the constantly changing hives and tools wax rapidly 

 rich. 



The tone in which the above is written 

 rather leads one to think that the writer 

 penned his criticism more in a spirit of pet- 

 tishness than in the tone of true criticism. 

 If improvements are to be tabooed, what 

 shall we do? What was the first typewriter 

 compared with those of to-day? or the sew- 

 ing-machine? or the locomotive? These so- 

 called ' ' fads ' ' are suggested by the experi- 

 ence of bee-keepers; and I am glad to note 

 that the W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. is not 

 much behind the procession in supplying 

 needful things to the bee-keeper; nor Lew- 

 is and others who might be mentioned. 



The venerable J. B. Hall, of Canada, sel- 

 dom writes for the press; but in the journal 

 under review he says, in speaking of Cana- 

 dian honey: 



As a honey-producer I was not aware that this part of 

 North America produced a superior quality of honey 

 until long ago, when the American Bee-keepers' Associ- 

 ation held its annual meeting at Toronto during the 

 time of the great annual show, and, of course, visited 

 the exposition. The first man to call on us was our 

 friend Dr. Miller. I did not " know him." His question 

 was, " How do you get it so nice?" I asked him if he 

 was from south of the line, and he said that he was. I 

 had to inform him that nearly all good tfijings, from men 

 down, were produced far north. At this he laughed. 



Our next visitor was our good old friend A. I. Root, 

 of Medina. He stated in his journal. Gleanings, that 

 it was the best honey that it had ever been his good 

 fortune to behold, and that he was not prepared to see 

 old Mother Earth make such an array of honey of such 

 a choice quality. 



A correspondent in New York city sug- 

 gests that correspondents use capital let- 

 ters when speaking of the four seasons. 

 The editor says : " He gives no reason for 

 desiring this change, and none is apparent 

 to the editor." Right you are, Mr. Hill. 



