226 



July, 1 !)!(;. 



American Vee Journal 



^^jk^J^lRIOi^j^ 



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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 Correspondent. 



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Copyright: 1516. by C. P. Dadant 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Cooperatiou Amoug' Beekeepers 



Mr. L. L. Poplin, of Raleigh, N. C. 

 writes to the American Bee Journal to 

 suggest that State Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tions should be organized in every 

 State. Where they do not exist, as in 

 his own State, he proposes that the 

 State Board of Agriculture be requested 

 to help by employing the farm demon- 

 strators to arrange county organiza- 

 tions. Further, he wants the farmer 

 bee owners urged to change their old 

 methods to movable-frame methods 

 and cooperation to follow. All this is 

 good. Those beekeepers who live in 

 States where no State beekeepers' 

 association exists should take the mat- 

 ter in hand and correspond with their 

 State Board of Agriculture, urging 

 such work in connection with farm 

 demonstrations. The time has come 

 for active work in this line, as well as 

 in all agricultural colleges. 



Insi>e<-tor of Apiarie.s 



We understand that a movement is 

 on foot to create in Illinois a State 

 Department of Agriculture, and put 

 under its secretary the Stale Veteri- 

 narian, the Biological Laboratory, the 

 Nursery inspectors and the Apiary in- 

 spectors. This is all right. But they 

 further propose to have an inspector 

 of apiaries and nurseries. We suggest 

 that a man who is very good at exam- 

 ing trees for San Jose scale will prob- 

 ably be unable to properly examine a 

 hive of bees. On the other hand an 

 apiary inspector would probably be an 

 inefficient nursery inspector. Are we 

 going to make a shoemaker out of a 

 tailor ? If so we will have poor shoes 

 or ill-fitting clothes. 



Dr. Brunnioh'.s Article 



Dr. Brunnich, whose article appears 

 further along in this number, is a 

 splendid microscopist. Those photo- 



graphs of magnified sections of combs 

 give a clear conception of the com- 

 parative increase of thickness of the 

 base of the cells and of the side walls. 

 They show that the cast-off skins and 

 dejections of the larvse at the bottom 

 of each cell increase its thickness 

 much faster than the cocoons thicken 

 the side walls. 



But concerning the bees changing 

 worker-comb into drone-comb, we are 

 rather skeptical. Following every as- 

 sertion of such a change, we have so 

 far invariably found that the bees did 

 not tear down to rebuild in another 

 kind any of the comb given them, but 

 that they only filled such spaces as 

 were accidentally left open, or where 

 combs had been broken down or re- 

 moved. It was only in case of very 

 imperfect cell base that even the foun- 

 dation given them was ever changed. I 

 will remind Dr. Brunnich, of his stating 

 to me, among other interesting experi- 

 ments, during our visit at his home in 

 August, 1913, that he tried supplying a 

 swarm with a hive full of drone-comb, 

 and that the only thing they did was to 

 narrow the mouth of those drone-cells 

 to the proper opening for worker-cells, 

 when the queen laid worker-eggs in 

 them. This confirmed the similar ex- 

 periments of Editor Cowan of Eng- 

 land, of Drory of Bordeaux and myself. 

 Now if bees do change worker-comb 

 into drone-comb, why would they not 

 do the reverse ? 



This question has some importance, 

 for an excess of drones induces bees 

 to swarm and drones cost a large 

 amount of honey, without returns, un- 

 less wanted for breeding, from the best 

 colonies. 



Care of Honey 



Although carbon disulphid is the 

 easiest drug to use in destroying the 

 moths, the old brimstone method is 

 still good. To destroy the moths in a 



room where you keep your comb 

 honey, burn enough of it to kill the 

 flies. It will kill the worms and the 

 millers also. By repealing the opera- 

 tion after a couple weeks you will 

 destroy what there may be left of 

 worms hatched from the eggs in the 

 meantime. Of course, it is best to have 

 the honey cases sufficiently open so 

 the fumes may pervade them. 



Extracted honey should be thor- 

 oughly ripe when put up in retailing 

 packages. If not quite ripe it should 

 be kept in a tank, in the hottest room 

 of the bee-house or of the home. Every 

 one of us has had unripe honey which 

 might have been improved very much 

 by proper management. 



Quality is indispensable to secure 

 customers and retain them. 



Pennyroyal Honey 



E. M. Rennolds has sent a sample of 

 Florida honey that he says is as nearly 

 pure pennyroyal as can be secured in a 

 general way. 



It is light amber in color, very clear, 

 somewhat light in body, with a flavor 

 of its own, very distinct, but not at all 

 like the flavor of pennyroyal leaves. It 

 would no doubt rate among the aver- 

 age amber honeys, and some might 

 prefer it to any other honey, light or 

 dark. c. c. m. 



Practical Method of Keai-iug 

 Queens in the Average Apiary 



There has been much discussion as 

 to whether it pays the ordinary bee- 

 keeper to rear his own queens. This 

 is a question for every man to settle for 

 himself. Some of our largest honey 

 producers say that they cannot afford 

 to rear their own queens. Others and 

 very careful ones say that they would 

 not accept any queens in their colonies 

 except those of their own breeding. 

 However, since many beekeepers think 

 they cannot afford to buy queens in a 

 wholesale manner, they should be 

 familiar with the ordinary method of 

 queen-rearing. 



To the beginner there is usually 

 much of mystery in this subject, which 

 is one of the most interesting things in 

 connection with the business of honey 

 production. Most beginners start with 

 scrub bees. Nine out of ten buy black 

 or hybrid bees, which are undesirable 

 from any standpoint. It is fortunate 

 for the beekeeper that a change of 

 stock from the poorest scrubs to the 

 best of the pure races is such an easy 

 matter. Simply by replacing the queen 

 with one of the desired stock the col- 

 ony is shortly made over. There are 

 several thousand new readers of the 

 American Bee Journal, many of whom 



