41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, SEPTEMBER 5, 1901, 



No, 36, 





i * Editorial. 



The Buffalo Convention — next week, 

 beginninjf Tuesday evening, Sept. 10. 



Place — Lecture Room of the Buffalo Library 

 Building, corner of Washington and Clinton 

 Streets. 



Question — Will you be there? 



Rearing Queens for One's Own Use 



is the subject of an article in the American 

 Bee-Keeper. The first thing is to select two 

 best queens, one to rear queens from, the 

 other for drones. He greatly prefers the Al- 

 ley plan for starting cells, not only because it 

 requires less labor, but because there is more 

 danger of getting inferior queens by the Doo- 

 little plan. He gives no reasons in support of 

 this latter view, and it would be nothing 

 strange if he should be asked for something 

 more than a mere assertion. 



As to the simplicity of the Alley plan, how- 

 ever, there can hardly be question. One who 

 would make a bungling job of forming cell- 

 cups and transferring larvae might easily suc- 

 ceed by the Alley plan, which in brief is as 

 follows: 



Take a piece of comb containing eggs: 

 shave away half the depth of the cells on one 

 side; cut it intostripsof onerow of cells eacli; 

 twirl the head of a match in every alternate 

 cell so as to destroy the egg on the shaved 

 sjde; then dip into melted wax the other side, 

 and fasten it upon the lower edge of a half- 

 depth comb, the edge of the comb being cut 

 rounding so the cells will not be built too 

 close together ; and it is ready to be given to 

 thequeenless bees. 



Honey and Beeswax Market. — The 



following is offered by Mr. Stoughton Cooley, 

 one who has read this paper for some years : 



Editor American Bee Jocrxai.: — 



Permit me to offer a criticism of one fea- 

 tui"e of your ver}' good paper. The general 

 excellence of the paper is such that I would 

 not offer this but for the fact that the fault 

 can be easily corrected. 



In the column headed "Honey and Bees- 

 wax — Market Quotations,'' you publish quo- 

 tations of various dates. In the issue of Aug. 

 S appear quotations from Chicago. July 18; 

 Cincinnati, May 17; Boston, June 2;l; Omaha, 

 May 1 ; New York. July 8; and so on. wind- 

 ing up with San Francisco, June 1!1. The 

 criticism I offer is that these quotations should 

 be kept nearercurrent quotations, and should 

 be from a different source if ])0^sit:)le. For in- 

 stance, the Chicago market has a regular 

 trade bulletin quotingthe prices of honey and 



wax as sold on South Water Street from day 

 to day. A glance at this paper would enable 

 you to quote prices from a disinterested 

 source, and, if you so wished, on the very day 

 you go to press. The other large cities issue 

 similar trade bulletins, and if they would not 

 exchange with you, a single copy a week 

 would surely not cost much. 



I merely offer this as a suggestion for mak- 

 ing this column of the American Bee Journal 

 one of great use to bee-keepers, and should 

 like to hear expressions of opinion from other 

 friends of the paper. Stoughton Coolet. 



We wish to thank Mr. Cooley for his sug- 

 gestion. For some time we have been in the 

 habit of sending out return postal cards every 

 two weeks to those quoting the markets for 

 this paper, and if the report was not changed 

 it was evidence that there' had been no change 

 in the market prices for that particular city. 



The hint that interested dealers might not 

 furnish as reliable quotations as others, 

 doesn't appeal to our idea of the matter. As 

 practically all who quote in our market col- 

 umn are commission men, it would seem that 

 it would be to their interest to quote as high 

 prices as can be secured, for the more they 

 get for the honey the more will their com- 

 mission amount to. 



Again, those who make a specialty of sell- 

 ing honey ought to be able to secure higher 

 prices than other firms, as they naturally must 

 have a line of customers developed who de- 

 pend upon them for their honey supply. 



The trade bulletin suggestion may be well 

 to investigate. We will do so, and see what 

 the Chicago bulletin has to say about the 

 honey and beeswax market. If as good, or 

 better, service can be secured for bee-keepers 

 in that way, we must have it, as nothing is 

 too good for our subscribers. 



We hope our readers will feel free to offer 

 any further suggestions or criticisms they 

 may think valualjle. When presented in as 

 courteous a manner as Mr. Cooley has done, 

 they will be welcomed, and acted upon favor- 

 ably if deemed advisable. 



llobbers and Thieves among bees are 

 perhaps generally considered as one and the 

 same thing. W. W. McNeal, in the American 

 Bee-Keeper, calls attention to the fact that 

 they differ greatly, and it is probably true 

 that few bee-keepers suspect the existence of 

 thieves among bees. A robber is one which 

 enters a hive and takes honey by force: a 

 thief takes it by stealth. Robbers prey upon 

 the weaker and quecnless colonies, being more 

 especially troublesome in a time of scarcity; 

 thieves find their bc^t foraging ground in the 

 hives of strong colonies at a time when honey 

 is coming in in a llocid. There seems to be no 

 way to circuinvcni. this quiet stealing. The 

 practical point in the matter is the danger of 



giving credit to a colony lor extra-storing 

 ability when that storing comes from thiev- 

 ing; and then breeding from such stock. 

 Some times a colony is found storing when 

 other colonies must be fed; and Editor Hill 

 suggests that it would be a good thing to pom- 

 pare the honey stored by such a colony with 

 the feed given to the others, to see if it might 

 not be the same. 



Keeping Over Extra Queens from 



one season to another, Editor Root thinks, 

 can only be successful by keeping the queens 

 in nuclei in a good cellar. 



Pasteboard on Queen-Cages has been 

 in use for some time, the object of the paste- 

 board being to delay the bees getting at the 

 candy to release the queen. But it has been 

 found that sometimes the bees fail to gnaw 

 the card, and so the queen is not released. 

 The A. I. Root Co., who originated the paste- 

 board plan, now instruct to tear off the paste- 

 board in 24 hours, if not already removed i)y 

 the bees. 



Fumigating Section Honey is insisted 

 upon as absolutely essential by some, while . 

 others say it is not at all necessary. One 

 thing upon which there can be no disagree- 

 ment is that it will not do to put upon the 

 market section honey with worms in it. It is 

 possible that the difference in bees has some- 

 thing to do with the difference in experience. 

 A good strain of Italians or hybrids may keep 

 the combs so clean of worms that fumigation 

 may not be necessary. Close watch should be 

 kept by the novice to see whether there be 

 any evidence of worms in the way of a white 

 powder on the edge of the unsealed cells, es- 

 pecially on the bottom part of the section 

 close to the wood. When anything of this 

 kind is to be seen, fumigation should bo re- 

 sorted to at once. 



The common plan is to use sulphur, which 

 easily destroys the young larvse, but is less 

 effective against those of larger growth, 

 while it makes no impression at all upon 

 eggs. This makes it necessary to fumigate 

 a second time. Some are enthusiastic as to 

 the use of bi-sulphide of carbon in preference 

 to sulphur, claiming that it kills eggs as well 

 as larv;i'. So the sections can be fumigated 

 as soon as taken from the bees, or as soon 

 thereafter as may be convenient or desirable, 

 and no further attention will be needed. 

 Another advantage claimed for the bi-sul- 

 phide of carbon is that it does not discolor the 

 sections, while too much sulphur will give a 

 coating of green. But care must be taken to 

 avoid having a light come near the bi-sul- 

 phide, as it is very explosive. 



