Mar. 3, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



169 



to fly. It will be worth while, however, to take away the 

 board whenever there comes a good day for them to fly, say 

 a day when the sun shines brightly with no wind, and the 

 thermometer above 45 degrees. 



2. Do not fasten them in ; they would fuss to get out, 

 and you would lose many bees by it. Better let them alone ; 

 no doubt many of the bees that fly out and die are old or 

 diseased bees that would not live longer any way. 



3. It might be a good thing to contract Ihe entrance 

 somewhat. An entrance amounting to about an inch square 

 would do very well for early spring until it comes settled 

 warm weather; but don't think of making the entrance so 

 small as to allow passage for only one bee at a time. It 

 might be well to look occasionally and see that the entrance 

 does not get clogged. 



One of the Young-er Sisters. 



Dear Miss Wilson : — 1 have been reading the American 

 Bee Journal for some months. I take delight in the 

 women's page; I think it is a sign of progress for the 

 women bee-keepers of our land to write for and help along a 

 bee- pa per. 



I am not a lady beekeeper exactly, but I am a girl who 

 likes to help her father take care of bees and honey. We 

 bought 3 or 4 colonies of bees 2 or 3 years ago, and came out 

 with 6 colonies last spring ; in the summer we increased to 

 14, and sold over 200 pounds of comb honey. In this section 

 white clover honey is about all we have that is not yellow. 

 We get 12"; cents per pound for chunk honey out of the 

 frames, but we get IS cents for nice, full sections. We use 

 shallow frames a good deal in the supers, as the bees fill 

 them better for us. 



I do not wear a veil, but if I think we are going to have 

 a hard day I bring a large square of mosquito-bar into the 

 apiary, and if the bees get angry I throw it over my bon- 

 net, and pin it to my dress in front. I never think of gloves, 

 as I remember getting but one sting on my hand, and it 

 was not bad. I am the only one of the children that can 

 work with bees with any safety. Pa gave me a book, 

 " Langstroth on the Honey-Bee." some time ago. lam 

 proud of it as I like to read about bees. 



I hope you and the American Bee Journal may have 

 much success, Ann F. Kei.LY. 



Hickory Co., Mo., Feb. 1. 



A girl who likes to help her father is usually pretty 

 good help, and I have no doubt your father finds it so. 



Next time tell us how old you are, and remember we 

 like to hear from the girls. 





Nasty's Afterthoughts 





■ Old liuliablo ■' seen through New and Unreliable Glasses, 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. ' 



lOUI, BROOD AND THK COLORADOS. 



Foul brood is hardly a nice topic, and most discussions 

 of it simply thresh old straw without getting anything new ; 

 but the Colorados, on pages 23 25, say some things not alto- 

 gether old. Those of us so happy as to have little or no ex- 

 perience need to keep posted all the same — never know what 

 a season will bring forth. Mr. Ivindza's experience should 

 not be overlooked. His bees, on a prairie six miles from 

 other bees, took foul brood from an empty hive gotten else- 

 where. That the disease spreads worse where one runs for 

 extracted honey than where section honey is the object, is 

 a matter not often mentioned in print. One degree of viru- 

 lence, it seems, is that there will be one colony in the yard 

 lightly affected. Next season that one will be badly 

 affected, and four or five more will begin lightly — and so 

 on. And a weak colony with lots of comb-room will have 

 their brood-nest on one side of the hive till those combs get 

 very corrupt ; then they will shift to the other side of the 

 hive and rear brood there for a spell, which will be nearly 

 clean. Mr. Aikin finds it worth while to move a diseased 

 colony to a number of different locations inside the yard 

 till there's not much left of it but the combs, and then close 

 it out. I fear this would not ahvays be a safe way of operat- 



ing. A quite general view is that it's best to localize all 

 the infected colonies a good many rods away from the 

 sound ones before manipulating the disease much. Very 

 desirable that sound colonies should be where they will not 

 receive even one bee that carries diseased honey. 



DISPOSING OK A SDPERSBDED QUEEN. 



The question of what becomes of a queen when she is 

 superseded is more or less in a fog — and here's a beginner 

 who has an observation that seems to be relevant. About 

 a hundred bees appeared that were apparently pushing the 

 queen in front of them. At the edge of the alighting-board 

 a few took her, and the group flew away and disappeared. 

 Could human beings manage a disagreeable job more 

 politely ? D. B. Boynton, page 29. 



POLLEN AND rOUL BROOD. 



Does that 'are " County " always get things straight, I 

 wonder? The assertion that one particular kind of pollen 

 is always found when foul brood develops is important — 

 and also makes large demands on our credulity. We want 

 to know who says it — and, lo, it's " Kane County " that says 

 it. Page 29. 



POETRY AND APICULTURE. 



This time Mr. Secor gives us a very beautiful and well- 

 finished poem. If a critic was ugly, and desperately wanted 

 to throw a stone, he would find the tenderest pane of glass 

 an apicultural one. When bees fly late, and do not come 

 home till eventide, it's not " small gain," but big gain, they 

 are up to. But in pointing the moral, of course, we are 

 asked to consider that a«jc amount of honey a colony of bees 

 can bring in one day is small. Page 36. 



EXTRACTING HONEY — GRANULATION. 



Yes, Mr. Davenport, the excellent plan of extracting 

 honey only at the close of the season is knocked out in 

 localities where the early honey gets so thick you can't 

 throw it out. 



Not remarkable that extra-thick honey granulates 

 slowly. Granulation requires motion. It might be fore- 

 seen that honey so thick as not to run out of a saucer when 

 it is turned over would be hindered about making the neces- 

 sary interstitial motions. 



That rather thin, ordinary honey is improved by being 

 heated up is orthodox — and I incline to be more than ortho- 

 dox, and wonder if the loss that the best honey is said to 

 suffer from careful heating up isn't mainly imaginary. 

 Page 38. 



THAT mUCH-SWARMING EXPERIENCE. 



With swarms up far beyond the tally of 200, and scarcely 

 anywhere to put them — a special plan imperative for each 

 case — I can just put a brotherly arm around Edwin Bevins 

 in that situation. No one who has not been through that 

 mill himself is likely to be entirely appreciative. More can 

 be done in the line mentioned than would be thought pos- 

 sible in advance. And the feeling of triumph at getting 

 through each day somehow — and the bees all put some 

 place — partly pays expenses. Page 39. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 



Send Questions either to the office of the Araerican Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Wtiat Caused the Loss of the Bees? 





1 have 10 colonies and 20 new hives ready for spring, but it is so 

 nice to-day I took a look at my bees. I found 3 colonies dead, 2 of the 

 best I had. Last winter I did not pack my bees, and they came out all 

 right in the spring. 



In the fall 1 fed the bees well for winter, and in November 1 

 packed them with chaff on the sides and top. The top is made of a 

 frame of wire-netting. Where I use chaff I put about 3 inches of it 

 on the wire frame. I left a space for 3 bees, going in and out at one 

 time; that hole was shut up with dead bees and ice. The comb looks 

 moldy and damp, and frosty-like. The bees are all in a heap in the 

 frames, dead, and there is plenty of honey with them. One week ago 

 my bees were all living yet. We had 2 warm days, and rain and flood, 

 then it was very cold. I think the wind is very hard on bees, but I do 

 not think it would kill them if they were cared for in- the right way. 

 Now, I went to worl< and opened the entrance about 2 inches in the 



