May, 190S. 



American Hee Journal 



commotion than the bees make amid the 

 blossoms of a large cherry tree. 



In company with a few friends I took 

 a WMlk into the Contra Costa mountains 

 near here lately, and I noted acres and 

 acres of California dewberries in bloom. 

 I never imagined these plants looked 

 so pretty when in blossom. And how 

 the bees sported amid the flowers ! They 

 made more merry over the feast they 

 were enjoying than a lot of children at 

 play on a summer's day. I noticed that 

 plant-growth on the east and north sides 

 of the hills and mountains was putting 

 forth a mass of nectar-secreting flow- 

 ers. Now let warm nights come in 

 May and June and the honey-combs will 

 bulge lusciously white with honey fit for 

 the most delicate palate. But withal na- 

 ture now seems to have provided a rich 

 floral garment, the days yet to come may 

 take the color and "starch" out of it, so 

 that it will be neither a thing of beauty 

 nor a joy to the bee-man's heart. 



Agave Americana It Is. 



In the February number I stated that a 

 question was raised as to the correctness 

 of the botanical name of .our Century 

 Plant. The "jury" I mentioned that had 

 the name of the plant under considera- 

 tion reports that the name as we have 

 so long known it by is the correct one — 

 so Agave Americana it is, and so it will 

 remain. 



Foul Brood Xot Here. 



A young gentleman who had kept bees 

 in New York State, came to see me re- 

 cently and said he would "•o into the bee- 

 business in the northern portion of the 

 State if he were sure his apiary would 

 not be ruined by foul brood. He was 

 astonished to learn that this dread dis- 

 ease is unknown in this part of Cali- 

 fornia : at least, it has never secured a 

 foothold here. It never got into my 

 apiary, and during the long period I 

 have had to do with bees I never saw a 

 case of the malady — and I hope I never 

 shall. ___ 



A "Slumguniining" Invention. 



Flashed under the Pacific from our 

 far-away Honolulu the startling and im- 

 portant news comes to us at the close of 

 March that a couple of bee-keepers (the 

 cablegram didn't state whether or no 

 they were Kanakas) have invented a 

 process to obtain wa.x from slum-gum. 

 What the process is the newsman sayeth 

 not. And the average newspaper reader 

 I am sure knoweth not what the digni- 

 fied word "slumgum" means : possibly, it 

 may be taken for the garbage raked 

 from the slums by the Salvation Army. 

 But be that as it may, the bee-cultural 

 world awaits with some interest more 

 light on the new way to make slum- 

 gum give up the wax it so persistently 

 retains within its grasp, much to the ex- 

 asperation and loss of the bee-keeper. 



the manufacturing baker it has two 

 things thai commend it to his considera- 

 tion ; it i.^ darker, and, belter, to him; 

 it is din cheap — corresponding, of 

 course, to its turbid color. I was told 

 this honey is purchased at the astonish- 

 ing low priix- of 3 cents a pound. I said 

 "low price," but really that is high for 

 the rank article. 



This is another case, to my way of 

 thinking, where the American producer 

 "gets it in the neck" by our country's 



Cheap Hawaiian Honey. 



Not long since I had occasion to visit 

 one of the large baking establishments in 

 San Francisco, and while there I learned 

 that they use large quantities of honey — 

 a dark sort they get from the Hawaiian 

 Islands. This honey is far worse than 

 the worst produced in California, but to 



mad rush after insular possessions. It 

 lets down the protective barriers when 

 the Trust is benefited. In this case it is 

 the Biscuit Trust, so-called, that secures 

 clieap "foreign" honey when otherwise it 

 would have been obliged to have a bet- 

 ter grade of the home product at a 

 somewhat higher price. But I must not 

 write, I suppose, on such economical 

 subjects— it may not suit the tariff de- 

 fenders and the— well, I have said 

 enough. 



^m 



Jocfor Millers 

 1 %GsfiorhB9X^ 



rif^iyy^ 



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



DR. C. C. MILLER, Marenso, 111. 



Dr Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Improving Bees Under Natural 

 Swarming. 



Replying to E. H. Upson, page 122, while 

 it is very true that one can improve his stock 

 while allowing natural swarming, and while it 

 may for some be the most convenient way, it 

 is certainly better, for one who wishes to 

 avoid swarming, to avoid cells from swarming 

 stock. Because there can be little doubt that 

 swarming is to some extent an inherited trait. 

 It will be noted that on page 55 colonies are 

 not selected because swarmers, but because 

 superior in other respects. Even if the plan 

 given on page 55 be used, a colony not given 

 to swarming is to be preferred. It can be 

 forced into swarming by having brood given to 

 it from other colonies. C. C. MlLlER. 



Best Comb Honey Hive — Dudley 

 Tube — Other Questions. 



1. What is the best kind of hive for comb 

 honey ? 



2. What is a Dudley tube? What is it used 

 for, and how is it used? Where can I get 

 one? 



3. Do you like the Danzenbaker hive for 

 comb honey? 



4. Why do people advise not to feed bees in 

 the spring? 



5. I have no small trees in my apiary, and 

 I don't wish to climb tall trees after swarms, 

 or clip the queen's wing. Will an Alley trap 

 prevent loss of swarms? If so, how? 



New York. 

 Answers. — i. Bee-keepers are not agreed 

 upon that question. For my own use I like 

 the 8-frame dovetailed with Miller frames. 

 Unless, however, one gives very close atten- 

 tion to the business, a lo-frame hive is better. 



2. If I am correct it is a tube which allows 

 bees to pass readily from one hive-story to 

 another, but only in one airection. Its pur- 

 pose, if I am not mistaken, is to confine the 

 queen to the lower story, but to allow the 

 bees from above to join the queen as fast as 

 they emerge fruin their cells, I don't know 

 whether any one sells it. 



3. Not so well as the simpler dovetailed. 



4. Because of the danger that more harm 

 than good can be done by it. Of course, if 

 there is danger of starvation, feeding must 

 be resorted to. But if there is abundance of 

 stores in tne hive, the feeding from day to 

 day may stir up the bees to fly out when it is 

 so cold that tluy will become chilled and lost. 

 In exceptional cases, cases, where there is an 

 interim of good weather w-ith a dearth of for- 

 age, it is a good thing to feed so as to in- 

 duce the queen to continue laying. 



5. 'The trap will catch the queen, and the 

 swarm will return to the hive. Then when 

 you find a queen in a trap, you can take 

 away the frames of brood with a sufficient num- 

 ber of bees to protect the brood, put them in a 

 hive in a new place, releasing the queen in the 

 hive on the ol<l stand, and you will have about 

 the same condition of affairs as if you had 

 allowed the bees to swarm in the usual way. 



Increase Without Swarming. 



How can I double the number of my colonies 

 without letting them swarm, and without buy- 

 ing queens? Missouri. 



Answer. — Just before you think there's dan- 

 ger of swarming, put all the brood in an upper 

 story over an excluder, except one frame with 

 little or no brood that you leave in the lower 

 story with the queen, filling the vacancies in 

 both stories with empty combs or sheets of 

 foundation. Five days later remove the upper 

 story to a new stand, and the bees will uo the 

 rest. The queenless part will rear its own 

 queen, and the flying force will remain with 

 the old queen, ready for good surplus work. 

 This is not the very best way to rear queens, 

 but it fills the conditions of your problem. 



Requeening — Kind of Hive. 



I am not able to do hard work, so I have 

 decided to try the bee-business for a living. 

 I have only 7 colonies to start with, and they 

 are mostly the black bees, yet they did well 

 last season. I wish to get some Italian 

 queens, but my hives are so constructed that 

 I can't get at the queen. It is a plain box- 

 hive with 8 or 10 brood-sections and a super 

 above for 24 to 32 sections for honey. VVhat 

 kind of hive should I get, and how shall 1 

 get rid of tne old queen, etc.? Missouri. 



Answer. — You can do well with almost any 

 hive with movable frames. Perhaps none \vould 

 suit you better than the one most commonly in 

 use, the dovetailed hive, a very plain hive with 

 frames of Langstroth size, irjixgji. \oa can 

 get this hive from any dealer in bee-supplies. 



Early Swarming — Two Queens in 



a Hive — Wiring Light-Brood 



Foundation. 



I. On March 5 my father had a strong col- 

 ony of bees that cast a fair-sized swarm, and 

 I heard of another colony in this locality 

 swarming 3 or 4 days earlier than that. On 

 examining the bees a week after they swarmed 

 I could not find a drone in the yard, and but 

 very little drone-brood, and not much of that 

 capped. Will not the young queen of the 

 parent hive be too old to be mated by the time 

 the drones are flying? 



•. When running 2 queens to the hive, one 

 below and the other above the excluder, which 

 queen are the bees most likely to kill, the 

 upper or the lower one? ... 



! For light brood foundation in extracting 

 frames, would you advise wiring the full sheets 

 or using the splints? Missouri. 



Answers. — i. The question arises whether 

 so early as March 5 the swarms were not liun- 

 ger-swarms or something else abnormal. Ihe 

 fact that you could find no drones nor ad- 

 vanced drone-brood squints in this direction. 

 Yet you are in latitude 39, and I don t know 

 how early you have regular swarming. It 

 these were regular swarms, there is some 



