February, 1910. 



American Hee Journal 



quantity of lioney which they may have 

 in store. In an observation Iiive one 

 will often notice that if any loaded bee 

 passes by the queen, she will offer the 

 queen honey. To lay thousands of 

 eggs each day, the queen must eat a 

 great deal — in fact, she must eat at all 

 hours. When there is no crop, the 

 offer of food to her by the bees is less 

 frequent than when the crop is on. If 

 we disturb the colony, the bees will 

 fill themselves with honey from their 

 stores. They do this whenever they 

 are frightened from any cause. Nat- 

 urally, before those stores are returned 

 to the cells, many bees meet the queen 

 and the offers of honey to her are more 

 frequent than if the colony had re- 

 mained quiet, especially if there is no 

 honey in the fields. .\n increase of 

 food for her means an increase of lay- 

 ing, and sooner or later an increase — 

 an unusual increase — in the strength of 

 the colony. The oftener this is re- 

 peated the more honey is consumed, 

 but the greater the laying. This would, 

 of course, do no good if the crop was 

 already on ; and if the crop was not to 

 be over 4 weeks' duration, ^the increase 

 of laying would mean the production 

 of workers too late for the harvest, 

 since it takes nearly a month to make 

 a field-worker from the fresh-laid egg. 



The two above-named reasons are to 

 me very plain expositions of the cause 

 of an increase of efficiency in colonies 

 that are disturbed during the breeding 

 season preparatory to the honey crop. 

 There would be no increase and no 

 benefits if the colonies in the case were 

 short of stores. This is very evident. 



Now, is there an apparent increase 

 of efficiency in colonies that have simply 

 been transported to our new pastures? 

 Some persons will say that tlrere is no 

 such increase. But I have often noticed 

 it, and so have" others, among whom I 

 will name my brother-in-law, E. J. Bax- 

 ter, of Nauvoo, 111., who has had oft- 

 repeated experiences in transporting 

 large apiaries. 



The disturbance will, of course, cause 

 an increase of consumption of honey 

 and an active feeding of the queen, but 

 this will be of very short duration, and 



in return lliero is more or less loss of 

 laying, for she cannot well busy herself 

 at her duties while the colony is being 

 shaken about. One will certainly offset 

 the other. We must look elsewhere. 



I believe the increase of efficiency 

 from moved colonies is due to their 

 having to learn a new location. In 

 normal conditions each bee at its first 

 flight turns and carefully examines the 

 location before venturing in the fields. 

 It does not learrv tlie entire vicinity in 

 one day, surely. Not long ago a French 

 scientist ventured the assertion that 

 bees could find their way home with 

 their eyes bandaged, from any point of 

 the compass. But he limits their range 

 to two or three kilometers — less than 

 two miles. I believe that they learn to 

 find their way in the fields very much 

 as we would find ours if we were pro- 

 vided with wings, by the configuration 

 of the locality. Bees that have been 

 brought to a new spot have to learn 

 their location all over, every one of 

 them, young or old. As soon as they 

 find that they are in a new field, it 

 seems reasonable to believe that they 

 are eager to become acquainted with 

 the range. Hence more active flight, 

 more positive returns, than in the case 

 of the bees which have been reared 

 within this field of action, and find no 

 change from day to day. 



Many different opinions have been 

 advanced as to the range of a bee in all 

 directions. It is evident, from the tes- 

 timonials given in this country as well 

 as in Europe, that there is quite a dif- 

 ference in the distances according to 

 the direction, the winds, the hills, the 

 blossoms. But an old bee in a new 

 field (new to her) will very probably 

 develop an enthusiasm that she would 

 not have experienced in a long-beaten 

 track. 



It seems to me that the above expo- 

 sition of probabilities and deductions 

 is sufficient to indicate that disturb- 

 ances and transportation of bees can 

 have only a limited influence on the 

 success of the colony, and that we must 

 not put too much stress on the benefit 

 to be derived from such abnormal 



operations. In many cases disturbance 

 and transportation of bees will do more 

 harm than good. 

 Hamilton, 111. 



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2.— Bee-Talks for Beginners 



;;_ by jimson racweed, of indiana. 



Molding Beeswax into Cakes. 



Dear Cousin .IiMSON:-While attendiiiir 

 the reunion I went through your shed and 

 examined your bee-fixtures, and I saw some 

 beeswax molded into cakes of about j pounds 

 eacli. and free from dirt. How do vou do it? 

 Ourdruirand wall paper man says he will 

 take all of my wax if I will mold it in cakes. 

 I poured a lot of melted wax in Martha's 

 cake-pans, but now we can't get the wax out. 

 and it seems full of specks. Should I grease 

 the pans with tallow, and should I strain 

 the wax? We had intended goini; up to The 

 Crossing this week, but Baby Sid is threat- 

 ened with a cold, and Martha thinks best to 

 wait till the weather gets better. 



Your Cousin. Cyrus Ragweed. 



Cousin Cyrus:— I am very glad you men- 

 tioned about the beeswax. Several little 

 secrets in this line have been imparted to 

 me. and I will try to explain. Do not grease 

 your pans, and do not try to strain your wax 

 through a cloth. In melting your wax use a 

 double-boiler; that is. one pail placed in a 

 larger one with water in the larger pail- 

 This prevents overheating, which is inju" 

 rious to wax, and it also overcomes the dan- 

 ger of having the wax boil over on the stove. 

 Most impurities will settle to the bottom, 

 but if some particles float they should be 

 skimmed off while the wax is fluid. Now. do 

 not attempt to pour in molds till the wax 

 shows a congealed ring around the edge, and 

 it will then be just right to pour, and when 

 cool the cakes will drop from the molds by 

 simply inverting. If molds are filled while 

 the wax is too hot. the wax will cling to the 

 molds after cooling. Wax could be improved 

 still further if longer time could be given in 

 the cooling process before pouring. These 

 directions are not difficult to follow, and by- 

 using care one can realize a better price for 

 his wax. 



Thursea says to tell Martha that if she will 

 apply goose-grease to Sid's chest and nostrils 

 at night, he will be better by morning. 



Your Cousin. JiMSON Ragweed. 



Getting Straight BroodCo.mbs. 



Dear Unci.e Jimson:— When we were at 

 the reunion pa and Cyrus went through your 

 shed looking at your bee-fixtures, and pa 

 says he never saw such nice, straight brood- 

 combs, free from drone-comb and no wire 

 or splints used. Pa spoils so many nice 

 new combs in extracting, and he wants me 

 to write and ask how you manage. 



Ma is going to send you a crock of our 

 punkin butter by express. 



Give our love to Aunt Thursea, to Sam and 

 the twins. Write soon. 



Stella Ragweed. 



Dear Niece:— A great many good bee men 

 wire their frames, and others use splints, 

 but for myself I find that I get more superior 

 combs by using full sheets of medium-brood 

 foundation without wire or splints. In ex- 

 tracting I use regular brood-frames in the 

 second story, with a queen-excluding board, 

 and 1 try to foretell how many combs I will 

 require. In getting new combs drawn out I 

 always place them about the center of the 

 brood-chamber, exchanging for the same 

 number of combs which I place in the upper 

 story. I want to be sure that an equal force 

 of bees work on both sides of the foundation 

 at once, and if my hive is level, the combs 

 will be straight. After being used for brood 

 one season they are then sufliciently strong 

 to be used for extracting. I would not at- 

 tempt to extract from a newly built comb. 

 Your Uncle. Jimson Ragweed. 



No. i— Exhibit of Geo. H. Coulson's Alfalfa Apiary at the Oklahoma .State Fair, 



See page 42. 



Shaking Bees for Work. 



Dear Pa:— There are several good bee- 

 men here, and of one them wants me to 

 write and ask you about shaking bees. He 

 says he cut out that article that you wrote 

 for a farm paper on the subject some years 

 ago. and he has lost the clipping, but he still 

 has the paper. 



Pa. when you write again I wish you would 

 slip another 10-dollar l>ill in your letter. 

 This is an awful good business college, but I 

 must have a new tableland some linen col 



