314 



September, 1916. 



American Vee Journal 



the next step would be to improve ex- 

 isting stock so as to approach more 

 nearly to the qualities of the best 

 strain. Fortunately, some of our queen- 

 breeders have carried on a more or 

 less selective process and, in general, 

 both the leather colored and golden 

 Italians have improved. 



However, we cannot find that much, 

 if any, real scientific work has been 

 done in connection with the different 

 strains, and for the most part, bees are 

 just bees, sometimes blacks, sometimes 

 hybrids, and frequently Italians. As a 

 result of these conditions, mongrel 

 stock is to be found to a more or less 

 extent in all sections of the country, 

 and it is a continual menace to the in- 

 dustry. 



Too much stress cannot be placed 

 upon getting rid of queens in weak or 

 sickly colonies and on providing new 

 queens for colonies that arc not resis- 

 tant to disease. Similarly, a new queen 

 sho Id be provided tor a colony that is 

 cross, or in any way undesirable. The 

 beekeeper who has queens that are 

 strong and vigorous, and whose bees 

 are good producers, should use her 

 daughters in place of less desirable 



stock. 



.♦. 



California Honey Sale. — The sale, 

 June 28, by a Pasadena apiarist of 32 

 tons of extracted honey at lYz cents, 

 doubt'.ess records the high-water mark 

 of both production and sale for this 

 year. — IVestem Honey Bee, July, 1916. 



A Better "Bee Cutting." — -The usual 

 bee tree party simply robs the tree late 

 in the fall and leaves a helpless but use- 

 ful swarm to starve to death. It is 

 much better to have the " bee-cutting " 

 much earlier in the season when the 

 swarm may be transferred to a good 

 hive, moved home, and allowed to store 

 enough honey to keep itself through 

 the winter. If there is not a favorable 

 fall for honey gathering, it may be nec- 

 essary to feed this swarm through the 

 the first winter, but a good swarm is 

 well worth it. 



Students at the Missouri College of 

 Agriculture were recently shown how 

 to do this. They were equipped with 

 an a.x, a saw, a few bee veils, a good 

 hive, and a basket of tools. The basket 

 contained a few feathers, a buggy- 

 spring hive tool, a putty knife, two 

 butcher knives, a few slender wood 

 splints and a smoker. 



After the tree was cut the boys 

 sawed into the trunk just below the 

 knot-hole used by the bees as an en- 

 trance and made another cut about 

 eight feet above the first one and a 

 third cut about half way between these 

 two. The bees were then transferred 

 to the hive and the hive moved to this 

 permanent location in accordance with 

 directions found in Experiment Station 

 Bulletin 138, entitled " Farm Beekeep- 

 ing." — Press Bulletin, University of 



Missouri. 



^ 



Honey Extractors at the Royal Show, 

 Manchester, England. As usual the 

 honey extracters were a puzzle to those 

 who are entirely ignorant of beekeep- 

 ing, or appliances for carrying it on. 

 We not inly heard one again described 

 as a churn (one man remarking "it 

 would soon fetch butter," as it was 



"geared up to 90"), but one man en- 

 quired of an attendant if they were 

 "fer weshing (washing) pertaters." A 

 member of another group declared 

 they were for mixing "dooah" 

 (dough). Said he, "They hev these 

 sooart o' things fer mixing dooah, they 

 put in t' flaar an' watter an' barm, then 

 thurn t' handel an' mixes 'era aul oop " 

 " Nay," put in another, " they're wesh- 

 ing machines. "Nay," was the reply, 

 "they cuddn't get a blanket in 'em 

 sittha." — British Bee Jottrtial, July 6. 



Colony on Scales. — Mr. L. V. France, 

 assistant in beekeeping at the Univer- 

 sity Farm at St. Paul, Minn., sends us 

 the results of the weighing of one 

 colony on scales during 31 days, from 

 June 14 to July 15. It shows an in- 

 crease of weight, maximum of 14 pounds 

 8 ounces on July 11, with an additional 

 gain, instead of the usual loss of a few 

 ounces, during the mght, owing to the 

 fact the colony was daily weighed at 

 7:30 pm, and that on that day the 

 additional increase of weight after 7:30 

 p.m., was honey brought until nightfall. 

 The total net gain of the colony during 

 the 31 days was 122 pounds, or nearly 

 4 pounds average. The heaviest net 

 loss during a single night was 2 pounds 

 6 ounces, out of 11 pounds 6 ounces 

 gain during the preceding day. The 

 colony, at the end of the time, occu- 

 pie I five Langstroth 10-frame bodies. 



Beekeepers could have a great deal 

 better idea of the honey flow if each 

 apiarist kept one of his colonies on 

 scales and registered the daily gain or 

 loss. 



Tri-State Field Meet. — The second 

 Tri State Field meeting of the bee- 

 keepers of Illinois, Wisconsin and 

 Iowa was held in Union Park, Dubu- 

 que Aug. 1 and 2. The meeting was 



called to order by Mr. E. J. Baxter, of 

 Nauvoo, 111. 



The excursion and luncheon given 

 by the Commercial Club of Dubuque 

 on the steamer Sidney, were greatly 

 enjoyed by all who were present. This 

 was given on the first day. 



There were about 90 present, and 17 

 new members were secured for the 

 Iowa Beekeepers' Association. The 

 slogan for this association is at least 

 500 members enrolled by the time of 

 the December meeting at Des Moines. 



We were greatly honored by having 

 with us Mr. C. H. Bocock, from Eng- 

 land, who IS the expert in apiculture of 

 the British Beekeepers' Absociation; 

 Dr. Phillips, of Washingtoi, D. C ; in- 

 spector N. E. France, of Wisconsin; 

 Mr. Kildow, of Illinois; Mr Blaker, of 

 Minnesota; Mr. Pyles, of Illinois; and 

 Mr. Elmore, of Iowa. Prof Jager and 

 his assi'-tant, Mr. France, {'om the 

 Agricultural College of Minnesota, 

 were present and took part in the dis- 

 cussions. 



Mr. Kildow took charge of the ques- 

 tion box. 



Mr. Bocock gave a very interesting 

 talk on the Isle-of Wight disease. He 

 told of the spread of the disease by the 

 wind causing the bees to drift, and of 

 the great destruction of the bees over 

 all the British Isles. It is certainly to 

 be hoped that the disease in its malig- 

 nant form will stay within its present 

 bounds. It is not sure that any cases 

 of the disease have been found in this 

 country. The exact cause of the dis- 

 ease has not been found. 



The question of weights and the price 

 of honey were well discussed as was 

 also the foulbrood situation. There 

 seems to be a difference of opinion in 

 regard to the smell of European foul- 

 brood, and it is quite certain that it has 

 a distinctive smell of its own, differ- 

 ing from that of the American foul- 

 brood. 



A motion by J. W. Stine was made 

 and carried to have a committee of one 

 appointed from each State to bring be- 

 fore the Inter-State Commerce Com- 

 mission the urgent need of the same 

 classification of freight rates in the 



JUNE OUTDOOR MEET AT LOS GATOS. CALIF.~(Photo by J. R.Douglass.) 



