580 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 25, 1904. 



needed queens within the next 48 hours. But even if queens 

 are advertised, and sent, " by return mail," the mails may 

 be delayed, or the advertiser may not in every instance be 

 able to send the queens so promptly. At any rate, there is 

 no necessity of the bee-keeper doing a thing before the 

 queens ordered are on hand. It is not safe to take any 

 other course, for if there should be much delay in getting 

 the queens it might be almost impossible to introduce them 

 successfully, and yet it would be no fault of the queen- 

 breeder. 



The Value of Pollen. 



Take care of your combs of pollen. Sometimes a be- 

 ginner is inclined to throw away a brood-comb because it 

 is almost entirely filled with pollen. It is possible that 

 there are places where such a comb is of no value, but in 

 most places where a surplus of pollen is stored at one time, 

 there will come other times when the bees will need it, and 

 a pound of pollen may at times be worth more than a pound 

 of honey. 



Fertilizing Queens in Baby Nuclei. 



" Swarthmore " has been claiming success in having 

 queens fertilized with only a very few bees, and so have 

 some others, as already reported. But some who have tried 

 the same thing have made an utter failure. One of the 

 veterans reports to us that he had not much faith in any- 

 thing of the kind, but for the sake of knowing what the 

 truth was gave the matter a somewhat extensive trial. He 

 says he is obliged to confess that it is not a difficult thing 

 to have young queens fertilized in a nucleus without any 

 brood, merely a section of honey, and with only enough 

 bees to cover well the section. He has had numbers of 

 queens fertilized in this way, and the failures are little if 

 any more than with nuclei of the usual type. But the 

 young queens must be removed very soon after beginning 

 to lay, or else confined with excluder zinc ; otherwise they 

 will turn up missing. No special apparatus was used, just 

 a common hive, the bees being imprisoned a little more 

 than two days before being allowed their freedom, .a queen- 

 cell being given at the time of imprisoning the bees, or else 

 a virgin queen less than a day old. 



( 



Miscellaneous Items 





"Some Facts About Honey and Bees."— This is the 

 subject of an article by Mr. J. E. Johnson, on page 581. It 

 was written to be published in leaflet form. We can furnish 

 it in lots of 100 copies at 35 cents, postpaid. All orders 

 should be sent to the office of the American Bee Journal. 



Why not ask your local newspaper editor to republish it ? 



Absent Treatment for Rheumatism.— An innocent- 

 looking German boy walked into a drug-store the other 

 day, says the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and, facing the pro- 

 prietor, started in thus : 



" Hav you got some bees' stings for rheumatisms ?" he 

 shyly inquired. 



" Bees' stings for rheumatism ?" the proprietor re- 

 peated. " Where did you hear of that ?" 



" Why, mother vas reating it by de newspapers," re- 

 plied the lad. 



The proprietor laughed. 



"I've seen something of that kind in the papers," he 

 said, " but I won't attempt to offer you anything just as 

 good. Where is the rheumatism ?" 



"In de handt und in de arm," the boy replied. 



" Well, see here," said the proprietor with a sudden 

 smile, " I haven't got the cure on my shelves, but I keep it 

 in my back yard. You go out through this door, and walk 

 around my flower beds. When you see four or five bees 

 resting on a flower, just try to pick them up." 



The boy nodded and went out. He was gone at least 10 

 minutes. 



When he came back his face was red, and his nose — 

 where an angry bee had alighted — was beginning to swell. 

 He held out his hand. 



" I picked me some of dose bees oop," he placidly re- 

 marked. 



" Did you ?" said the amused proprietor. " And does 

 your hand feel any better ?" 



The boy looked up. 



"It ain't for me," he placidly replied, " it's for my 

 bruder." 



The Red Rose and the Honey-Bee.- Mr. H. Dupret, of 

 Quebec, Canada, has forwarded the poem below, which was 

 sent to him by Mr. John J. Keating, of Massachusetts, who 

 says that it is a little song that his mother used to sing to 

 him in his childhood days. It is as follows : 



Pray excuse me, 



And don't accuse me," 



Said the poor yeoman Bee 



To the queenly Red Rose, 

 " If I take a pot ot honey 

 And don't lay down the money. 

 For indeed I haven't any, 



As all the wide world knows." 

 " Little Bee, do not worry 

 Nor be sorry," 

 Said the queenly Red Rose 



To the poor yeoman Bee ; 

 " For you pay me for my honey 

 Much better than with money. 

 In the sweet songs of summer 



Which you sing and sing to me." 



Learning Bee-Keeping by Mail is the latest thing in 

 the apiarian line. The A. I. Root Co. have just founded 

 "The Root Correspondence School of Bee-Culture." The 

 terms are $25, which includes, besides the " lessons," a col- 

 ony of bees, a copy of " A B C of Bee-Culture," and a year's 

 subscription to Gleanings. Their neat prospectus gives 

 many reasons for establishing such a course of correspond- 

 ence. Its progress will be watched with interest. Much 

 can be learned " by mail " in these days, even in bee-keep- 

 ing. A year's subscription to the American Bee Journal is 

 an illustration. 



Mf. J. 0. Todd, one of our old subscribers in Washing- 

 ton County, Iowa, died recently, the cause of his death 

 being heart trouble, from which he had been suffering for 

 some weeks. Mr. Todd was an old settler of Washington 

 County, and was one of the most respected citizens in the 

 vicinity in which he lived. He was born in Delaware, in 

 1831. He had been a subscriber to the American Bee Jour- 

 nal since about 1875. His first colony of Italian bees were 

 bought from Chas. Dadant, in 187b. Mr. Todd was a prac- 

 tical bee-keeper up to the time of his last illness. 



Width of Top-Bars.- In the article by Mr. S. T. Pet- 

 tit, on page 55"i, in referring to top-bars, he is made to say : 

 " I am of the opinion that the time will come when the Yf,- 

 inch thick by J^-inch wide," etc. The width should have 

 been IJs, not %. We regret the error, but are always glad 

 to make correction when our attention is called to any mis- 

 takes that may have appeared in these columns. 



Amerikanische Bienenzucht, by Hans Buschbauer, is 

 a bee-keeper'^ handbook of 138 pages, which is just what 

 our German friends will want. It is fully illustrated, and 

 neatly bound in cloth. Price, postpaid, $1.00 ; or with the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both for fl.75. Address 

 all orders to this office. ^ 



