A Merry Christmas to all Our Readers* 



41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, DECEMBER 19, 1901, 



No. 51. 



I « Editorial. * \ 



That Hoary Lie about the adulteration 

 of comb hooey seems still to retain much 

 vigor. Here is a sample of its cat-like vitality, 

 kindly sent to us by Chas. F. Hoser and others : 



On my vacation in Michigan last summer I 

 got some real honey — the real sweet kind, 

 with a comb that chews up beeswaxy.. It 

 was so good that for three months after I 

 came back I tried to get, in Chicago, some 

 honey, but I could not find it. Of course, 

 every grocery store had what it said was 

 strictly pure honey, in the nicest looking 

 combs — too nice looking; it was plain that it 

 was all manufactured. A few days ago my 

 grocer told me he had some real honey this 

 time. I was certain of tliat, too. as soon as I 

 saw it. I have worked with bees and know 

 the ear-marks of their handiwork, and that 

 comb was just irregular enough, imperfect 

 enough in places to fool me. I bought two 

 pounds. And when I got it home and took a 

 mouthful the honey was not very sweet — it 

 was a poor grade of glucose; and the comb 

 melted in my mouth — it was paraflin. 



No fading away of vigor about that, is 

 there ? Indeed, it has gained a robustness 

 that exceeds its former self; for in former 

 stages it only claimed that a minor part of 

 the comb honey ii? Chicago was adulterated; 

 now there is none of the genuine to be found 

 in Chicago, although it be sought carefully 

 for three months ! 



The amazing part about it is that this vig- 

 orous slander is not found in some obscure 

 place, spoken by some ignoramus in the coun- 

 try grocery at the crossroads, but it is an 

 opinion delivered in all seriousness before a 

 body of supposedly brainy men. It is an ex- 

 tract from a paper read Ijy the proprietor of 

 the Farmer's Call, at the annual meeting of 

 the National Agricultural Press League, and 

 published in that sprightly periodical, Agri- 

 cultural Advertising, published by Frank B. 

 White Co. Mr. Frank B. White is well known 

 as a man of untarnished reputation, and the 

 soul of honor. Taken altogether, after so 

 many years of battling with a great wrong, 

 bee-keepers may be excused for feeling just a 

 little discouraged as to getting anything like 

 a semblance of justice. 



More may be said of this hereafter. 



Influence of the Queen,— There has 



been some discussion as to wliether the i|iieen 

 or the workers has the most intluence upon 

 the character of young royalty, some asserting 

 that when black workers rear a tiueen from 

 the egg of an Italian queen it would be the 

 same as if reared by Italian queens, while 



others say the black nurses make of it a dif- 

 ferent being. Very far from this last view is 

 that put forth in this country and in Europe, 

 that a queen not only influences the character 

 of her own offspring, but produces in some 

 way, by her presence, a direct change upon 

 the workers of another queen. The assertion 

 is made that when the queen of a very cross 

 colony is removed, and a queen of gentle 

 stock introduced, not only will the colony be 

 gentle when all the old workers have died 

 off, but the crossness will all disappear within 

 two or three weeks from the introduction of 

 the new sovereign; in other words, while the 

 bees of the cross colony are daily hatching 

 out, and as yet there is hot a single worker of 

 the new colony. 



As the newspapers saj-, "This needs con- 

 firmation ;'' and it would be well if those 

 who have the opportunity would observe at 

 what time a change of deportment may be 

 seen when a gentle queen is put in place of a 



cross one. 



♦^ 



Brood-Frame End-Spacers. — Opin- 

 ions of bee-keepers are notso diametrically op- 

 posite as to many things as they are about the 

 change made in frames which shortens the 

 top-bars and depends upon staples driven into 

 the end-bars to hold the frames in place 

 lengthwise. Some claim that the change is a 

 real boon. The bee-space at the ends of the 

 top-bars prevents deposition of glue at that 

 point, making it much easier to handle the 

 frames. Others say the staples are constantly 

 driven further in, and as soon as driven in 

 far enough there is the worst kind of trouble. 

 The difference in the thickness of top-bars or 

 end-bars may account for the difference of 

 opinion. With a top-bar less than half an 

 inch in thickness, and a 14-inch end-bar, the 

 staple will not be Hrmly held, and will soon 

 be out of place. With a thick end-bar, or 

 with a top-bar so thick that the staple will be 

 driven through the end-bar into the top-bar, 

 there ought to be little or no trouble. 



A .Swarming .Story. — The following has 

 been sent to us as the report of something 

 remarkable; 



A Bee Stort.- James D. Noland, an SO- 

 j'ear old farmer of Pike townshij), has had 

 an unusual experience in his apiary this 

 month. On Sunday, .June il, a swarm of 

 bees came from one of his hives, and on Mon- 

 day, Tuesday and Wednesday following, 

 swarms came out of the same hive— four 

 swarms in tour consecutive days. Mr. Noland 

 succeeded in saving all of Iheni, and all were 

 large, vigorous swarms, and are reported 

 doing well al this time. This is a bee-swarm- 

 ing story not likely to be beaten. — Coshocton 

 Democrat. 



There is nothing remarkable In having four 

 swarms on four successive days from the 



same colony. When bees are allowed to 

 swarm at their own sweet will, there may be 

 a prime swarm, and then three or four after- 

 swarnis, possibly five or six. If anything 

 should happen to the old queen, or if for any 

 reason she should not be able to accompany 

 the swarm, the prime swarm would return, 

 and a week or more later a swarm would 

 issue with the first young queen; and this 

 would be likely to be followed by several 

 after-swarms. But it is an unusual thing for 

 any swarm after the second swarm to be a 

 large one, and to have four swarms in succes- 

 sion from the same colony all " large, vigor- 

 ous swarms," would be something so farout 

 of the usual that one may be excused for 

 supposing that there was in the case a re- 

 porter with a " large, vigorous " imagination. 



Control of Fertilization, if secured, 

 might not bring all the success expected from 

 it. In a former number of this journal 

 Adrian Getaz wrote : 



" If we could breed from an individual 

 drone of our choice, how could we tell that 

 this drone would give better workers than 

 that one i" 



Quoting this, Mr. Simpson, in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review, calls it an overwhelming 

 truth, and says: 



"That is the fundamental fact on which 

 I base my contention that fertilization in con- 

 finement is not the suic qua nun (without- 

 which-nothing) of successful queea-bnediitg.'" 



'When to E.vtract Honey. — A writer 

 in Gravenhorst's Bztg. says: " I extract from 

 combs that are mostly sealed. In order to 

 find in the lower part of the comb, where the 

 cells are yet unsealed, honey sufficiently ripe, 

 I use the morning hours for extracting. Early 

 in the morning there is found in the combs 

 no thin nectar to shake out easily and excite 

 robbing. All the nectar gathered the previous 

 day is soitirwfmt thickened. If several rainy 

 days occur, then the morning of the first 

 fiight-day after the rainy spell will find the 

 unsealed honey as thick as that which is 

 sealed." 



' Weeliiy Budget. ' 



i 



"vr^sTvr^K 



The Michigan Convention is to be held 

 Jan. 1 and 'J, liK)2, at Petoskey. Wo have 

 received a very cordial invitatioii to attend, 

 and accompanying it there was one of the 

 most beautiful badges we have seen in a long 

 time. We would like very much to be there. 



