January 



American ^ae Journal 



matters of importance to them. The 

 following is a copy of a letter addressed 

 by the Committee to Secretary Wilson, 

 which was in line with his sugges- 

 tions to them : 



Washington. I). C. Dec. 13. i«ii. 

 Hon. Jas. Wilson. 



Sec. of Agriculture. Washington. D. C. 



Honored Sir:— In response to your reouest 

 of the LegisIativeCommitteeof theNational 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, that visited you 

 on the I2th inst.. that we repeat in writing 

 our request, that you so kindly promised to 

 do what you could to aid us in. In view of 

 the fact that the various States are not issu- 

 ing bulletins and disseminating knowledge 

 on the subject it becomes necessary for us 

 to make the special appeal to the Federal 

 Government. 



1st. That you instruct your Department to 

 send the Farmers' Bulletin, 442. on Foul 

 Brood, to every farmer who keeps bees in 

 the United States, there being a decrease, 

 largely on account of this disease, of nearly 

 a million hives of bees since last census; 

 that the danger of spread in healthy loca- 

 tions makes it necessary to have every bee- 

 keeper informed of the symptoms, and the 

 treatment of the disease. 



2d. That you also instruct your Depart- 

 ment to issue a statement to all county 

 papers, warning the bee-keepers of the dan- 

 ger of the disease, and that they could have 

 a bulletin for the asking, that would be help- 

 ful to them, as well as their neighbor bee- 

 keepers. 



3d. That your Department be allowed to 

 send out an advance card to the bee-keep- 

 ers, enlightening them as to the nature of 

 the disease, and the bulletin published. 



4th. That your department issue a farm- 

 ers' bulletin, stating the relation of bees to 

 horticulture, and the danger of spraying 

 fruit-trees while in bloom, as being fatal to 

 the bees, which are so essential to them. 



Sth. That your Department issue a farm- 

 ers bulletin, giving the nutritious value of 

 honey as a food, and some recipes as to its 

 present unknown uses in food preparation 

 as very helpful to the citizens of the United 

 States in general. 



As the Committee understands it, thefirst 

 second and third were in the form of are- 

 quest, of which the first you held under ad- 

 visement. The second and third you agree 

 to acquiesce to our request. 



The fourth and fifth were only in the form 

 of a suggestion, and you felt also, with us 

 that such bulletins would be very helpful' 

 and you approved the same. 



The Committee desires to thank you for 

 your courteous audience given them yester- 

 day, and reiterates the gratitude they feel 

 toward your Department, in the many ways 

 you have helped us along the lines of the 

 bee-industry. 



^M- ^.- Selser., Philadelphia. Chm. 

 J. H. M. Cook. New York. N Y 

 N. W. Saunders. Rockville. Md. 



Committee. 



Surely the foregoing is a big step in 

 the right direction. If even half of 

 what is suggested by the Committee 

 be carried out, it is bound to be of 

 great benefit to the bee-keeping indus- 

 try, and also shows the value of organi- 

 zation. If, during the coming vear, 

 the new Board of Directors of the Na- 

 tional can continue such important 

 work as the Legislative Committee has 

 initiated, there will be "something 

 doing " in beedom through the National 

 Association. It will indeed be worth 

 while to be a member of such an or- 

 ganization when it makes progress in 

 the way the above Committee has be- 

 gun. Let us all hope that this year 

 may be a memorable one because of 

 the advancement made by the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association in the inter- 

 est not only of its members, but of 

 bee-keepers everywhere. 



The Legislative Committee also 

 passed a resolution asking that the 

 National Association meet in annual 

 convention in Washington, D. C, this 

 year. They feel they can better use the 



committee as a whole" to further in- 



terests of legislation than in any other 

 way. 



As the new Constitution of the Na- 

 tional provides for the annual meeting 

 in February, it is just possible that 

 there will be no regular convention of 

 the National during this year, as the 

 time is really too short to prepare for 

 a meeting, elect delegates, etc., so as to 

 have the annual meeting next month. 

 So it may be that the first real conven- 

 tion under the new Constitution can 

 not be held until February, 1913. How- 

 ever, it is just possible that a National 

 meeting of some kind will be held dur- 

 ing this year. The new Board of Direc- 

 tors may arrange for such a meeting. 

 Of course, we have no authority for 

 making these statements, but Ihoiiglil 

 perhaps something of the kind rtiiglit 

 be done. 



^ 



Cuba vs. Colorado for Honey. — Wesley 

 Foster says in Gleanings in Bee Cul- 

 ture : 



The most successful bee-keepers in Colo- 

 rado are averaging only 40 to 60 pounds of 

 extracted honey, and 25 to 35 pounds of comb 

 honey. They make up on the number of 

 bees operated. There are about 25 bee- 

 keepers in Colorado who operate more than 

 500 colonies each: fouror five who have over 

 1000 colonies, and one or two who have over 

 2000. 



In the same number D. W. Miller, 

 writing about bee-keeping in Cuba, 

 says : 



About what is the average yield of ex- 

 tracted honey per colony per year in the 

 cold countries ? We figure 30 gallons here— 

 the lowest I know about being 15 and the 

 best 45- Unless all signs fail, this will be a 

 good year for us. 



If we estimate honey at 12 pounds to 

 the gallon, that makes the average yield 

 in Cuba 3()0 pounds; the lowest 180 

 pounds; and the best .540 pounds. If 

 the general average in Cuba is 360 

 pounds, and the most successful bee- 

 keepers in Colorado average only 40 to 

 60 pounds — say DO pounds — it would be 

 interesting to learn why a man of Mr. 

 Foster's ability should remain in Colo- 

 rado instead of going to Cuba, where 

 he could average more than seven 

 times as much honey. Surely the price 

 is not seven times as great in Colorado 

 as in Cuba. Social conditions might 

 make a great difference; but even at 

 that, why not go to Cnba to make his 

 pile and then return to Colorado to en- 

 joy it? 



^ 



Finding Queens with Carbolic Acid. — 



Geo. H. Redford gives in Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture the following plan for 

 finding queens, which, for those who 

 have many queens to find, may prove a 

 saving of time and labor: 



Make a crate of ix2inch lumber, same 

 dimensions as the hive-body. On the four 

 sides tack wire-cloth, and on the bottom 

 queen-excluding zinc. For the top. make a 

 frame of inch stuff, of the same size as the 

 top of the hive (or crate), and tack on wire- 

 cloth. Next, remove the cover from the 

 hive to be searched; take out two combs, 

 and after shaking or brushing the bees back 

 into the hive place the combs in the wire 

 crate and put on the wood-bound wire-cloth 

 cover, and place the crate on top of the 

 hive. Put lor 4 dropsof carbolic acid in the 

 smoker on top of the fuel; light it and 

 smoke at the hive-entrance. Immeiliately 

 the bees will rush up through the excluder 

 into thewirc-clolh fresh-air chamber. When 

 they are about all up which takes less time 

 than to write it) the queen will be found un- 

 der the excluder after tilting up the wire 

 crate. If she is not detected al once, glance 

 on top of the frames, and, falling to find her 



there, the frames can be taken out and ex 

 amined quickly, as they are practically 

 clear of bees. However, it will be seldom 

 that the queen is not discovered trying her 

 best to get through the zinc, and possibly 

 wishing she could return to her original vir- 

 gin slimness. 



The beauty of this method is. first, that It 

 requires very little labor. Second, there is 

 but small chance for robbers to work, even 

 without a tent; and, third, by using wire- 

 cloth on the sides the bees are kept out of 

 the way of the operator. It was found easier 

 to drive them up than down; and the fumes, 

 naturally rising, were more effective than 

 smoking down ward. 



At first I used an ordinary hive-body with 

 zinc on the bottom and wire on top; but 

 with a strong colony the bees covered the 

 wire on top. preventing the smoke from es- 

 caping: and since it was stronger there than 

 lower down, they ran back to the frames. 

 With wire on top and sides, the air is com- 

 paratively fresh on top, and there they will 

 cluster. 



The crate should be nailed rather strong; 

 for after finding the queen the wire top is 

 lifted off. and the crate turned upside down 

 and given a bump on the ground in front of 

 the hive, and it is ready for the next. 



A note of caution should be sounded re- 

 garding the amount of carbolic acid to be 

 dropped into the smoke. Just enough to 

 give a rather rank odor should be used— 

 usually 3 or 4 drops, according to strength. 

 Too much is liable to kill very young brood. 



Fastening an Extractor Unless a 



honey-extractor be fastened very firmly 

 to the floor it shakes in an unpleasant 

 manner. The trouble is that the wob- 

 bling is at the top, while the fastening 

 is at the bottom. Leon C. Wheeler tells 

 in the Bee-Keepers' Review how he 

 overcomes the difficulty. Two braces 

 run from the top of the extractor to 

 the ceiling. To make them more effec- 

 tive, they are about twice as far apart 

 at tire top as at the bottom. 



" Keep Bees Better I" — P. C. Chadwick 

 says this in Gleanings in Bee Culture: 



Friend Hutchinson said. "Keep more 

 bees." Dr. Miller says. "Keep better bees." 

 It might be well to add a third bit of advice. 

 " Keep bees better. " 



Why not " keep better more better 

 bees?" That's the thing to do. 



" I Don't Know." — A man once asked 

 the editor of that most beautiful month- 

 ly publication called " Better Fruit," to 

 what one thing he mostly attributed 

 his reputation. His answer was this: 

 " By being able to say ' I don't know.' " 



That reminds us very much of Dr. 

 Miller — the "sage of Marengo" — who 

 has used those three words a good 

 many times during the past 40 or o(> 

 years. When one really doesn't know 

 it is much better to say "I don't know'' 

 than to pretend to know, for sooner or 

 later the pretense will be discovered, 

 and then he finds he has made the repu- 

 tation of an entirely different sort from 

 the kind that is most desirable. 



Fastening Foundation in Frames. — 



Complaints have been made that fasten- 

 ing foundation in frames with wedges 

 was not always reliable. The wedges 

 sometimes loosen, and down comes the 

 foundation. No one seemed to know 

 just how to remedy this. 



Stephen Anthony, a New Zealand 

 subscriber, has a little son. This little 

 son has a sheep-puppy. This boy put 

 the sheep-puppy to bed one night in a 

 shed where the father was nailing 

 frames. The puppy didn't sleep all 



