May. 1913. 



American l^ee Journal 



No. 1 — The Lavina Yard of Mr. Bei.l. Run for Extracted Honey. 



the significance of the word being 

 that of a main stem or parent. A 

 swarm retained its name until the fol- 

 lowing spring, when, by giving oflf a 

 swarm, it became a stock. The advan- 

 tage of this system of names was that 

 it conveyed some notion of the condi- 

 tion of tlie combs with regard to breed- 

 ing and pollen — a matter of great im- 

 portance when all honey was obtained 

 from the brood-nest, and when the 

 condition of a hive was judged by its 

 weight. 



With the growth of the bar-frame 

 system of bee-keeping, the practice of 

 supering and methods of artificial in- 

 crease, the necessity of distinguishing 

 the stock from the swarm is no longer 

 of moment, and we tind that the word 

 "stock" is gradually changing its 

 meaning, and is now applied to a well- 

 established colony irrespective of other 

 details. 



The change of meaning is not un- 

 usual in the history of words. We 

 have other examples in the words 

 " ruskie " and " pot." These are both 

 dialect words meaning a straw bee- 

 skep. The "ruskie" was a cylinder of 

 bark used as a bee-hive, and it is easy 

 to understand how the meaning of the 

 word has altered. The word "pot" is 

 not so easily explained. But pottery 

 was made in England before the pot- 

 ter's wheel was known, and probably 

 large boiling pots, and also bee-hives, 

 were made by plastering clay over a 

 wicker foundation. So the word may 

 be a survival of the time when the bee- 

 hive was really a pot. 



D. M. Macdonald, in the British Bee 

 Journal for Nov. 21, 1912, discusses the 

 meanings of the words hive, colony, 

 stock, and swarm. He would define 

 swarm as meaning bees only. Colony 

 includes bees, combs, honey, pollen, 

 brood and eggs. A stock is a colony 

 plus the hive, and a hive is merely the 

 receptacle or bees' house. Perhaps 

 some bee-keepers may feel inclined to 



adopt these definitions, but to do so 

 will not make for clearness. " I noticed 

 a row of stocks in the garden" is more 

 likely to mislead than "I noticed a row 

 of hives in the garden." " If " stocks 

 of bees " should be used, its advantage 

 over " hives of bees " is not so obvious, 

 and as a precision, I might object that 

 perhaps some of them were swarms. 

 And it would be quite wrong to accept 

 these definitions and then to speak of a 

 colony killing off the drones. 



Some day, perhaps, stock, swarm and 

 colony will crystallize into distinct and 

 clear-cut meanings, but we should 

 never forget that the dictionary is 

 founded on language, and not language 

 on the dictionary. If we consult the 

 best writers on bees, we shall find that 

 the exact meaning of these words is 

 governed largely by the context, and 



may include much or little besides the 

 bees. Just as we may sometimes use 

 the word "man " to include both him 

 and his overcoat. 



Albury, Herts, England. 



[The above is surely interesting to 

 the man who wants to understand others 

 or be understood. But we find in it 

 proof of the divergence between mod- 

 ern " American " and " English." Many 

 of our people think that they speak 

 English " better than the English." But 

 they speak it differently, and the diver- 

 gence is growing. An American can- 

 not go to England and pass for an 

 Englishman any more than a Britisher 

 can come to the States and be regarded 

 as a native. When in London some 

 years ago, the writer discussed the 

 price of an article with a shop-keeper, 

 who told him: "You would have to 

 pay more for this in your country." 

 Being French born, and just arrived 

 from a visit to France, the writer 

 thought that he must look "Frenchy" 

 enough to be detected, and said : " My 

 country ? Where is it ?" The reply 

 was prompt, "You are an American." 



Similar remarks may be made re- 

 garding our use of hyphens or com- 

 pound words, but on this subject, we 

 refer the reader to the witty tilts ex- 

 changed between Dr. Miller and the 

 esteemed editor of the Irish Beekeep- 

 ers' Gazette, in another column. 



"Stock" and "colony" were used 

 indifferently by Langstroth, Quinby 

 and others, some 50 years ago, to de- 

 nominate a hive of bees, with combs, 

 etc. Langstroth, in his index says: 



No. 4.— Home Yard and Factory of A. H. Bell, at Elso. Mont. 



30 MILLION * 

 SECTIONS a 



100000 

 HIVES 



ISTh 



Send for Annual Catalog which will tell 

 ■- ■ .- 11, n r-tn-rr\n\i y°" wlio is jour nearest Distribnter. 

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