September, 1912. 



American ^ae Journal 



277 



country on earth for the growing of 

 all kinds of grasses, fruits, and root- 

 crops. And it is the linest dairy coun- 

 try imaginable; and \yhen the dairy- 

 men and the bee-keepers once become 

 established here, the land of Canaan 

 won't be "in it" for "aland flowing 

 with milk and honey." It is also ex- 

 cellent for poultry. 



After "looking the ground over" 

 pretty thoroughly, it seems to me that 

 what this new and undeveloped coun- 

 try (Bonner county) needs is more 

 people who have some financial capital 

 to come into it, and also a willingness 

 to work, and ability to do something. 

 It is a poor place for the day-laborer — 

 the man who expects to work for 

 others at so much per day. There is 

 a surplus of that class here already. 

 Practically all who come here should 



am told, I may get quite a little. I had 

 to get a start from Washington, at a 

 place over 30(i miles west of Sandpoint. 

 Quite a number have spoken to me 

 about wanting bees next spring. I hope 

 to be able to sup|)ly them at that time. 



We have had fine weather all summer 

 so far, excepting perhaps a little too 

 much rain, which we are assured by 

 the " oldest inhabitant " is quite uti- 

 tistial. During July, August, and part 

 of September, it is not the usual thing 

 here to have much if any rain. But it 

 makes fine growing weather. No irri- 

 gation necessary here. 



This is the greatest grass country I 

 ever saw. Timothy 3 and 4 feet high, 

 alsike and red clovers Z and 3 feet high, 

 etc. .AH grain except corn does well 

 here. Nights are too cool for corn. 



readers of the old American Bee Journal 

 Sandpoint, Idaho. 



I 



Mrs. York and the Beautiful Vine-Covered Home of the Yorks in Idahi 



be able to buy o, 10 or 20 acres of the 

 new and highly-productive land, make 

 a substantial initial payment thereon, 

 then "get busy" and put up the neces- 

 sary temporary buildings, pitch in to 

 grim IhhiffA, and thus get ahead. One 

 man whom I know here, from only one 

 acre, sold $75 worth of garden-truck 

 every month last summer. There is a 

 good market here for practically every- 

 thing that can be produced on the land. 



I send you also a picture of my own 

 little apiary, which I have started since 

 I arrived. I have •'> colonies now, but 

 only show 4 in the picture. I also en- 

 close a picture of my home with Mrs. 

 York in the buggy. 



We have a good garden, with peas, 

 beans, rhubarb, currants, gooseberries, 

 strawberries, raspberries, a large patch 

 of potatoes, and over 40 fruit-trees of 

 bearing age ((J years), such as apples, 

 pears, cherries, prunes and plums. You 

 ought to see some of the apple trees — 

 how loaded they are. I must thin them 

 out or they will break the trees down. 

 And the plums and prunes are over- 

 loaded, also. This is a great fruit 

 country. 



My bees were all small nuclei, so I 

 don't expect much honey this year. 

 Still, if the season is as long here as I 



But I must not go on, else some may 

 think I am another Western land- 

 boomer. I have no land for sale. I 

 simply desire to give something con- 

 cerning this part of our great country 

 that may be of general interest to the 



Methods of Destroying Moth 

 and Wax Worms 



BV FRAXK F. FK.\Nt K. 



In the June number of the American 

 Bee Journal I notice a paragraph on 

 " What to do with wa,x-worms." Here 

 are two ways I keep moth-worms from 

 combs : 



At the end of the extracting season, 

 instead of placing the combs back 

 on the hives to be cleaned, I put 8 

 combs in a 10-frame super, so that the 

 combs are well apart. I then stack 

 one super on top of another, making a 

 stack of 8 supers. All this is in a good 

 shed or house. To make the supers 

 perfectly tight, I fold up newspapers 

 and put under the edges of all. On the 

 top and bottom of the piles I put a full 

 newspaper and a good cover over that. 

 The bee-moth, if it happens to get in 

 the combs (wet, sticky combs) through 

 some unknown place, will be stuck fast 

 as on tanglefoot fly-paper, or will be 

 daubed so that it cannot live. I have 

 kept lots of combs this way without a 

 moth-worm. 



One season the web-worms were 

 very bad on some of our forest trees, 

 and one day I took one of these webs 

 and placed it in a bo.x that was seem- 

 ingly air-tight. In this box I placed 4 

 or 5 moth-balls, such as you buy at 

 drug-stores. In about 12 hours I ex- 

 amined the box and found every worm 

 in the web dead on the bottom of the 

 box. 



The experiment proved good, and 

 suggested a similar action on combs 

 witli moth-worms. This I tried, and it 

 worked the same way, but to make 

 doubly sure of the job, I put some bi- 

 sulphide of carbon in a thin cover and 

 placed it over the combs for 12 hours 

 or more. At the end of this time the 

 combs were placed in racks in the 

 comb-room, with a moth-ball here and 

 there for safety. This comb-room has 

 not had a moth since the trial, and I 

 believe I will hereafter continue on 

 this idea. 



Platteville, Wis. 



Dr. Miller*s ^ Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-keepine questions by mail. 



Interesting Experience With Poor Laying Queens 

 and Queenlessness 



I have a colony of l)ees whicli seemed to 

 have a poor queen at the beginninsof the 

 harvest, but I put on a comb honey super, 

 thinking I would kill the queen later and let 

 the bees requeen themselves from their own 

 brood. A few days ago I moved the hive 

 from its stand and put an empty one in its 

 place, with a strip of perforated zinc nailed 

 across the entrance Then 1 shook the bees 

 off the c:mbs in front of the empty hive, 

 .ind put the combs, after shaking, ir it To 

 my surprise there was no brood sealed or 

 unsealed in any of the combs. There was a 

 fair sized colony of bees. 



The second day after, I eave the bees a 



comb with eggs and unsealed larvje from 

 another colony. Three days after this was 

 done. I found that the bees had not started 

 queen-cells. There was not much lioney 

 coming in at this time, but there was con- 

 siderable in the hive and a super half full 

 on top. What was the matter, and in wltat 

 way would you proceed to requeen this 

 colony? 



The story I told you the other day about a 

 colony of bees that I tried to requeen has a 

 sequel. Today. July 20. I looked into the 

 hive and found two or three comlis with 

 some sealed brood and considerable un- 

 sealed brood in them The colony had not 

 swarmed, and there were no queen cells or 

 remains of queen-cells to show that any at- 

 tempt had been made at supersedure. 



