1917 



AMERICAN BKn JOURNAL 



371 



ens the ])ees so as to reiuler them less 

 iniimiiie to "Isle of Wight," there is 

 quite a distance. 



Again, in the same number of the 

 Pritish Bee Journal, we find a short 

 article by W. J. Gibbs praising "bac- 

 terol," an anti-bacteria pharmaceuti- 

 cal preparation, which lie uses by 

 dissolving half a inuind of sugar in a 

 pint of cold water and adding two 

 teaspoonfuls of the drug, lie uses it 

 to spray the bees and the combs every 

 other day, and -claims "complete suc- 

 cess." A similar claim was already 

 made a year or two ago by the use 

 of "dioxogen," wliich is our "hydro- 

 gen peroxide." 



Although the alarming extent of 

 "Isle of Wight" in England is prob- 

 ably due in great measure to the 

 moist climate of the British Isles, yet 

 i; behooves us to keep posted upon 

 this matter, for we do not know what 

 day this dread disease may cross the 

 ocean. We have had something sim- 

 ilar in the United States, but in no 

 case has it reached the seriousness of 

 the English trouble. 



Meanwhile the disaster among the 

 English apiaries is causing greater 

 scarcity and higher prices of honey. 

 It is to be regretted that the United 

 States crop of honey is so much un- 

 der the average this year, since some 

 relief could be had across the ocean 

 by active importations. 



Artificial Fertilization 



In our August, 1917 number of the 

 Journal, we mentioned the failure ol 

 • an attempted control of queen fer- 

 tilization by enclosing queens and 

 drones in a large glass room or hot 

 house. In the present number the 

 reader will find an article by Messrs. 

 Howard and France, of the Universi- 

 ty of Minnesota, giving a faithful ac- 

 count of their experiments in forced 

 fertilization and of their failure. This 

 is interesting, and praise is due to 

 the persistent efforts made. 



The queen bee mentioned in this 

 article as reported upon in "Science" 

 in 1914, was wingless at birth. A 

 photograph of this queen was sent to 

 us at the time, not for publication. 

 But since the matter has now been 

 made public, we are not telling tales 

 out of school in giving this photo- 

 graph to our readers. The queen is 

 readily perceived to be wingless and 

 is large enough to show laying possi- 

 bilities. 



Whether or not the control of 

 queen fertilization is ever to be suc- 

 cessful, we cannot rely on the past 



experiences for a guide, except nega- 

 tively. Those who claimed positive 

 success were later shown to be un- 

 reliable. Accidental success has very 

 l)robably been achieved; but until a 

 positively successful method is found 

 this question will have but a passing 

 interest for the honey producer. 



However, more wonderful feats 

 have been achieved and perhaps 

 some day an enthusiast will show us 

 the way. The French say: Le mot 

 "impossible" n'est pas francais. 

 (The word "impossible" is not 

 French). Neither is it American. 



Wintering With Minimum Loss 



."Kt this time of year we have num- 

 erous inquiries from beginners as to 

 how to winter bees with the least 

 amount of loss. Many seem to think 

 that wintering consists of properly 

 sheltering your bees so as to keep 

 them froin "freezing." 



As a matter of fact the first process 

 in successful wintering should have 

 been begun several weeks ago, and 

 that was to make sure that all colo- 

 nies were headed with young and 

 vigorous queens and had a large 

 number of young bees together with 

 plenty of good stores. With these 

 three prime requisites the loss will 

 be cut down half, even where bees 

 are in very exposed places and have 

 little or no protection. 



Other factors which tend towards 

 successful wintering, provided you 

 have those above, are a good, tight 

 hive, proper windbreaks, and addi- 

 tional winter packing if necessary. 



Whether it is advisable to winter 

 inside or outside is a question which 

 must be decided by each individual 

 beekeeper. As time goes on favor 

 seems to grow towards outside win- 

 tering, with additional packing neces- 

 sary to keep out the cold winds 

 of winter. 



In our own yards we aim, wherever 

 possible, to locate apiaries on a 

 southern slope, so that the contour 

 of the land will make a natural wind- 

 break. One of our apiaries, in the 

 full sweep of the wind, shows the re- 

 sult of its exposure by larger losses. 

 The necessity with it, therefore, is a 

 superabundance of packing material 

 which will offset the natural wind- 

 break of the other apiaries and ren- 

 der it wind-blast proof. 



If you did read it and enjoyed it you 

 will enjoy reading "Our Backdoor 

 •N'eighbors," by our friend and cor- 

 respondent, F. C. Pcllett. 



Both of these men arc naturalists 

 who love outdoor life and study wild 

 nature. Both know how to describe 

 what they have seen in an interesting 

 manner. Both acknowledge the help 

 of their wives, who are evidently 

 capable and literary women. But the 

 former man writes of individual ani- 

 mals who have performed extraordi- 

 nary feats and the hunting or trap- 

 ping of them. His pictures, beautiful 

 and interesting, are more or less fan- 

 ciful, for they are only drawings. 



Pellett describes the wild life he 

 has met in his backwoods and how he 

 became friendly to hawks, owls, bees, 

 wasps, rabbits, squirrels and pole- 

 cats. His narrative is accompanied 

 with real photos of those animals, 

 snapped at interesting moments, in 

 most difficult circumstances. It is 

 wonderful and delightful, besides be- 

 ing actual wild life. 



A Book on Woody Plants 



"Plant Materials of Decorative 

 Gardening" is the title of a pocket 

 manual, by Dr. William Trelease, of 

 the University of Illinois at Urbana. 



We have never seen a larger 

 amount of information in so small a 

 compass. The book has 204 pages 

 and is of a size which will fit the 

 pocket. It gives the description, 

 keys, and scientific as well as popu- 

 lar names of useful and ornamental 

 shrubs and trees, with an index and 

 a glossary. The only thing that we 

 would like to see added to it is cuts 

 of the leading plants described. But 

 it would then cease to be a "pocket 

 manual." This book must be of great 

 value to the student. It may be had 

 of the author at $1. 



Our Backdoor Neighbors 



Did you ever read E. Seton-Thomp- 

 son's "Wild Animals I Have Known," 

 published some twenty years ago? 



Honey in England 



In the British Bee Journal for Au- 

 gust 30, Mr. J. J. Kettle speaks of 

 honey in sections selling at 18 shil- 

 lings per dozen. This is at the rate 

 of 36 cents per section. He adds that 

 those who work for extracted honey 

 are "making a larger turnover." This 

 is probably because they produce a 

 larger amount of extracted honey 

 than they would of comb. But the 

 price of extracted honey, everywhere, 

 is reaching closely to the price of 

 comb honey. In our opinion this con- 

 dition has come to stay. The only 

 exception will be in the case of fancy 

 comb honey put up in a fancy way. 



