334 



October, 1916. 



American Vae Jonrnal 



^^/^JSRICAJHr,^^ 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



1st Nat'I 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. Sta£f Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE. 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this 

 Journal is $1.00 a year in the United States 

 of America and Mexico; 3 years. $225; 5 

 years. $3 00; in Canada. 10 cents extra, and in 

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 cents a year extra for postage Sample 

 copy free. 



THE WRAPPER-LABEL DATE indi- 

 cates the end of the month to which sub- 

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 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- 

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 received and credited. In case of errors, 

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Copyright: 1016. by C. P. Dadant 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Sweet Clover vs. Ragweed aud 

 Hay Fever 



In Gleanings for July 15, our friend 

 and contributor, Mr. J. E. Crane, has 

 a par.'g'aph e .tit'ed: "Let swett 

 clover kill out the weed.s." When we 

 see the numerous sufferers of hay 

 fever during the months of August 

 and September and realize that the 

 main cause of that foub'e i.? the pest 

 "ragweed", which infests our 'tubtle 

 fitlds, our roadsides a; d our pastur s 

 we ste the need of repeating: "Liet 

 sweet clover kill out the weeds." 

 Sweet clover does kill out the ragweed 

 where it is given a chance and we 

 hope every man who has any hing to 

 do with weeds wiil help this work 

 along. Sweet clover is easily eradi- 

 cated when not wanted, for it is a 

 biennial and does not make se^d the 

 first year. It produces honey and 

 good caUle feed whi e the ragweed is 

 of no use to anyone and injurious to 

 many. 



Screen Wire tor Uniting 



One of our subscribers reports suc- 

 cess with uniting colonies by means 

 of wire screen. One col.ny is pla ed 

 over the other the same as is done 

 by the newspaper plan, scresn wrj 

 being substituted for the new=paper. 

 In 24 hoars the screen may be re- 

 moved and the two colonies will unite 

 pei.cafu.ly. 



It Pays to Advertise 



Our front cover gives a good re- 

 presentation of the honey exhibit at 

 the Iowa S.ate Pair which won the 

 sweepstakes prizes in 1916 for b.ing 

 the best exhibit. Inc dentally Bert 

 A. Brown, a Des Moines beekeeper 

 took orders for a lot of honey at the 

 fair, and got over $100.00 in pri.e^. 

 With the active co operation of his 



wife, Mr. Brown has gradually in- 

 creased his number of colonies of bees 

 to the point where, if he choo-es, he 

 may give up his position in a large 

 clo'hing store and be independent. 

 Need we say that probably as large a 

 factor as any in his success has been 

 his forceful advertising? 



More About Pacliing Bees 



I am much interested in your article 

 in the American Bee Jounral for 

 September on outdoor wintering and 

 packing. My bees are kept about 

 100 rods from my residence and the 

 labor of hauling 60 or 70 colonies to 

 my cellar and then back to the yard 

 year after year has induced me to try 

 outdoor wintering. 



My yard is located on a steep side 

 hill facing the south and is well pro- 

 tected from cold north winds, so that 

 bees ought to winter with little pro- 

 tection. You speak of using straw 

 mats. I have never seen any of them 

 and wish you would advise me where 

 they can be bought and the price. I 

 have just received a sample of flax 

 board % inch thick. This boird'scut 

 to fit the top of the hive and placed 

 over the brood frames, but like the 

 straw mats it is a stranger to me. I 

 would like your answer to a few 

 questions: 



1st. What depth of super do you re- 

 commend to fill wl.h packing? 2nd. 

 Do you consider chaff as good as 

 leaves for packing? 3rd. Wou d you 

 consider my bees sife with mat and 

 super of packing and the entire hive 

 wrap-ed wi h taTcd f It? 4th. \,hat 

 depth of bottom boa d do ycu use and 

 how much op.n space for veiitilat'on? 

 5th. Would you recommend pack ng 

 each colony separate or place several 

 in a winter case? 



This letter raises seve''al interesting 

 questions which have been asked by 

 o'hers. For that reason I have 

 thought best to reply through the 

 Journal. 



Our straw mats are home-made. 

 The word "straw" is a m'sncmer in 

 this case, as we use "slough grass" 



which grows plentifully along the 

 low lands of the Mississippi River. 

 If we are not mistaken, tliis grass is 

 called "spartina cyno.= uri d s" by the 

 botanists. It is tougher than rye straw 

 and lasts a long time. Our reason for 

 using a mat is that, while it covers 

 the frames, it is not air-tight. The 

 flax board % inch thick is certainly 

 gcod, the only objection we have to it 

 being its stiffness. However if it may 

 be laid flat over the combs it ought to 

 be as good as the mats. Mats are 

 used a great deal in Europe, to pro- 

 tect cold-frame hotbeds in frosty 

 nights and we use them ourselves for 

 that purpose. This is what gave us 

 the idea of using them over the combs. 

 We keep them on the hives, winter 

 and summer for they turn off the rays 

 of the sun as well as they protect the 

 bees from the cold. The making of 

 these mats is described on page 173 of 

 Langstroth Revised. 



Question 1. An ordinary sh-illow 

 super filled with leaves is undoubt dly 

 deep enough. 



2. Chaff, cork chips, sawdust, shav- 

 ings, old woolen carpets, even news- 

 papers are good to absorb moisture in 

 the super. The new.spaper, however, 

 would be gnawed by the bees. Mr. 

 Langstroth used corn-cobs, tigh ly 

 packed over the brood chamber. The 

 reason we use forest leaves is that 

 they are at hand and cost nothing but 

 the trouble of gathering them. 



3. Yes, tarred felt is very good. We 

 would leave part of the front free, but 

 it may be advisable to wrap the entire 

 hive, in your climate, which is much 

 colder than ours. 



4. We have never used a deep bot- 

 tom board, but the bottom board of Dr. 

 Miller may prove good when there is 

 a serious loss of bees that might clog 

 the entrance. We usually leave the 

 entire entrance open unless the colony 

 is under average strength. 



5. We prefer not to move any of our 

 colonies for winter. Judging by what 

 I have seen, the large winter case is 

 not very popular, e.xcept in very cold 

 climates. In Vermont, Mr. Crane and 

 others use a chaff hive and in this 

 way the lower part of the hive re- 

 mains packed all the year round. 



There is no royal ro-id to wealth 

 and no positively faultless method of 

 wintering bees. The greatest fau t 

 with our method is the soaking of the 

 leaves if there are many winter rains 

 and the roof does not pyoject suf- 

 ficiently. But even then a frosty 

 windbreak is better than a thin hive 

 without protection. Hard winds cause 

 depredation of heat and our method 



