August 



American Hee Journal 



and 40 colonics of the dark strain. In addition 

 to this wc put in this same yard about an 

 equal number of Italians of various strains. 

 It was our purpose to test both Caucasians and 

 Italians side by side to determine their rela- 

 tive merits as to gentleness, honey-gathering 

 qualities, etc. 



So far we have refrained from offering any 

 opinion until we could test the Caucasians for 

 honey, any more than to state that we found 

 them excessive breeders of drones (see page 

 083) — so much so that a few colonies of 

 Caucasians in a yard with a lot of Italians, 

 if not restrained with drone-traps, would breed 

 out the yellow blood in very short order. 



But how about their other qualities? We 

 have not found them to be any gentler than 

 the average run of Italians; neither have we 

 found them to be any crosser. They will stand 

 some kinds of banging in cool weather that the 

 average Italians will not. They are slightly 

 more nervous, and at times fly up en masse as 

 if they were about to sting, but after all mak- 

 ing little more than a big bluff. Colony by 

 colony, season in and season out, with ordinary 

 care one will receive as many stings from 

 Caucasians as from Italians. But before we 

 go further, we ought to state that we have 

 in the yard two strains of Caucasians. We 

 have never had any of the government strain 

 of Caucasians, and therefore can not speak 

 of those bees. 



But you may ask how our Caucasians are 

 for honey. Early in the season, and during 

 the fore part of the flow, they ran neck and 

 neck with our best Italians: and, what is 

 more, the cappings of their combs were whiter 

 than those made by the yellow bees; but this 

 slight advantage is more than offset by their 

 habit of daubing everything with propolis. 

 Brand-new fram?s they smear all over in three 

 months' time, and make them look as if they 

 were four or five years old. 



Their Sw.\rming Propensity. 



We went down to look them over yester- 

 day, July 7, and we were chagrined to find 

 that something over 95 percent of them had 

 swarmed right when they were doing their 

 very best work, while less than 5 percent of 

 the Italians, under precisely the same man- 

 agement, had swarmed. To say that we were 

 surprised and disgusted is putting it mildly. 

 As we have previously explained, we have 

 been working this yard alone, except a very 

 little help from the boys. We ran the yard for 

 extracted honey in shallow supers. Having 

 calls for some Caucasian queens, pure and mis- 

 mated, we went down to the south yard and 

 proceeded to fill our orders. We then looked 

 over hive after hive of Caucasians with the 

 above result — they swarmed. Fortunately we 

 had drone-traps on all but two ; and the vir- 

 gins coming on made way with the old queens, 

 and, of course, their colonies began to sulk. 

 We did not. as perhaps we should have done, 

 make an examination of the brood-nest ; but 

 we didn't know the Caucasians. 



Year after year we worked hives of Italians 

 on this same tier-up principle, for extracted 

 honey, and we never found it necessary to go 

 into the brood-nest. As we found the combs 

 began to whiten we would add extra supers, 

 putting empties under the partly filled ones 

 UP to about the middle of the flow, after that 

 reversing the order. We expected, of course, 

 the same procedure would work for us with the 

 Caucasians, as it always had worked for us with 

 the Italians, and as it worked this year under 

 precisely the same conditions. Every one of 

 the Caucasians and their crosses, with the ex- 

 ception of two. had swarmed, while we were 

 up town attending to our office work — hives 

 full of cells, some hatched and some not, and 

 the coloni'^s completely demoralized. The. 35 

 colonies of Italians, in the same yard, with 

 two single exceptions, went on taking in honey, 

 and with those exceptions there was not a 

 single colony that had a single cell in it or 

 showed any indication of swarming. 



You may say you ought to have known 

 better, and that wc ought not to have de- 

 pended on surf.ice indications at the entrance, 

 at the tops, and under the sides of the combs. 

 with any strains of bees. We admit that, had 

 we gone through the brood-nests of the Cau- 

 casian colonies, cutting out the cells and the 

 drone-brood (and there were quantities of the 

 latter), we might have checked the swarming 

 to some extent. The fact remains, however, 

 that we didn't have to do this with the Ital- 

 ians. No. they not only did not prepare to 

 swarm but kept piling in the honey. 



If this showinc is a fair sample of Cau- 

 casians, and their swarming propensities can 

 not readily be controlled in the production of 

 extracted honey, what shaJ! we say when we 

 run them for the production of comb* If this 

 yard had been exclusively Caucasian and its 

 crosses, we might have laid the excessive 



swarming to the locality and season; but when 

 it is understood that tjic 35 other colonies of 

 Italians (except as mentioned) in the same 

 locality, in the same yard, and under precisely 

 the same management, did not stvarm. nor 

 show anv indications of it. then we must per- 

 force conclude that the difference was in the 

 race. 



But this is not all. The Caucasians arc the 

 worst bees we ever saw to plug in brace- 

 combs. By this we mean spurs of wax be- 

 tween the combs and between the top-bars and 

 not on top of them. There is occasionally 

 a colony of Lilians that will do this between 

 the wide thick top-bars; but in our locality 

 they are the exception, not the rule. 



But even this is not all. The Caucasians 

 stuck in brace-combs down between the frames 

 in the very heart of the colony — so much so 

 that it was very diflicult to remove the frames. 

 We will have some photos that will speak for 

 themselves. While, of course, these brace- 

 combs could be removed w^ith the uncapping- 

 Knife, the act of drawing the combs out of the 

 hive is very greatly impeded, to say nothing 

 of the broken comb surfaces, and danger of 

 killing queens and bees in the general stir-up. 



"The Romance of the Reaper." 



We have received a copy of a 184- 

 page, cloth-bound book, entitled, "The 

 Romance of the Reaper/* by Herbert N. 

 Casson, author of "The Romance of 

 Steel," "The Great Races of America" 



etc. This book gives the first inside his- 

 tory of the growth of one of the great- 

 est American businesses which is spread 

 all over the world. It is a wonderful 

 story which reads like a tale of Arabian 

 Nights. It has 26 illustrations taken 

 from photographs. The book is mailed 

 for $1.00. It is published by Doubleday, 

 Page & Co., of New York City. The 

 book is really a history of the develop- 

 ment of agriculture during the last 80 

 years, and vividly portrays the results 

 which have been accomplished by labor- 

 saving agricultural machinery. It also 

 shows how a great industry has grown 

 up in the United States, and how by 

 concentrating plants and resources and 

 manufacturing on a large scale, the 

 Americans are able to make the best 

 reaping machines at a low cost and sell 

 them in every country of the Globe. 

 It is intensely interesting, and^ as re- 

 liable as it is possible to make it. The 

 author spent 6 months in gathering the 

 information necessary to write this story 

 of the invention and development of the 

 reaper, which has resulted in making 

 America practically the granary of the 

 world. 



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DocforMillcrii 



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



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



Dr. Miller does not answer Questions bv mail. 



Fastening Comb Foundation. 



I would like to know why. when fastening 

 comb-foundation it dropped off. Should the 

 honey be boiled? Michigan. 



Answer. — There is no reason why founda- 

 tion should drop down, either in brood-frames 

 or in sections, except its being insufficiently 

 fastened. You ask if the honey should be 

 boiled, as if you used honey in some way in 

 fastening in the foundation. Perhaps that is 

 your trouble. Neither honey nor anything else 

 should be used in fastening foundation. 



Japanese Clover — Arkansas as Bee- 

 State. 



1. Is Japanese clover a good honey plant? 

 Will bees work it? 



2. How is the State of Arkansas as a bee- 

 country? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — i. I think it has a good repu- 

 tation, but I have had no personal experience 

 with it. 



2. It does not stand out very prominently 

 as a bee-State, but some good work is done 

 there. 



Strong Bees Overpower Weaker 

 Ones. 



The strong bees of one of my colonies have 

 been dragging out the younger weaker ones, 

 seizing them bodily and alive and flying away 

 with them. The young bees seem to make 

 resistance, but to no avail. 



Why do they do it ? How can it be remedied ? 

 Nebr-^ska. 



Answer. — Probably wax-worms have worked 

 their galleries along the surface of brood- 

 combs, injuring the maturing brood, so that 

 when the young bees emerge from their cells 

 tliey are dragged out by their older sisters. 

 You can help somewhat by digging out the 

 worms. Take a wire-nail, dig into the bur- 

 row at one end. then start in at the other 



end, digging out the silken gallery until the 

 worm comes out, when you can take vengeance 

 on him. , 



The better way is to have strong colonies 

 of Italian bees, and they will keep Mr. 

 Worm at bay. Even black bees will take care 

 of their combs if strong. 



Feeding Bees. 



I have -'O 'colonies of bees. They haven't 

 done verv well this summer and I want to 

 feed them. What kind of sugar is best? and 

 what proportion of water shall I use? What is 

 the best way to feed? My neighbors have 

 bees, and how can I teed so as not to feed 

 their bees? Arkansas. 



Answer. — Use granulated sugar, and feed 

 any time from now till September, equal parts 

 of sugar and water, either by weight or liquid 

 measure. Use the Miller feeder or some other 

 good feeder that will allow you to feed each 

 colony without .allowing other bees to get at 

 the feed. Or, you can use the crock-and-plate 

 plan. Take a stone crock— a gallon crock is a 

 convenient size— fill- it half full of sugar, put 

 in about the same quantity of water, lay over 

 the crock a thickness of some kind of rather 

 thick cloth or 4 or 5 thicknesses of cheese- 

 cloth, and over this lay a plate upside down. 

 Now with one hand under, and the other 

 over, quickly turn the whole thing upside 

 down. Set it on top of the frames, set a 

 hivi- bndv over, and cover up. The bees will 

 do the rest. 



Bee-Smoke Fuel — Transferring Bees. 



I. So far as using a bee-smoker is con- 

 cerned, I am a novice in the business, and 

 with poor success so far. I have tried news- 

 paper, excelsior, and cobs broken up, but by 

 the time I have the cover off and begin to 

 raise the inside cover over the hive, or sec- 

 tions, the fire is out. What is best to use 

 to make smoke? and how should I use the 



