154 



May, 1916. 



American ^ee Journal 



^i^^3RieA2*j 



■•*v, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



1st Nat'l Bank Bldg. Hamilton, Illinois 



Entered as second class matter at the 



Hamilton. Illinois, Post-office. 

 C. P. Dadant. Editor 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. Associate Editor. 

 Frank C. Pellett. Staff CorresDondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE. 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this 

 Journalis Si.ooa year in the United States 

 of America and Mexico; 3 years, »2 25;.5 

 years. $3 oo; in Canada. lo cents extra, and in 

 all other countries in the Postal Union. 25 

 cents a year extra for postage. Sample 

 copy free. 



THE WRAPPER-LABEL DATE indi- 

 cates the end of the month to which sub- 

 scription is paid. For instance. "deci6 on 

 your label shows that it is paid to the end 

 of December. 1016. 



SUBSCRIPTION RECEIPTS.-We do not 

 send a receipt for money sent us to pay sub- 

 scription, but change the date on your ad- 

 dress, which shows that the money has been 

 received and credited. In case of errors, 

 please write us. 



Copyright: 1016. by C. P. Dadant 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Cypress for Hive Stands 



There is an increasing demand among 

 the beekeepers for something more 

 durable for hive bottoms and hive 

 stands. Soft woods decay rapidly in 

 contact with the soil, and because of 

 its greater durability cypress is much 

 better for such purposes. In a letter 

 to this office. Dr. Bonney recently com- 

 mented as follows : 



" My hive-stands are of cypress, and 

 stand in the mud and wet all the time, 

 and are as solid as when I got the first 

 one several years ago." 



Most manufacturers and supply deal- 

 ers are anxious to give their customers 

 a product that will give satisfactory 

 service and we note with interest the 

 tendency to offer cypress to those who 

 prefer it. 



Give Us Suggestions 



Our readers appear to like the new 

 arrangement of the American Bee 

 Journal. Four issues have been pub- 

 lished since we dropped most of the 

 departments and substituted illustrated 

 articles of general interest. 



As announced in the March number, 

 we have secured the services of a staff 

 correspondent who will make long 

 journeys when necessary to get such 

 material as we believe our readers 

 want. In our June number there will 

 bean illustrated feature on marketing. 

 To get this the commission merchants 

 and retail dealers of Chicago were in- 

 terviewed. We believe that the infor- 

 mation gained will be valuable to our 

 readers. The story of the work of the 

 government at Washington in the Feb- 

 ruary number, also that of the work in 

 Massachusetts in the April issue are 

 samples of the information our staff 

 correspondent will furnish. 



We hope during the coming months 

 to publish articles from many sections 

 and to describe some of the best meth- 

 ods of doing the work in the apiary, 



from extracting to queen rearing. We 

 desire our readers to write us and sug- 

 gest subjects which they would like to 

 see covered by these feature articles. 

 Two or three times a year we will issue 

 a special locality number, like the New 

 England number in April. These issues 

 will contain little except information 

 about the particular locality or by con- 

 tributors who live in that section. 



We are now trying to plan our work 

 for a full year in advance, and accepted 

 material may be longer in appearing 

 than formerly. This does not indicate 

 lack of appreciation of the contribu- 

 tions, but that we must wait until it fits 

 the plan we have in mind for a special 

 number. 



We have still other improvements in 

 mind and will be very grateful to our 

 readers who write to tell us what they 

 want to see in the Journal. 



number of requests for a detail of our 

 impressions. This will be given just 

 as soon as we can prepare it. Besides, 

 a "Texas number " will be published 

 by and by. 



We have been compelled to disap- 

 point some friends who were expect- 

 ing us and have been disappointed our- 

 selves in being unable to visit as many 

 spots as we wished. Yet we traveled 

 some 2400 miles and probably visited 

 the best beekeeping region, where we 

 met the representatives of about 35,000 

 colonies of bees. But Texas is such 

 an immense State. Their honey crop 

 of 1915 was well sold out, and the crop 

 of 1916 keenly expected. 



Our thanks are due to Prof. F. B. 

 Paddock, State Entomologist, and to 

 our genial friend E. G. Le Stourgeon, 

 of San Antonio, for the courtesies ex- 

 tended by them. c. p. d. 



Transferring Bees 



Special Bulletin No. 76, of the Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College Experiment 

 Station, by F. E. Millen, in charge of 

 beekeeping, is the most exhaustive 

 article on transferring bees which we 

 have ever seen. It gives several meth- 

 ods and also directs how to remove 

 bees from buildings. 



In spite of modern progress, there 

 are still many bees kept in logs and 

 box-hives, in some parts of this coun- 

 try. Several States have laws demand- 

 ing that bees be kept in movable 

 frames so that possible brood diseases 

 may be more readily detected. As long 

 as box-hives are in existence such 

 bulletins as the above will be useful. 

 It may be had from Prof. F. E. Millen, 

 East Lansing, Mich. 



Visit to Texas 



Wife and I reached home, late in 

 March, from the Texas trip mentioned 

 in the March Bee Journal. We have a 



Poisonous Spraying and Bees 



The 6th annual report of the Massa- 

 chusetts State Inspector of Apiaries, 

 Bulletin No. 10, of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, contains a large amount 

 of gathered information on the damage 

 done to bees by ill-timed spraying of 

 fruit trees. 



Enough has been said on this subject 

 to convince the rational fruit grower 

 that there is much to lose and nothing 

 to gain from spraying during fruit 

 bloom. Reports similar to the bulletin 

 above mentioned will do much to im- 

 press the public with the advisability of 

 spraying fruit only after the dropping 

 of the petals of the flower. Professor 

 Gates has done good service in prepar- 

 ing this bulletin. 



Shipping Heavy Colonies in Hot 

 Weather 



Read the article in this number by 

 Mr. Hayes. Often more may be learnt 

 through failures than through suc- 

 cesses. But the average man does not 

 like to acknowledge failure. So those 

 are most to be praised who inform 

 others of their mishaps and thus warn 

 the I) of danger. 



Colonies of bees may be shipped 

 even if heavy with honey, in hot 

 weather, but there must be a free cur- 

 rent of air through the hive, with full 

 screens at both top and bottom. There 

 must be no virgin combs heavy with 

 honey, as the least jar is sufficient to 

 break these, and when once honey is 

 running the bees become daubed with 

 it and are doomed. There must be no 

 quantity of unsealed honey in any of 

 the combs. It is best to extract a part 

 of the honey a few days before ship- 

 ping, so they may have at least one- 



