Jiiiu'. 1910. 



American l^ee JoarnaJj 



been in use for years, and we would 

 dislike very much to go back to the 

 long top-bars. Miss Candler tried 

 lengthening the short top-bars by driv- 

 ing staples into the end of them. Is it 

 perhaps just possible that she tried the 

 staples in no other way ? We have 

 them driven into the end-bars, close up 

 against the top-bars. The grain of the 

 wood runs there in such direction that 

 the staple will not gradually be driven 

 in as it will in the top-bar. 



The diflference between Editor Hutch- 

 inson's 7-16 top-bar and the y» bar is 



only l-l(i. Either one works all right 

 for a time; most of them for always. 

 But in the course of time some of them 

 will sag, and sag badly; at least the Js 

 ones will, for we had more than 2000 of 

 them years ago. Even if they should 

 never sag, we prefer the thicker top- 

 bars (H) for the sake of the whiter sec- 

 tions where they are thus made farther 

 from the brood-combs. For extracted 

 honey the case is different. But we had 

 to have excluders or honey-boards 

 with the thin top-bars, and that's rea- 

 son enough against them. 



Canadian Beedom 



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



The Cold, Backward Spring 



The weather pessimist now has his 

 innings, and can say, " I told you so," 

 to his heart's content. During all the 

 balmy weather we had during March 

 and the forepart of April, of course the 

 usual prophets were around trying to 

 spoil our enjoyment of the lovely days 

 by telling us that we would "pay up 

 for this in May," and for once at least 

 their gloomy forebodings have come 

 true. 



Since April 20 we have had very 

 cool weather all the time, with torren- 

 tial rains for the first half of this period. 

 The result is that instead of a very 

 early season, as spoken of in my last 

 bunch of notes, with apple-blossoms 

 likely to open by May 1st, here it is 

 May 18th and only the early varieties, 

 such as the Duchess, showing open 

 bloom. 



Very strong colonies have kept us 

 from the necessity of doing much feed- 

 ing, as whenever the bees get an hour 

 or two they can work, they carry in 

 enough to keep them going. At this 

 date (May 18) I venture to say that 

 there is not -500 pounds of old honey in 

 the 300 colonies, yet so far I have fed 

 but 300 pounds of sugar. The colonies 

 were all very heavy last fall, but the 

 early warm weather, with heavy breed- 

 ing as a consequence, explains matters. 

 Naturally I am in hopes thatthe weather 

 will clear off in time for the bees to 

 get some honey from the apple-bloom, 

 to carry them along till the clover 

 opens. 



During all this cool weather we have 

 had but very few frosts, and as the 

 fruit-bloom was not advanced far 

 enough, very little if any damage has 

 been done. Judging from reports from 

 some of the middle West and North- 

 ern States, those sections have not 

 been so fortunate in this respect. 



Temper of Bees — Carni-ltalians the Best 



It is, I believe, generally conceded 

 that the temper of the worker-bee is 

 inherited from the male parent ; in 

 other words, a queen bred from a cross 

 colony and then mated with a drone 

 from a very quiet colony, will produce 

 quiet bees. While I have been aware 

 of this teaching for some time, yet I 

 never, till this spring, have seen how 



forcibly true this rule works out in 

 practice. 



Two years ago two dozen Carniolans 

 were introduced in an apiary where 

 the black blood previously was, if any- 

 thing, in the majority. This spring a 

 number of the Carniolans have been 

 superseded, and in a few cases the 

 young queens have met black drones, 

 the worker-bees showing this by their 

 color and temper, as they are decidedly 

 ugly — much worse than the pure black 

 colonies. On the other hand, a number 

 of the black queens have been super- 

 seded, too, and on opening the hives of 

 these colonies it was a happy surprise 

 to find that the young queens had met 

 Carniolans, and that the worker-bees 

 were very quiet, most of them being 

 marked so that I could destroy the old 

 queens on account of the bees being 

 so ugly, and now the bees in these 

 same hives are among the gentlest in 

 the yard. 



Fortunately, but few of the Carnio- 

 lans met black drones, and it will 

 be noticed that the Carniolans will 

 more than hold their own in this re- 

 spect, as the drones seem to be very 

 powerful on the wing, and, as a rule, a 

 large percentage of queens reared in a 

 yard where there are some Carniolans, 

 will be found to have met drones of 

 this race of bees. 



Some of the best bees I have ever 

 owned, all things considered, have been 

 bred from Italian queens that have 

 mated with Carniolan drones, and if I 

 were asked what is the "best bee," I 

 certainly would say the first cross of 

 Italian queens with Carniolan drones. 

 Unfortunately the next crosses are not 

 nearly so uniform in good points as is 

 this first cross. 



That Busy Bee-Man Byer 



The weather continues i-ery back- 

 ward, and apple-blossoms are just 

 ready to open, having been held in the 

 bud for 4 weeks. 



Bees are very strong, but the weather 

 is so bad that I cannot get queens 

 clipped and supers on. When we do 

 get a few warm hours (not days) we 

 have to get such a hustle on that it is 

 certainly nerve racking. Among my 

 300 colonies, at least 250 are ready for 

 supers now — have 125 on now. 



I have clipped 220 queens, and have 



80 more to clip, so if I had 2 warm 

 days I could get on top again. Then I 

 have about 2 weeks' inspection work 

 mapped out — about a dozen people 

 wanting me to come to their places all 

 at the same time. But there is no use 

 in worrying over what cannot be 

 helped, so I will just do the best I can, 

 and let go undone what I cannot do. 



[No, Mr. Byer didn't put that head- 

 ing on the above item. But it seems to 

 fit him all right, — Editor.] 



The Balling of Queens 



Just what causes some bees, some- 

 times, to ball their queens on the 

 slightest disturbance of the hives has 

 always been a question to me, and this 

 spring the matter has been brought to 

 my mind again in a forcible manner. 

 Owing to the cold, backward weather 

 we have had all through May, it has 

 been a difficult matter to get all the 

 queens clipped and supers put on pre- 

 vious to my going away on some in- 

 spection work that was imperative. As 

 a consequence, we have been opening 

 brood-nests when the weather was 

 hardly fit for the purpose, and at times 

 when little nectar was coming in. 



In 3 or 4 different colonies a few 

 bees were noticed running after the 

 queen, some of them clinging to her, 

 and in one case, after taking all the 

 frames out and looking them over, a 

 glance at the bottom of the hive re- 

 vealed a ball of bees about as large as 

 a walnut. The queen was released, 

 and after a while let go on a comb on 

 the opposite side of the hive, but yes- 

 terday, being at the yard again, I 

 looked at the entrance, and sure enough 

 there was the dead queen. Now this 

 colony was a very gentle one of Car- 

 niolans, not at all excitable, and when 

 the hive was open the bees were quietly 

 sitting on the combs, paying very little 

 attention to anything. 



Former experiences with queens be- 

 ing balled, has generally, if not always, 

 been noticed in colonies very much ex- 

 cited, with the bees running in every 

 direction, as is common in the blacks 

 or hybrids if they get in a panic from 

 having too much smoke given them, or 

 from other causes. 



In watching the actions of the few 

 colonies that were so foolishly solicit- 

 ous of the queen's welfare, I was re- 

 minded of that work entitled, "Are 

 Bees Reflex Machines ?" as all the bees 

 in the hive would seem to be actuated 

 by a common desire over which they 

 have no control. 



If the queen that was receiving such 

 undue attention on the part of her sub- 

 jects happened to be on the side of the 

 hive, the same nervous demonstrations 

 on the part of the bees would be seen 

 if she was removed to the opposite 

 side. In brief, the bees seemed to be a 

 unit, so to speak, and in some mysteri- 

 ous manner the same fear of losing 

 their queen seemed common to the 

 whole crowd. How such a condition 

 is made possible among many thou- 

 sands of bees in a simultaneous man- 

 ner seems a great mystery, and it would 

 seem that they have some means of 

 communication that we mortals do not 

 understand. 



All have noticed the peculiar " home 



