August, igii. 



247 



American Hee Journal 



)'^=^m^ i 



■wrote me recently that he got 14 Banat 

 Queens "which were dumped into my hives 

 to fight it out," and he sugeested that he had 

 a fondness for "the survival of the fittest." 

 I wrote him that I expected to hear that 

 «very one of his Banats were dead, but in 

 the letter before me he modifies his process, 

 explaining that he put a 2-inch super rim 

 on his hives, put a Banat Queen in that in 

 the cage, and finding that at the end of the 

 week the queen was not out. released her. 

 He claims not to have lost a queen. Why ? 



I think the reason is patent and iosical. 

 The weather had turned cold, and the bees 

 were dormant, so in the week the queen 

 was confined she had acquired the hive- 

 odor, and as she was young and not laying, 

 she overcame the older and heavier igravid' 

 <jueen. 



If this ever sees the light of a reading 

 page. I shall experiment as follows: I shall 

 wet the colony to receive the new queen 

 ■Kith peppermint water, as I shall the queen 

 to be introduced, then I shall put a bottle 

 holding about one dram into the hive, and 

 have the bottle partly filled with crystals of 

 menthol. A cork with a liberal groove cut 

 into it will allow the odor of peppermint to 

 penetrate the air in the hive. I shall run 

 the queen into the hive, watching to see 

 how she is received, and keep a record as to 

 final results. 



As there is but one certain way to intro- 

 puce a valuable queen. I hope I have found 

 a second, but actually have not time to ex- 

 periment. 



Just a few days without rain has sent our 

 chances for a crop of honey to the " demni- 

 tion bow-wows." There was no rain last 

 fall, and but little snow during the winter, 

 ajid while we had nice rains in the spring. 

 there was no subterranean supply, and 

 •when the hot spell came on with hot. dry 

 winds from the southwest, south, and south- 

 east, they carried off the moisture as fast as 

 it fell. 



There is an abundance of clover bloom, 

 but it is yielding nothing, and the bees are 

 gathering from sweet clover and flowers. I 

 was looking for 200 pounds to the colony 2 

 weeks ago. but now I shall be satisfied with 

 25 pounds. These conditions prevail all 

 over this Crawford) county, so far as I have 

 heard. Dr. A. F. Bonney. 



Buck Grove. Iowa, June 13. 



Moving Bees Short Distances 



My attention has been attracted to an 

 article in Gleanings in Bee Culture for June 

 15 (page 352,1. with the above heading, in 

 which it is recommended that in moving a 

 colony of bees they be approached in a rougli 

 manner, smoked vigorously, and the hive 

 pounded on. then smoked some more, and 

 finally thrown on a wheelbarrow and moved 

 to their destination in as rough a manner as 

 possible, setting them down with a thump 

 and a jar. and then imprisoning them; and 

 it is recommended to try out the plan and 

 report. 



Now. as 1 have been so successful in fol- 

 lowing the opposite plan. I do not propose 

 to try the new method, as the one I have 

 adopted works well, and is more in line with 

 that kindness due from us to our bees and 

 to every living thing we come in contact 

 with. Furthermore. I am fully convinced 

 that bees can be cducaUd, and will appreciate 

 kind treatment, and will respond to it as 

 readily as any other living thing that we 

 meet. 



! do not claim originality in my new plan 

 of moving bees, as the discovery was made 

 at my North yard in Oklahoma, in the spring 

 of iDoo. in the following manner ; 



A gentleman living on the opposite side of 

 the city, some « blocks from my apiary, 

 wanted to buy 2 colonies of bees. It was 

 then about the close of fruit-bloom, and the 

 alfalfa beginning to bloom. After picking 

 out his colonies. I advised him to let them 

 remain until fall, as many of the bees would 

 return, moving them such a short distance, 

 and he was welcome to come and look after 

 them and get what honey they stored. He 

 would not do this, but said he bought them 

 purposely to u-t them work, and would put 

 them in his door-yard, and would not keep 

 them closed in for a day or two, as I had 

 recommended, but would give them their 

 liberty the next morning, and treat them so 

 much better than I had done that they 

 would not care to leave himl 



Late that evening he came and got his 

 bees, hauling them on a hand cart on a 

 smooth pavement, and handled them with 

 the greatest of care. I told him that I would 

 place empty hives with some comb on the 

 stands of the hives he had moved, to see 

 how many of his bees I would trap the next 

 day: and to my surprise, not a bee returned. 



Toward evening I strolled over to see how 

 he had treated his bees. I found him look- 

 ing into one of the supers he had placed on 

 the hives, with intense interest I asked 

 him what he was doing to the bees. He re- 

 plied that he was talking to them, and ask- 

 ing them how they liked their new home, as 

 compared with the old one that I had fur- 

 nished ;them. A little examination con- 

 vinced me that he had kept every working 

 bee engaged, carrying sugar syrup from the 

 super to the hive below, and by keeping up 

 this feeding they had entirely forgotten their 

 old location. Since then I have tested this 

 plan and find it to be a success in moving 

 bees any distance, at any season of the year, 

 from 60 feet to 600 miles, as my South yard 

 on the Gulf Coast is just that distance due 

 south of my Oklahoma yard; and while I 

 have found this distance a little inconven- 

 ient and expensive, yet it is not without its 

 advantages in the learning of many things 

 about the shipping of bees. 



I will again insist that the kind treatment 

 of bees in moving short distances works 

 well, any place. South or North. 



Last February, when the hives were full 

 of brood and bees. I had occasion to move 57 

 colonies from one side of the city of V'ic- 

 toria to the opposite side— a distance of less 

 than half a mile, and no bees returned. 

 About 200 pounds of sugar were consumed in 

 teaching them to like their new location 

 better than the old one; but as it was the 

 stimulant they needed at that time, it was 

 no loss, but a real gain. 



Victoria. Tex. Geo. H. Coulson. 



Weather Too Hot and Dry 



It has been too hot and dry. We have had 

 no swarming, but the bees are storing some 

 honey from the sweet clover, which is more 

 than usually abundant here this summer. It 

 is surely discouraging, but with the "old re- 

 liable " American Bee Journal, and the good 

 woman such as Mrs. Dodd is) to take care 

 of the bees and honey, perhaps some time 

 our yard may have " more bees." and we 

 can send in a better report. 



Clarence Dodd. 



Popejoy, Iowa. July 18. 



Heat Insulation 



In the course of our business we have pro- 

 vided ourselves with a book entitled. "I'he 

 Transmission of Heat Through Cold Stor- 

 age Insulation. ' by Paulding New York. 1). 

 Van Nostrand Co.! This book should be in 

 the hands of every bee-keeper, as it fur- 

 nishes formulae by means of which the con- 

 ductivity of any combination of substances 

 can be calculated. 



Powdered charcoal, chopped straw, and 

 mill shavings, each conduct from .56 to .i>s 

 thermal units tier hour per square foot one 

 inch thick for each degree of difference of 

 temperature. The mill shavings are very 

 commonly used to protect bees. Possibly 

 they are often used by people who could 

 easily get a better heat insulator. 



Thus, sawdust, granulated cork, and small 

 sifted natural coal, conduct only .«8 to .55 

 units, and are quite easily accessible; and 

 large grocers or foreign fruit dealers being 

 quite willing to furnish the cork free. 



Magnesia, and mineral wool containing 18 

 percent or more of magnesia, conduct only 

 from .38 and .45 units, only about two-thirds 

 as much being necessary as of shavings; but 

 the common mineral wool containing barely 

 3 percent magnesia, is utterly unreliable. 



However, the very best non-conductors 

 are paper, leather, hair, felt, fur. feathers. 

 old cloth, and raw cotton, silk and wool. 

 These substances conduct from .27 to .35 

 units, only one-half as much in thickness be- 

 ing required as of the shavings. Here we 

 have a list of material that are quite com- 

 mon with all. They are just as valuable for 

 other purposes after being used in bee- 

 cushions tor years. Slumgum being a mix- 

 ture of silk and larval skins, is an excellent 

 non-conductor. Loose packing insulates 

 just as well as hard packed material since 

 air. if fastened quite securely in one place, 

 is almost the best insulator of all. If air is 

 allowed to move about it will carry out the 

 heat by its own motion. Hence we see why 

 porous materials are so much in vogue. 



All refrigeration engineers agree that 

 moisture in the insulating material is most 

 inimical to success. This is a good argu- 

 ment for Dr. Bonney's " artificial propolis" 

 (American Bee Journal March, mi. page 82). 

 and absoliilelv sealed covers. The conduc- 

 tivity of water is 4.41. 



If "absorbents" are to be used, one would 

 probably better not make radical changes 



on many hives in one year, owing to the fac 

 that we do not now know the exact absorb" 

 ing power of all the substances mentioned- 

 We have, however, used rags as an "absorb" 

 ent " with success. 



Now coming to the outside of the hive we 

 wish a non-radiating one, which will also act 

 as a non-absorbing surface in summer. The 

 value of zinc on a galvanized material for 

 this purpose is very great. Such a surface 

 radiates .040 units only per hour, per square 

 foot, per one degree of difference of temper- 

 ature, while oil paint radiates .750. paper 

 .772. wood .737. lead or leaded iron .133. water 

 1.087. and oil 1.482. A glance at this last item 

 shows the folly of covering a hive with 

 greased paper. 



We recommend to bee-keepers a study of 

 the general subject of heat insulation. 



Battle Creek. Mich. Milk-Men. 



A Wandering Bee-Man 



I am looking for a new home, and have 

 looked over quite a scope of country. I 

 started from northern Montana last Decem- 

 ber. It got 46 degrees below zero. Is it ail 

 snow up there ? Yes. a foot or two. I told 

 my neighbors if they ever see my tracks in 

 snow after Jan. i. iqii. my heels would point 

 towards Canada. 



Yes. I am looking for a bee-ranch, but will 

 have to buy land, then have them shipped. I 

 am afraid. A queen sent to Simms, Mont., 

 whicli I ordered, did fine. I had a time in- 

 troducing her. i'he colony was queenless 6 

 months— from fall to May. There were more 

 drones than workers, and laying workers 

 had set up shop to stay. I strained out the 

 drones, put a new hive on the old stand, 

 then after leaving the new queen in the hive 

 24 hours, put the caged queen in with what 

 few old workers came back to this new 

 hive. Almost all the laying workers stayed 

 in the old hive. It was pitiful to see those 

 few old workers (only 200 or so) that had 

 lived over the winter (and 45 degrees below 

 zero up to June. I think before we got the 

 queen their wings were all frayed out. faded 

 and discouraged, they seemed to know their 

 days were ended; still they worked. The 

 boy did not know what ailed them. He killed 

 the queen in the fall; I think "robbing 

 them. ' as he called it. That colony of bees 

 is the first to be taken to Cascade Co.. Mont. 

 That would be an ideal spot to rear fine 

 queens, as there are no wild bees, and never 

 will be, as there are no hollow trees. Alfalfa 

 and sweet clover do fine. I secured seed of 

 vellow-blossom sweet clover, also yellow- 

 blossom alfalfa. I will sow this seed in my 

 new location. 



If I ever stop long enough to call for my 

 mail. I will send for the American Bee Jour- 

 nal again. 



I have found honey on only one table in 

 the hundreds of towns I stopped in. This 

 was in Van Buren, Ark. I said, "Hello, 

 somebody has found a bee-tree, sure 

 enough." "No." the hotel man said, "that's 

 my own honey. I ' robbed ' a hive the other 

 day." I knew that it was wild bees' or 

 bl.ack bees' honey. No. not by the taste, by 

 the looks. I will say. How could 1 tell ? It's 

 easy. I found a dead worker on the big plat- 

 ter on the table. It was no more an Italian 

 than I am a bee-man ! But. say. I don't fancy 

 spoiling a good thing in this way! 



L. W. Benson. 



Johnson Co.. Ark.. May 28. 



The Next Missouri Convention 



The secretary of our State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association is endeavoring to make great 

 preparations for a rousing meeting next fall; 

 the time is not set yet. but it may be some 

 time about the last of September. There is 

 to be a fair held at Kansas City, and the 

 managers have made liberal offers to the 

 Association in giving them free space to 

 make a display and to advertise the meet- 

 ing, and other favors. The beekeepers of 

 Clay county have taken up the work, and are 

 aiming to make great preparations tor the 

 meeting, and our secretary is at work on the 

 program. We are endeavoring to have the 

 meeting interesting enough to draw a good 

 crowd of bee-keepers from different parts, 

 not only of our own State, but from other 

 .States, especially from Kansas. Due an- 

 nouncement will be made, and we hope that 

 many of the bee-keepers of many places will 

 prepare to attend our meeting, as there are 

 to oe. besides our meeting, great induce- 

 ments to draw people to Kansas City at that 

 time, and we wish to make our meeting a 

 great success. 



We are to have discussions of innportance 

 to bee-keepers in eeneral, and to the bee- 



