April 14, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



261 





Nasty's Afterthoughts 



The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

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



CAN'T DO JUSTICE TO THE CHICAGO-NORTHWBSTBRN. 



Might as well confess at once that I realize that I am 

 npt doing justice to the report of the Northwestern conven- 

 tion. Don't see how I can. Let 'em meditate that in this 

 'ere world getting half justice is spring lamb and apple pie. 

 Then let 'em be thankful for the spring lamb and apple pie 

 I offer them. 



BBGINNKRS AT QUEEN-REARING. 



And beginners in the art of queen-rearing may, by their 

 tactics of sophomore wisdom, get a discouraged lot of young 

 bees — and then wonder why in the world things don't get 

 along better. We see. Feeding can't be made to give quite 

 the feeling of riches and enterprise which plenteous income 

 right from the fields gives. And the latter can't be had 

 without a fair proportion of old bees. Page ISO. 



LONG WINTER CONFINEMENT. 



So we are " stumped " to get our outdoor bees over 100 

 days without a flight. At my yard this season the last 

 general flight was Nov. l<i, and the first general flight in 

 the spring was Feb. 28, or 104 days. But I can't walk up 

 and " take the cake " just yet. Don't know yet how weak 

 my surviving colonies may be when May 10 arrives. And, 

 worse yet, there was a warm morning Feb. 7 — 83 days from 

 start when some of the colonies flew — before the cold wave, 

 which came in a little later in the day, shut them off. I 

 counted 42 flying out of about 100 which were alive at that 

 time. Presumably the first to fly will be those that need 

 flight most, providing they are strong enough and well 

 housed enough to be warm. Page 151. 



CO OPERATIVE FACTORY FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



Yon Yonson's remedy for the visit the octopus has paid 

 to our corner of the industrial vineyard, is a co-operative 

 factory for sections — and make our hives ourselves. Well, 

 Yon's ideas are seldom or never so bad as his pronunciation. 

 Page ISO. 



SIZING UP OUR ADVANTAGES. 



Cute in our Boss to prove to his disgusted subscriber 

 that he was actually realizing a profit on his $5.00 sections, 

 apart from the honey which they contained. We all of us 

 at times need somebody to size up our advantages for us. 

 Page 163. 



REARING " QUEEN-HENS." 



Doolittle cell made on the pitchfork handle to hatch a 

 hen's 6^% in — and rear a queen-hen that will imitate the 

 queen and lay 2000 eggs a day. You don't call that much of 

 a scheme, do you, Mr. Jay Smith ? Page 164. 



THAT SANDWICH ISLAND REPORT. 



So it was 2500 colonies, and not 200 colonies, of Sand- 

 wich Island bees that stored the 300,000 pounds of honey. 

 That brings the average down quite within the limits of 

 belief— 120 pounds each, instead of 1500. Page 164. 



" APIS MBLLIFERA " VS. " APIS MELUFICA." 



There is a place in the marriage ceremony where it is 

 said, " Let him now declare it or forever hold his peace." 

 (Terrible emphasis on the forever.) Well, I don't know who 

 it was, but there's a chap somewhere who didn't hold his 

 peace when he should, and who therefor should have a tre- 

 mendous sound spanking. We were all peacefully calling 

 the bee "Apis mellifica." The great Linna;us himself 

 usually called her so, it seems. Thereupon some mischiev- 

 ous nuisance, with too much time on his hands, nosed 

 around and discovered that the earliest recorded name was 

 " Apis melliy^ra." Couldn't have the common-sense to 

 keep still about his discovery. A'ow, a minority of us have 

 been persuaded to change over to the (technically) correct 

 form, and the majority stick to the old form — and the pros- 

 pect is we shall never get together again for a whole gen- 

 eration. Biff ! Pluff ! 1 Bang ! ! !— for the fellow that didn't 

 hold his peace. Page 165. 



DEALING WITH A TANGLE OF SWARMS. 



Prof. Cook thinks that a tangle of three or four swarms 

 coming out at one time will be more easily dealt with if 

 there are no queens among them. Worth thinking of. I 

 don't feel sure that it will beany improvement ; but at least 

 I can testify that a big tangle with queens makes trouble 

 enough that there is room for improvement. As to his way 

 — if the bees don't refuse to "stay put " anywhere while 

 you are securing and dividing them, and if you keep their 

 prospective queens caged just long enough, and if they 

 don't take a notion to break ranks and dissolve into noth- 

 ing after hiving — why, then it is likely he is right. Page 

 165. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 



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

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



What Caused the Loss of Bees? 





1. What was the cause of so many of my bees dying last 

 spring, the first of April ? I had about 160 colonies, all of 

 which seemed to be in first-class condition. I moved them 

 about 2 miles. The spring was cold, windy, and very back- 

 ward. The hives were banked with dirt and straw before 

 moving. After moving they were put on bricks for the 

 summer. All went well apparently for awhile, but I began 

 to find occasionally dead colonies, with 3 or 4 frames of 

 good honey still in the hive. As I was very busy with other 

 interests, I did not examine the other colonies. Time went 

 on, cold and windy until about June 10, when I found quite 

 a number of dead colonies, and almost all had dwindled 

 down somewhat, some of them to a very few bees, a queen 

 and some brood ; some were queenless, and others had 

 drone-laying queens and laying workers ; all had plenty of 

 honey. No swarms issued, of course, and there seemed to 

 be no thrift whatever among them, and one by one they 

 kept dropping off all summer. Only about 4 colonies stored 

 any honey in supers. By fall I had only about 60 colonies, 

 and some of them with a very poor supply of honey. I could 

 not detect anything that resembled foul brood, nor could I 

 discover any cause for their dwindling. In some cases I 

 found pickled brood. 



I wish you would tell me the cause of my trouble, and 

 how to avoid it again, and how to strengthen them up this 

 spring, for what I have left are not the strongest. 



2. Will it injure the bees in any way to let them clean 

 out the old honey in the empty hives ? I have a quantity of 

 it, mostly candied. Colorado. 



Answers.— 1. It is not an easy thing to make even a 

 guess as to the cause of so much loss. From what you say 

 disease seems to be ruled out, unless it be a few cases of 

 pickled brood. There is a possibility of poisoning, although 

 that would not be so likely to extend throughout the season. 

 Without knowing the cause of the trouble it is hard to make 

 any suggestion as to prevention in the future, beyond doing 

 all possible to keep warm and comfortable in spring for 

 building up, at the same time being sure not to close up 

 enough to prevent each colony from having all the fresh 

 air needed. Watch closely as the season opens, and report 

 minutely if anything seems wrong, and it it is a possible 

 thing to give acy helpful advice that advice will be cheer- 

 fully given. 



2. The only objection would be the possibility of dis- 

 ease in the honey, but from what you say there is not much 

 danger of that. 



Method of Preventing Increase. 



Can I effectually and profitably prevent increase of colo- 

 nies by the following method, when running for comb 

 honey : When the first swarm issues remove the clipped 

 queen and allow the swarms to return ; when the swarm 

 issues again cut out all queen-cells and return the swarm to 

 the parent colony ? If not, why not 7 



I have practiced the plan for two years, and, so far, 

 with entire satisfaction. Of course, there would be times 

 when I would have 4 or 5 swarms in the air at one time. 



