1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



641 



rections, and who will spray when the trees 

 are in leaf. They will try to combine reme- 

 dies for the scale and for the various other 

 insect and fungus pests, and will introduce 

 arsenic and copper compounds into the 

 sprays. These, if used when trees are in 

 bloom, mean death to the bees of that region. 

 Although no one is ever told to spray in fruit- 

 bloom, but, on the contrary, is cautioned not 

 to use his pump at that time, there is always 

 one who is anxious to try the experiment. 

 Perhaps he is dependent on his neighbor for 

 a pump. His neighbor is not using it in fruit- 

 bloom, therefore it is a good time to borrow. 



Bee-keepers can not be urged too strongly 

 not to spray trees in bloom, and to see to it 

 that their neighbors do not borrow spray- 

 pumps at this time. So strongly did the On- 

 tario bee-keepers feel in this matter that a 

 year ago at their convention they offered a 

 "reward of twenty-tive dollars for the next 

 conviction of any one illegally spraying 

 while the fruit-trees are in blossom." 1 am 

 not aware that the example has been made 

 of any one as yet. But see to it that you do 

 not suffer loss of bees through your neighbors' 

 carelessness. Here is a case which has just 

 come to notice. 



"When the fruit-bloom set in I had some 

 very strong colonies. After fruit-bloom was 

 done I had a little bunch of bees which you 

 could hold in your hand, in the corner of the 

 hive. . . .1 know now that spraying did it, al- 

 though I could not find the guilty party." 



The enlightened bee-keeper can see, as 

 herein outlined, a happy combination of forces 

 which can be harnessed and made to yield 

 good returns. Are not the apiary and the 

 orchard as good a team as the often recom- 

 mended combination of bees and poultry, or 

 is it better? It will pay to try. Get informed 

 in the terminology of the day; "get wise;" 

 meet a situation as did the man below quoted 

 met an illeeal spraying case. 



The bee-keeper says, ' ' I went out into my 

 yard with the lawn-mower and found my bees 

 hopping around like grasshoppers. My home 

 apiary was much affected, and I came to the 

 conclusion that it was the result of spraying. 

 1 found that a lawyer who lived near me, and 

 who had a very nice place, had been spray- 

 ing, and was going to spray the next day. 

 I went to him and told him that he must not 

 do it. He was very much surprised when I 

 told him that it was against the law; but he 

 did not spray his trees." Get wise, and 

 don't be afraid to teach law to a lawyer. 



Clark Univ., Worcester, Mass., Dec. 18. 



[Every thing that Mr. Gates suggests in 

 the foregoing, as we know from accumulat- 

 ing evidence, is literally true; yet in spite of 

 it the average fax-mer either does not know 

 it or else indulges in the silly notion that his 

 neighbor's bees are sacking the sweetness 

 out of his fruit to be. The up-to-date fruit- 

 growers, fortunately, do recognize the valu- 

 able services performed by the bees. Some 

 of them are putting a few colonies in and 

 about their orchards, but the great majority 

 of them are making no such provision. In 



most parts of York State, and Michigan, for 

 example, it would not be necessary, for the 

 reason there are so many bee-keepers all 

 thi'oughthe fruit sections of those States, and 

 pollination is, therefore, taken care of. Bee- 

 keepers would do well in some localities to 

 get their neighbor fruit-men to put a colony 

 or two in their orchards, thus securing an 

 advantage to the orchardist and to the bee- 

 keeper as well. But how does the bee-keep- 

 er profit by it? In this way: If Mr. Fruit- 

 man thoroughly appreciates the value of the 

 bees as pollinators he will be less inclined to 

 make trouble when his neighbors' bees hov- 

 er over his broken fruit while it i^ being 

 packed, or lying on the ground.— Eu.] 



SAV ARMING CONTROLLED 



By Shutting the Queen on one Comb in a 

 Perforated Zinc Cage. 



BY J. H. BURNS. 



Many and various were the methods which 

 I had tried for the regulation or suppression 

 of swarming before I finally hit on the plan 

 which I shall attempt to describe in order 

 that brother bee-keepers may try it for them- 

 selves and prove that it will work as suc- 

 cessfully in their locality as it has in mine. 



All the methods desci'ibed in the bee-books 

 and journals were unsatisfactory to me be- 

 cause of the element of uncertainty. Clip- 

 ping the queen's wings is a fairly safe and 

 sure plan; but to make it work properly it is 

 necessary for the bee-keeper to be in the api- 

 ary every swarming day ; and if many swarms 

 issue at once it keeps a fellow on the jump 

 changing hives, and one can do scarcely any 

 other work without risk of missing a swarm. 



Shaking is not a sure method for holding 

 the swarm, in all localities; and, besides, to 

 me it was always a disagreeable operation, 

 fraught with danger to the queen, and liable 

 to make the bees cross. 



The modified Alexander method I thought 

 might tend to a better holding of the swarm; 

 but a trial on a small scale seemed to result 

 in less honey, on account, I believed, of di- 

 viding the colony before it was strong enough 

 to swarm naturally. For this reason I have 

 always thought that a practicable automatic 

 self-hiver would be just the ideal thing. It 

 would also save the hunting for queens and 

 queen-cells. 



The Alley queen-trap is the nearest ap- 

 proach to this desideratum; but they get so in- 

 sufferably filled with drones that the finding 

 of the queen is a job of great difKculty, and one 

 is never sure whether she is in the trap or 

 not. 



Caging the queen in the hive, or giving to 

 a nucleus, seemed the only reliable method; 

 but the hunt for queen-cells was too much 

 for my Irish patience. Besides, I did not 

 like the idea of reducing brood-rearing en- 

 tirely. Clearly, I wanted a cage which would 

 confine the queen without the bees, realizing 

 that she was confined; and if it allowed her 

 to lay eggs, and the bees free access to rear 



