April, 1910. 



American l^ee JoarnaJ] 



Wagner claims as patentee of the comb 

 foundation process, the former secured 

 samples of comb foundation made as 

 early as 1853, and which were exhibited 

 in that year at the World's Fair then 

 held in London, England. This inven- 

 tion, like many of the other very use- 

 ful ones that modern bee-keeping is 

 indebted to, had its birth in Germany, 

 but, as in the case of the bee-smoker, 

 k honey-extractor, movable frames, etc., 

 t it remained for American ingenuity to 

 bring them to the highest stage of per- 

 fection. It took a Langstroth and a 

 King to give us a perfect hive and 

 frame; a Quinby and a Bingham to 

 give us a direct-draft bee-smoker that 

 is the principle of all smokers now in 

 use; a Weed, Washburn, and others to 

 perfect the comb-foundation machine; 

 a Root, Lewis, Peabody, and a few 

 others to give us the extractor of to- 

 day, though it must not be denied that 

 in the case of the extractor we have to 

 take oflf our hats to the work of a dis- 

 tinguished foreign genius who devised 

 the automatic reversible honey-extrac- 

 tor — I refer to Mr. Thos. Wm. Cowan, 

 of England, whose form of extractor 

 will endure for all time, as the most 

 useful invention ever given the bee- 

 and-honey fraternity. 



One of the most prized of all the 

 premiums given Prof. King for his con- 

 tributions to the bee-world, is the finely 



wrought solid goKl Apis melifica be- 

 stowed upon him by a committee of 

 the Paris World's Fair as a reward for 

 his exhibit of the first volume of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine, which was ed- 

 ited by Homer A. King and himself. 



Much more might be written of Prof. 

 King, but the foregoing will suffice, ex- 

 cept to state that up to a year ago he 

 had taken an active part in tending 

 bees. Failing health has compelled 

 him to relinquish this cherished work. 

 Today he is leading a quiet life at the 

 home of his son-in-law in San Diego, 

 this State. Both Prof. King and his 

 good wife, whom I well remember for 

 her kindly and queenly ways when I 

 was a little boy, have each passed the 

 7-lth milestone in life's pilgrimage; 

 while he has worked among much 

 sweetness, still the cup of bitterness 

 has been their lot on several occasions 

 — of their 4 children, I believe, only 

 one remains alive, Mr. Benjamin King, 

 of Los Angeles. Their only remaining 

 daughter died suddenly in San Diego a 

 little less than 2 years ago, as an- 

 nounced in these pages shortly after- 

 ward. But it is the wish of the bee- 

 keepers of this land, I am sure, that the 

 remaining days of their lives may be as 

 bright and peaceful as is the climate in 

 which they dwell. W. A. Pryal. 



Oakland, Cal. 



Canadian Beedom 



Conducted by J. L. BvER. Mount Joy, Ontario, Canada. 



Control of Swarming 



We are in receipt of a circular letter 

 from the Ontario Agricultural and Ex- 

 perimental Union, announcing that, for 

 1910, apiculture has been added to the 

 list of departments for experimental 

 work. .-Vs there is no material as yet 

 the first year to be sent out, the letter 

 states that for this season the experi- 

 ments asked for will be on the control 

 of swarming, and the receivers of the 

 circular are requested to write Mr. 

 Morley Pettit, at Guelph, stating their 

 willingness to help in the work in a 

 careful and systematic manner. All so 

 expressing themselves as willing to 

 conduct an experiment, will be fur- 

 nished with all instructions and speci- 

 fications by Mr. Pettit. 



I suppose that all Ontario bee-keep- 

 ers of which the department has the 

 addresses, will be receiving a copy of 

 this circular, and as the list runs away 

 up in the thousands. Mr. Pettit's appeal 

 through the Experimental L^nion should 

 meet with a response on the part of 

 many. The fact of the Union at last 

 recognizing bee-keeping as being on 

 the same status as the various other 

 agricultural industries that have been 

 receiving attention so long, is a matter 

 of congratulation on the part of the 

 apiarists of Ontario, and with so capa- 

 ble a man as Mr, Pettit in charge of 

 the bee-keeping branch, the calling 

 should soon appeal in a different and 

 more important light, than has been 

 the case in the past. 



Some time ago I mentioned in these 

 columns how undecided the question 

 was in regard to the manner of work 

 to be done at the College by Mr. Pettit, 

 when the latter ventured to ask the 

 Ontario association when in convention 

 assembled at Toronto, in November 

 last. It appears to the writer that the 

 work outlined in the circular referred 

 to is a step in the right direction, and 

 we may have reason to believe that this 

 is just a beginning, and surely will be 

 pardoned for being so egotistical as to 

 have visions of the apiary department 

 at Guelph, Out., soon being in position 

 second to none on the continent. 



Any Ontario bee-keepers who may 

 not receive one of the circulars, and 

 who may chance to see this item, will 

 no doubt confer a favor on Mr. Pettit 

 by writing him of their willingness to 

 help in the work he may outline for 

 them. 



Cause of Spring Dwindling 



D. Everett Lyon, who conducts the 

 apiary department of the snug little 

 paper called the Farm Journal, says in 

 the March issue that spring dwindling 

 " results from the colony becoming 

 chilled during a cold spell that may 

 follow their removal from the cellar." 

 Mr. Lyon does not say what causes 

 dwindling in colonies that have been 

 wintered on the summer stands, but I 

 suppose it is but logical to suppose 

 that he would assign the same reason 

 as in the former instance. 



With all due regard for Mr. Lyon's 

 opinion on the matter, I, for one, do 

 not believe that there is as much in the 

 idea of spring dwindling being caused 

 by adverse weather conditions in the 

 spring; and rather feel more convinced 

 each year that the trouble is simply an 

 after effect of bad wintering. To be 

 sure, I would not wish to be understood 

 as advocating the idea that adverse 

 weather conditions are not harmful to 

 bees in the spring, but 1 mean to say 

 that such a condition is merely a sec- 

 ondary factor at the most, in so far as 

 it is responsible for causing spring 

 dwindling. Let me illustrate : 



Who has not noticed that whether 

 bees are wintered in the cellar or out- 

 doors, if the tell-tale marks of dysen- 

 tery are around the entrances of the 

 hives, that colonies so marked will 

 dwindle away like snow in an April 

 sun, while other colonies that are clean 

 and nice will not be materially affected 

 even if we have weeks of unfavorable 

 weather in the spring? Take a colony 

 with a bad dose of dysentery, and you 

 may wrap up the hive with any kind of 

 protection imaginable or practicable, 

 and it will go "all to pieces" beside its 

 sister colony which, healthy, but un- 

 protected, continues to hold its own 

 and even increase, although the weather 

 conditions are the same in both cases. 

 Other causes may also contribute to- 

 wards spring dwindling, and at least 

 one of these causes may be farther to 

 trace up than the winter the bees may 

 have passed through without actually 

 dying. 



Last fall 5 colonies were placed in 

 the home cellar under the steps, all the 

 rest at this yard being wintered out- 

 doors. Four of these colonies have 

 young queens, while in the case of the 

 other it was only discovered by acci- 

 dent late in September that the queen 

 was useless, and had been for some 

 time, as at that date there were only a 

 few scattering cells of normal brood, 

 with patches of drone-brood here and 

 there. .'Vt that late date the old queen 

 was destroyed and a young queen on 

 hand was introduced by shaking all the 

 bees in front of the hive and then 

 throwing the queen among them. I did 

 not know for sure whether the queen 

 was accepted or not, but carried the 

 hive into the cellar with the others, 

 with the idea of seeing how all those 

 old bees would fare in the winter and 

 spring. 



Right here I wish to qualify what I 

 mean by " old " bees, as much depends 

 upon the conditions surrounding such 

 bees, in so far as it affects their longev- 

 ity. For a few years prior to the grow- 

 ing of buckwheat in our section, prac- 

 tically all honey-gathering was over 

 with the clover flow, and as a result 

 very little brood was reared at the lat- 

 ter part of the season. But the old 

 bees in the hives were never very 

 active during all this period of dearth, 

 and consequently their vitality was not 

 impaired to any great extent; and as 

 for results in ivintering, they invariably 

 came through in good condition. Now 

 with a fall flow this is all changed, as 

 the bees work hard and are prematurely 

 aged, as is the case in the clover or 

 any other honey-flow. The old bees in 

 the hive mentioned stored quite a large 

 surplus from the buckwheat, while all 



