1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



581 



style of art. The photographs were, if I 

 am not mistaken, all made by Mr. H., and 

 show him to be a master with the camera 

 as well as with the hive. One picture 

 shows a frame of foundation partly filled 

 out in the middle; and if any illustration 

 ever showed where man's skill ceases and 

 God's power begins, this is the one. It is 

 enough to silence for ever all talk about 

 "appropriate machinery" for making arti- 

 ficial combs. Mr. Hutchinson explains the 

 absurdit}' of the comb-honey canards. If a 

 dozen more writers I could name would do 

 the same, they would render a greater 

 service to bee-keeping than all the bee- 

 journals can do. 



Even at the risk of repeating what is tr,ite 

 to many, I copj^ a few lines in regard to the 

 relative merits of blacks and Italians. It 

 is well put, and I copy a paragraph for the 

 benefit of our new subscribers: 



Under all circumstances, the Italian probably 

 comes as near being the " all-purpose " bee as does 

 auv variety. The Italians are amiable in disposition, 

 and ven,' industrious, but they have their limitations. 



The Italians are not as good comb-builders as the 

 black or German bees; they dislike to store their hon- 

 ey far from the brood-nest,' and are inclined to fill the 

 cells so full of honey as to give the sealed combs a 

 darker appearance than that capped by the blacks, 

 the latter leaving a little air-space between the cap- 

 ping and the honey, thus giving the combs a snowy- 

 white appearance. The blacks are good workers 

 when the hardest is abundant and near at hand, but 

 lack the staying qualities of the Italians when nectar 

 must be searched for far and wide. For the produc- 

 tion of extracted honey (that thrown from the combs 

 by centrifugal force, the combs being returned to be 

 refilled) the Italians are the ideal bees, unless it may 

 be in the warmer countries, as in Cuba, where the 

 honej'-flow comes in winter, and as the Italians are 

 apt to slack up in breeding as the season advances, 

 the approach of winter finds the colonies too weak in 

 numbers to take advantage of the harvest. 



One very fine view shows the home apiary 

 and residence of A. I. Root and the home 

 of A. L. Boyden. 



In addition to Mr. Hutchinson's skill in 

 the line of artist and writer, his personal 

 bearing and friendly address go far in ren- 

 dering his writings interesting to those who 

 enjoy his acquaintance. 

 Oil 

 BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



The Review has the largest proportion of 

 editorial matter, I believe, of any bee- journal. 

 In speaking of bees as a nuisance, all mem- 

 bers of the National Association should 

 read the following: 



-Some bee-keepers imagine that, because the Nation- 

 al Association has always been triumphant when 

 there has been an effort to drive some member, or his 

 bees, outside the corporation, they can keep bees in 

 almost any way in almost any situation. I am glad to 

 see that Manager France doe's not propose to defend 

 every- member whose bees are declared a nuisance, re- 

 gardless of whether they are a nuisance or not. All 

 bee-keepers well know that a large apiary might be 

 so managed as to become a terrible nuisance to near 

 neighbors in a city or village. I investigated a case 

 last year in which the bee-keeper was decidedly to 

 blame. He even went so far as to stir up his hybrids 

 purposely, on hot afternoons, that he might hoot and 

 jeer at his neighbors when they had to " cut for the 

 house." Then he boasted that he belonged to the 

 National Association, a thou.sand strong, which would 

 stand by him. It stood by him by advising him to 

 move his bees out of the village. Of course, this is an 

 extreme case; but we all know that, even with the 

 best of management, bees will sometimes prove an 

 annoyance, if not a nuisance. 



A fine view of a windmill arranged for 

 pumping water, shelling corn, grinding 

 feed, and running a saw to make hives, 

 etc., is given. Concerning these mills, the 

 editor says: 



For a farmer bee-keeper who has wood to saw, 

 water to pump, and feed to grind for stock, and bee- 

 hives to make, I can think of no more desirable power 

 than that of a good windmill. 



The rapid advent of gasoline as a motor 

 power will, I think, cause Mr. H. to write 

 differently in a few years. 



Here is an item about Dr. Gandy: 

 Dr. J. I,. Gandy, Humboldt, Nebraska, has sold a 

 carload of bees to go to the famous Watson ranch of 

 Kearney, Nebraska. Roy Wilson will have the man- 

 agement of the bees. The Humboldt paper says that 

 twelve men worked all night preparing the bees for 

 shipment, and some of them " bore marks of their 

 labor " the next day. 



REPLACING QUEENS. 



" Say, Mr. Doolittle, how long do queens 

 live?" 



" What led you to ask me that question, 

 Mr. Brown?" 



"We are told in the bee-papers that, to 

 reap the best results in honey, queens over 

 two years old should not be allowed as 

 mothers of colonies. I suppose from this 

 that the writers think that from two to three 

 years is the average life of the queen. 

 What is your experience in this matter?" 



" My best queens live to be four, five, and, 

 in some instances, six years old; but the 

 average life of queens is about three and a 

 half years. The length of a queen's life, 

 other things being equal, depends upon the 

 tax that is put upon her egg-laying powers, 

 and under our modern management queens 

 do not average so long-lived as they did in 

 box-hive days. " 



"Would you think it best to change all 

 queens that were three years old? I have 

 some such that were just as good layers as 

 ever last fall, and came through in my 

 strongest colonies, and I was wondering 

 whether I ought to change them this sum- 

 mer. What do you think?" 



" I do not think that the question of age 

 should be considered in the matter of chang- 

 ing queens, except so far as it may be tak- 

 en as a sort of rule to judge of when they 

 will be apt to fail. I would not replace a 

 queen so long as she lays up to her full 

 average, especially at this time of the year, 

 for during the month of June any queen 

 that has even less than the average value 

 can supply eggs which will be turned out 

 into bees at the right time for the honey 



