41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, OCTOBER 17, 1901, 



No, 42, 



* Editorial. ^ \ 



No Foul Brood — A Correction. — Oa 



page 62", we called attention to a reported 

 case of removing: foul-broody hives, combs, 

 etc., from Michigan to Clyde, 111., near Chi- 

 cago. The owner of the alleged diseased 

 material, mistrusting that he was the one 

 referred to, called at our office for an expla- 

 nation of the matter. We told him that our 

 authority for the statement made were the 

 foul-brood inspector of Michigan, and another 

 man in that State. 



He stoutly denied that any foul-broody 

 material had been shipped by him. and said 

 that the goods were still in the railroad car at 

 Clyde, the car being unopened on account of 

 some question about the freight charges. 



In order that there might be no further 

 cause for disagreement, we suggested sub- 

 mitting the matter to Mr. X. E. France, the 

 famous inspector of apiaries for Wisconsin. 

 He was immediately sent for. He came at 

 once, and the owner of the car of bee-material, 

 with Mr. France and the writer, spent several 

 hours in examining very carefully all that the 

 car contained, and found no evidence uf foul 

 bruud wluitever. 



It seems that there were some foul-broodj' 

 combs, etc., in the apiary from which the 

 carload was taken, but those were not ship- 

 ped. Hence, the unfortunate error. 



We make the above explanation for two 

 reasons: First, because we do not wish to 

 accuse any man unjustly in public print: and, 

 secondly, to show how easy it is to be 

 mistaken. 



As we did not give the name of the bee- 

 keeper in question in our first reference to 

 the matter, of course we omit it now. The 

 carload of hives, frames, etc., was shipped 

 from Rapid City, Mich., instead of Evart, as 

 was stated on page 627. 



We are more than pleased to have the mat- 

 ter end as it has, as doubtless will be all the 

 bee-keepers in and about Chicago ; for there 

 is already enough foul brood in this vicinity 

 without importing it from another State. 



But, all the same, there should be a law in 

 every State prohibiting the removal of any 

 apiary, or part thereof, without first securing 

 a State certificate granting permission, and 

 also assuring that there is no disease. 



Old T8. Young Queens for Breeders. 



— Editor Hutchinson calls for the experience 

 of his readers as to the comparative value of 

 old and young queens as breeders, in view of 



the fact that H. Edwards, of England, says 

 that all queens making a record have been 

 reared from the eggs of a comparatively old 

 queen. One would naturally expect that the 

 time of life at which the offspring of any 

 mother would have the greatest vigor would 

 be at the time when that mother herself is in 

 the greatest vigor. A queen can do little 

 toward making a record for herself, usually, 

 during the same season in which she is born, 

 for few queens are born before the swarming- 

 time, and the season will be well over before 

 the entire force of the colony consists of her 

 offspring. Her record will not be made before 

 the end of the second season, and after dis- 

 tinguishing herself in her second season she 

 is used as a breeder in the third season. 



So it comes about that those who select the 

 best to breed from will use comparatively' old 

 queens, and this may go far to account for 

 the fact that Mr. Edwards' best queens came 

 from comparatively old mothers. But if he 

 had reared queens from one of his breeders 

 while she was yet in her first year, and as yet 

 had established no reputation, might they not 

 have been just as good as those she produced 

 a year or two later '. 



Prevention of Early Swarms, says 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review, is secured bj' some 

 Ontario bee-keepers by using bottom-boards 

 of wire-cloth, the abundant ventilation at 

 least retarding swarming. Some might like 

 this better than raising the hive on blocks. 



Position for Bee-Escapes. — Almost 

 universally they are put in the center of the 

 escape-board. It was suggested in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review that one corner of the board 

 is the better place, because when bees become 

 excited about getting out of the super they 

 run around the edges. Yet E. W. Brown, of 

 northern Illinois, reports that in cool nights 

 a cluster of bees would remain in the center 

 all night if the escape was in a corner. Per- 

 haps the best way would be to have an escape 

 in the center and one in the corner. 



Plurality of Eggs in a Cell is noth- 

 ing very unusual when a prolific queen is in a 

 limited brood-nest, but the cells containing 

 more than one e'^';^ each are worker-cells. It 

 seems, however, that exceptional cases occur 

 in which a normal laying queen will lay the 

 second egg iu a queen-cell, according to the 

 following from Gleanings in Bee-Culture ; 



A rule that I supposed without exception 

 was that, if you found more than one egg in 

 a queen-cell, you might be sure of laying 

 workers. The ntlicr day I found two eggs in 

 a queen-cell uiul a good laying queen present. 

 " Bees do nothhi;;. invariably." 



Thickness of Top Bars.— S. T. Pettit 

 champions in Gleanings in Bee-Culture top- 

 bars less than ", thick. He quotes a corres- 

 pondent who says: 



" For a number of years I have been using 

 a top-bar \^ inch thick and 15^' wide, and 7uit 

 « burr-comb on a single frame in eight years' 

 use." 



This agrees with Mr. Pettifs theory that 

 the width of the top-bar and not the thickness 

 isthees.sential thing to prevent burr-combs; 

 although Mr. Pettit himself finds it necessary 

 to use a thickness equal to '% to prevent sag- 

 ging. Dr. Miller says he still wants thick 

 top-bars even if they make no difference 

 about burr -combs, because the thick top-bars 

 make so great a difference between brood- 

 combs and sections that the bees will not 

 carry up black wax to darken the sections. 

 Mr. Pettit thinks this point can be gained 

 better by using queen-excluders. Editor Root 

 thinks that % top-bars gave more burr-combs 

 in their apiary than %. 



Prevention of Winter-Breeding. — 



An article from Wm. McEvoy, in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review, gives his way of preventing 

 the bees from beginning to rear brood in Jan- 

 uary when wintered outdoors. He thinks 

 that by preventing the bees from starting 

 brood-rearing iu Januarj- — a thing that often 

 occurs with bees wintered outdoors — " we 

 not only saw stores, but the lives of many of 

 our best colonies, which often dwindle down 

 and out in spring from the large amount of 

 brood-rearing that they do at a time when 

 they ought to be at rest.'' His plan of pre- 

 vention is to crowd each colony upon five 

 combs about the first of October, each one of 

 the five combs being sealed right down to the 

 bottom. If any combs are unsealed, he feeds 

 till the bees will take no more. This leaves 

 no room for brood-rearing. 



Cane vs. Beet Sugar. — Some discussion 

 has taken place with regard to the propriety 

 of using refined beet sugar for feeding bees, 

 and some bee-keepers have felt uncomfortable 

 because they had no means of determining 

 whether granulated sugar was made from 

 cane or beets. Bee-journals across the water 

 have insisted that sugar made from beets was 

 not safe food for bees. The following letter 

 in Gleanings iu Bee-Culture seems to teach 

 that beet sugar is all right : 



Mr. HuberRoot called my attention to an 

 article published in Gleanings Aug. l.'i, and 

 asked me to read it and give my opinion of 

 some of its statements. The writer, W. K. 

 Morrison, seems to think that sugar made 

 from cano is better than that made from 

 beets. I do not know how he or any one can 

 know when he gets granulated sugar whether 

 it's made from cane or beet. Of course, if he 



