212 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 24, 1904. 



less than roya)ly, but withia late years this rule has been 

 found to be not without exception. 



On page 11 mention was made ot a drone observed 

 in the act of gathering pollen, which mention has called 

 out a somewhat similar observation made by one this 

 side the water, although the knowledge thereof has been 

 hidden in his own bosom, lo these many years. Among 

 those who know him, the word of James A. Green, 

 formerly of Illinois, but now of Colorado, will pass cur- 

 rent without challenge. Rewrites: 



Very few have seen drones perform any labor, and 

 doubtless most bee-keepers would scoff at the idea. I 

 have never seen drones working on Howers, but I have 

 seen a drone gathering honey. 



Several years ago, just before the honey-flow from 

 clover liegan, I had set out for the bees to work on, a 

 quantity of eappings from some extracting done during 

 the winter. As I watched the bees working busily lick- 

 ing up the candied honey, I noticed among them a drone, 

 apparently as industriously engaged as any of them. 

 After watching him for several minutes, to make sure 

 that he was really gathering honey, I caught him and 

 put him into a vial of alcohol, thinking I might send 

 him to some microscopist interested in the anatomy 

 ot bees, to see if all his organs were normal. 1 have 

 never done this, but have the drone yet, at the service of 

 an.v one who is competent to make such an examination, 

 and wishes to do so. 



The subject is probably of little practical value, and 

 yet who can tell what might be the result if we could 

 mate our queens to drones enterprising enough to gather 

 honey for themselves. J. A. Green. 



The question arises whether it is from lack of enter- 

 prise or from physical disability that a drone does not 

 help himself to honey. Has any one else ever known a 

 drone to take his meals in any other way except directly 

 from the mouth of a worker ? 





Miscellaneous Items 





Among the Callers at this office recently were E. K. Meredith, 

 of Kane Co. ; W. H. H. Stewart, of Whiteside Co. ; E. E. Starkey, ot 

 Cook Co. ; and F. Grabbe, of Lake Co. — all of Illinois. 



EXTRACTING-KOOM OF LOUIS C. KOEHLER. 



high. It had on two 10-trame supers during the honey-flow, each of 

 which was extracted five times. We received from that colony 280 

 pounds of honey. Louis C. Koehler. 



Mr. Gus Dittmer, ot Augusta, Wis., wrote us March 15 that 

 he expected to start the first comli-foundation machine in two or three 

 days, and the others within another week. He will run all machines 

 full capacity, with plenty of help, until he has disposed of all back 

 orders. He expects to run out from 1000 to 1200 pounds daily until 

 caught up. He will then be able to take care of all orders very 

 promptly after that. This would indicate that Mr. Dittmer is recover- 

 ing very rapidly from his recent fire. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, of Los Angeles Co., Calif., wrote us March 

 11, as follows : 



" We have had another rain. We have had so little this winter 

 that all, especially bee-keepers, have felt blue. But these late rains 

 may yet give us success. We shall be happy to meet just such a dis- 

 appointment." 



" Memories of the Wisconsin and Other Poems " is the 

 title of a booklet of poems written by Mr. Harry Xathrop, one of Wis- 

 consin's favorite bee-keeping sons, who, for several years lately, has 

 been " dropping into rhythm " occasionally. It contains 64 pages, 0x9 

 inches in size. It is handsomely illustrated, and beautifully printed. 

 Price, 50 cents. Harry Lathrop, Bridgeport, Wis. 



A Milk and Honey Ijand — In a Glasgow Sunday-school 

 the lesson bore on the land of Canaan, where it is spoken of as a land 

 flowing with milk and honey. 



" What do you think a land flowing with milk and honey would 

 tie like?" asked the lady teacher. 



" It would be awfu' sticky," responded a wee chap at the foot of 

 the class. 



The Apiary and Extracting-Rooni ot Louis C. Koehler, 

 of Manitowoc Co., Wis., are shown this wcfk. When sending the 

 pictures, Mr. Koehler wrote as follows : 



The two views 'herewith show our apiary and the extracting-room 

 in the honey-house. Here you can see our two 10-frame honey-ex- 

 tractors. In the back room we have honey storage-tanks. The cans 

 by the stairway are our 50-pound market-cans, of which we have 12. 



During the season of 1903 wehAd a crop of 15,000 pounds of honey, 

 which we received from 252 colonies. This was all sold direct to the 

 consumer. 



The round hive shown in the apiary is made of 3-inoh cedar staves. 

 The diameter of the brood-chamber is 14 inches, and it is 18 inches 



Joining the National — A Correction. —On page 186, in my 

 reply to " California," I tell him, " to become a member of that Asso- 

 ciation will only cost you a dollar a year, and perhaps heavy 



lawyers' fees.'" I don't know whether I wrote it that way, or whether 

 one of those malicious type-setters was improving the op])ortunity to 

 takeout a grudge against me, but this is to inform " California" 

 that it is by no means such an expensive business to break into the 

 membership of the National, and he will get my intended meaning if 

 he will insert the little word "save" between "perhaps" and 

 "heavy." C. C. Miller. 



Beware of the Buzz-Saw. — W. H. Laws, of Bee Co., Tex., 



wrote us March 7, as follows: 



Mr. W. G. Nutt, of Iowa, but recently located here, who has been 

 a subscriber to the American Bee Journal for nearly 30 years, has just 

 now suffered the loss of his first two fingers on the left hand in a buzz- 

 saw. He des-ires me to say to all persons who are rigging up machin- 

 ery to manufacture their own supplies, to beware of the buzz-saw ! 



W. H. Laws. 



So here is another argument against home-made hives. Of course. 

 It is not a very effective argument except in the case of the bee- 

 keeper who is so unfortunate as to lose some of his fingers when try- 

 ing to make his own hives. 



The Farmer as an Advertiser. -In looking over some of ■ 

 our exchange publications, we ran across the following paragraph, 

 taken from Hoard's Dairyman : 



THE FARMER HAS MANY THINGS TO SELL, AND SHOULD ADVERTISE. 



The farmer pays but little attention to advertising. He is not 

 used to it, and has not good judgment as to what it will do for him. 

 A few years ago a neighbor had a fine four-year-old Guernsey bull that 

 he wanted to sell to prevent inbreedmg. All that the stock-yards peo- 

 ple in this city would pay for the animal was HO. We told him that 

 the stock-yard was no market for breeding animals. The men to sell 



