268 



September, lyii. 



American Bee Journal j 



that carbolic acid would be even more 

 distasteful to the bees tlian coal-oil. 



Relative to what a correspondent 

 says in this Journal as to the effect of 

 carbon bisulphide on the eggs of the 

 wax-moth, the editor asks (page 233) 

 whether it is a fact that the stuff will 

 kill the esgs. No, sir, there is nothing 

 in the claim, for carbon bisulphide zcill 

 kill the eggs of the wax-moth every 

 time, if properly used, as I have proved 

 conclusively more than once. Many a 

 time I have packed away hundreds of 



combs in a large box, and one treat- 

 ment always did the job perfectly. 

 Needless to say, the combs at the time 

 of treatment contained eggs, larvse, 

 etc., of the wax-raoth, and from the 

 fact that the one treatment always suf- 

 ficed, there is no disputing the fact 

 that it will kill the eggs as well as the 

 larvae. 



By the way, the name of the drug over 

 here is always spelled " carbon bi-sul- 

 phide"onthe labels that are put on 

 the bottles. 



E\R Western W^ Bee-Keeping 



Conducted by Wesley Foster, Boulder. Colo. 



Parcels Post Must Come 



We are less ruled by the conventional 

 ideas as the years roll on. We have 

 been taught that the Constitution was 

 sacred, and must be revered ; that the 

 Supreme Court is always right, and 

 somehow the idea has continued to 

 lurk about in the dark corners of our 

 subconscious selves that what always 

 had been always would be. But now 

 we are waking up to the fact that the 

 Constitution is man-made, and, when it 

 serves him not. the thing to do is to 

 change it to correspond with the Su- 

 preme Constitution, which is the mind 

 of the people. And, also, we now are 

 beginning to recognize that the Su- 

 preme Court also derives its just pow- 

 ers from the people, who finally are the 

 court of last appeal. 



Commerce is the moving of things 

 from where they are plentiful to where 

 they are scarce, and any thing — obsta- 

 cle, person, company or law — that pre- 

 vents things of human need from mov- 

 ing freely to the persons needing those 

 things, is in the nature of a brigand 

 demanding tribute at the hands of hon- 

 orable industry. 



The express companies are operat- 

 ing in violation of a law passed away 

 back in 1848, which expressly prohibits 

 private companies from carrying pack- 

 ages in competition with the Post- 

 Oflfice ; yet the express companies carry 

 thousands of packages weighing less 

 than 4 pounds, and they have control, 

 absolutely, of the business on parcels 

 weighing more than 4 pounds, up to 

 what can be profitably sent by freight. 



It is time that we utilize the Post- 

 Office Department as it is now organ- 

 ized to carry all packages. The work 

 could be done with but little addition 

 to the expense. President Taft favors 

 parcels post and penny postage, and so 

 does Postmaster General Hitchcock. 

 It behooves every bee-keeper who lives 

 where express companies and post- 

 offices e.xist, to put his influence over 

 against that of the express companies 

 by writing his representatives and sen- 

 ators, asking them to support parcels 

 post. 



We may rest assured that the express 

 companies will let their wishes be 

 known to the legislators, and they will 

 call attention to the taxes they pay. 

 But just remember that the express 



companies have nothing to talk o 

 along this line, for they pay practically 

 no taxes — they rent almost everything, 

 and make their money out of a privi- 

 lege to pillage, and not from service 

 rendered. Why, the bee-keepers of the 

 country pay more taxes, I'll wager,'than 

 the express companies. 



Now 12 cents a pound, or 16 cents a 

 pound, doesn't sound very cheap, but 

 we can be sure that once the express 

 companies are eliminated from the par- 

 cel-carrying business, the rates will be 

 lowered to almost actual cost of carry- 

 ing. This reduction has been the rec- 

 ord of the Post-Office Department. In 

 our town here we have a beautiful 

 white brick post-office, built fire-proof, 

 and one that will stand a thousand 

 years, and before it is very much older 

 I am satisfied that the work now done 

 by the express companies will be done 

 much more economically by the post- 

 office force. The equipment is there; 

 it belongs to the people, so why not 

 use it ? If the express companies can 

 compete with the Government, why, 

 then, let them. But we must be sure 

 they do not receive favors from the 

 railroads that the Post-Oflice does not 

 also receive. 



swarm get up this far, it would 

 doubtless perish for lack of winter 

 stores. Honey-bees would flourish 

 here for 5 or 6 weeks during the 

 summer, and one could have a bee- 

 breeding station located high in the 

 mountains, as this is, and the queens 

 be in no danger of crossing with any 

 neighboring undesirable drones. Just 

 as soon as I can get to it several 

 such experimental points are going to 

 be established. They can easily be 

 reached by rail, and the bees could 

 be brought up each summer and tak- 

 en back to the valley, at slight ex- 

 pense. No feeding would need be 

 done during the time the bees were 

 up here, I think. Chaff hives will 

 be the best to use, as our nights are 

 always quite cool. Such a place as 

 this would be far better than trying 

 to mate queens in confinement, I 

 should think. 



Attempts have been made to es- 

 tablish a breeding station for bees 

 out on the dry plains, but the condi- 

 tions are so unfavorable to the life 

 of the bees that success has never 

 been had with this plan. The plains 

 are so hot and dry, and there are no 

 flowers, or scarcely any vegetation 

 of any kind, that the bees would do 

 nothing, feeding having to be done 

 all the time. Some feeding would 

 be needed here, no doubt, but there 

 is an abundance of pollen and somt ' 

 honey available, and conditions are 

 conducive to bee-life, which is essen- 

 tial to any breeding experiments. 



Right in this connection I might 

 say that wherever the honey-bee is 

 not found, wild bees of many kinds 

 abound. They are more limited in 

 range, for many of them work on 

 but one kind of flowers. 



In Boulder Canyon, 2 miles west 

 of Boulder, sweet clover grows very 

 thick; but few if any honey-bees visit 

 it, while wild bees and wasps of vari- 

 ous kinds keep up the busy hum. 



-Queen- 



Wild Flowers and No Honey^ 

 Mating Station 



Twenty miles west of Boulder, and 

 one mile above it, is the wild-flower 

 paradise — 56 distinct varieties, all in 

 bloom, we found within a half mile 

 of our mountain cabin, where we are 

 rusticating for a week. There are 

 probably several hundred flowers in 

 this district from the first bloom in 

 the spring to the last. White clover 

 grows thick in the meadow lands of 

 the mountain valleys, and sweet 

 clover thrives wherever it has gotten 

 a foothold. It blooms about August 

 1st. and all vegetation is correspond- 

 ingly late, as we arc 2 miles above 

 sea-level, only 3 miles from perpetual 

 snow, and freezes are common till 

 nearly the middle of July. 



QUEE.M-M.^TING St.\TI0N 



Wild bees are everywhere, but as 

 yet I have geen unable to find a 

 honey-bee on any of the flowers. The 

 season is so short that should a 



Comb Honey and the Section-Box 



The waste in effort to get the bees 

 to work in section honey-boxes be- 

 tween separators is too great to be 

 long endured by the bee-fraternity. 

 And still I do not think it likely that 

 comb honey will lose its favorites. 

 We shall find a new way of putting" 

 out comb honey, so that it will ship 

 as safely as extracted, and can be 

 built by the bees almost as rapidly 

 as extracted is produced. The new 

 way will probably be something simi- 

 lar to the way Nabisco wafers are 

 put up — in tin boxes. 'The combs 

 can be cut. and after most of the 

 drip has leaked off, the combs can 

 then be wrapped in paraffined paper, 

 packed in the tin boxes, and crated 

 in boxes the same as soap or any- 

 other boxed goods. I believe it is 

 time we were working along this 

 line, as the sooner the demand for 

 comb honey in some such shape as I 

 have mentioned is cultivated the 

 sooner will our profits begin to- 

 mount. \V'e will have overcome the 

 bugaboos of comb-honey shipments, 

 and getting the bees to work in the 

 comb-honey supers. 



Swarming is no problem to speak 



