260 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



August 



mitted to continue laying long 

 enough to keep up the stock of bees, 

 yet are removed before the small 

 hive becomes overcrowded. The 

 Wing system, whereby the honey- 

 flow is continued by moving to an- 

 other point when necessary and sup- 

 plying necessary bees or stores from 

 other colonies, overcomes most oi 

 the objections to the small mating 

 box. 



San Jose is situated in the fruit 

 district, where prunes are an import- 

 ant crop. Almonds, filaree and mus- 

 tard bloom in February, thus starting 

 the season early. Cherries, peaches, 

 pears and apples, together with other 

 fruits, guarantee nectar continuously 

 until late in April. It is not regarded 

 as a good locality for surplus honey, 

 but a light flow, just sufficient for 

 stimulation, is better for the queen 

 breeder than a heavy flow. 



In summer there is alfalfa, sweet 

 clover, teasel, horehound and many 

 other minor sources to keep the bees 

 busy. As already mentioned, in or- 

 der to prolong the season the bees 

 are moved to the river bottom, for 

 honeydew from willow.;, for • late 

 summer and fall. In California there 

 is always something yielding suffi- 

 cient nectar to keep the bees breed- 

 ing, from February till October, if 

 one goes far enough. If a breeder 

 can prolong his season one or two 

 months by making a move of 75 

 miles, he can afford to incur consid- 

 erable expense to do so. Especially 

 is this true of a concern which can 

 turn out 1.800 queens in a month, as 

 Ward did last fall. 



The great difficulty with queen- 

 rearing in the Northern States is the 

 short season. In California, the 

 breeders begin stocking nuclei in 

 March and are running at full capac- 

 ity by May, at which time northern 

 breeders are just getting started. In 

 the Wing location they count on a 

 season of six to seven months, with 

 five months to full capacity. 



The Argentine Ant Pest 



The Wing yards are located in a re- 

 gion infested with the Argentine 

 ants. In the December, 1918, issue of 

 this journal is an extended descrip- 

 tion of the habits of this pest. So 

 far, it has not become established to 



a serious extent except in a few lo- 

 calities in Alabama, Louisiana and 

 California. It is so destructive to 

 bees that the hives must be placed on 

 stands beyond the reach of the in- 

 sects. As will be seen by the illus- 

 tration, Wing suspends his hive- 

 stands from supports by means of 

 wires. The wires are covered with 

 crude oil, which must lie renewed 

 frequently. Under favorable condi- 

 tions, it is not necessary to renew 

 the oil oftener than once in two 

 weeks, but in case of dust storms, 

 more frequent oiling is necessary. If 

 grass or weeds are permitted to grow 

 where they touch the stands, the ants 

 will soon find the way up and will 

 attack the bees. 



As to actual apiary practice. Mr. 

 Ward, who has charge of the queen 

 breeding in the Wing yards, does not 

 depart very much from the usual 

 methods. He dips his own cells, pre- 

 ferring them to those to be bought 

 from supply firms. If there is time 

 he gives each batch of cells to the 

 bees a few hours before grafting, but 

 in transferring the larvse he uses no 

 royal jelly. The fact that he is able 

 to turn out 1,800 queens in a month's 

 time indicates that he is able to get a 

 large proportion of cells accepted. 

 However, in order to get cells ac- 

 i epted without jelly, all condition 



[ outfit on the move 



must be very favorable, and the col- 

 ony in ideal condition. All cells are 

 started with queenless bees and the 

 following day are removed to be fin- 

 ished above a queenright colony. On 

 the 10th day after grafting, all cells 

 are caged or given to nuclei. To 

 stock the nuclei in spring, a swarm 

 box is used with two frames of brood. 

 Bees are removed to another yard to 

 prevent return to original location. 

 Future of Queen Business 



Never in the history of the bee- 

 keeping industry has the future pros- 

 pect been as bright as at present. The 

 abnormal conditions caused by the 

 world war have introduced the use of 

 honey into thousands of homes where 

 it had not been used previously, and 

 hundreds of new markets have been 

 opened for the beekeepers' product. 

 If the beemen are active in organiza- 

 tion and advertising, a good market 

 at remunerative prices will be perma- 

 nent. The expansion of commercial 

 honey production makes such a de- 

 mand for queens as never has been 

 known before. Although every queen 

 breeder in the land has increased his 

 output and numerous new recruits 

 have engaged in the business, still the 

 demand for good queens has exceeded 

 the supply. There is every indication 

 that the queen breeder who sends out 

 only good stock and gives his cus- 

 tomers prompt service, will never 

 lack for a market for his output. 



So keen is the demand for queens 

 that large producers can only be sure 

 of getting a sufficient supply by rear- 

 ing them in their own yards. 



Some Observations on Nosema- 

 Disease 



By G. F. White, Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 (Continued from July) 

 Symptoms of Nosema-disease 

 From what has already been said it 

 is seen that weakness is one of the 

 colony symptoms of Nosema-disease. 

 When a sufficiently large number of 

 the bees of the colonv are infected 

 and the infection persists for a suf- 

 ficiently long period, weakness will 

 inevitably result and become appar- 

 ent. On the other hand, when only a 

 small number of bees are infected, or 



