THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



163 



r 



Califoknia will have a short crop this 

 year if things turn out as it appears they 

 will. Dealers out there are trying to get up 

 a "corner" on honey. 



Mabk your queen cages, you gentlemen 

 who send out queens. A good plan is to have 

 " stickers " with your name and address 

 printed and blank spaces left for writing the 

 address of the purchaser. A rubber stamp 

 will answer nicely. If you have neither, 

 then write on the cage with a pencil, " From 

 Mr. Golden Band." A man may order 

 queens at the same time from different 

 breeders and it is very pleasant to know 

 whom they are from, especially if some of 

 them are tested and others not. 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion has had an appropriation of f.'iOO.OO 

 yearly to use in getting put a report of its 

 proceedings and mailing copies to members 

 and others. The second annual report is 

 here. It is very nicely gotten up, the nicest 

 of any report that I have ever seen, but I 

 notice that the Legislature has failed to make 

 the appropriation this year, hence, we shall 

 probably see no more of those handsome re- 

 ports and must content ourselves with sim- 

 ply reading the reports of meetings as they 

 appear in the journals. 



CABNIOLANS GREAT BREEDERS. 



For several years I have had a few colonies 

 of Carniolans. There is no question but 

 they are great breeders, especially so in the 

 spring. I am not sure hut this trait might 

 not be used to advantage by Northern honey 

 raisers in getting populous colonies in time 

 for the white clover harvest. I do think, 

 however, that this great brood-rearing dis- 

 position needs joining with the sense, or 

 thrift, of the Italians. To illustrate : I now 

 have two colonies of pure Carniolans. They 

 both swarmed June 2nd. I examined their 

 hives and found every comb jammed full of 

 brood, with not half a pound of honey in the 

 hive. I also found another weak colony of 

 Italians actually starving. No houey was 

 coming in. The Carniolans will rear brood 

 and swarm so long as there is a drop of hon- 

 ey in the hive, and it makes no difference if 

 none is coming in. This may be a good 

 trait in some respects, but it needs joining 

 ■with some other traits. 



Queens Cramp, curl up apparently dead 

 sometimes when they are caught and held 

 by both wings. Only a few times in my life 

 have I seen them do this. Mr. Doolittle says 

 in Gleanings that this is caused by the queen 

 catching one of her feet in the vulva and 

 holding it there. If you catch a queen and 

 she curls up apparently dead, don't throw 

 her away, but wait for her to recover. 



li,ni»WWi»jr>t» 



W. Z. Hutchinson contributes an article 

 to the Progressive in which he calls attention 

 to the undesirability of buying and selling 

 bees by the pound. He says that the difficul- 

 ty is that the bees and brood are like man 

 and wife — they ought not to be separated. 

 The bees need the brood and the brood needs 

 the bees. Without the addition of hatching 

 brood the old bees die and dwindle away be- 

 fore any surplus is obtained, and without the 

 bees to care for it the brood is neglected and 

 its production is checked. If you are going 

 to buy bees, better buy brood and all. 



■n^-M^k^k^li"^!^ 



Swarm catchers and queen traps both 

 have their uses and places. In a small api- 

 ary where the likelihood of two or more 

 swarms issuing at the same time is slight, 

 the trap works to its best advantage. As the 

 apiary increases in size, so that several 

 swarms will often be in the air at one time, 

 there is considerable work in straightening 

 out the snarls that result from the uniting 

 of swarms in the air. It can be done, how- 

 ever, simply by giving to each hive its pro- 

 portion of bees and a queen. But, in an 

 apiary large enough to require the constant 

 attendance of some one, swarm catchers 

 show their superiority. It is not necessary 

 to stand around with swarm catcher in hand 

 ready to jump and run the moment that a 

 swarm starts to come out. The first few 

 bees that leave the hive set up the swarming 

 note : no bee-keeper who has ever heard it 

 will fail to hear and recognize it at once — 

 before more than one-tenth of the swarm is 

 in the air. To place the catcher in front of 

 the hive is the work of an instant, and that 

 ends all trouble with that swarm, and the 

 apiarist is ready for the next one. With 

 plenty of catchers on hand there is nothing 

 easier than to catch and keep by itself each 

 swarm that issues. The few bees that come 

 out before the catcher is applied are not lost ; 

 they simply return to the old stand, or join 

 the van guard of some other swarm and re- 

 turn to their hive. 



