550 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUNE 15 



queen has to quit house-keeping-. Now 

 bend a wire so you can run it into the place 

 occupied by the old colony; set the new hive 

 aside, and thoroughly break up the combs 

 of the old colony; insert a short tube in 

 their entrance, and connect it with the new 

 hive where the escape was, so the bees in 

 the new hive can pass through and bring 

 the honey through the tube. By this ar- 

 rangement you get both bees and honey. 

 Spring Hill, Tenn. John M. Davis. 



[Your plan is all right, I think. Anoth- 

 er correspondent suggests that, after all the 

 bees are out, including those just hatched, 

 the communication to the tree or house, from 

 the new hive, be shut off. If the old en- 

 trance be left open, the bees of the apiary 

 would rob out the honey in the tree so that 

 you would get all the bees and the honey, 

 and all there would be left would be the 

 wax or old combs. After the old domicil 

 has been robbed out, the entrance should be 

 closed permanently to prevent some runa- 

 way swarm from occupying it again. — Ed.] 



ice in his claims. But some of these chaps 

 are regular " dogs in the manger " — they 

 can't and won't use the nectar themselves, 

 atid don^t want any one else to. — Ed. J 



ALFALFA-GROWERS AND BEE-KEEPERS. 



Some of the alfalfa-raisers here in our 

 new honey- fields have suddenly come to the 

 conclusion that the apiarists are a menace 

 to their industry. One farmer reasons that, 

 as I produced last season 15 tons of alfalfa 

 honey, he certainly secured that much less 

 hay, and that it was also wanting in sweet- 

 ness, which is so valuable as a fat-produc- 

 er to those who feed their hay to stock. To 

 one prejudiced against the apiarist, this 

 seems a good argument. A few comments 

 on this style of reasoning from one so high 

 in apicultural research as the editor of 

 Gleanings will do much to disabuse the 

 minds of these raisers of alfalfa, and thus 

 make the pathway of the humble bee-man 

 less thorny here in the wilds of Nevada. 



Lovelock, Nevada. C. K. Ercanbrack. 



[I can scarcely believe that an intelli- 

 gent, up-to-date rancher or farmer would 

 take the view that his hay crop is robbed 

 of a certain amount of nutriment because 

 the bees gathered from the clover a certain 

 amount of nectar. Why, the nectar was 

 put there by the great Creator for a pur- 

 pose — to draw insects to mix and scatter 

 the pollen, without which the plants would 

 fail of reaching their highest development. 

 Any scientific man would tell them that, so 

 far from robbing the hay of its sweetness, 

 the bees actually give value for value re- 

 ceived. If the rancher is growing alfalfa 

 for seed, his seed crop will be increased 

 very materially from the work of the bees — 

 no doubt about that. While I was on my 

 western trip I ran across farmers of the 

 old-fashioned type — ignorant, and jealous 

 of their neighbors, who tried to convince me 

 that the bee- men were robbing them of a 

 certain amount of nectar that properly be- 

 longed to them, hurting the hay. Bosh and 

 nonsense! If the alfalfa-grower were also 

 a honey-producer, there might be some just- 



OUKENS STINGING HUMAN BEINGS. 



It is my usual practice to take queen-cells 

 from cell-building colonies and place them 

 in cell-protectors, when, if the wind is cool, 

 they are placed in my shirt-bosom to keep 

 necessary heat while being carried to nu- 

 clei when needed. Recently a queen hatch- 

 ed very quickly from a cell so treated, and, 

 after crawling above my undershirt, stung 

 me twice on the neck, and seemed capable 

 of stinging as often as she cared to. The 

 pain was less than I should expect from a 

 worker. Do queens ever lose their stings 

 when stinging people? 



Modesto, Cal. W. A. H. Gilstrap. 



[It is very rare that a queen will sting a 

 human being; but such cases are on record. 

 Mr. E. F. Phillips, who is doing scientific 

 work here at Medina, reports he was stung 

 to-day on his thumb by a virgin queen. He 

 has just shown me the inflamed red spot. 

 The sting, he says, was not quite as pain- 

 ful as that of an ordinary worker. The 

 queen gave him a quick jab, retaining her 

 sting, while he was in the act of clipping 

 her. It would seem from the case you re- 

 port, and this one to-day, that virgins are 

 more inclined to use their weapon than are 

 laying queens. — Ed.] 



OLD vs. NEW COMBS FOR WINTERING; 

 HIGH-CHARACTER BEE-MEN. 



Referring to letter of C. F. Bender, page 

 289, "New and old combs, and their rela- 

 tion to winter losses," I give you an expe- 

 rience of mine. In the spring of 1901 I 

 bought tw^o colonies of common bees in old 

 deep-frame chafi' hives. I transferred one 

 colony all right by placing the new hi*e on 

 old stand, with two combs of brood, and 

 the rest full sheets of foundation. But in 

 order to save the brood in old hive No. 2, I 

 placed the new hive on a new stand with 

 two combs of brood — six frames of founda- 

 tion, and shook all the bees I could in front. 

 I tried to see the queen, but failed. The 

 next daj', nearly all the bees were back in 

 the old hive, and soon the others had two 

 queen-cells sealed, then a beautiful queen 

 much larger and handsomer than the other 

 two. This last one was transferred late, I 

 think, in August; and as it was so late I 

 was afraid it would not winter; but it did 

 on six combs, and without any feeding in 

 the fall. Now, the two colonies on new 

 combs built in the summer of 1901 came out 

 of winter quarters (on the summer stands) 

 in good shape; and the one on old black 

 combs, and which was the strongest in bees 

 in the fall, died with plenty of honey left 

 over. Why? I also want to say here that, 

 when I joined the bee-keeping fraternity, I 

 had no idea I was getting into such good 

 Christian company, and am happy to see 



