December, 1913. 



403 



American Vee -Journal 



ommendation somewhat mixed with 

 the Alexander treatment of European 

 foul brood. Mr. Alexander removed 

 the old queen, and 20 days later gave a 

 ripe queen-cell or a virgin just hatched. 

 In attempting to follow his plan I 

 made the blunder of not noticing that 

 a virgin was to be introduced, but in- 

 troduced a laying queen. Afterward I 

 changed to the plan of introducing a 

 virgin immediately upon the removal 

 of the old queen. I believe that is bet- 

 ter than to wait 10 days later and in- 

 troduce a laying queen, since in that 10 

 days of waiting the bees are in a more 

 or less discouraged condition, while 

 with a virgin present they are stimu- 

 lated to activity in cleaning up the 

 cells in preparation for her laying. 



This plan I still think a good one in 

 case the queen is poor. Mr. Ale.xander 

 said the queen of a diseased colony 

 was generally so poor she was not 

 worth saving. I believe this is true 

 where the colony is badly diseased. 

 But in mild cases the queen does not 

 seem to be injured to any appreciable 

 e.xtent. So in such cases I merely 

 cage the queen between the combs or 

 at the entrance for a week or ten days. 

 Indeed I have not killed a queen in 

 any case the past season. But no case 



was allowed to get bad. If a single 

 diseased cell was found — and it is not 

 a very difficult thing to spot a single 

 bad cell in a whole hive — that colony 

 was at once treated. 



As the queen of any diseased colony 

 was caged at the beginning of the har- 

 vest, two birds were killed with one 

 stone. For that caging of the queen 

 for ten days put out of the bees' heads 

 any foolish notion they have had about 

 swarming. And I had colonies so 

 treated that went above the average in 

 the amount of honey they yielded. 



In at least one case I put all the 

 brood in an upper story above an ex- 

 cluder, leaving the queen in the lower 

 story without any brood. It worked 

 all right. This plan has the advantage 

 that there is little or no break in brood- 

 rearing. It works all right for ex- 

 tracted honey, but does not answer 

 well for comb honey. 



So it will be seen that I do not rec- 

 ommend "letting the colony remain 

 queenless for two or three weeks ;" 

 and, in fact, do not recommend letting 

 the colony go a day without a queen in 

 the hive, although I do stop brood- 

 rearing for a week or ten days with the 

 queen still in the hive. c. c. M. 



MiSCELUNEOUS ^ NEWS ITEMS 



California and Northern California 

 Neetings. — The California State Bee- 

 keepers' Association will meet in an- 

 nual convention in the Y. M. C. A. 

 building in Los Angeles Dec. 9, 10, 

 and 11. 



A letter from Alvin L. Heim, secre- 

 tary of the Northern Association, states 

 that this association will meet at Sac- 

 ramento Dec. 26 and 27. 



Indiana to Hold Meeting Tlie annual 



meeting of the Indiana State Bee- 

 keepers' Association will be held in the 

 State House in Indianapolis Dec 3. 

 Every beekeeper is urged to attend. 

 G. W. Williams, Sec. 



by the Indiana Beekeepers' Associa 

 tion. The day is being given publicity 

 through the local papers in Indiana. 

 Every one is urged to eat a little In- 

 diana honey. 



^ 



Washington State Meeting. — The 



Washington State Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation will hold their 20th annual con- 

 vention at North Yakima, Wash., on 

 Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 7 and 8, 

 1914. 



A good program is promised, and a 

 surprise is in store for all who attend. 



A banquet will be served on Thurs- 

 day. 



All beekeepers, whether members of 

 the Association or not, are urged to 

 attend. J. B. Rumage, Sec. 



Report from New Zealand.. — The New 



Zealand Farmer reports colonies ex- 

 ceptionally strong in brood and young 

 bees. Drones are beginning to make 

 their appearance in the hives. New 

 Zealand has its spring and summer 

 while we are having our fall and winter. 



Honey Day. — December 1.5, has been 

 designated as Honey Day in Indiana 



Lively Work at a Fair The follow- 

 ing is an e.xtract from a private letter 

 from Allen Latham : 



" When I got home I had to put in all 

 my time for nearly a week getting 

 ready for the State Fair at Hartford, 

 Conn. There I sold nearly lOOO of my 

 sections, and took $36 in premiums. 

 Paul and I sold about 6000 honey sand- 

 wiches during the week. On the after- 

 noon of the first day. Labor Day, I wish 



you could have seen us. Paul was kept 

 busy slicing rolls and getting out sec- 

 tions. 



" I simply made myself into an auto- 

 matic machine, which put a slice of 

 honey into the sliced roll, handed it out 

 and received the money. For an hour 

 and a half we had a line (we made 

 them line up at the left and move 

 down) about Lj feet long, and it did 

 not break in all that time. I think we 

 averaged about seven sandwiches a 

 minute during that time. But it was 

 hard work." 



No man could compete with such 

 work as that. But besides being a 

 very live Yankee, Mr. Latham has had 

 an experience of 20 years at this sort 

 of thing, and knows the ropes thor- 

 oughly. 



Exhibits at Illinois State Fair. — Visi- 

 tors of the bee and honev exhibit at 

 the Illinois State Fair, this season, 

 state that the exhibits ranked well up 

 to what they have been in previous 

 years. Prizes were awarded to the 

 following Illinois exhibitors in the or- 

 der named : 



A. Coppin, of Wenona. 

 C. Becker, of Pleasant Plains. 

 Jas. A. Stone, of Springfield. 

 W. E. Miller, of LibertyviUe. 

 E. H. Wells, of LibertyviUe. 

 Anthwine Phillips, of Dwight. 



The part of the exhibit which at- 

 tracted the most attention was the live 

 bee demonstration as given by Mr. and 

 Mrs. Coppin. Their demonstration in 

 a cage was e.xcellent, and never failed 

 to draw an interested audience. 



Idaho and Oregon Meeting. — The an- 

 nual convention of the Southern Idaho 

 and Eastern Oregon Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation will be held at Ontario, Oreg., 

 on Dec, 9. Program is as follows: 



Address oE Welcome — Pres. A. I. McCIan- 

 ahan. 



" Lessons of Past Season"— J. E. Lyon. A. 

 T. Pennington. Chas. Nelson. 



" Overstocking"— A. L McClanahan, W. 

 Pennington. 



"Extracting Outfits. Power Driven," etc. 

 — Benj Paine. H. Crowther. 



" Queen-Rearing ' — E. F. Atwater. 



DINNER. 



Election of officers. 



"Spring P'eeding"- J. R. Marlowe. C. E. 

 Dibble, W. W. Foster. 

 " Making Foundation "— M. Townsend. 

 Discussions. 



R. D. Bradshaw, Sec. 



Bee Meetings. — Following is a list of 

 the bee meetings to occur within the 

 ne.xt few months, with date and place 

 of meeting. Other meetings will be 

 added as the dates reach us : 



New York State Association of Bee- 

 keepers, Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 2 and 3. 



Minnesota State Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation, Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 3 

 and 4. 



Eastern Illinois Association, St. 

 Anne, 111., Dec. 8 and 9. 



