August, 1912.! 



American Hee Jonrnall 



Disappointed, but Not Discouraged. 

 Eastern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Field Meet Held at Watseka. III.. 



June 8th. 



ity of bee-keepers. The sooner we 

 come to uniform grading, the better it 

 will he for our industry. Much in this 

 direction ought to be achieved by the 

 action of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. Following are the grades : 



Fancy White Comb Honev. 



Sections to be well tilled, comb firmly at- 

 tached on all sides and evenly capped, ex- 

 cept the outside row next to the wood. 

 Honey, combs and cappines white acd not 

 projecting beyond wood. The wood to be 

 well cleaned; no section in this trade to 

 weigh less than n'A ounces. 

 No. I. 



Sections to be well filled, combs firmly at- 

 tached on all sides and evenly capped ex- 

 cept the outside row. next to the wood. 

 Honey white or very light amber; comb and 

 cappings from white to slightly off color. 

 Comb not projecting beyond the wood, and 

 the wood to be well cleaned; no section in 

 this grade to weigh less than 13/2 ounces. 

 Choice. 



Sections to be well filled, combs firmly at- 

 tached, not projecting beyond the wood, and 

 entirely capped, except the outside row 

 next to the wood. Honey, comb and cap- 

 pings from white to amber, but not dark. 

 Wood te lie well cleaned; no section in this 

 grade to weigh less than 12 ounces. 

 No. 2. 



This grade is composed of sections that 

 are entirely capped, except the row next to 

 the wood, weighing from 10 to 12 ounces, also 

 of such sections that weigh 12 ounces or 

 more and have not more than 50 uncapped 

 cells altogether, which must be filled. 

 Combs and cappings from white to amber in 

 color, but not dark; wood to be well cleaned. 



Extracted Honey 



Must be thoroughly ripened, and weigh 12 



pounds per gallon. It must be wel strained 



and packed in new cans. It is classed as 



white. liKht amber and amber. 



Strained Honey 



Is honey obtained from combs by all other 

 means except the centrifugal extractors, 

 and is classed as white, light amber, amber 

 and dark. It must be thoroughly ripened 

 and well strained It may be put up in cans 

 that previously have contained honey. 



Mr F. Greiner's sutgestion, in this 

 number, of having the crates' weight 

 alike, by sorting the sections, is worthy 



of consideration. However, we doubt 

 whether this can be done when hand- 

 ling honey on a large scale. We would 

 like to have Mr. Rauchfuss express his 

 views on this matter. With his large 

 experience in crating and shipping 

 honey, he might give us some valuable 

 points. 



Eastern Illinois Field Meets. — The fol- 

 lowing letter received from St. Anne, 

 111., gives a short summary of two field 

 meets recently held in Eastern Illinois. 

 The letter also shows to what extent 

 such meets may be developed along the 

 lines of most value to the average bee- 

 keeper: 



Mr. Editor:— a good bee paper is cer- 

 tainly a necessity to practical bee-keepers, 

 especially since the severe loss that we have 

 all had recently, showing our lack of knowl- 

 edge in bee-keeping. I believe that bee- 

 keepers are awakening to the fact that they 

 have been neglectful, and will change for 

 the better. It is fortunate for us here in 

 Illinois that we have such men as Messrs. 

 Kildow and Pyles, who are brimful of en- 

 ergy. They are at the head of a movement 

 that the bee-keepers in general will appre- 

 ciate. It will revive the Dee-keeping Indus- 

 try wonderfully. 



I am writing from the experience I have 

 had recently, in two Field Days, one at Wat- 

 seka and one at .St. Anne. The meeting that 

 was held In St. Anne lune 22, was beneficial 

 to all. A few came from a distance, includ- 

 ing bee-keepers from Indiana. 



A colony affected with foul brood had 

 been reserved, and after Mr. I'yles had ex- 

 plained the different kinds of foul brood, 

 the audience was given an opportunity to 

 diagnose the disease. The answers were 

 written on paper, and the majority pro- 

 nounced it European foul brood while it 

 was the American. Brother I'yles then gave 

 another explanation. 



A colony of bees was "shooked" by 

 Messrs. Kildow and I'yles. showing the peo- 

 ple how quickly the work could be done, 

 after which a photograph of those present 

 was taken. 



It is impossible to put in writing the bene- 

 fit bee-keepers derive from meetings of this 

 nature. One must be present to ai)preciate 

 them, and I hope that, not only In Illinois, 

 but all over the country, someefforts will be 

 made to hold such meetings at different 



places among the bees: they bring results 

 that count. 



And now a few words of my experience in 

 treating foul brood; Unfortunately I had 

 the American in my yard. I wanted to get 

 rid of it, and in the right way. I hit upon a 

 plan of treating them at night. At dusk I 

 took a colony into the cellar, turned on 

 the electric light, and shook the bees in 

 front of a new hive containing full sheets of 

 foundation. It was a success. The moment 

 the bees were in the cellar they seemed 

 possessed of fear which made it very easy 

 to control them. I attributed this fear to the 

 sudden change of temperature from warm 

 to damp and cool. They did not seem to 

 think of filling themselves with honey, and 

 in less than 5 minutes all were on the cold 

 floor in front of the new hive. In they went 

 as if driven by fire; strange, not more than 

 a dozen bees flew to the electric light, which 

 was only a fe*v feet away. 



These bees were then left in a dark room 

 48 hours. At sunset they were taken to their 

 own stand and fed a ciuart of syrup in divis- 

 ion-board feeders. Today they are doing 

 well and working hard. All the brood was 

 saved and put on another colony that was 

 affected, and will soon be treated in a simi- 

 lar manner. 



The treatment of foul brood is not difficult 

 in the least, but it must be done right. 



St. Anne. III.. July 4. H. S. Duby. 



How Much Can a Bee Carry? — Alex 

 Astor gives some interesting figures in 

 I'Apiculteur. He carefully made a 

 number of weighings, using ID bees at 

 a time for the sake of securing greater 

 exactness. The average weight of each 

 bee, when empty, was 7.4 centigrams. 

 He gave them thin syrup, 1 part sugar 

 to 3 parts water. Each bee carried 

 from 6..5 to 7 centigrams. Then he fed 

 honey that was very ripe and thick. 

 P2ach bee carried from 7.4 to S.4 centi- 

 grams. That shows that a bee will 

 carry a heavier load of thick than of 

 thin honey or nectar. One would nat- 

 urally expect that. It also shows that 

 a bee laji carry about its own weight 

 of nectar, and a little more than its 

 own weight of honey. Well, cannot a 

 man do the same ? Would it be such a 

 very great s/i/>i( for a man weighing 

 150 pounds to carry a weight of 1.50 



