776 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLKINAC. 



Nov. 17, 1904. 



per hive is the proper standing--room rate, where the land- 

 owner wishes to be paid. They are all right to remind each 

 other to give liberal presents of honey to land-owners who 

 refuse pay ; but I would go further, and say, give a nice 

 present of honey now and then to the man who takes his 10 

 cents a hive. He is not a hog by any means ; and his cor- 

 dial good-will is very desirable indeed. Prove to him that 

 ydu are not one of the sod-turning brotherhood. 



We scratch our heads to hear that one large land-owner 

 is paid $30 for the bee-rights of his tract, with the stipula- 

 tion that nobody else be allowed to place bees. Who shall say 

 we are not coming on in the actual solution of an important 

 and vexed question ? Here's a chance to do some thinking, 

 and decide whether we will approve, or throw clubs. Page 

 681. 



AMOUNT OF WAX TO HOI,D ONE POUND OF HONBY. 



I incline to quarrel with Dr. Miller's answer 11 on page 

 683. My memory is bad, but I think the last time I took 

 weights of melted-up comb honey it was not over 40 pounds 

 of honey to one of wax (if, indeed, it was much more than 

 20). Sometimes bees draw their wax-films much thinner 

 than the usual thickness ; but I feel pretty sure that noth- 

 ing near 200 pounds of honey are ever stored with one 

 pound of wax. 



EXAMPLES OF QUEENS NOT TRANSMISSIBLE. 



I suppose ArthurC. Miller can not devise any way where- 

 by the example of his excellent queen can be made effectual 

 upon our queens. Even upon that queen's own daughters 



the example, and the inheritance both, are likely to be some- 

 thing less than sweeping. A queen that won't lay in drone- 

 cells is not likely to lay in anything bigger ; and so we 

 would hope to have undesirable swarming cornered. Still 

 possible, however, for the workers to take the bits in their 

 teeth, and go to building queen-cells over the ordinary 

 brood. Page 692. 



TOO MUCH RAIN IN NEVADA ! 



Sounds queer to hear Nevada complain of too much 

 rain, and queer also that California raisins and lima beans 

 should be destructively rained on. I should fear that the 

 effect of such untimely rains would not last till the next 

 honey crop is due. Pages 684 and 685. 



THAT BASEBALL-LIKE HONKY-HAND. 



That honey-hand looks as though bees contemplated 

 playing baseball. They are not heavy hitters ; but they 

 make their hits count — notwithstanding they are forever 

 "on the fly". And a score of 150 will be quite a change 

 from the 2 to games now in vogue. Page 689. 



NOMINATION FOR THE NATIONAL. 



There has been a good deal of scolding about the ways 

 and doings and goings of the National Association ; but it's 

 hardly worth while to scold much more about the nominat- 

 ing method as practiced on page 692. Hardly possible to 

 devise anything quite equal to the actual presence of the 

 voters. "This looks to me to approximate it about as well 

 as anything we can expect. 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Prevention of Swapming— Extracted vs. Comb. 



In the Housekeeper, Mrs. Leona Williams discusses pre- 

 vention of swarming, and at the same time makes a strong 

 plea for extracted as against comb honey. She says : 



"One of the greatest problems a beginner in bee-keeping has to 

 solve, is how to prevent swarming, and bees kept tor extracted honey 

 are not much given to it. They are kept so busy filling up the big 

 combs with honey that they haven't time to think of it. And, again, 

 they like a hive with big slabs of honey so that a large number of 

 them can cluster on them and work together. Bees like a hive like a 

 great, big, hollow tree." 



To all of this the sisters will give nods of approval, but 

 there will be some shaking of heads as she proceeds : 



" They abhor the little pound boxes for comb honey; the partition 

 fences used keep the comb nice and straight, but with only room 

 enough for one bee to pass in and out, and more often than not they 

 get disgusted, quit work and swarm. One colony of bees run for ex- 

 tracted honey and brushed or shaken when necessary— a process 

 easily learned and as easily accomplished — will give more profit than 

 10 colonies run for comb honey and allowed to increase by the natural 

 process. In fact, there is seldom any profit in the latter, as the neces- 

 sary hives, supers, etc., which must be bought every year will eat up 

 all the profit." 



That phrase, " with only room enough for one bee to 

 pass in and out '', hardly sounds as if written by a practical 

 bee-keeper, but rather as if by one who, having got her 

 facts at second hand, had got them a little mixed. Does 

 any one use any kind of arrangement for comb honey that 

 allows " only room enough for one bee to pass in and out"? 



The comparison is made between a colony run for ex- 

 tracted honey with shaken swarms and colonies run for 

 comb honey with natural swarms; the writer evidently 

 thinking that shaken swarms can be used only with colo- 

 nies run for extracted honey. As a matter of fact, shaken 

 swarms can be used for one just as well as for the other, 

 and the probability is that the greater proportion of shaken 

 swarms is with comb-honey colonies. 



That 10 to 1 ratio is pretty strong, isn't it ? But, ac- 

 cording to the next sentence, it is hardly strong enough, 

 and probably ought to be made " 16 to 1 ". For hives and 

 supers, which will last years when used for extracted honey. 



must be bought new every year if used for comb honey ! 

 No wonder that they " eat up all the profit ". The only 

 wonder is that so many of the veterans keep on year after 

 year producing comb honey without any profit. Mrs. 

 Williams says further : 



" Admitting that comb honey sells for, say one-third more than 



extracted, there is less preference for it every year The demand 



for comb honey is lessening, while for pure extracted honey it is 

 increasing." 



Is there anything very gracious in the admission that 

 comb honey sells for " one-third more than extracted"? 

 That is, 33' 3 percent more. Let us get some exact figures. 

 Turning to page 751 of this journal, we find quotations 

 given for both kinds of honey by the pound at seven differ- 

 ent places. Compare the highest price of comb with the 

 highest price of extracted in each case. Instead of being 

 only 33'3 percent more than extracted honey, we find that 

 it is more than twice that at Cincinnati, the place where ex- 

 tracted is the highest in proportion, and the highest in 

 reality, of all the places. The actual list is as follows : 



In Cincinnati comb honey is 76 percent higher than 

 extracted. 



In Chicago, 86 percent higher. 



In San Francisco, 100 percent higher. 



In Boston, 112 percent higher. 



In Philadelphia, 112 percent higher. 



In Albany, 114 percent higher. 



In New York, 130 percent higher. 



Thus it will be seen that in more than half the places 

 the price of comb honey is more than twice as much as the 

 price of extracted. Average the whole, and comb honey 

 brings 103 percent more than extracted. 



If demand for comb is lessening, and increasing for ex- 

 tracted, there should be a corresponding lessening in the 

 price of one and rise in the price of the other. Comparison 

 of past and present prices does not make a very strong 

 showing ill that direction. 



Here is a good thing from Mrs. Williams to wind up 

 with : " Never destroy a frame .full of comb ; every one is 

 worth many dollars ". '- - 



Somnambulist quotes this '^in the Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper, aud pithily remarks, " Pretty stout for a woman in 

 a woman's journal ". Well, yes, rather.' 



