lEali-red as second-class matter at the Post-omce at Hamillim, 111., under Act of March :i. l»T!i.l 



Published Monthly at SI. 00 a Year, by American Bee Journal, First National Bank Building 



C. p. DADANT. Editor, 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associa-te Editor 



HAMILTON, ILL., OCTOBER, 1912 



Vol. LII-No. 10 



Fertilized Queeus and Virgin.s 



Mr. Doolittle. in his article in the 

 present ntimber, calls attention to the 

 treatment of queens by the bees. We 

 might add to what he says that ferti- 

 lized queens which are laying are much 

 better cared for by the bees than vir- 

 gins. In a fair season a dozen laying 

 queens may be kept in cages on the 

 same comb and they will all be fed, 

 while virgins would be neglected. 



The better prepared a queen is to lay 

 eggs the better the treatment she will 

 receive. That is why queens trans- 

 ferred from one colony to another in 

 the same apiary without lingering in 

 cages are better and more quickly ac- 

 cepted than queens which have traveled, 

 and whose ovaries are therefore in 

 poorer shape for prompt laying. 



Bee-Keepiuff iu Schools 



More and more bee-keeping is claim- 

 ing recognition as a branch of agricul- 

 ture that should have its place in a 

 complete course of study, especially in 

 country schools. According to the 

 account of the Irish Bee Journal, the 

 Education Committee of the Stafford- 

 shire County Council stands well in 

 the lead in this matter. Bee-keeping 

 of a very practical sort has been intro- 

 duced into 8 of its country schools. 

 Each school has 2 colonies of bees, 

 one to be tinkered with constantly to 

 show to the children what goes on in 

 a hive, the other to be left undisturbed 

 so as to do its best at honey storing. 



The teachers are instructed by the 

 first-class expert and lecturer. Mr. J. 

 Tinsley, with the " Practical Bee Guide " 

 of Editor J. G. Digges as a text-book, 

 and have shown great interest. Each 

 school is supplied with a smoker and 

 10 bee-veils. It was thought that the 

 children would be somewhat afraid of 

 the bees, but, on the contrary, the 

 teachers find it is more trouble to hold 



them back, as they exhibit no fear 

 whatever. 



Note also elsewhere what Tunis is 

 doing. Why are not these examples 

 worthy of general imitation in this 

 country ? 



3Iiddlemau'.s Protit 



In this number will be found another 

 article on the above-named subject by 

 Mr. Fehleisen, in reply to Mr. Foster. 

 The Editor does not accept responsi- 

 bility for articles from any one. How- 

 ever, in this case, we wish to say that 

 Mr. Foster does not propose to do en- 

 tirely away with the middleman, but to 

 get producer and consumer more nearly 

 together and reduce the cost of dispos- 

 ing of our honey, which has always 

 been too great. But the business of 

 the middleman is just as legitimate as 

 any other. His labors should be re- 

 warded. 



As to the possibility of graft and sub- 

 sidy in the prospective parcels post, it 

 can never equal the graft and over- 

 charges of the express companies. We 

 should have domestic parcels post at 

 least as cheap as international postage. 



Weed-Tasters for Kau.sas 



"Weed-tasters are to be employed soon 

 by the Kansas Agricultural College. The 

 men will give their chief attention to sweet 

 clover, especially in the western half of the 

 State. Their task is to find the sweetest 

 patches, the really sweet, for use in propa- 

 gating the plant where it is most needed for 

 feed. 



"The determination to employ weed- 

 tasters was decided June 14. in a meeting of 

 the Board of Regents. It grew out of the 

 fact that sweet clover will thrive on alkali 

 ground in the extreme western part of 

 Kansas. It is very similar to alfalfa, and 

 yields from 3 to 5 tons an acre every year. It 

 grows wild in many places, and farmers are 

 beginning to cultivate it. There is a differ- 

 ence, however, in the clover plants, so. for 

 this reason, men are to try to find as much 

 as possible of the really sweet clover." 



The foregoing, from the Country 



Gentleman, is an item under the gen- 

 eral heading, "The Advance of Agri- 

 culture." It surely does seem an ad- 

 vance to those of us who have known 

 what a bitter warfare has been waged 

 against sweet clover as a noxious 

 weed. When intelligent agricultural 

 advance allows sweet clover to come 

 into its own, the bee-keeper will be 

 glad to share in the advantage. 



What Becomes of the Drones ? 



When forage becomes scarce in the 

 fall we may get our first intimation of 

 it by seeing the workers chase the 

 drones about the entrance. On open- 

 ing the hive we may find the drones 

 huddled together disconsolately in a 

 group outside the combs, and in a few 

 days they are gone. They may be 

 found lying dead in front of the hive, 

 or they may disappear without leaving 

 anv trace. The same thing may occur 

 even while forage is still plenty in a 

 colony where a young queen has just 

 begun laying, and there is no apparent 

 need of drones for another year. 



Now what becomes of the drones ? 

 It is a common thing to say that the 

 workers kill them, but do they ? In 

 Root's "A B C and X Y Z " we find 

 this: "I do not know that I ever saw 

 bees sting drones, but they sometimes 

 pretend to do so. I rather think it is 

 only a feint to drive them away." 

 Others tell us that drones cannot live 

 upon honey and bee-bread as it is to 

 be had from the combs, but depend 

 upon the workers feeding them partly- 

 digested food ; so when drones are no 

 longer desired the workers withhold 

 the food and they starve. It looks as 

 if it might be that way. You probably 

 have seen workers feeding drones, and 

 have seen drones act as if asking for 

 food. Upon lifting a comb out of the 

 hive it is a common thing to see the 

 workers dip their heads into the cells 

 to load up with honey. Did you ever 

 see a drone do that .•" 



If workers really sting drones to 

 death, it ought not to be a difficult 

 thing to see it. You have likely often 

 seen a worker sting another worker, 

 and you know that death occurred in a 

 very few seconds. You have seen 

 workers acting as if stinging a drone, 



