344 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLRWAU. 



May 12, 1904. 



to the ceiling. I managed to remove the dish of wax at the 

 expense of trousers and shoes. At other times I have met 

 with more or less severe disaster. Let it be a rule to keep 

 next the stove as long as the dish of wax is where it can 

 possibly boil over. 



STRAINING WAX. 



I find this a good method for straining wax : Tie a cloth 

 over an empty 5-gallon can from which the top has been re- 

 moved. Pour in a quart or so of water and bring to a boil. 

 While the cloth is kept hot by the steam the wax is easily 

 strained through. New London Co., Conn. 



"Do Drones Keep the Hive Warm?" 



BY DR. C. C. MII.I,BR. 



I notice that Mr. Hasty criticises my position on the drone ques- 

 tion. He says :" It is not quite nlwny.i that we have the warmlnfr 

 presence of the drones answered by the worl<ers just as well. The first 

 night after swarming finds workers reared in the drones' place mostly 

 all gone, while most of the drones are where they are needed." 



There are no rules without exception, and I will grant that ;/ a 

 swarm happens to issue on a certain day, and the weather changes 

 suddenly that same day from hot to cool, the drones, if they have not 

 gone in part with the swarms, may prove a little help for a night. 

 After the first night there are enough young bees hatched out to keep 

 up all necessary heat. — C. P. Dadant. 



I find the above clippingin a number of the British Bee 

 Journal several month old, copied from a still older number 

 of the American Bee Journal. Of course I read it at the 

 time of its original publication, but it seems not to have 

 occurred to me that two able men were a bit astray in their 

 reasoning. That shows we do not get all the good out of 

 our journals on first reading, especially if that reading be 

 done in the midst of a heavy honey-flow. 



I don't believe Mr. Hasty's afterthinker was in the very 

 best order when he wrote that paragraph, and the Illinois 

 Frenchmen was somewhat hasty in conceding the point. // 

 the statement be correct, the logical inference is that where 

 natural swarming is permitted, each colony should be al- 

 lowed a certain amount of drone-comb so that enough 

 drones will be in the parent hive to make sure that the 

 brood shall be kept warm enough. Mr. Dadant can figure up 

 what that would cost — and, also, what it would come to. 



If there is any argument in the case it is this : When a 

 swarm issues, a number of workers is detailed sufficient to 

 take care of the remaining brood in ordinary weather ; but 

 if the first night should be unusually cool such detail is in- 

 sufficient for the work, and an additional force of drones 

 will aid to prevent the brood from chilling. 



That, you will see, assumes that the detail of remaining 

 workers will be the same whether drones are present or not ; 

 in other words, that the drones are not counted. Is such 

 assumption a reasonable one ? What proof for it ? Is it 

 not more reasonable to suppose that when the detail is made, 

 whether it be by considering the sparseness of the bees 

 upon the combs, or by some mysterious method of counting 

 the number of bees present, that the drones are counted 

 just as much as the workers ? If that be the case, then the 

 drones simply take the place of so many workers, and their 

 further lives are a dead loss to the community. 



If either of the gentlemen have any proof that as many 

 workers will be left with a pint of drones as with none, I 

 shall gladly yield the point. McHenry Co., 111. 



Something in Favor of Home-Made Hives. 



BY AN "average bee-keeper." 



THE advance in the price of hives and supplies has 

 brought a great many bee-keepers to think of making 



their own hives. Of course, some are so located that 

 they cannot well afford to make or have made for them 

 their own hives. But a great many are located also where 

 lumber is not yet so scarce as to be prohibitive in price for 

 making hives. Where lumber is less than $50 or S60 per 

 1009 feet it would seem that there is inducement enough to 

 manufacture one's own hives. 



If we are to go by what certain so-called text-books tell 

 us, the writers of which are in the supply-manufacturing 

 business, of course, then it would be sheer folly for any one 

 to attempt making his own hives, unless he is a trained car- 

 penter. The "average bee-keeper" is there also paid the 

 compliment that he understands nothing of making hives, 

 and is told that he would better not try to find out. At 



times, also, there appear in the bee-papers stories of how 

 some one or other attempted to make his own hives and 

 almost cut himself to pieces ; that the price paid for the 

 lumber was so high that the cost of the hives was much 

 greater than if ready-made hives had been bought, not even 

 counting the time spent in making them ; and so on, ad in- 

 Jinitum and ad nauseum. The gentle reader is left to deduct 

 that the picture given is that of the " average bee-keeper " 

 — another compliment to that large class. Such stories re- 

 mind one, for all the world, of the advertisements we used 

 to see labeled, "Before Taking" and "After Taking." 

 Only here the label is changed to read : "Before and after 

 buying ready-made hives." 



In this way one side of the question is held up and the 

 other side is repressed, for who ever saw a plea for home- 

 made hives in a bee-paper whose editors were engaged in 

 the bee-supply business. 



To the "average bee-keeper" who is increasing his 

 stock of bees and is in need of hives, the question of buying 

 or making hives is one of importance. Then, also, there is 

 the bee-keeper who wishes to be up-to-date. He has been 

 told that the only hive for comb honey is the 8-frame " dove- 

 tailed "hive. That word " dovetailed " has been used as a 

 good catch-word, by-the-way. Suddenly it is discovered 

 that he must use another hive in order to be up-to-date. To 

 him this question is also important. 



Now, the great majority of bee-keepers are so located 

 that they can procure lumber at a reasonable price. They 

 are also located where they can have their lumber sawed to 

 measure, and sawed at a reasonable price for the work. 

 The hives so made are not likely to be quite as fancy — not 

 sawed quite so smoothly — as the supply dealer's hives, but 

 they are just as serviceable, when made with ordinary care. 

 And the first requirement of a good hive is that it should be 

 serviceable, no matter how pretty it may be made. A plain 

 case, well joined, with the corners halved and nailed both 

 ways, makes as serviceable a hive as the highest-priced 

 hive ever made. 



Some of the statements on the subject of home-made 

 hives have been of a character to lead the " average bee- 

 keeper " to doubt the truthfulness and sincerity of the 

 writer. Bremer Co., Iowa. 



c 



Convention Proceedings 



in$s J 



Report of the North Texas Convention. 



The 25th annual meeting of the North Texas Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association was held at Blossom, Tex., April 7. Louis 

 H, Scholl, apiarist and assistant entomologist at the Texas 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College, delivered a lecture on 

 foul brood among bees. The last legislature passed an act 

 creating the office of foul brood inspector, under which Mr. 

 Scholl was appointed, but failed to make any provision to 

 defray the expenses of the office. The convention ap- 

 pointed a committee to wait upon the governor, and induce 

 him to make an allowance from the deficiency fund to 

 carry on the work. It was decided to make an exhibit at 

 the St. Louis World's Fair in September, W. H. White and 

 J. M. Hagood being appointed to prepare the exhibit. 



Officers of the Association for the ensuing year were 

 elected as follows : President, J. M. Hagood ; vice-presi- 

 dents, W. H. White aYid M. R. Graham ; secretary and treas- 

 urer, J. N. Hunter, of Lake Creek. Blossom was selected 

 as the next place of meeting, the time being the first week 

 in April, 1905. 



The Pennsylvania State Association. 



We formed a bee-keepers' association for the State of 

 Pennsylvania, April 12. The officers and committees are as 

 follows : 



President, H. A. Surface, a professor from the State 

 College of Pennsylvania ; vice-president, E. E. Pressler ; 

 secretary. Rev. L. D. Woods, of Muncy ; and treasurer, E. 

 L. Pratt. 



Executive Committee, Richard D. Barclay, Chas. N. 



