352 



October, 1916. 



American T^ee Journal 



"Such colors which are not distin- 

 guished as colors by the eye of the 

 bee, that is, blue-green and pure red 

 occur very exceptionally in flowers. 

 Here is support for the view that 

 flowers have developed their colors 

 as an adaption to their requirtment 

 of fertilization. 



"In many blossoms contrasting 

 colors are combined, and these are 

 interpreted as inviting the visits of 

 insects, especially where they form 

 "sap-colors." Scientific investigations 

 of the color-sense of the bee prove 

 that differences in colors recognized 

 by human eyes are also perceptible 

 to this insect. In vari colored blos- 

 soms scientists find almost exclusive- 

 ly that those colors are combined 

 which are differentiated by the eye of 



the bee." 



^ 



Ontario Crop Report and Prices 



The Ontario Beekeeper's Associa- 

 tion, under date of August 11, pub- 

 lished a report of the crop in Ontario 

 for 1916. The total of honey produced is 

 2.127.903 lbs. or an average of a trifle 

 under 90 pounds per colony, as con- 

 trasted with a 59 pound average in 

 1915. In spite of the large crop this 

 honey seems to be selling at such a 

 rapid rate that the Ontario beekeep- 

 ers will get as much as last year for 

 their honey. In fact the prices as re- 

 commended by the committee are al- 

 most identical with those of last year. 

 They are as follows: 



No. 1, Light Extracted, wholesale, 

 10c to liy2C per lb. 



No. 1, Light Extracted, retail, 12^2 

 to 15c per lb. 



No. 1, Comb wholesale, $2.00 to 

 $2.75 per dozen. 



No. 2. Comb whol(salN $1.50 o$2.0) 

 per dozen. 



These prices are f. o. b. in 60 II)., 

 10 lb. and 5 lb. tins, the former be- 

 ing net weight with the tin thrown in, 

 the two latter being gross weight. 



Old Bee Journals 



Can you give me the names of old 

 Bee Journals in America with dates of 

 existence? A Subscriber. 



When I gave the names of the old- 

 est bee magazines, I had no idea of 

 giving a list of them all. In the first 

 number of Gleanings, published Jan- 

 uary 1873, there is a mention of the 

 then existing bee periodicals of 

 America, all of which are defunct, ex- 

 cept the American Bee Journal and 

 Gleanings. This list included the 

 Beekeepers' Journal, established in 

 1869, the North American Bee Journal, 

 the National Bee Journal, the Annals 

 of Bee Culture and the American Bee 

 Journal. 



Moon's Bee World, tie Beekeeper's 

 Magazine, the American Bee Keeper, 

 the Canadian Bee Journal, the South- 

 land Queen, the Pacific States Bee 

 Journal, the Rocky Mountain Bte 

 Journal, the Western Bee Journal, the 

 Rural Bee Keeper and the Progres- 

 sive Bee Keeper have all appeared 

 and disappeared, most of them after 

 several years of existence. I have 

 made the mistake of destroying a 

 number of these old files, because 



they were so numerous, but am sorry 

 of it now. There v/ere others, of 

 which only one or two numbers ap- 

 peared but I have no lunger any trace 

 of them. 

 Among the foreign ones L'Apicoltore, 



of Milan, Italy, 1868, is still publish- 

 ed and I have every number of it, 

 for it was sent to my father first and 

 to myself afterwards, as honorary 

 members of the Italian Association. 

 I feel quite proud of this. C. P. D. 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, II-.. 



He does not answer bee-keeoine questions by mail. 



Ventilation 



1. What is the proper space to allow be- 

 tween the bottom board and the hive in this 

 climate? It is an extremely variable cli- 

 mate. We have had three weeks with the 

 temperature as high as 08 degrees in the 

 shade, but today it is not over 75 degrees. 

 What would be a safe space to leave for the 

 summer, and how would you ventilate on 

 one of these very hot days when the bees 

 hang out in clusters ? 



2. Does it bother the bees and get them 

 discontented opening and closing the en 

 trance space to meet the extremes of tem-- 

 perature; that is. opening it in the morning 

 and closing it at night, or is it not advisable 

 to do that ? This is my first season, and I 

 do not know much about ventilation. 



Ontario. 



Answers.— I. The space between bottom- 

 bars and floor is not a matter of climate. In 

 summer it should be the deepest you can 

 have without the bees building comb in it. 

 and that is probably h inch or a little more. 

 I use a depth of 2 inches, and then prevent 

 building down by putting in a bottom-rack, 

 and explained in "Fifty Years Among the 

 Bees." In hot weather, and that's most of 

 the summer, I also give ventilation by shov- 

 ing the super forward on the hive so as to 

 make a space of % inch or more at the back 

 end. 



2. It will not trouble the bees, but is a 

 good deal of work for the beekeeper. 



Misoellaneous Questions 



I am thinking of running for extracted 

 honey next year, as I have not much time to 

 spend with my bees. 



1. As soon as I add extra stories my queens 

 will enter them and deposit eggs in the ex- 

 tracting combs. Willi be able to secure a 

 a first-class grade of white clover comb 

 honey from combs where brood has been 

 reared ? 



2. Will I have to use queen-excluders if I 

 want to get white honey ? 



3. Is there as much money in extracted 

 honey at 7 cents per pound as in comb honey 

 at 17 cents ? 



4. If you were going to begin again which 

 would you tjroduce ? 



5 What hive would you choose ? 



6. Single or double walled? 



7. Eight or ten frame ? 



8. If I start colonies with two frames of 

 brood and add bees about June 15 next year, 

 will they build up to strong colonies by fall, 

 provided they are supplied with full sheets 

 of foundation as needed ? 



g If pure Italian queens are mismated will 

 their drones be pure ? 



10. Has the German or black bee any yel- 

 low markings ? 



11. How many pounds of comb honey 

 ought an average colony produce this year ? 



12. How is candy for queen-cages made ? 



Illinois. 



Answers — i. Yes, after the brood has 

 hatched out, but not while brood is still in 

 in them. 



2, Nearly all think an excluder a necessity 

 in working for extracted honey, although 

 some say they can keep the queen down 

 without an excluder by keeping full combs 



immediately over he brood-chamber. 



3. Not as a rule. 



4. I think I would lean toward extracted. 



5. Likely the dovetailed, largely because 

 the most commonly in use. 



6 .'single. 



7. Ten. 



8. Yes, provided the season is good where 

 there is fair pasturage. 



9 Yes. 



10. No. 



11. At a rough guess, all the way from noth- 

 ing to 200. according to place, bees and man- 

 agement. 



12. Take liquid honey, preferably warm or 

 hot, and knead into it all the pulverized 

 sugar you can. making a stiff dough. Let it 

 stand a day or more, then knead into it 

 again all the sugar you can. 



Clipped Queens and Swarming 



In the July 28 issue of the Country Gentle- 

 man the party who wrote the article on bee- 

 keeping makes the statement that he gets to 

 his bees only occasionally, and that by hav- 

 ing his queen's- wings clipped he can easily 

 ascertain which hives have made attempts 

 to swarm in his absence. Will you please 

 tell an amateur how he can tell this with 

 any degree of certainty Missouri. 



Answer— You can tell something about it 

 by looking in the hives. The queens' wings 

 being clipped, if a colony swarms the swarm 

 is likely to return to the hive, although in 

 some cases it may go to the wrong hive. If 

 you find sealed cells in a hive during the 

 swarmine season, it is a safe guess that the 

 colony has swarmed or that it will swarm 

 within a day or two, and there's no way to 

 tell which of the two guesses is right. If you 

 find unsealed queen-cells, or sven eggs in 

 flueen-cells. you may know that swarming 

 is contemplated, and that a swarm is likely 

 to issue with the sealing of the first queen- 

 cell. 



Best All-Purpose Bee— Introducing Queens 



1. Will an entrance guard that is too small 

 for queens and drones to enter keep bees 

 from mixing ? 



2. What is the best bee-pasture ? 



3. What is the best all-purpose bee ? 



4. Is it a good way to build up an apiary by 

 buying tested queens and introducing them 

 to colonies ? 



5. How do you introduce queens to colo- 

 nies of bees ? 



6. What is the best kind of hive for comb 

 honev ? Missouri. 



Answers — i. No. 



2. In some places one thing, in other places 

 another. In your State whit: clover is 

 likely the best. 



3. Most beekeepers prefer Italians. 



4. Yes. and it's also a good way to buy un- 

 tested queens and buy a larger number. 



5. One of the ways most commonly in use 



