May, T910. 



American ^ae tJoarnal 



"big brass kettle" to "strain." This 

 "strained honey" was offered to those 

 who kept no bees, in exchange " for 

 other things " as the writer quoted at 

 the commencement of this tells us, and 

 in this way all of this class of honey 

 was disposed of to the mutual advan- 

 tage of all concerned. 



Then, the white " honey in the comb," 

 was taken to the towns and villages 

 near by and exchanged for boots, shoes, 

 "factory cloth," yarn for mittens and 

 socks, which mother used to knit so 

 nicely for us — bless her memory; and 

 if sugar was wanted, the merchant 

 would, "just to accommodate." give 

 one pound of "confectioner's A ' for 2 

 pounds of the honey. " 'Twan't right," 

 mother used to say, "but you know, 

 husband, 1 can't use honey for making 

 that company cake." That kind of 

 sugar Vk'as the first zr/ii/i- sugar I ever 

 saw, but now it is impossible to get one 

 pound of the dark " muscovado " sugar 

 which used to be the sugar in common 

 use at that time — plenty ot which could 

 be bought for 3 cents a pound, or the 

 merchant would give 3 pounds of this 

 for one of the white honey, by way of 

 exchange, till he had enough honey to 

 supply the wants of " home consump- 

 tion." 



Then, in those old days, our queen- 

 bee was a "king," and the "sight of 

 the king," when a swarm was being 

 hived, was considered something 

 worth telling about among all the 

 neighbors, while the embryo queen- 

 cells we now find on the combs were 

 " the cradles of the kings," which, 

 when clipped from the combs after 

 brimstoning, were given to us children 

 to play with. What would have been 

 thought of the person who would have 

 dared predict that before half a cen- 

 tury had passed the traffic in king (?) 

 bee's, for " the improvement of stock," 

 would amount up well into the thou- 

 sands of dollars, if not into the hun- 

 dreds of thousands. And what would 

 not those fathers have given to have 

 known of the non-swarming of the 

 present, where whole out-apiaries with 

 colonies numbering from 3 to 10 times 

 the colonies kept by the "large api- 

 arians " of those days are kept without 

 a single swarm to be cared for or lost? 

 Those men who had to " run " from 

 their work in the fields to care for 

 swarms, were equally anxious to pre- 

 vent swarming with those of the pres- 

 ent, but with their "gums " and " box- 

 hives" were not able to accomplish the 

 things the many improvements of half 

 a century enable us to do. 



We older ones almost stand aghast at 

 the mowing machine which takes the 

 place of the scythe of 60 years ago; of 

 the self-grain-binders, which take the 

 places of the sickle and cradle; of the 

 wheel-rake on which the rider is drawn 

 by a horse taking the place of the hand- 

 rake, by means of which the old men 

 prided themselves as to who could 

 "close the nicest winrow"in haying 

 time;" of the hay-loaders taking the 

 place of the hand-rake and old ox-cart 

 " laden with its burden of sheaves ;" of 

 the bicycle, the automobile, the airship, 

 the telephone, by which a farmer talks 

 to his neighbor through "a hole in the 

 wall ;" the phonograph by which " the 

 dead still talk to the living," etc., all of 

 which are even beyond the very 



thoughts of the past. Vet in all of 

 these, there has not been an advance so 

 much above that made in bee-keeping, 

 when viewed from an apicultural stand- 

 point. In those days an extractor, a 

 section honey-box, a movable-comb 

 hive, separators, comb foundation, 

 queen-bees reared on a stick by the 

 thousand, shipping-cases for honey so 

 perfect that our product can cross the 

 continent by the car-load in safety, etc. ; 

 all of which was as far from the minds 

 of our fathers in bee-keeping as were 

 the autos, phonographs and telephones 

 from the minds of the great mass of 

 those living in that age. Surely bee- 

 keeping has kept well abreast of the 

 times. And had the writer of that lit- 

 tle item which brought out these 

 thoughts been living today, he would 

 see bee-keeping as "belonging to the 

 farmers " passing mainly from them 

 into the hands of specialists. It is 

 something wonderful, what has come 

 to the bee-keeper, as well as the rest of 

 the world, during the past .JO to 75 

 years. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Swarms Deserting the Hives- 

 Other Topics 



BY £. V. r.\G.^N. 



G. A. Barbisch asks, page 81, why his 

 swarms left the hive after being hived, 

 even when a frame of brood was given. 

 He seems to think the clipped queens 

 had something to do with it. Hardly. 

 A colony does not seem to know any 

 difference between a queen with clipped 

 and a queen with whole wings, for it 

 will swarm out with a clipped queen 

 just the same as if her wings are whole, 

 and it is not likely that the swarm 

 knows any more difference. He is 

 probably right that it was " because it 

 was so tremendously hot during swarm- 

 ing time, and the swarms were so 

 large." Added to that it may be that 

 he took no great pains to give unusual 

 ventilation. The excitement of swarm- 

 ing always begets a great deal of heat, 

 and if a strong swarm on a hot day is 

 put into a close hive, especially if the 

 hive stands in the sun the bees get out. 

 Give all the ventilation possible below, 

 and at least for 2 or 3 days give large 

 additional ventilation at top, either by 

 raising the cover or by shoving it for- 

 ward so as to leave an inch opening. 

 If the hive is not in the shade, shade it 

 in some way, perhaps by putting on 

 top hay or long grass anchored down 

 by a stick or two of wood. Showering 

 the hive with water also helps. 



Bait-Sections and Swarming. 



Ralph P. Fisher, page 8"), seems to 

 think that in some way we should avoid 

 using bait-sections. Just how he thinks 

 it can be done, and his reasoning con- 

 nected therewith, seem a little hazy, but 

 as nearly as I understand, he finds out 

 which colonies would need baits, en- 

 courages them to swarm, hives the 

 swarm in a small hive and later on 

 transfers them to a larger hive. That 

 seems a good deal like surrendering 

 the whole thing. Nothing is done to 

 hasten work in supers until a colony 

 has swarmed, and after that time bee- 

 keepers in general are not particularly 



concerned about hurrying super-work, 

 for the bees themselves commence 

 promptly, even if hives are not so very 

 small. The chief object with all, with 

 many the only object, in trying to 

 hurry super-work is to prevent swarm- 

 ing. But Mr. Fisher seems to say, " If 

 they want to swarm, don't do anything 

 to prevent it, but if they must swarm 

 encourage it." And swarming, in the 

 general opinion, cuts down the honey 

 crop. 



Right down at bottom, his objection 

 to baits is the fact that he has little or 

 no faith in them to hurry up work. If 

 he is right in that, then he is right in 

 not using them. But if he has had ex- 

 perience with baits, it is hard to see 

 how he can believe they make no dif- 

 ference. The fact that bees begin work 

 in a bait before they begin in any other 

 section ought to be proof enough that 

 they begin work at least a little sooner 

 in a baited super than in one not baited. 

 Moreover, in a poor season the writer 

 has had many a bait filled in a super 

 and the foundation not drawn out in a 

 single one of the remaining sections in 

 the super. Can proof be stronger that 

 they have a marked preference for the 

 bait? If Mr. Fisher will give baits a 

 fair show, he will probably find that 

 he can cut down still more the small 

 number of swarms he now has. 



Blending to Prevent Granulation. 



That's a good convention report, 

 page 91, but in one spot the mistake 

 is made that is only too common of 

 telling about something just enough to 

 awaken one's curiosity, and still leav- 

 ing one in the dark. On page 92 is 

 this: "He described a method of 

 blending to make a good basswood 

 flavor, to help prevent granulation." 

 Now what's the use of taking up space 

 to say that, and then leave us entirely 

 in the dark as to what the method is? 



Plan of Swarm Prevention. 



The plan to prevent swarming, by A. 

 C. Allen, page 94, is the Demaree plan, 

 given by G. W. Demaree many years 

 ago, which has proved reliable in many 

 places, but there have been reports of 

 some failures. The unfortunate thing 

 about it is that it can be used only 

 when running for extracted honey. 



4.— Bee-Talks for Beginners 



BY JIMSON RAGWEED, OF INDIAN.V. 



Selling Bees— Hiving Swarms. 



Uncle Jimson:— Ma wants to know if you 

 would care to buy our bees. Pa has so much 

 to look after, and ma says she cannot carry 

 heavy hives about the yard at swarmint- 

 time like she did last year. 



We had a nice letter from Sammy yester- 

 day. We were surprised to know that he is 

 in a business college in Knox County. His 

 letter was printed just like one wc had from 

 the Empire Medicine Company. 



Pa has irone to Martinsville to vote, and 

 ma is making her ash-hopper. 



■your neice. I, ucile Ragweed. 



Dear Lucilk : — If I could I would 

 discourage your ma about disposing of 

 her bees because the season promises 

 good, and a great many lady bee-keep- 

 ers are making quite a success of the 

 business. I think, too, that some of 

 the hardships which you mention can 

 be avoided. I remember that when you 



