July, 1913. 



237 



No. 3. 



-Ready to Introduce the Qi een in 

 THE Cage. 



have had choice queens do good work 

 for a short period, only to be super- 

 seded during the first season. 



The queen being clipped, we now 

 take her by the wing, or by botli wings. 

 If the clipping is not done bunglinglyi 

 and stubbed off short, drop her into the 

 left hand (Fig. :!), not trying to force 

 her through the hole in the cage, as 

 she is always very reluctant when 

 forced in. Take the cage and turn the 

 perforated tin back, having the hole 

 free and clear, and place the cage over 

 the opening to be made (Fig. 4) in the 

 hand, and she will readily enter toward 

 the light. 



Figure i5 shows the position of the 

 cage while filling it with workers. Here 

 is a point I wish to emphasize, and that 

 is, the importance of using i'owhj;'^ and 

 evenly marked bees. Use the ones that 

 are dipping their noses in the cells, as 

 they show color and age, and are easier 

 to catch by the wings. The queen ships 

 better if there are no old dead bees in 

 the cage, and they all look nice and 

 bright even though they are on the 

 road 10, \U, or 20 days. 



Lansing, Mich. 



Competition 



BY .\. F. BONNEY. 



I KNOW of no business men in the 

 world, other than bee-keepers, who 

 deliberately invite and encourage 

 competition, and that, too. from a 

 class which invariably lowers 

 prices, debases breeding stock, the 

 bees, spreads disease and disseminates 

 erroneou.s impressions about the honey- 

 producing business. 



The competition I allude to is of the 

 farmer bee-keeper, who is the last re- 

 maining type of the apicultural clif? 

 dweller or cave man — he of the gum 



American Voe Journal 



log and bo.x-hive who produces a little 

 honey for the family table, generally 

 by sheer chance, and having a few 

 pounds surplus sells it for half price. 

 I do not here allude to the amateur 

 bee-keeper, for he has an object in 

 view, a life vocation, but only to the 

 too frequent ruralite who, catching a 

 stray swarm of bees, hives them in any 

 old receptacle, and in the fall " brim- 

 stones " them for a pound or more of 

 honey, generally asking and getting 

 the help of the local professional who 

 dares not refuse for fear of losing a 

 sometimes customer for his stock. 



If we may not improve bees as intel- 

 ligently as we can horses and cows, we 

 may get and keep the best, those known 

 to be of good strain and marking ; how- 

 ever much we may disagree as to the 

 merits of the various breeds, there is 

 no disagreement about the small and 

 erratic bee keepers spreading disease, 

 for not one of them knows how to tell 

 if a coliiuy has foul brood, and would 

 not know how to treat it if he did. 

 Moreover, they are often inclined to 

 object with physical force if an inspec- 

 tor proposes to destroy an infected 

 hive. 



Moreover, it is the farmer who 

 spreads erroneous impressions about 

 honey. Notwithstanding that we have 

 in Iowa a stringent Pure Food Law, 

 farmers have said to me: " I do not 

 like to buy strained honey for fear it is 

 adulterated," at the same time they buy 

 glucose sweetened with cane sugar 

 knciwingly, for the label proclaims it. 

 They are the ones who perpetuate the 

 ancient canard that there is such a 

 thing as artificial comb honey, yet in 

 the face of all this we write and talk, 

 and help to urge them to keep bees, 

 and to add to our sins we give them 

 the dovetailed or single-walled hive, 

 knowing they will not take the trouble 

 to protect the bees in cold weather. 



No. 4 —Position of the Cage for the 

 Queen to Enter. 



The manufacturer of and dealer in 

 bee-keeping supplies isthe only one who 

 can possibly benefit by this line of con- 

 duct. The producer of honey suffers 

 from all the ills mentioned, the most 

 serious of which is spasmodic compe- 

 tition. I have known nice looking 

 honey in extracting frames to be sold 

 in this town at 8 cents a pound when I 

 was asking 12>i, and got it, when the 

 other had been disposed of. The crop 

 was small that season, and I could have 

 secured \h cents a pound had not the 

 farmer ruined my trade. 



SI'F.Cri.ATION. 



I read in a daily paper that the gov- 



No. 5, -Filling the Cage With Workers. 



I CIA/IO UI\/CC Are Built Like Furniture 

 LLfVIO nlVLO Are Perfect IN All Respects 



Send for Annual Catalog which will tell 

 you who is your nearest Distributer. 

 G. B. l^ewis Company. Watertown, Wis. 



