618 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



M Y 1 



Bees have wintered very well so far, and 

 there is every prospect of a good season 

 here. 



The Colorado legislature passed a good lo- 

 cal-option law during its last session. The 

 territory owned by the distillers and brewers 

 is narrowing down. 



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Honey that has granulated in the comb 

 can be melted without damage to the comb 

 by a careful management of the heat; but it 

 is hardly practical or profitable to attempt 

 it. In the case of honey in sections, there is 

 the fui'ther disadvantage that the appearance 

 is injured by the melted honey settling close 

 against the cappings, making watery-looking 

 combs. 



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It is a very dangerous thing to attempt to 

 winter over colonies that have foul brood, 

 no matter how strong they may appear to be 

 in the fall. Our inspector permitted this in 

 some cases last fall. In buying bees this 

 spring I came across some of these. Four 

 out of five of them stood no chance whatever 

 of living long enough to be cured, but would 

 inevitably die and be robbed out. In fact, I 

 heard of some cases where this had already 

 happened. The trouble is that there is not 

 the usual percentage of young bees among 

 those going into winter quarters, so that the 

 winter loss is heavier. Then when brood- 

 rearing begins in the spring, so many of the 

 larvai die of disease that the colony has no 

 chance to build up. 



The statement on page 473, that if we 

 slowly melt a quantity of solid honey the 

 dextrose and levulose can be separated very 

 readily, the latter running away from the 

 dextrose, which is in the form of finely gran- 

 ulated sugar, doubtless is correct of some 

 honey. In fact, I have seen just such honey 

 myself. But with some honey, and I am in- 

 clined to think with a thoroughly well-ripen- 

 ed article of any honey, this would be im- 

 possible. In both Illinois and Colorado I 

 have produced tons of honey that was too 

 dense and uniform in texture when granulat- 

 ed to permit of any separation of its constit- 

 uents. When heat was applied, the honey 

 softened or melted uniformly. I do not be- 

 lieve the writer of the paragraph in question 

 ever saw a sample of granulated heartsease, 

 clover, or alfalfa honey that had been thor- 

 oughly ripened. 



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TWO LAYING QUEENS IN A COLONY. 



If it should prove that E. W. Alexander is 

 correct in his claim that it is practical to keep 



two or more laying queens in a hive, its pub- 

 lication will prove to be one of the most im- 

 portant steps that have been taken in bee- 

 keeping in a long time. In corroboration of 

 his position I will say that I once introduced 

 a queen into a colony that already had a 

 good laying queen. I had a queen I intend- 

 ed to supersede. I killed her, and later in 

 the day put a queen into the same hive, as I 

 supposed, introducing by the candy plan. 

 Several days later, in looking at my records 

 I found that I had put the queen into the 

 wrong hive. Examination showed that both 

 queens, the one belonging in the hive and 

 the one I had introduced, were there, both 

 young queens, both apparently laying and 

 on good terms with each other and the work- 

 ers. The queen was needed in the other 

 hive, so one was removed, and somehow I 

 never experimented any further in that di- 

 rection. 



Contrary to his experience, I have had lay- 

 ing queens kill each other when shut up to- 

 gether, also when in separate cages lying to- 

 gether so that they could sting each other 

 through the wire cloth. I think it very like- 

 ly that we shall find there is a difference of 

 temper in different strains of bees that will 

 give a variation in results. It is well known 

 that some strains of bees can be readily unit- 

 ed without trouble, while others are almost 

 sure to fight. 



SPRAYING FRUIT-TKEES WHILE IN BLOOM. 



Several of the States have laws prohibiting 

 the spraying of fruit-trees with poison while 

 they are in blossom. Colorado is one of 

 these. Aside from this, we have been con- 

 gratulating ourselves that up-to-date fruit- 

 growers had come to the belief that spraying 

 when trees are in bloom is contrary to their 

 own interests. But a new development has 

 arisen here in Colorado. The Grand Valley, 

 on the western slope of the Rockies, is largely 

 devoted to fruit-raising, apples being one of 

 the main crops. Probably there is no district 

 where more interest is taken in scientific 

 horticulture or where better preparation is 

 made for it. In the matter of spraying, hun- 

 dreds of power-spraying outfits are in use, 

 and during the last season the fruit-growers 

 of Mesa Co. paid out over $36,000 for spray- 

 ing-materials alone, many carloads of poison 

 being applied. It will be seen that the spray- 

 ing question is an important one to the fruit- 

 grower, and it would be well for us to look 

 at the question from his side, even if it is 

 not altogether agreeable. 



In the first place, we must remember that 

 the time for proper spraying is very short. 

 To be effective it must "be done while the 

 calyx is open in order to fill the calyx cup 

 with poison. The closing of the calyx varies 

 with different varieties; but in from five to 

 seven days after the petals have fallen it has 

 closed and the time for effective spraying 

 has passed. 



If you will examine a bunch of apple-blos- 

 soms you will find that there are usually 

 from five to eight blossoms in a bunch, but 

 that this bunch seldom produces over one or 



