June. lyii. 



American He^ Journal 



place this hive on the market at a rea- 

 sonable price, or one that would justify 

 a purchase based upon the promised 

 results. This has necessitated special 

 machinery in its manufacture, and has 

 involved large expense, and conse- 

 quently considerable delay, as the hive 

 has been mentioned many times in the 

 bee-papers during the past 10 or 15 

 years. It is hoped that Mr. .\spinwall 

 has now so perfected his hive that it 

 will do all he claims for it. even in the 

 hands of the less expert bee-keepers. 



Mr. Aspinwall is a bee-keeper of 

 something like a half century's experi- 

 ence, and has been prominently before 

 the bee-keeping public for a long time. 

 Some years ago he w'as president of 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 and last year was the president of the 

 Michigan State Association. His in- 

 ventions in other lines have brought 

 him a world-wide reputation, and now, 

 if his non-swarming hive is proven an 

 unquestioned and invariable success, 

 he will have added another large laurel 

 to his already very honorable accumu- 

 lation. We certainly wish him and his 

 hive all the success that he and his long 

 years of untiring efforts so well deserve. 



Spreading Hives in Center of Apiary. 



— J. F. Munday has had the experience 

 that on /cfi'/ ground with hives in par- 

 allel rows, the bees in the central rows 

 do not store so much, and do not win- 

 ter as well, as those in the outside 

 rows. He says in the Australasian Bee- 

 Keeper: 



I used to have about the same number of 

 hives in each row. I had 6 rows and about 

 15 hives in each row. the hives being placed 

 8 feet apart, and the rows lo feet apart. For 

 the last 2 years I have had mv hives in the 

 outside rows placed much closer together, 

 being only 3 feet apart, and the hives in the 

 central rows placed further apart, about 13 

 feet. The apiary contains about the same 

 number of hives, but they prosper consider- 

 ably better, yield more honey, and the colo- 

 nies in the central rows maintain their 

 strength and stability better. 



Tobacco Honey in Connecticut " Con- 

 necticut, strictly speaking, is not a 

 honey-producing State," says E. H. 

 Shattijck in Gleanings, "not over 50 

 colonies being profitable in one loca- 

 tion, and 20 to 25 being much more 

 productive. The farmersdepend mostly 

 upon tobacco, and thousands of acres 

 are raised in Hartford county within 

 reach of an apiary." The plants are 

 topped when about 4 feet high, so that 

 no blossoms are allowed, making to- 

 bacco of no value to the bees ; but a 

 great change in the method of culture 

 is now taking place, the plants being 

 stripped of the leaves and the blossoms 

 being allowed to grow, and they con- 

 tinue from Aug. 1st till frost. As the 

 honey is of good quality this ought to 

 make a material difference to Connecti- 

 cut bee-keepers. 



Are Our Bees Losing Vitality ?— Un- 

 der this heading, I. Hopkins, a high 

 authority, says in part in the Australa- 

 sian Bee-Keeper : 



I can quite understand that there maybe 

 other factors than the grafting svstem of 

 queen-rearing, as Mr. Beuhne suggests, to 

 account for what, at least.seems well found- 

 ed, that our bees are losing much of the 

 vigor and virility they formerly possessed; 

 but f firmly believe it is the chief [actor in 



the problem. I have no doubt that it is pos- 

 sible for the most careful breeders, who 

 take the greatest care in their work, to rear 

 a fair number of good queens by the process, 

 but in my opinion it lends itself so well to 

 the careless or slovenly man whose aim is 

 number, without heed of quality, that it is a 

 positive danger to the industry. 



The forcing process, by which I mean 

 queen-rearing at all times during the season 

 is. I believe, another evil. I have no hesita- 

 tion in saying, after paying very close atten- 

 tion to the matter, that thevery best queens 

 are those reared in the spring at the first of 

 the swarming season. The queens, drones, 

 and workers are then in full vigor and at 

 their best, and it corresponds with the 

 period when for long ages bees in a slate of 

 Nature have reared queens to form new col- 

 onies. Mr. Beuhne has very properly drawn 

 attention to this forcing. 



Bee-Diseases in the U.S. — This is Cir- 

 cular No. 138, the full title being "The 

 Occurrence of Bee-Diseases in the 

 United States " (Preliminary Report). 

 It gives the data concerning diseases 

 which was in the hands of the Govern- 

 ment previous to March 1st of this year. 

 It shows in each State just what coun- 

 ties have foul brood, both the Ameri- 

 can and the European brand of the dis- 

 ease. For instance, Illinois has .^2 

 counties having .\merican foul brood, 

 and 12 more counties where it is sus- 

 pected ; also 29 counties where Euro- 

 pean foul brood e.xists, and 7 more 

 where it is suspected. About 1800 sam- 

 ples of diseased brood have been ex- 

 amined by the Bureau of Entomology. 

 A great work has been done by the 

 Government, and the appropriation to 

 push the work has recently been in- 

 creased. 



Address the Secretary of .-Vgriculture, 

 Washington, D. C.^ for a free copy of 

 Circular No. 138. 



A Too Regular Apiary Referring to 



the picture of an apiary in which all 

 the hives seem to be placed at regular 

 distances apart, with no trees or other 

 objects in the way, J. E. Crane says in 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture: 



That picture of a California apiary looks 

 good on paper. We have one symmetrically 

 arranged in a similar way: but what a vexa- 

 tion it has been to me the past season it 

 would be hard to tell, f made a large num- 

 ber of new swarms with laying queens; but t 

 found it very difficult to get these young 

 queens fertilized; and when f came to look 

 over the yard for winter f found 10 or 12 

 queenless colonies, while my other yards 

 would not average over 2 to the same num- 

 ber of colonies. 



Poisoning Ants. — Bulletin No. 207, 

 from Berkeley, Cal, contains detailed 

 instruction for dealing with the Argen- 

 tine ant. The best remedy proved to 

 be 1 to 2parts of arsenic in 800 parts of 

 syrup. As the remedy is equally effec- 

 tive against other kinds of ants, it is 

 here given in detail : 



We obtained by far the best results by the 

 use of a very weak solution of arsenic and 

 syrup. Most of the commercial ant poisons 

 commonly known as ant pastes consist of 

 arsenic and syrup, but are made very strong 

 in arsenic. This kills the foraging ants al- 

 most immediately. We found by reducing 

 the arsenic to between U and /s of one per- 

 cent they would take large quantities of the 

 material to their nests and feed it to the 

 young, and the whole nest would be killed 

 by a slow poisoning. 



The most convenient way of exposing the 

 poison to the ants is to use a large jar with a 

 perforated cover, and within it place a 

 sponge saturated with the arsenic solution. 

 The ants will enter through the perforations 

 in the cover, fill themselves with the arsenic 

 solution, and carry it to their nests. The 



sponge will hold enough poison to reuqire 

 2 or 3 weeks to empty it, and before that 

 time the ants will almost entirely disappear. 



The number of jars to use will depend 

 upon the abundance of ants. In the worst 

 cases half a dozen jars will serve for an or- 

 dinary private house and lot; and if the ants 

 are not very bad one jar may be enough. In 

 sucfi cases it is well to place it in the pantry 

 or kitchen. 



The same remedy can be used for all the 

 native species of ants, and will be more ef- 

 fective against them. 



Mr. Anderson (J. L.) 75 Years Young. 



— The weekly paper of Harvard, 111., 

 says : 



"J, L, Anderson, of Lawrence, spent his 

 7;th birthday. April 12— the 50th anniversary 

 of the firing on Fort Sumter— in carrying out 

 of the cellar 42 of his 100 colonies of bees." 



Long may he wave 



" Advanced Bee-Culture." — A new edi- 

 tion of this book, by W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 is just off the press. We have a copy 

 of it in our hands, and can say that it 

 is indeed a "thing of beauty." It is 

 not only this, but it is one of the most 

 practical and up-to-date books for the 

 specialist bee-keeper ever written. Its 

 200 pages touch on nearly 500 subjects 

 pertinent to modern bee-keeping, and 

 all are discussed authoritatively. Its 

 many fine illustrations are unusually 

 clear in every detail. The book is bound 

 in attractive and substantial cloth, with 

 a clover design in natural colors on its 

 cover. All together it is a volume 

 whose appearance and unquestionable 

 worth justly entitles it to a place in the 

 library of every bee-keeper. No more 

 important work on this fascinating 

 subject has appeared. It is mailed for 

 only $1,00, or with the American Bee 

 Journal one year — both for $1.8u. AH 

 orders should be sent to the office of 

 the American Bee Journal, 117 N. Jef- 

 ferson St., Chicago, 111. 



Pearce Method of Bee-Iveeping 



This is an illustrated pamphlet SxSM 

 inches, " explaining the keeping of bees 

 successfully in upper rooms, house at- 

 tics or lofts, whereby any one either in 

 city or country is enabled with only 

 a small expenditure of labor to get a 

 good supply of honey without coming 

 in contact with the bees, and without 

 having the bees swarm out and leave, 

 or being troubled from stings, as you 

 work on one side of the wall and the 

 bees on the other. This method also 

 tells the commercial bee-keeper how 

 he can divide his bees when he wishes 

 to, instead of waiting and watching for 

 them to swarm. It can all be done on 

 the same day, or days if more than one 

 apiary, as the time required for this 

 operation is merely nominal, no swarms 

 issue and go away. These methods are 

 fully explained in this book, and how 

 to care for the bees on the Pearce 

 plan." 



We mail this pamphlet for 50 cents, 

 or club if with the American Bee Jour- 

 nal one year — both for $1.10. Send all 

 orders to the American Bee Journal, 

 146 W. Superior St., Chicago, 111. 



Worth Many Times Its Price. 



To one who takes an interest in honey* 

 bees, the American Bee Journal is worth its 

 price many times over. 



Tacoma, Wash. P. A. Nori<am. 



