June, 1913 



American Hee Journal 



were not killed, and this was no doubt 

 due, as you suggest, to the fact that so 

 large an amount of room was given. It 

 would seem to show that when two or 

 more united swarms have sufficient 

 room they have a tendency to divide 

 into separate swarms. Some have ad- 

 vised, when it was desired to separate 

 united swarms, to put twigs in the 

 hives for them to cluster upon sep- 



aratelv. 



^-•-^ 



Some Honey Recipes 



I have learned several new uses for 

 honey. When baking apples, instead 

 of using sugar, I pour over them ex- 

 tracted honey, allowing one table- 

 spoonful to each large apple. In mak- 

 ing fruit salad, I also use honey for 

 sweetening. I substitute honey for the 

 sugar in any cake or pudding where 

 the yolk of the egg is used, also in fruit 

 pies and sauces. When making gems 

 and muffins, I pour in about a teaspoon- 

 ful of honey; it sweetens without mak- 

 ing a coarse grain or gritty taste. — 

 Good Ilotisekeefiiig Magazine. 



A Cure for Asthm.\. — In a medical 

 work I find it recorded that a doctor 

 ate some ounces of honey every day 

 for two years, and got entirely free of 

 his asthma. Before this he had tried 

 every known cure without securing any 

 relief. 



Hygei.\ Dressing. — Yolks of two 

 eggs beaten stiff, juice of one lemon, 

 two large spoonfuls of olive oil, two- 

 thirds cup of whipped cream and two 

 large spoonfuls of honey. Add a slight 

 pinch of salt. — I/ouschold Afagazine, 



Paste for Ble.\ching Arms. — Milk 

 white arms can be obtained by coating 

 them at night with the following paste 

 and allowing it to remain on until 

 morning. To prevent bed clothes 

 from being soiled, it would be well to 

 wrap your arms around with long 

 strips of cotton cloth : Myrrh, one 

 ounce; honey, four ounces; yellow 

 beeswax, two ounces; rosewater, one 

 ounce. 



Melt the wax in a double boiler, then 

 add the myrrh, powdered, while hot; 

 beat thoroughly together, then stir in 

 the honey and rosewater and sufficient 

 glycerine, drop by drop, to make a 

 spreadable' paste. — Chicago Kccoi-d-IIcr- 

 aid. 



A British Bee-Keeping Sister 



The British Bee Journal gives, from 

 time to time, sketches of prominent 

 bee-keepers, and in a late number the 

 subject of the sketch is Miss M. Dag- 

 mar Sillar. The sketch opens by say- 

 ing ; "We believe this is the first oc- 

 casion on which we have had the pleas- 

 ure of presenting the portrait of a lady 

 under the heading, "Prominent Bee- 

 Keepers," and the subject of our sketch 

 is well worthy of a place among them." 



Born in London, of Scottish parent- 

 age. Miss Sillar first kept bees in North 

 Wales, but her most valuable service 

 to the cause of bee-keeping was in 

 South Africa, where she was appointed 

 poultry and bee expert at the Govern- 

 ment Experimental Farm. A severe 

 illness obliged her to return to Eng- 

 land in 1912, after a very active South 

 African caj-ggr of eight years, and the 



likelihood is that British bee-keeping 

 will profit by her activities hereafter, 

 although Miss Sillar says of her Afri- 

 can experience; "After all the hard 

 work I wish I were going back to 

 South Africa tomorrow." 



Dandelions 



In this part of the world it is counted 

 that fruit-bloom has much to do with 

 the honey harvest, not because a large 

 amount of surplus honey is secured 

 from fruit blossoms, for indeed no sur- 

 plus is ever harvested from them here, 

 but because they come at a time to do 

 the most good in helping colonies to 

 build up for the wliite-clover harvest. 

 In late years, however, a strong com- 

 petitor has grown up in the person of 

 the dandelion. It is said to have made 

 its first appearance here perhaps 70 

 years ago, when a lady brought the 

 seed from the East because she thought 

 it would seem more like home with 

 dandelions about. Owners of lawns 

 wish she had been satisfied with less 

 homelike surroundings, but bee-keep- 



ers call her blessed. Even as late as 

 20 years ago dandelion nectar was a 

 negligible quantity. Now it is abun- 

 dant, increasing year by year. 



In a certain sense, however, the dan- 

 delion can hardly be called a competi- 

 tor of fruit-bloom. On this date. May 

 6, observation of thousands upon thou- 

 sands of dandelion blossoms shows 

 not a single bee upon them, while the 

 bees are roaring upon the fruit-trees. 

 Bees have their preferences, and while 

 fruit-bloom is to be had dandelions 

 are neglected. Only a few days ago 

 bees were working busily on dande- 

 lions. But the nectar of fruit-blos- 

 soms was not on the market then. Like 

 enough they will return to their first 

 love a little later, when fruit-trees are 

 out of bloom. 



No doubt this explains, at least in 

 some cases, why bee-keepers call a cer- 

 tain plant worthless for bees in one 

 region, while in another region it is 

 valued highly. In the region where it 

 is neglected by the bees, it is neglected 

 only because at the same time another 

 plant is blooming which is a greater 

 favorite with them. , 



E\R Western ^ Bee-Keeping 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder. Colo. 



Some Queen-Rearing Experiences 



Having about ."lO queens of indiffer- 

 ent quality, I decided to rear a few, to 

 replace them. Mr. Bird, my helper, 

 has had considerable experience rear- 

 ing queens, so we began preparations. 

 A dozen or so of queens on hand 

 whenever you want them are handy in 

 an emergency, and. besides, I have 150 

 empty hives to fill with increase. 



April 27, we found a colony that had 

 brood in seven of the eight combs. 

 The queen is a fine one. and we 

 thought to rear daughters from some 

 of her young larvae. We rigged up 

 several frames with cell-cups (two rows 

 to each frame). Mr. Bird molded a lot 



of cell-cups, a la Doolittle, and stuck 

 them to the bars with a drop of wax. 

 These cups looked lonesome to me 

 without any comb in the frames, so I 

 took a comb of several seasons' use, 

 one that was tough and would not sag, 

 and cut four holes in it like this : 



Each aperture holds six cell-cups, 

 and they are wide enough for the bees 

 to build the cells down nice and long. 

 We took the queen from the colony, I 

 said, and two combs of brood and six 

 nice drawn combs, and put them over 

 a queen-excluding zinc. We grafted 

 in the larvae, no larger than the head 

 of a pin, and put them in the center of 

 the lower hive. Next day we looked 

 in and all cups were torn down. So 



.\ Frame Arranged for Qieen-Rearing 



