<si&'&&&&@&&&&&'&&@^'&^^^@®&^-&&&<S'&&@^'®®&&&&'&&@'&&&&e.&@,&&i 



,1861 -J 



^BRIGA^ 



Entered at the Post-Offlce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



aeORQE W. YORK, Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, FEB. 18, 1904, 



Vol, XLIV— Na 7. 





Editorial Comments 



] 



Honey and Beeswax Exports and Imports. 



For the year ending June 30, 1902, there was exported from the 

 United States, $106,112 worth ot honey ; for year ending June 30, 1003, 

 $64,220. Beeswax exports for the same years, respectively, $36,541 

 and 821,337. The honey imports were for the year ending June 30, 

 1902, were 167,301 gallons, valued at §56,383; for year ending June 

 30, 1903, 287,696 gallons, valued at -$115,400. The beeswax imports for 

 the same years, respectively, were, 408,706 pounds valued at $115,937, 

 and 488,576 pounds valued at S127,220. 



Long-Ideal Hives— Doolittle's Experience. 



Mr. Doolittle tells in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that some years 

 ago he made two hives each four feet long, according to the long-ideal 

 plan of having all in one story without tiering up. One was used for 

 extracted honey, the other for comb. Neither worked to his satis- 

 faction, the worst feature being that the bees in them died each win- 

 ter, lieing wintered outdoors because too unwieldy to carry in cellar. 

 Notwithstanding this, some good authorities in Europe have used and 

 advocated them ; and in this country no less a man than O. O. Popple- 

 ton has used them successfully for many years, both in Iowa and 

 Florida. 



Some Apiarian Nuts to Crack. 



J. B. Kellen. in Praktischer Wegweiser, offers for solution ten 

 problems of general interest, among which are the following: 



Why do bees prefer to dwell and work only in the dark? 



Why do queen-cells hang perpendicularly while worker and drone 

 cells are horizontaU 'Mere lack of room is hardly a sufficient answer. 



What means the apparently playful vibratory shaking of the hind 

 parts of a bee as it waltzes over the comb! 



What means the raking motion of the bees on the front of the 

 hive as they steadily move back and forth? 



How long will eggs remain good without beioghatched? 



How much, if any, influence do tbe drones exert as to the matter 

 of swarming? 



The solution of these problems may have little to do with the 

 amount of honey to be obtained, but many who read them will be 

 likely to say, perhaps with a sigh, " I'd just like to know, you know." 



Formalin Gas for Foul Brood. 



J. E. Johnson writes as follows in the American Bee-Keeper: 



Many think that germs are of animal life. The foul-brood germ is 

 a plant, and it propagates by sporulating, which is a sexual act. Bac- 

 teria, like the pear-blight germ, is a plant, but is non-sexual. Now, 

 don't forget this: Formalin gas will not of itself kill any germ at all, 

 no matter how strong; but when the gas and the air are combined 

 those two elements together produce formic acid, and the formic acid 

 is what kills the germs and spores. So many say, " Oh, your box was 

 not tight enough, therefore you failed," when the truth of the matter 

 was, the box was too tight. Remember that the air is just as neces- 

 sary as the gas. You don't want your box too tight. Let in lots of 

 gas and lots of air. As long as you do that you will continue to 

 produce formic acid. When the air stops eomiog in, you soon stop 

 forming the acid. When you apply formalin gas to an air-tight cham- 



ber you only produce formic acid so long as that air lasts, or until that 

 air ceases to supply the necessary elements. After that, no matter how 

 strong your gas is you get no acid. Hence, it is not effective. Remem- 

 ber also that formic acid will hurt neither bees uor brood. Bee-sting 

 poison is formic acid, the same identical stuff that is produced by for- 

 malin gas and air. 



If Prof. Harrison's instructions are not misunderstood, he directs 

 that a current shall pass through the box in which is the burning lamp, 

 and though the box containing the combs to be disinfected, there be- 

 ing thus a current of air passing entirely through both boxes, and 

 when by the smell it is ascertained that the gas is escaping from the 

 upper hole of the upper box, thus showing that said Ijox is filled with 

 the gas, both apertures of the upper box are closed to retain the gas. 

 However important it may be to have this box tightly closed, after it 

 is filled with fumes, according to Mr. Johnson it will not do to have 

 all tight before that time. 



Formic acid plays an important part in the economy ot the hive, 

 but, according to the latest scientific investigations, the poison of the 

 sting is not, as Mr. Johnson says, formic acid, but something that Dr. 

 Langer has succeeded in obtaining entirely separate from that acid. 



Hive-Covers and Their Requirements. 



Of late there has been an unusual amount of discussion regarding 

 hive-covers. Absolutely essential is it that a cover be rain-proof. In 

 the opinion of some it is equally essential that a cover shall not twist 

 nor warp. A demand next in importance, some claim, is that a cover 

 shall be double, or have a dead-air space, thus making it a poor con- 

 ductor of heat, so that it shall be warm in winter and cool in sum- 

 mer. The plain cover made of a single board has probably seen its 

 day. Aside from its warping and twisting. Editor Root says that big 

 pine trees are liecoming so scarce that single-board covers are too ex- 

 pensive. Dr. Miller claims that double covers — the grain of the two 

 parts running in opposite directions — covered with zinc, will neither 

 twist nor warp; Editor Root thinks they will. They are expensive. 



Who has tried the Arthur C. Miller cover, of cheap lumber, paste, 

 and paint? 



What is the most satisfactory cover at moderate cost, anyway ; 



Sweet Clover Not Yielding Honey. 



Speaking of goldenrod and sweet clover, F. Greiner says in the 

 American Bee-Keeper: 



" Undoubtedly they yield hpney in some sections of New York, 

 but, like catnip, the different mints, etc., they amount to nothing here." 



That is not an unusual report of goldenrod, but has such a report 

 been made before of sweet clover and catnip? Is it because they pro- 

 duce no nectar, or are the bees liusy on something else? 



Queen Rearing— An English View. 



John Hewitt, the British queen-breeder, says in the American Bee- 

 Keeper that when royal jelly is put into cells and larva' added the bees 

 remove the jelly. Others have mentioned this; but .Mr. Hewitt adds 

 that when he tried putting in larva' without the food, he " found they 

 developed almost every one into queens, instead of just a few." He 

 continues; 



I now pared drone-comb down, cut it into strips and put a larva 

 in every alternate cell, and these were all reared into queens, although 

 there was not a trace of royal food or the base of a (|ueen-cell. 



I did not, however, feel satisfied as if 1 gave just-hatched larv;e, 



