January, 1908. 



^^^^[American li>ee JournaJj 



side of the box, makes room for a 

 whisk-broom, smoker, and honey-knife; 

 and when thus packed I shp it under 

 the buggy-seat with my ax and hunt- 

 ing-box, and set a hird-can with the 

 cover on, in front of t)ic seat, and hitch 

 up my team, and away I go to some 

 place favorable for bees; and, after get- 

 ting permission from the land-owner, I 

 usually put my team in his barn and 

 feed them, and away I go with hunt- 

 ing-box to attract the bees so I can 

 trace them ; and when I find the tree 

 I return to the buggy and get my out- 

 fit and cut the tree by falling it on to 

 some small tree to break the force ; 

 blow a little smoke in at the entrance 

 and chop in two cuts and split ofT one 

 side ; then I set my box on the log, 

 close it, and proceed to take out the 

 combs and brush the bees in front of 

 the entrance (always making sure to 

 get the queen in) ; and in they go. I 

 cut the honey out and put it in the can 

 and put the empty combs- and brood on 

 top of it and put on the cover and wait 

 an hour or so for the flying bees to get 

 in the box. 



When I get home I fit up a hive with 

 honey, cut out some of the old combs, 

 and insert the brood in the combs, jar 

 the box down on the ground, which 

 loosens the bees from the cover which 

 I remove, and dump the bees in front 

 of the hive, and in they go. 



I have eight swarms thus taken last 

 fall (the last one Nov. 28) ; all are 

 apparently in fine condition and perfect- 

 ly contented. Out of the eight, only 

 three had enough honey to have win- 

 tered them. I have had but one man 

 refuse to let me cut a tree, for I usual- 

 ly divide the honey with the owner of 

 the land. 



I enjoy hunting any and all kinds of 

 game; but there is a fascination about 

 bee-hunting that I find in no other kind. 

 I like to watch them as they cautiously 

 at first approach the box ; then, after 

 filling themselves, watch the zigzag cir- 

 cles they describe before they make 

 straight away. — Elias Fox, of Wiscon- 

 sin, in Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Is Honey a Luxury? 



This question possibly involves the 

 question why so little honey enters into 

 the menu of our everyday life. We have 

 grown into the habit of treating it as 

 a luxury rather than one of the neces- 

 sities. We have entirely forgotten that 

 it is both food and medicine, and that 

 the little ones who eat honey every day 

 have less craving for those sweets which 

 are injurious to their health, and that 

 they are less liable to the ailments so 

 incident to the lives of children; that 

 the visits of the family physician are 

 few and far between in the families 

 where honey enters into the every day 

 diet. 



Our grandmothers understood that 

 cakes sweetened with honey remained 

 moist and were palatable for a long 

 time after those sweetened with sugar 

 were too stale to be eaten. The reason 

 for this is that honey has a wonderful 

 affinity for moisture, and that instead 

 of drying out and becoming worthless 

 they grow more moist vith age. — C. M., 

 in Rural Californian. 



Varieties of Wild Bees. 



Some people think there are only two 

 or three kinds of bees — the honey-bee, 

 the bumble bee and possibly one kind 

 of smaller wild bee. So far is this from 

 being true, that no less than 1878 dif- 

 ferent species of wild bees have been 

 described from North America ; that is, 

 including all the country north of Pana- 

 ma, up to the present day. When we 

 come to study the habits and struc- 

 tures of all these bees, it is possible to 

 understand why they are so numerous 

 in kinds. 



The pollen of flowers has to be car- 

 ried by insects; that of one flower to 

 other flowers of the same sort in order 

 to bring about the fertilization and pro- 

 duction of seed. Of all the inseci: car- 

 riers the bees are the most important. 

 They visit the flowers for nectar and 

 pollen, to store up in nests for their 

 young, and when so doing they carry 

 the dust-like pollen from flower to flow- 

 er, leaving a little of that previously 

 gathered each time they alight upon a 

 blossom. Now suppose all bees visited 

 indiscriminately every sort of flower, it 

 would continually happen that the pol- 

 len of one species of plant would be left 

 on the flower of a quite different species, 

 where it would be altogether useless. 

 It is desirable, therefore, that each kind 

 of bee should visit one particular kind' 

 of plant, or at least should prefer cer- 

 tain kinds. This we find to be more or 

 less the case, and there are many bees 

 that never visit more than one sort of 

 flower. 



The number of different kinds of flow- 

 ers is very great, and consequently it is 

 not surprising to find that there are 

 many sorts of bees. In numerous in- 

 stances we find the mouth-part of the 

 bees exactly suited to the kind of flow- 

 ers they visit. Thus certain kinds with 

 very long tongues can suck the nectar 

 from long, tubular flowers, such as the 

 yellow-flowered currant, while others 

 with short tongues can make use of 

 shallow flowers. It is the case of the 

 fox and stork over again. 



Although the described North Ameri- 

 can bees are so numerous, it is prac- 

 tically certain that we do not know half 

 of those existing. Indeed, it is not im- 

 possible that the North American con- 

 tinent, with the West Indies, possesses 

 as many as 5000 species. In New Mexi- 

 co, up to today, 508 species have been 

 found, and of those I have been able 

 to describe 315 as new. The discovery 

 and description of new species is, how- 

 ever, only the beginning of the work. — 

 Rural Californian. 



Breeding from Best Honey- 

 Gatherers. 



Dr C. C. Miller says this in Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture : 



"It may be remembered that for sev- 

 eral years I had been breeding from 

 queens whose colonies gave largest 

 crops, with least inclination to swarm- 

 ing, regardless of color, my bees be- 

 ing hybrids with Italian blood predomi- 

 nating, but with evil tempers, and that 

 last year I got 10 Italian queens with 

 the expectation on the part of a cer- 

 tain editor, as also a strong desire on 

 my part, that the best of the 10 would 

 turn out to be equal to the best of my 



hybrids. The past season was not one 

 which allowed a big yield from any 

 colony, white clover blooming freely but 

 not yielding — at least till late in the sea- 

 son, and not much then- — but later on 

 1 had a fair flow of white honey from 

 other plants, allowing a fair chance for 

 comparison. The Italians seemed in 

 the lead at building up strong, and I 

 think they held that lead throughout the 

 season. But they didn't seem to take 

 hold at storing with the same vim as 

 the hybrids. No. 34 was the best of 

 the Italians, and it produced 96 sections. 

 The best of the hybrids was No. 211, 

 which produced 168 sections, or 75 per- 

 cent more than the best Italian. I don't 

 think that shows that Italians in their 

 purity are poor, but that persistent se- 

 lection for years in breeding from best 

 honey-gatherers without regard to color 

 has materially increased the yield of my 

 hybrids. The question is whether I 

 might not have done as well to have 

 adhered rigidly to the pure bloods. At 

 any rate, if I had it to do over again I 

 think that's what I should do. Another 

 question which immediately confronts 

 me — and I'd give a good deal for the 

 right answer — is this: Shall I give up 

 the fruit of years of selection, and start 

 in afresh with pure blood, or hold on 

 to my big yields and live among hor- 

 nets?" 



Editor Root comments on the fore- 

 going as follows : 



"Better keep on breeding those 'hor- 

 nets.' If there is a diiiference of 75 per- 

 cent between them and the gentler 

 strains of Italians, you can well afford 

 to wear a veil and wear bee-gloves, be- 

 cause the mere matter of stings can 

 not compare with one of dollars; and, 

 after all, one can put on enough armor 

 so that he would suffer no great in- 

 convenience, and on the other hand he 

 has the comfortable assurance that no 

 mischievous boys or petty thieves would 

 meddle with the hives. 



"At one of our outyards, when we 

 had been having some trouble from 

 meddlers, we put a very cross colony at 

 the front entrance of the yard. We 

 afterward learned that some boys con- 

 cluded they would help themselves to 

 some honey. They 'tackled' this par- 

 ticular colony because it was right 

 handy. An eye witness described the 

 events that followed as something really 

 funny. The boys ran only because 

 they couldn't fly. Of course the one 

 season should not be regarded as a 

 final test between those hybrids and 

 Italians. We hope Doctor, you can con- 

 tinue experimenting for several years, 

 at least. In the meantime we are of 

 the opinion with yourself that, if you 

 had devoted the same time and thought 

 on a pure strain of Italians, you would 

 have secured practically the same re- 

 sults so far as honey is concerned. Mr. 

 Alexander believes that he has pure 

 stock that will equal any hybrids, be- 

 sides their being much more pleasant to 

 handle." 



Apiarian Pictures 



We would be glad to have those who 

 can do so, send us pictures of bee- 

 yards, or of anything else that would be 

 of interest along the line of bee-keep- 

 ing. 



