March, 1908. 



American Hee Journal i 



sary, especially when there is a conflict 

 of names. A few years ago our world- 

 famous honey-sages were referred to the 

 genus Audibertia. We now find them 

 called Ronwiia. As far as I have been 

 able to run the matter down, there seems 

 to be quite a mix-up in the shift. Of 

 course "a rose by any other name would 

 smell as sweet," and equally true our 

 sage honey has been just as sweet when 

 going under the name of Helen Hunt 

 Jackson's queen of the Southern Cali- 

 fornia sheep-ranch. 



In this matter of shaking up of botan- 

 ical names, Prof. Meehan, the great 

 American horticulturist, bemoaned the 

 craze for changing the name of plants. 

 (Meehan's Monthly, Vol. i, p. 48.) To 

 quote him : 



"Sound as this principle of priority 

 may be in the abstract, in practice it 

 would throw gardening literature into 

 confusion. It takes a long time for nur- 

 serymen and florists to familiarize the 

 community with a plant's name. They 

 can not be expected to re-advertise over 

 and over again to make corrections, be- 

 cause 'somebody blundered.' Meehan's 

 Monthly will feel bound to continue 

 names already in use, however wrong 

 they may be in the abstract, provided 

 they are the names adopted in some 

 standard work. Plants named in Gray, 

 Chapman, Coulter, or Watson, may not 

 always be the strictly correct names— 

 but it seems that it is best to allow these 

 leading works to correct their own er- 

 rors, if we woidd keep from endless con- 

 fusion in nomenclature." 



Here I might mention that our world 

 famous big trees of Calaveras and Mari- 

 posa counties, wander about, figurativelv 

 speaking, over the face of the globe, 

 under no fi.xed name. European botan- 

 ists seem to persist in the use of Se- 

 quoia Wellingtonia, while we use S. 'ji- 

 gantea. Even our famous redwood was 

 previously called S. gigantea, so that it 

 is not botanically entitled to be styled 

 S. sempervirens, and, it is claimed, the 

 Big Tree should not be called gigantei, 

 for, by priority, the redwood was so 

 named first. A patriotic doctor and 

 scientist in San Francisco in the early 

 days suggested that the Big Tree be 

 called W ashing toniana Californica — a 

 long but very good name. 



Since the above was written I have 

 received a letter from the director of 

 one of the largest botanical gardens in 

 the world, in which some question is 

 raised as to the correctness of tlie name 

 we have for half a century and more 

 known our Century Plant by, namely. 

 Agave Americana. The plant is now up 

 before the court on trial for its true 

 name, and what the verdict of the jury 

 will be I know not. The result will be 

 given in these columns in due course of 

 time. 



TIic Floworiiig Wild Currant. 



One of the very earliest native plants 

 to bloom in California is the rose-col- 

 ored flowering currant (Ribes sangui- 

 neum.) The plant is not only common 

 along the coast of California, but is also 

 found near the Pacific from British Co- 

 lumbia to Mexico, even extending over 

 llic borders of those countries. Here it 

 begins lo bloom before Christmas, often- 

 linies lieforc it has put forth its leaves. 



Further south it blooms sometimes as 

 early as November. When in full blocm 

 during January the plant presents a pret- 

 ty appearance with its wealth of droop- 



our folk admire the specimen in our 

 garden as much as they do some of the 

 more "vogueish" plants. 



The flowers are rich in nectar, as I 



Red Flowering Currant of California 



ing, many-flowered racemes. The flow- 

 ers are sweetly fragrant, while the leaves 

 exhale a rather pleasant pungent odor. 

 It is worthy of a place in any garden ; 



have mentioned on a former occasion. 

 During several weeks it is in bloom, the 

 bees hold high carnival among the nu- 



nicrtius blossiims. 



^^TV 



Bocfor Nilfer^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Marengo. 111. 



Dr. Miller dues not answer Questions by mail. 



Best Extracting Frames and Sections 

 — Section Foundation. 



1. Please give me information on using home- 

 made frames such as Langstroth, without comb 

 foundation, for extracted honey, and also for 

 the lower story? Would the bees start with- 

 out any trouble if there were no foundation 

 for them to start on? and how would it be 

 to use one-pound sections without any founda- 

 tion? 



2. What kind of foundation would you rec- 

 ommend for honey in one-pound sections? 



3. What kind of one-pound sections would 

 you recommend for comb honey. 



Pennsylvania. 

 Answers. — i. My good friend, don't for a min- 

 ute think of using either frames or sections 

 without foundation, unless you want the bees 

 to build crosswise part of the time. At least 

 have starters, and it is generally considered 

 real economy to use full sheets. 



2. Some prefer "extra thin," but all things 

 considered my own preference is "thin." 



3. Different markets may prefer different 

 kinds. Probably the most generally popular 

 section is the 4^X4j4xi^, open top and bot- 

 tom. 



Why Didn't They Store Honey? 



1 put 80 colonics of bees in the cellar last 

 fall. I had a queer experience with them 

 last season. Four colonies began swarming 

 about June 8. The queens were clipped and 

 they would swarm out every 2 days, and I 



kept the queen-cells all cut out. But the 

 second day I would find new cells built up 

 again, which I would also cut down each time, 

 and the queen-cells looked as if they were 

 worker-bees about half grown. The old queens 

 were, one full-blooded golden Italian, and 

 3 hybrids, and good breeders. They were good, 

 heavy colonies, and had plenty of room in 10- 

 frame hives, with 2 or 3 supers. But they 

 didn't store any honey above. I could find no 

 reason for their acting so. Can you give me 

 any information or remedy? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — There was nothing unusual in the 

 case, and you may count on it as the regular 

 program. The queens were clipped, and re- 

 turned to the hive with the swarm, and so 

 long as the queens were there they would 

 continue rearing queen-cells and swarming. 

 Sometimes, however, a clipped queen is lost 

 when the swarm issues, and in that case no 

 swarm will issue till a virgin queen emerges. 

 I f you put your ear to the hive every even- 

 ing a week after the first swarming (supposing 

 the queen was lost or removed by you), until 

 you hear the young queen piping, and the 

 next morning destroy ail queen-cells, there will 

 be no more swarming. 



Using Hives and Supers after Foul 

 Brood. 



Last spring I bought y 3-framc nuclei and 

 started in to learn bee-keeping. They de- 

 veloped rapidly, but got foul brood. It was 

 late in the season and I burned everything but 



