THE BEE-KBEPERS' REVIEW 



209 



We would soon have a pretty 

 mess here in the west if we tried 

 the transferring plan of Mr. Wilder 

 especially where he leaves the bot- 

 tom and the top of his "gum" ex- 

 posed while the bees are working 

 their way up into those new hives. 

 Our bees out here would be in- 

 clined to help the colony being 

 transferred get rid of that honey. 

 We do not find it safe to leave 

 honey exposed to bees for weeks 

 at a time as Mr. Wilder infers he 

 does. We can safely do it during 

 the heavy flow but that usually does 

 not last very long. Or do you 

 find Mr. Wilder that the bees pro- 

 tect the combs and honey in the 

 '•gum" from robbing bees during 

 the time they are carrying it up 

 into the new hive? — W. F. 



We are just in receipt of a let- 

 ter from Mr. O. O. Poppleton, of 

 Stuart, Fla., in which he says that 

 he has sold out his entire bee in- 

 terests in Florida and is going 

 north to spend the summer, at 

 least, with his children. He will 

 probably not resume the apiarian 

 end of the work in Florida at all. 

 We are very sorry to learn that so 

 \^ride-awake and accurate an ob- 

 server and so thorough a bee— man 

 has gone or will soon go from 

 Florida; and doubly sorry, from 

 the cause alleged, which is, that 

 of failing health. We are looking 

 forward to having a talk with Mr. 

 Poppleton on his way north this 

 month, and also glad to learn that 

 he is to stop a while at Medina, O. 

 and see "The Heme of the Honey 

 Bee.." We envy him that treat! 

 We shall try our best to get 

 some sort of article from the 

 pen of this versatile and careful 

 w^riter, for the columns of the Re- 

 view. 



E. G. B. 



Alfalfa and sweet clover are now, 

 ]\Iay 6th, about six inches tall and 

 growing very rapidly. The precip- 

 itation so far this year is two inches 

 above normal or something over six 

 inches. The rain seemed for a 

 while to be determined to continue 

 and not give the fruit bloom and 

 dandelions a chance but it has 

 now cleared up and the bees have 

 been booming on the dandelions and 



fruit bloom, although apple trees 

 are not yet in bloom. A good many 

 colonies are preparing to swarm 

 and we have cut queen cells in 

 a number. This is the earliest that 

 we have done this that I can re- 

 member. When appletrees bloom 

 there will be something doing in 

 our yards as the majority are full 

 of bees and brood. A few days of 

 good flow from apple bloom will 

 bring about swarming. We will 

 make our increase in May this 

 year, or the most of it, and if there 

 is not enough bloom to support the 

 bees till alfalfa yields nectar,, we 

 shall feed. It pays to feed be- 

 tween fruit bloom and alfalfa flow 

 and keep the bees breeding up. 

 Feeding between these two flows 

 beats fall feeding in these parts. 

 You might do all the fall feeding 

 you want to; if you have a good 

 queen she will use all of it up be- 

 fore alfalfa blooms. Understand I 

 am not against fall feeding, but 

 feeding in May for colony support, 

 and stimulation on the side, also 

 pays. — W. F. 



Mr. James A. Pierce says in 

 the April number of the Review 

 that he thinks that extracted honey 

 production is very largely respon- 

 sible for the spread of foul brood. 

 It is undoubtedly responsible . for 

 the spread of foul brood to a cer- 

 tain extent, for we know how diffi- 

 cult it is to control the disease 

 when running for extracted honey. 

 Some western producers have giv- 

 en up producing it on account of 

 the w^y the infection is carried 

 from hive to hive in the extract- 

 ing frames. But Mr. Pierce has it 

 a little strong when he says that 

 extracted honey production is large- 

 ly responsible for the spread of 

 foul brood. I would say that the 

 indiscriminate moving of bees and 

 used bee supplies, together with 

 the shipment and sale of honey from 

 diseased hives is largely respon- 

 sible. — W. F. 



Occasionally you will find an 

 honest man who is not a business 

 success; but never a very successful 

 business man who is not thoroughly 

 24-hours-a-day, honest. 



