October. 190S 



American ISae Journal 



Jill- \Vitl<-()|>'ii Hivi- Daiiseious. 



Wlicii visiting a bce-keopcr recently 

 1 was astonished to find that many of 

 liis colonies were iu hives that were al- 

 most as open to the weather as a saw- 

 mill. When I remarked that such wide- 

 open hives seemed to be a standing in- 

 vitation for robber-bees to "just walk 

 in and help yourselves," 1 was told that 

 the robbers 'did not seem to discover 

 the big openings. I suppose one reason 

 such exhibitions of the contents of the 

 interior of the hives did not cause seri- 

 ous trouble was owing to the fact that 

 all the colonies in the apiary were well 

 separated from each other. I know 

 that where hives are near together it 

 is almost impossible to open one hive 

 without having the bees from adjoining 

 hives make an onslaught on the one 

 undergoing manipulation. I believe 

 that an "open apiary" is as demoralizing 

 as an "open town." I would set it 

 down as a motto for bee-keepers that 

 the secrets of the inside of each colony 

 should be screened from the view of the 

 outside world as much as the secrets 

 of one's household. 



Loss of Heat in Hives. 



Speaking of unduly venlilate<l colon- 

 ies reminds me that the robbing thc\ 

 might provoke is not their only had 

 feature. In winter it is well to conserve 

 all the animal heat of the colony, es- 

 pecially in a cold climate. The bees 

 will build up faster and store more 

 comb honey. In climates like that found 

 in a large portion of California it may 

 not make so much difference whether 

 the bees are in a close, snug hive or 

 not, so long as the bees are good fight- 

 ers and are well protected from the 

 rain. Rain, moths, robbers and foul 

 brood arc the bane of the bee-man. 



The Height of Hive-Stands. 



Some authorities advocate low stands 

 for the hives, while some recommend 

 tall ones. With a couple of exceptions, 

 all my colonies are near the ground — 

 some 4 inches above terra firma. In 

 our climate I find this sufficiently high 

 for hive-stands. I know a bee-keeper 

 who has nearly all his colonies rest- 

 ing on the earth. No alighting 

 boards are required. Fie claims that he 

 has found no serious results follow 

 from having his bees so placed. Ordin- 

 arily this mignt be so, but it has many 

 ill features. In the first place, the bot- 

 tom-boards will rot sooner; they will 

 lie damp and disagreeable for the liees 

 in winter unless the under side is tar- 

 red: if the ground slopes to the en- 

 trance surplus water during a rain- 

 storm will run into the hive; grass will 

 clog the entrance far worse than if the 

 hive were elevated; insects and .reptiles 

 may crawl into the hive and molest the 

 occupants; skunks have better oppor- 

 tunity to coax the bees from the hive 

 and destroy them ; and lastly, but not 

 wholly, the bee-keeper's poor back has 

 to be subjected to unnecessary stoop- 

 ing when working over the hiye upon 

 the ground. 



So give me the hi\e off the groimd— 

 the higher the better, perhaps. 



, Convention ^ J.; 



ilProcccdinds^i 



Report of the Chieago-Nopthwest- 

 ern Bee-KeepeFs' Convention. 



(Continued from page 273.) 

 Swarming Indications. 



"What are some reasonably certain 

 ordinary indications of swarming?" 



Dr. Miller— None. 



Mr. Taylor — Bees in the air ! 



Dr. Miller — That is no sign. Bees are 

 likely' to be in the air anyway. I don't 

 believe that there is any outside sign up- 

 on which you can depend, as to whether 

 the colony is likely to swarm. 



Mr. Whitney — I was watching one of 

 my colonies a few years ago. I saw an 

 unusual commotion on the part of the 

 bees. Started for a queen-cage. I be- 

 lieved they would swarm in about 20 

 minutes. I had just time to catch the 

 queen. I believe there is an outside ap- 

 pearance. 



Dr. Miller — There is a sign that with- 

 in 24 or 48 hours a swarm will issue. A 

 prime swarm will not give any sign. 

 I?ut an afterswarm will give a sign. You 

 can hear the young queen piping. Then 

 you will know that a swarm is likely to 

 issue within 24 hours. Only one queen 

 will pipe. Three or 4 may quahk, but 

 only one will pipe. The queen that is 

 free will make a shorter noise than the 

 others. 



Mr. Whitney — Another outside evi- 

 dence occurs to me. I had a frame out 

 one time looking it over. There \yas 

 a young queen on it, making that piping 

 noise. She poked her head into a cell 

 and made that noise. I was quite cer- 

 tain that a swarm would issue the next 

 day, and I found it so. 



Dr. Miller — The free queen has a 

 higher pitch than the others that we 

 say are "quahking." Those who are 

 quahking commence with a shorter tone. 

 The first one is a long, high note, and 

 then a little shorter, and a little shorter. 

 They will be answered by the others 

 with a lower pitch and the different 

 tones that they make will be equal in 

 length. That's the way they used to do 

 it. Maybe they don't do it now. 

 Honey Makket in Tu.inois. 



"Will Dr. Eaton give a few words 

 about the present condition of the honey 

 market in Illinois?'' 



Dr. Eaton — I must confess that I am 

 not quite so w-ell posted on the honey 

 market in this city now as I was 2 years 

 ago. However, in my work as an an- 

 alytical chemist, I sometimes inspect the 

 grocery stores of the State, and my ow-n 

 work in that line leads me to take quite 

 an interest in seeing what is on the mar- 

 ket. And naturally I get, now and then, 

 samples of honey for analysis. I always 

 take a great interest in the meetings of 



this Association, and also the meetings 

 of the bee-keepers wherever I may hap 

 pen to be, my first interest having been 

 with the Minnesota State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. And whether I am in offi- 

 cial work or not, I like to drop in at 

 those meetings. I always find something 

 of interest to me as a chemist. I might 

 say that this .Association is largely re- 

 sponsible for the Illinois State Pure 

 Food Law. Had it not been for this 

 .Association and the State Association. 

 I don't believe there would be an Illinois 

 Pure Food Law. Those two associa 

 tions made possible the State Pure Food 

 Law. 



When this .'Kssociation first took hold 

 of the work, before the State had a 

 pure food law. they gathered a number 

 of samples— 40 or 50, I believe— and I 

 did the analytical work. We found 

 about 33 1-3 percent of those samples 

 adulterated. They were all sold for pure 

 honey. That same proportion of adul 

 teration kept up for 2 years after that. 

 The law was not very vigorously en- 

 forced at first. The penalty was net en- 

 forced at once. Therefore, the adulter- 

 ation did not decrease immediately. But 

 the last few years the adulteration began 

 to grow less. Only one sample of adul 

 terated honey was found the last year 

 of my connection with the Pure Food 

 Commission. We practically drove adul- 

 terated honey off the market. Now there 

 is quite a good deal of mixtures of 

 honey on the market. It is, however, 

 generally labeled in conformity with the 

 National requirements, stating the per- 

 cents of the mixtures, whether it be 

 cane sugar or glucose. But that forni 

 of adulteration has probably grown in 

 the last few years; that is, the labeled 

 mixtures, not the adulteration, It is 

 probably due to the higher price of 

 honey and foods in general. We find 

 quite a good deal of mixed honey on the 

 grocery shelves. They can not be any 

 very great detriinent to the buyer who 

 will buy pure honey in preference to 

 mixtures if he knows what he is buying. 



I suppose you all noticed the reports 

 of the convention in France, where they 

 spoke of a mixture of invert sugar with 

 honey, and said that tlfat article would 

 enjoy a wide sale, and claimed that ii 

 is already being produced in the old 

 country. " That is, of course, an ideal 

 form of adulteration. It is a form of 

 adulteration that is going to be hard in 

 ilced for the chemist to detect. Honc\ 

 is largely invert sugar, and if the adul 

 teration is made of invert sugar, and 

 flavored with honey, it will be very hard 

 to detect. This applies to extracted 

 honey. I know of no way to adulterate 

 comb honey. I don't know that people 

 have attempted to adulterate comb honey, 

 but I would not like to say so off-hand 



