1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



965 



i i(.. 5. FIVE MINUTES AFTER THE DEMON- 

 STRATION. 



more easily discerned, as the Caucasians are 

 not only very quiet on the comb, but quiet 

 down more quiqjily after being disturbed 

 than any other race of bees within our ob- 

 servation. 



In the foregoing demonstration the colony 

 was subjected to every possible test of gen- 

 tleness under the most trying conditions for 

 some thirty minutes: and within five minutes 

 after the demonstration ceased, nearly all 

 the bees had returned quietly to the hive, as 

 shown by the last photograph of the series. 



In a yard devoted entirely to rearing of 

 queens it is difficult to make authoritative 

 tests of honey-production, but the Caucasians 

 here shown made their own stores, while 

 Italians beside them had to be fed, and they 

 have undergone the test of wintering in ex- 

 cellent condition. Our experience with them 

 thus far leads us to be very friendly to these 

 gentle bees. Another point in their favor is 

 the remarkable inherited fertility of the 

 queen. We have repeatedly had young 

 queens mated, and laying in nucleus boxes, 

 in five and six days from the time they were 

 hatched, ten days being exceptionally early 

 for Italian queens under the same conditions. 

 Our expei'ience has also been that a larger 

 percentage of queens are successfully mated 

 than in the case of the other races. 



Lincoln, Nebraska. 



[We may be mistaken, but it is our opin- 

 ion that almost any race of bees can be han- 

 dled in handfuls afkr they have been de- 

 moralized or made to form in the form of a 

 cluster. In our various public exhibitions 

 we have handled all kinds of bees in a large 

 demonstrating-cage, and have scarcely ever 

 received a sting. We are not sure, but we 

 are of the opinion that Cyprians can be han- 

 dled in that way after they have been shaken 

 into a pan or gotten into the form of a clus- 

 ter; but it is not every colony whose hive can 

 be opened without smoke. Here is really 

 the crucial test of the temper of bees. The 

 most of our pure Italians and all of our Cau- 

 casians will permit of being handled or hav- 

 ing their hive opened without smoke, pro- 

 vided it is warm weather and the cover is 

 not glued down so that, when it is loosened, 

 it comes up with a snap. But Mr. Pritchard, 

 at our north yard, says he has noticed that 

 Caucasians are more gentle under unfavora- 

 ble conditions, as in cool or chilly weather, 

 than the Italians under like conditions. — Ed.] 



BEES FOR FERTILIZING CUCUMBER- 

 BLOSSOMS. 



Some Troubles in Hiving a Swarm; Some 

 Funny Experience. 



BY A. T. HARPER. 



On the 13th of July, 1905, I purchased a 

 colony of three-banded Italians. At the 

 time I had no intention of going into bee- 

 keeping beyond a couple of hives, for, being 

 in the market-gai'den business, I needed bees 

 to inoculate cucumbers, not having grown 

 above a dozen fruit for the three years pre- 

 vious, and those only by fixing the blossoms 

 by hand, although I always put in lots of 

 plants. I gave ten dollars for the hive, leav- 

 ing it to the other fellow's sense of honor to 

 give me a good strong swarm. Now for re- 

 sults: 



On the 20th of the same month they swarm- 

 ed, with me rushing round, dressing in al- 

 most a suit of mail, almost persuading my- 

 self I was going to battle. I will not describe 

 how they settled in a tall willow, or how I 

 was standing on some lower limbs with a 

 basket in one hand and an ax in the other, 

 when the limb broke and deposited me in 

 the brush, ripping the veil off and dumping 

 bees all over me. Suffice it to say, in the 

 scrimmage I lost the (jueen, or killed her, or 

 something, for I carted bees on sticks and 

 branches, in bunches of one quart upward, 

 and dumped them in front of another hive 

 for over two hours; but still they would not 

 stay in. I sometimes varied the proceedings 

 by blocking the entrance and plunking them 

 in the top, closing the lid quickly; but no 

 sooner did I open it for another lot than the 

 rest were out. Well, they got back to their 

 old home at last, and came out four days 

 later; and as they settled in a more respect- 

 able place I captured them, this second swarm 



