310 



American 3q^ Journal 



October, i-po8 



each side of the comb. It will be seen that 

 one of thf secrets of quick uncapping is in 

 having exactly the right kind of combs in the 

 riRht kind of frames. Have a sharp Bingham 

 knife long enough to reach clear across the 

 comb; yes, have two of these knives, and, 

 when not in the hand in use, let them stand 

 in a dish of water kept near the boiling point 

 by a lamp stove. Have a sharp point, like 

 the point of a nail driven up through a board 

 upon which to rest the end-bar of the frame. 



"Give me such conditions, and I would like 

 to try a race with any uncapping machine into 

 which the frames have to be placed and re- 

 moved. One sweep of the knife, and the cap- 

 pings from the entire side drop off. A flip 

 of the comb, turning it upon the point of the 

 nail, another sweep of the knife, and the cap- 

 pinps from the other side drop into the dish 

 below." 



Evtn should it turn out tliat Editor 

 Hutchinson would be worsted in an en- 

 counter with an uncapping machine, 

 there would probably always be bee- 

 keepers with very few colonies who 

 could hardly afford a machine, and such 

 will read with interest the way Mr. 

 Hutchinson does it by hand. 



Size of liarvae for Grafting. 



When using larvae to graft into cell- 

 cups, tlie beginner is told that he must 

 select tliose of a certain age. But he 

 is pu;^zled to know just how he can tell 

 this from the appearance of the larvse. 

 Here is something exactly to the point, 

 given in Gleanings : 



"Mr. Pritchard believes that any larva not 

 yet curled up so that the two ends nearly 

 meet is suitable for grafting, and be there- 

 fore selects the largest and finest-appearing 

 larva; that are yet comparatively straight in 

 the bottoms of the cells. Furthermore, when- 

 ever he is looking over the combs in the 

 strong colony containing the breeding queen, 

 and finds a small patch of comb in practically 

 every c?!! of which eggs are just beginning 

 to hatch, he marks this carefully by enclosing 

 the space with large wire staples such as are 

 used to fasten .jottom-boards on hive-bodies, 

 etc. Small sticks will not do, for the bees 

 carr-- them away; but these large wire staples 

 answer the purpose admirably. Two days la- 

 ter, when he is ready to graft, he takes up 

 this comb which he marked, and selects the 

 finest of the larvse between these staples. He 

 is thus practically sure of obtaining what he 

 wants." 



Hlaeks Hiinning Out Italian Bees. 



X'l doubt many a bee-keeper has been 

 przzled In understand how it is that 

 there is a tendency toward black blood, 

 e\'en in localities where Italians are 

 specially favored. Light is given upon 

 this point, as well as upon some other 

 points in the following extract from a 

 conversation with F. R. Bcuhnc, given 

 in Gleanings : 



"How do you succeed, Mr. Keuhne, in get- 

 ting early drones from a select breeder in 

 sufficient numbers so that all young queens 

 in the early spring will mate with these se- 

 lected drones?" 



"The only satisfactory way 1 know of is 

 to introduce those queens, from which we de- 

 sire to rear drones, to strong colonies of black 

 bees during the winter, having supplied such 

 colonies with the necessary drone comb in the 

 right position in the hive. As black bees will 

 breed earlier in the spring than Italians, we 

 obtain our choice drones mucli earlier than 

 would be possible with even stimulative feed- 

 ing.'* 



"\Vc find that our Caucasians will breed a 

 hundred drones to the Italians one. Whether 

 the Caucasians would be the equal of the 

 black bees we could not say; but wl- believe 

 that your suggestion of putting choice Italian 

 breeders into stocks of bees of strains that 

 will rear more drones than Italians, and ear- 

 lier than Italians, is a good one. No.w, Mr. 

 Bcuhnc-, it has been observtil by bee-keepers 

 of both cf)ntinfnts and both hemispheres, that, 

 where Italians largely predominate ihrough se- 

 lection in breeding, if the bees arc left to 

 )t«m8clves, and if there is some b'ack blood 



in the locality, all the bees in that locality 

 will sooner or later degenerate back into hy- 

 brids or blacks. Do you account for this by 

 the tendency in the blacks to rear drones in 

 larger numbers, and earlier?" 



"Yes, I do. In addition, we must bear in 

 mind that blacks are usually allowed their own 

 sweet will in the way of building drone-comb. 

 There is also no check on the age of queens. 

 Under these conditions, and the well-known 

 fact that black bees can rear brood at a lower 

 temperature, it is but natural that the race 

 of bees in a given district should gravitate 

 toward the black race. There is another thing 

 in this connection; and that is, that the black 

 bees (and that would include the drones), be- 

 ing less susceptible to cold, would be out in 

 the air more than the yellow bees." 



Failure with Foundation Splints. 



In Gleanings, E. F. Atwater gives 

 illustrations of combs in which founda- 

 tion-splints have been used, and the bees 

 have gnawed the foundation in two, in 

 one case half way from the bottom-bar 

 to the top-bar. Commenting on this 

 Editor Root says : 



"Figs. 2 and 3 do not give one a favorable 

 impression of wood splints; but we are pre- 

 pared to say in this connection that we saw 

 nothing of this kind at Dr. C. C. Miller's 

 apiary. He showed us comb after comb built 

 from foundation stayed with wood splints, and 

 these combs were as fiat as a board, without 

 any suggestion of wooden stays in the mid- 

 rib; and what is more, they were filled out to 

 and in contact with the bottom-bar. One 

 strong claim made by Dr. Miller for splints 

 is that, by means of them, one can use sheets 

 of foundation reaching clear down to the 

 bottom-bar." 



State Entomologist and Foul Brood, 



At tbe 20th annual meeting of the 

 Association of Economic Entomologists, 

 as reported in the Journal of Economic 

 Entomology, a paper, which brought out 

 considerable discussion, was read by 

 Dr. E. F. Phillips, in the course of 

 which he said : 



"The present weak point in State inspection 

 seems to the writer to be a lack of the proper 

 kind of supervision of the inspection. The in- 

 spectors are usually good, practical bee-keepers, 

 and are experts in tht detection and treat- 

 ment of disease. As a rule, however, they 

 know little of the methods used in other lines 

 of inspection and are equally uninformed on 

 all other phases of entomological work which 

 would be valuable for purposes of comparison. 

 It would seem desirable, therefore, that apiar- 

 ian inspection be under the supervision of the 

 State entomologist; not that the entomologist 

 himself should do the work, for he has enough 

 to do, but that the inspector should be re- 

 sponsible to him. In fact, in most .cases, a 

 practical bee-keeper woul be better able to 

 liandle disease than the entomologist who may 

 not be trained in the practical manipulation 

 of bees, which is an absolute essential to 

 e ffective work. In Texas the btate entomolo- 

 gist is also foul-brood inspector, but has 4 as- 

 sistants who do the actual inspection. 



"I would not have any of the previous state- 

 ments interpreted as reflecting adversely on the 

 present inpcctors; tluir work commands ;he 

 highest respect, with but few exceptions. The 

 official entomologists may feel that such a 

 recommendation tends to impose additional ar- 

 duous duties on men already overworked, but 

 apiculUirc is a branch of economic entomology, 

 and the honey-bee, as a most beneficial insect, 

 demands attention. The only reason for sug- 

 gestiuE this supervision by the State ento- 

 mologist is the belief that an entomologist is 

 better able to direct in this work than any 

 other State official. If tiie -entomologist is also 

 a trained bee-keeper, tlie efficiency of the work 

 would be inestimably increased." 



production of honey. For instance, Mr. Hill 

 says in the April Bee-Keeper: 



'While The liee-Kceper docs not recommend 

 bee-keeping as a money-making specialty, it be- 

 lieves that a vastly greater number of colo- 

 nies than is now kept might be made profit- 

 able.' 



"How is that for a paper that stands second 

 to none in advancing and holding out for the 

 latest and most progressive ideas relating to 

 intensive and extensive apiculture?" 



1 am unable to detect the remarkable part 

 of the paragraph quoted by Mr. Galeley. 

 Though it may apnear obscure or illogical, or 

 inconsistent to others, it appears very clear 

 to its author and he takes occasion here to 

 emphasize it. I believe that the number of 

 colonifs in the United States might be doubled 

 and their culture might be made profitable, if 

 ' thuy were distributed thoroughly and the own- 

 ers' time bestowed upon them only when other 

 more lucrative business did not suffer as a re- 

 sult. In other words, a small apiary well 

 cared for during spare time is nearly always 

 profitable. If Mr. Gatelcy would read more 

 carefully he would note the distinction be- 

 tween bee-keeping as an avocation and bee- 

 keeping as a specialty. The specialists who 

 have succeeded are rare ; and, though I wish 

 he might do so, I venture the prophecy that 

 Mr. Gateley will never own a national bank 

 nor build a trunk line railway from the pro- 

 ceeds of his bees. It is well, in a way, that 

 we have the enthusiast with us. A man should 

 ever be enthusiastic in his calling, but when 

 his enthusiasm is the cause of financial loss 

 to his trusting friends his influence works no 

 good, or, if good, it is offset by the pre- 

 ponderance of evil which it begets. One, or a 

 half-dozen successful seasons with a limited 

 number of bees should not blind us to the 

 fact that the history of bee-culture, rs a 

 specialty, from the viewpoint of a money-maker 

 is not encouraging. 



Mr. Gateley 's inference that the editors 

 whom he criticises are without experience may 

 be a trifle weak. too. His experience may be 

 more extensive than my own or than Brother 

 Koot's. Mr. Root has certainly had the oppor 

 tunities, and I have no doubt they have been 

 improved. As for myself my experience began 

 in childhood and the present color of my haii 

 indicates that that must have been some time 

 ago. It has been my pleasure to be associated 

 with some of the most extensive producers of 

 honey, and to have the management of some 

 of the largest apiaries in the United States, 

 numbering their colonies by thousands, and to 

 note by experience the conditions and possibili- 

 ties on all sides of the United States, from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada 

 to Cuba; during all of which time I have 

 been intensely interested in the upbuilding of 

 apiculture as a pursuit. During that period 

 I have not met a dozen men who have amassed. 

 a competency through the culture of bees 

 alone. Therefore, as a last word, to those who 

 contemplate embarking in bee-keeping .ns a 

 money-making venture, I desire to go on record 

 as advising against it. Yet, as I have never 

 been without bees during the past twenty-five 

 years, I probably shall not be without an apiary 

 while I remain in the flesh: for. as a side-issue, 

 bees are profitable and afford a world of pleas 

 ure to one who. like myself, is very fond of 

 them. — The American Bee-Keeper. 



Specialty vs. Amateur Heo-Koepiiif;. 



Our occasional correspondent, Mr. L. E. 

 Gateley, presents this criticism in the July 

 number of the ./vmerican Bee lournal: 



"The attitude of various apicultural papers 

 on certain questions pt-rtaining to practical bce- 

 ciilture. is at times quite amusing to the man 

 who has for any time been enpaced in the 



More Li^lit on SAvarniing of Bees. 



Under tliis heading, in tlie American 

 Bee-keeper, Allen Latham gives an in 

 teresting account of experiments made 

 by him. He believes that the size of 

 frames has much to do with the en- 

 couragement or discouragement of 

 swarming. Not merely tbe superficial 

 contents of a frame, but the proper 

 length and the proper depth must be 

 had, and a frame may be too large as 

 well as too small to secure best results 

 in trying to keep down swarming. In 

 the course of his experiments, he says ; 



"I next made frames 17 x 13 inside measure. 

 I constructed last season sixteen of these hives. 

 Seven fraims were allowed for the brood 

 chamber, and thirteen for the storage. Assum 

 ing not less than 10 pounds capacity per 

 frame this hive allows a crop of 130 pounds 

 to be stored in the absence of the bee-keeper. 



Into these 16 hives I put colonies of all 

 strains, using several colonies of Carniolan ori 

 gin. I surely thought that the Carniolan 

 would find this hive to suit its swarming de- 

 sire?, psptcially 3b I placed 10 of these hives 



