THE BEE-KEEPERS, REVIEW. 



207 



Ar.FALKA, from which such great crops 

 of honey have been gathered in the West, 

 and from which such great things have 

 been hoped, may yet he denied its crown- 

 ing glory — iis bloom. According to re- 

 ports that have been coming in to Glea- 

 nings, there is a growing tendency to cut 

 it before it comes into bloom. If it should 

 eventually turns out that there is more 

 money for the hay maker by cutting thus 

 early, it will lie a hard blow to bee keep- 

 inifin the alfalfa regions. 



Wrfc»^^^»«R,^^ 



don't crowd. 



It seems that outsiders have crowded 

 into the Arkansas Valley, in Colorado, 

 until patience has ceased to be a virtue, 

 and the Association of that locality comes 

 out with the following: — 



The Arkansas Valley Bee-Keeper's 

 Association desires to say that this Val- 

 ley is now overstocked to such an extent 

 that any increase will sensibly augment 

 the overstocking; that in the last few 

 years the average of the best located 

 apiaries has decreased fully one half; 

 and that the further coming of bees from 

 abroad to this locality is not advisable 

 and by us not desired. 



In all not fully occupied localities, the 

 natural readjustment of apiaries will very 

 soon fill all spots. The early cutting of 

 alfalfa is the rule, and large tracts of 

 land are being turned to the raising of 

 sugar beets, still further reducing pas- 

 ture. Our Association, therefore, desires 

 to lay the facts before the public, hoping 

 that good may come. Adopted as the 

 ananimous expression of the Association, 

 This 3rd day of May, 1902. 



J. H. WASSON. Sec'y. 



tK^w^^fm^M*. 



ArTifici.\l Incrkask, as discussed by 

 Mr. Getaz in this issue, brings up several 

 important points, but none more impor- 

 tant than that of temperature. Starting 

 weak nuclei in cool weather is certainly 

 suicidal. As Mr. Getaz remarks, nearly 

 the whole force is needed to keep up the 

 proper temperature, hence few bees can 



go to the field. Double the number of 

 bees, and probably nearly every bee that 

 is added conld go to the fields. In the 

 extraordinary increase reported a month 

 or two ago, in the Review, by Mr. Chan- 

 try, it will be noticed that no weak nu- 

 clei were inade — nothing less than three 

 combs of brood well covered with bees 

 were taken from an old colony. 



The plan of taking a comb or two from 

 each colony until enough are secured for 

 a colony is a good one, but, as Mr. Getaz 

 says, it takes too much time where much 

 work of the kind is to be done. 



The idea that a colony of bees is a unit , 

 or asingle organi.sm, in a certain sense, 

 and that when we divide it we may do 

 violence to this organization, may be 

 true in some respects. A division ought 

 to be made in accordance with the laws 

 of the hive. Mr. Gill thinks that this idea 

 may be more theory than anything else, 

 and cites the fact that he can see no ad- 

 vantages in a natural swarm over one that 

 is shaken from the combs at swarming 

 time. A swarm made by shaking off the 

 bees, or most of them, just as that colony 

 is about to swarm, is simply forestalling 

 nature. The division is almost identical 

 with that of natural swarming. 



AdapTabii^iTy of stock to a particular 

 locality may be of more importance than 

 some of us dream. Mr. Simpson called 

 attention to this last month, and now one 

 of my advertisers asks me to remove from 

 his advertisement the mention of a strain 

 of bees that proved vastly superior in the 

 hands of a well known bee-keeper. 

 This advertiser says that this stock has 

 not proven so good in his hands, as his 

 own stock. Two or three limes have I 

 sent Mr. Doolittle a queen of the Super- 

 ior stock, but, for some reason, they have 

 never done so well by him as his own 

 stock. On the other hand, I have occa- 

 sionally run across a man who finds his 

 own stock superior to that obtained of 

 Mr. Doolittle. It is quite likely that 

 hundreds of instances like these could be 

 found scattered all over the country. 



