170 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 14, 1901. 



A worker that enters its career just after all work in the 

 field is over has little chance to wear itself out with work, 

 so it may live six months or longer. If it starts in when 

 there is work for all hands, say the last of May, it will live 

 about six weeks. 



4. There is no rule as to the number of drones to be 

 found in a colony during the working season. Other 

 things being equal, the number is likely to be more with an 

 old than with a young queen. The harvest has something 

 to do with it. If the harvest is fitful or poor, the chances 

 are not so good for a lot of drones to be allowed in the 

 hive. The combs make a difference. Less drones will be 

 found in a hive with little or no drone-comb. 



Building I3p Weal( Colonies— Stimulating Brood-Rear- 

 ing by Feeding. 



1. I read that sometimes even very weak colonies — say 

 covering only one comb — build up in very good seasons so 

 fast that they make not only strong colonies, but even 

 store some surplus honey. Now, do you think it would be 

 advisable to-day to divide a colony covering eight frames 

 into eight nuclei, giving each a young and fertilized Italian 

 queen ? As we expect a very good season, if the strong 

 colony would give 300 pounds of surplus extracted honey, 

 would not the eight colonies (or nuclei) build up so well 

 that I could get from 60 to 80 pounds from each ? 



2. Is it of any use to feed for stimulating brood-rearing 

 in the spring, if the colonies still have plenty of honey ? 

 What can I do to stimulate them ? California. 



Answers. — 1. It is true that a nucleus with bees 

 enough to cover only one comb may build up into a strong 

 colony and give some surplus. It is also true that a strong 

 •colony may go thru a good season and yield no surplus 

 whatever, being weaker in the fall than in the spring. 

 Both are very exceptional cases, and it will not do for a 

 beginner, nor indeed for any one to take either extreme as a 

 basis. There is of course a possibility that an experienced 

 bee-keeper might divide a colony covering eight frames into 

 €ight nuclei and obtain from each a surplus of 60 to 80 

 pounds in your wonderful California. The probability is 

 that he would obtain no surplus whatever, if indeed no 

 feeding were necessary. It is hardly advisable to start a 

 nucleus with less than two frames of brood with adhering 

 bees, and even then you should not expect wonders. 



2. It is a little hard to say. If there is an abundance 

 of stores in the hive, stimulative feeding may do little or 

 no good, and if unwisely administered it may do harm by 

 starting the bees flying when they would be better off in 

 the hive. A beginner may do as well to see that a colony 

 has abundance of stores, and then let it alone. 



Mice Trying to Reach the Bees. 



My bees have had no flights for over a month. I 

 find that mice have tunneled thru the snow to get at the 

 dead bees as they fall at the entrance. They have gnawed 

 some trying to get inside. Do they do any harm ? If so, 

 how can I avoid it ? Pknn. 



Answer. — Of course the mice do no harm by eating 

 the dead bees thrown out at the entrance : but they may do 

 harm, and a whole lot of it. if they make their way into the 

 hive. Mice in a hive will eat the honey and the'bees, and 

 they will destroy the combs. If they did neither of these 

 things they should still be outlawed because of the harm 

 they do by disturbing the bees at a time when entire quiet- 

 ness is desirable. Of course the entrance should be large 

 enough so that a very little gnawing would be necessary 

 for a mouse to gain admittance. But there is no need to 

 admit the mice were the entrance ten times as large. 

 Close the hive with wirecloth having about three meshes 

 to the inch. That will allow free passage for the bees but 

 exclude the mice. If not convenient to get such wirecloth, 

 you may make a fence of wire-nai4s at the entrance, setting 

 the nails about a quarter of an inch apart. 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Upon receipt of $1.00 

 for your Bee Journal subscription a full year in advance, 

 we will mail you a Wood Binder free — if you will mention it. 



\ ^ The Home Circle. ^ ^ 



Conducted bi| Prof. ft. J. Cook, Claremont, Galif. 



THE HOME CIRCLE. 



Isn't that an excellent heading for a new department 

 in the " Old Reliable ?" What is there on this mundane 

 sphere comparable to the home ? Demolins in his " Anglo- 

 Saxon Superiority," which every one of our readers would 

 do well to read and study, puts Home as one of the chief 

 reasons why the Anglo-Saxon has outstript all the Latin 

 races. 



It is said that the French have no word for home. 

 Aren't they to be pitied? How the very word " home " 

 stirs us all, and how the very thought of it makes us purer 

 and better. If the word and the thought count for so much, 

 what shall we say of the thing itself? Demolins' work has 

 gone thru many editions and has stirred the French people 

 deeply.. 



Another work which all of us will do well to read very 

 carefully — I have read it twice — once in the Outlook, and 

 again in book form — is, " America's Working People," 

 by Charles Spahr. Over and over again our author shows 

 how much the home has to do in making the good neigh- 

 bor, the thrifty citizen, no less than the patriot. In speak- 

 ing of homeless workers, Spahr says, "And thus the great- 

 est incentive to thrift was removed." He adds further, 

 " On the side of citizenship, the gains that come from 

 home ownership instead of tenantship are still greater." 



It were quite superfluous to talk to any Americans 

 regarding the priceless boon that we as a people possess in 

 our delightful homes. What gives one a heavier heartache 

 than to see a man or woman plodding along thru life alone 

 or homeless ? Our bee-keepers are almost universally blest 

 with beautiful homes. I have so often enjoyed the fellow- 

 ship of these little " heavens on earth" that I speak with 

 no light emotion regarding them. How well I remember 

 spending one Sunday in one of these, a little west of Chi- 

 cago. The man's name was not Dr. Moth, but he did have 

 a charming home. What a lovely Sunday that was. 

 What solid delight we took, all thru its hours and away into 

 the night. It was a home where the best love and fellow- 

 ship reigned continuously. Ah, better than this, it was a 

 home where God's word was read, studied and revered. It 

 was a home where Christ's incomparable teachings were 

 obeyed and where His spirit shone forth. I have been a 

 better man, I am sure, ever since I made that Sunday visit. 

 How we did enjoy the morning talk, how pi^cious was the 

 hour of family prayer, how delightful the church service, 

 and how long-to-berse-vembered the Sunday-school where 

 our host was theind we .itendent ; and what a blessed after- 

 noon and evening completed this, one of the most delight- 

 ful days of my life. How often I have wisht that I might 

 do something to multiply such homes. It is the privilege 

 of every one of us to help to make at least one such center 

 of good purpose and wholesome influence. 



Perhaps I have said enough at present in regard to the 

 Home part of our department. Especially is this true as 

 we shall weave in every week hints and thoughts of how 

 the glory of the home may be promoted, and its blessedness 

 made to touch with its hallowed influence many who per- 

 haps have never enjoyed one of their own " Home Circle I" 

 I like that word " Circle." A circle has no end; neither 

 has the influence of a good home. Who of us does not 

 remember the cozy circle of our childhood ? How delightful 

 it was as we gathered about the table — father, mother, 

 brothers and sisters — in the long winter evenings. One 

 read the fascinating book while others at the apple-paring 

 or in restful leisure listened and commented. Ah. those 

 were precious circles 1 Father, mother, possibly some of 

 the others of that gracious home circle mayhap have now 

 gone to the greater circle which indeed shall have no end. 

 But the influence is not gone. The mother-love still is the 

 leaven that sweetens and brightens our hearts and lives ; 

 the father's good counsel and worthy example still guide us 

 away from life's pitfalls ; the loving brothers and sisters 

 still walk by our side tho long gone to the realms of the 

 blest. Many of us have since formed the home circle for 

 ourselves, onlv to repeat what glorified our childhood 

 homes. 



It is indeed a good department of the old American Bee 



