1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



683 



NOT A FAIR CROP FOR CENTRAL CALIFOR- 

 NIA. 



I have just returned from a trip of ten 

 daj's to San Francisco and Northern Cali- 

 fornia, and I find j'our letter awaiting' me 

 which should have had my attention several 

 days ago. This I regret very much, as I 

 am very anxious that it be known that we 

 shall not have a good crop this season. Up 

 to date we are considerablj- behind in quan- 

 tity, and it is now so late that it is impos- 

 sible for Central California and the North- 

 ern part of the State to have even a fair 

 crop. There are sections that are doing 

 well, but as a whole not up to average. 



Hanford, Cal., July 13. F. E. Brown. 



[As Mr. Brown is business manager for 

 the Central California Bee-keepers' Associ- 

 ation, his statement can be considered reli- 

 able as well as authoritative. — Ed.] 



A SMALL BF.E-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION OR- 

 GANIZED FOR THE PURPOSE OF 

 CONTROLLING THE SPREAD 

 OF FOUL BROOD. 



I enclose a clipping from the Muncy Dein- 

 ocj-at giving an account of the organization 

 of the "Munc3' Vallej' Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation." This Association has been organ- 

 ized for the purpose of trying to stamp out 

 foul brood in this section, as it is very bad 

 in this part of the State. There are no fees 

 to become a member, and the expenses are 

 met by offerings from inembers. The As- 

 sociation is only a few weeks old, and has 

 some twent}' members. 



A committee is appointed to examine each 

 member's bees, and the owner of such bees 

 becomes one of the committee. Each mem- 

 ber must allow his bees to be examined, 

 and all colonies found foul-brood3' must be 

 cured or destroyed. This is the only organ- 

 ization of its kind in the State, that I know 

 of. O. C. Fuller. 



Comly, Pa., June 26. 



[Your plan is a very good one; but you 

 had better bend your energies toward get- 

 ting a State foul-brocd law that will put 

 the power of the State of Pennsylvania 

 back of 3'ou; for the very fellows who ought 

 to join your organization may not, if they 

 have foul brood, and will be the very ones 

 you can not do any thing with unless you 

 can bring the law to bear on them. — Ed.] 



WAS IT AN unusual CASE OF SWARMING ? 



We have had an experience with bees 

 which is somewhat different from any 

 which the books on this subject relate. 

 On Monday, June 15, one of our colonies 

 swarmed, and we caught it and put it into 

 a new hive; but as the queen did not come 

 out, it seems the swarm left the new hive 

 and went back to the old one. The queen 

 in the hive was clipped. Sunday, the 21st, 

 the}' swarmed again, and the queen was 

 found in front of the hive. She was placed 

 in the new hive, and the swarm was caught 

 and put into the same hive. This was 



about 11 o'clock in the morning, and about 

 6 at night the swarm was found to have 

 left the hive, although the queen was still 

 there. We are quite certain that the swarm 

 went back to the old hive. The new hive 

 contained brood-frames with foundation, 

 and, so far as the write knows, every 

 thing was in good shape to receive them. 



Can 3'ou explain what the trouble was, 

 and how we should handle this matter? 

 As we feared the queen might die if we 

 left her alone in the new hive, we put her 

 back into the old hive. Is it customary to 

 take any of the brood- frames from the old 

 hive and place them in the new one? 



Edw. H. Schwartzburg. 



Milwaukee, June 22, 1903. 



[I do not see any thing very unusual in 

 this case. If there is anj'^ set rule about 

 swarms going out and coming back it has 

 many exceptions. There was nothing un- 

 usual about their going out and coming 

 back if the queen's wing was clipped; nor 

 was there any thing out of the ordinary in 

 their leaving the new hive, even when they 

 had their old queen with them. Thej' did 

 not like their new quarters for some rea- 

 son, and decided to swarm out, expecting 

 the queen to follow, which she could not do, 

 of course. We always consider it advis- 

 able to put a swarm, in the height of the 

 swarming season, on a frame of unsealed 

 brood. This, probably, will do more than 

 an}' thing else to hold bees in their new 

 quarters. — Ed.] 



UNRIPE HONEY FOR THE MARKET. 



A few minutes ago, having a little leisure 

 time, I picked up the issue of July 1st 

 Gleanings to look over A. I.'s article un- 

 der •' Our Holmes." I had read the same, 

 including the extract from our friend T. B. 

 Terry, with much interest. Having finish- 

 ed it I was turning back the pages when I 

 noticed " Unripe honey for the confectioner 

 and baker, how it may injure the sale of 

 good honey — a vigorous protest by R. A. 

 Burnett." I had glanced at the table of 

 contents when Gleanings came, or soon 

 after, but did not find it there; and (this be- 

 ing our busy season in fruits and vegeta- 

 bles) I had not again taken it up. 



What I now wish to say is, I am more 

 than ever in love (if I may use the term) 

 with A. I. and E. R. Root for their courage 

 and sincerity, as shown by putting this let- 

 ter to which I have referred into their mag- 

 azine, and endorsing it as they did with 

 the footnote. I thought after it had been 

 sent to 3'ou that perhaps I was cruel to put 

 the matter in such terse form, which virtu- 

 ally amounted to a reprimand so far as A. 

 I. was concerned. If he had not been big 

 enough froin the soul standpoint to see it in 

 the light it was meant, and not that of a 

 personal thing, but for the good of the 

 world, this might not have been written; 

 therefore my commendation. You publish- 

 ed the letter without change of any kind, 

 although "lightning operators" was al- 



