October, 1910. 



3" 



American Hee Journal 



prol)ably no timber to compare with 

 liassvvood ; but for 4-piece there is 

 plenty of timl)er just as good as bass- 

 wood, or better, and at a less price. 

 So the talk about giving up section 

 honey because of the advance in bass- 

 wood lumber is all idle talk. 



McEvoy's Artifioial-Im-rease I'laii 



In the Canadian Bee Journal is given 

 a plan of increase practiced by Wm. 

 McEvoy. that may be used by any one 

 who produces extracted honey. Here 

 is the plan : 



111 inakini; artificial swarms I collect 8 of 

 the best combs of brood from the supers 

 and a comb that has been j days in my best 

 colony, and after I put the comb of hatrhint: 

 tXi'*" in the center of these 8 combs of hatch- 

 irn; brooii, I po to my strongest colony and lift 

 it off its stand and then place the hive of 

 super brood ami comb of hatching eg^s on 

 the stand whert' the strong colony of bees 

 stood. I then shake about a Quart of bees 

 in front of tliis hive of brood, being careful 

 not to shake the queen off. I then move the 

 hive of bees and queen to a new stand. The 

 />(-/(/-bces will return to the old stand where 

 the 8 combs full of hatching brood and one 

 comb of hatching eggs are. 



This makes one of the most powerful 

 nuclei ever made, and the bees having only 

 one comb of larvjc to be fed. will feed it the 

 best that it has ever been fed: aiul thus with 

 hundreds of bees hatching every hour, puts 

 tliis colony in the very best condition to put 

 ijbumiante of royal jeliy in ez'frv ijncfii-iiil . thus 

 I'rodttcin^ thf best ijiieciis. I put frames of 

 halchhiB brood taken from supers on this 

 one rearing the queens, and also frames of 

 brood on the old colony that I moved away. 



Clipping' One or Two Wings of 

 Queen 



A queen having all 4 wings cut close 

 can, of course, make no headway at 

 flying. Without thinking, one might 

 suppose that if both wings were left 

 whole on one side, the queen could 

 make more progress at getting away 

 from the hive (in case of swarming) 

 than she could with all 4 clipped. In 

 either case she can not fly. She can 

 run and jump, and the wings on one 

 side will only hinder her at this, for 

 they will throw her over to one side, 

 thus hindering her progress. If half or 

 more ot the two wings on one side are 

 taken off, a queen will never fly again. 



Clipping one of the 4 wings is really 

 all that is necessary to prevent flight, 

 but there is reason why it is better to 

 clip both wings on one side, namely, 

 that when the bee-keeper is looking to 

 see whether the queen in a hive is 

 clipped, he may get just a glimpse of 

 her as she passes quickly under a 

 comb, and if both wings are clipped it 

 is easy to recognize it, whereas if only 

 one wing is clipped it is not easy with 

 such a fleeting glance to say whether 

 she is clipped at all. 



Some Remarks About the I>rone 



Not long ago a member of the Jour- 

 nal family wrote that much had been 

 said about the queen and workers, and 

 he thought it was time that a little at- 

 tention should be paid to the drone. It 

 can hardly be said that no attention is 

 paid to the drone, even though the at- 

 tention he gets is mostly of a destruc- 

 tive kind. Constantly the advice is 

 given and repeated, to suppress the 

 drones as much as possible, so as not 

 to have on hand a lot of useless con- 

 sumers. Trapping, slicing off the heads 



of the sealed brood, and cutting out all 

 drone-comb are advised. 



But in perhaps the majority ot cases 

 no attention is paiil to the advice, so in 

 that respect it may be said tliat the 

 drone is neglected. In some apiaries, 

 especially where full sheets of founda- 

 tion are not used in brood-frames, it 

 would be nothing strange to find as 

 much as a full frame of drone-comb in 

 each hive. The owners of these colo- 

 nies probably do not realise what a loss 

 this means. In the first place there is 

 the cost of rearing. In place of the 

 frame of drone-brood, there might be 

 a frame of honey or a frame of worker- 

 brood. Then there is the cost of main- 

 tenance. It would be a different mat- 

 ter if the drone would go out into the 

 field and rustle for his living. But he 

 doesn't do that. When he leaves the 

 hive it is only for exercise that he may 

 increase his appetite to eat inore when 

 hereturns. Neither is he satisfied to 

 help himself after the table is set. His 

 overworked sisters must chew, swal- 

 low, and digest his food for him before 

 it is ready for his dainty palate. AH 

 this is very expensive business ; so ex- 

 pensive that if it were fully realized 

 there are hundreds or thousands of 

 bee-keepers that would at once put in 

 some time that might easily pay them a 

 dollar an hour in cutting out drone- 

 comb and fitting in its place worker- 

 comb. 



On the other hand, what can be said 

 in defense of supporting a horde of 

 these " lazy fathers of the hive ?" One 

 defense has been oft'ered : they are of 

 use in keeping up the heat of the hive. 

 When a swarm issues, and the mother 

 colony is left so weak that there are 

 hardly enough bees to keep the brood 

 warm, if the drones that are present 

 were to be taken away nearly all the 

 brood would perish. Again, when nec- 

 tar is so plentiful that, as the Germans 

 say, "every fence-post yields honey," 

 the drones remain at home to keep the 

 brood warm, releasing the same num- 

 ber, or a greater nvimber, of workers 

 to go afield to add to the harvest. This 

 defense has been seriously set forth 

 and ardently defended, although per- 

 haps not in this country. It hardly 

 needs to be mentioned that a pound of 

 workers can do as much at keeping the 

 hive warm as a pound of drones, and 

 be doing some other useful work the 

 while. 



After all this is said, there remains 

 the fact that the drone is a very impor- 

 tant personage in the bee-community, 

 and that if all drones were suppressed 

 bee-keeping would cease to be. And 

 while it is true that eft'ort should con- 

 stantly be made to avoid the support of 

 a needless number, it is also true that 

 equal effort, perhaps greater effort, 

 should be made to have only the best 

 drones preserved. While too few bee- 

 keepers pay any attention to the stock 

 from which their young queens are 

 reared, still few pay the least attention 

 to the drones. Of those who are faith- 

 ful in trying to keep down an over- 

 supply of drones, the strong probability 

 is that no distinction is made, and that 

 the drones of the best colonies are 

 suppressed just as much as the drones 

 of the poorest. 



Possibly some may say that only 

 color and temperament, or some other 



particular traits are inherited from>the 

 father, and the most desirable traits for 

 good storers are inherited from the 

 mother. Stop and think a minute 

 whether in the huinan family certain 

 traits are always inherited from the 

 father and others exclusively from the 

 mother. If the father has very dark 

 hair and the mother very light, will the 

 hair of all the children resemble that of 

 one parent alone ? May not industry 

 be inherited from the drone as well as 

 the queen ? 



It may be thought that so long as the 

 bee-keeper has no control over the 

 mating of the queen, and that she may 

 meet a drone from some other apiary, 

 it is hardly worth while to pay any at- 

 tention to the drones beyond keeping 

 down their number. But in any apiary 

 of 100 colonies, if drones are encour- 

 aged in the best colonies and sup- 

 pressed in others, so that the majority 

 of the drones are of best stock, cer- 

 tainly the chances for meeting the best 

 drones is greater than if no such dis- 

 crimination were made. And even if 

 some of the young queens meet drones 

 from other apiaries, it is worth while 

 to give the other young queens the 

 best chance. Then, too, the surround- 

 ing bees will in time be affected, mak- 

 ing their drones better. 



On the whole our correspondent 

 does well to think that something is 

 needed to be said about the drone. 

 Much more is there a need that some- 

 thing be done where now nothing is 

 done, both as to suppressing undesir- 

 able drones, and also as to encourag- 

 ing those that are desirable. 



" The Honey-Money Stories " 



This is a 64-page and cover booklet, 

 554^ by 8/4 inches in size, and printed 

 on enameled paper. It contains a va- 

 riety of short, bright stories, mixed 

 with facts and interesting items about 

 honey and its use. It has 31 half- 

 tone pictures, mostly of apiaries or 

 apiarian scenes ; also 3 bee-songs, 

 namely : " The Hum of the Bees in 

 the Apple-Tree Bloom," and " Buck- 

 wheat Cakes and Honey," and " The 

 Bee-Keeper's Lullaby." It ought to be 

 in the hands of every one not familiar 

 with the food-value of honey. Its ob- 

 ject is to create a larger demand for 

 honey. It is sent postpaid for 25 cents, 

 but we .will mail a single copy as a 

 sample for 1.5 cents, 5 copies for 60 

 cents, or 10 copies by express for $1.00. 

 A copy with the American Bee Journal 

 one year — both for $1.10. Send all or- 

 ders to the American Bee Journal, 146 

 W. Superior St., Chicago, 111. 



- ' The Amateur Bee-Keeper " 



This is a booklet of 86 pages, written 

 by Mr. J. W. Rouse, of Missouri. It is 

 mainly for beginners — amateur bee- 

 keepers — as its name indicates. It is a 

 valuable little work, revised this year, 

 and contains the methods of a practical, 

 up-to-date bee-keeper of many years' 

 experience. It is fully illustrated. Price, 

 postpaid, 25 cents; or with the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal one year — both for 

 $1.10. Send all orders to the office of 

 the American Bee Journal, 140 West 

 Superior St., Chicago, 111. 



