November, 1912. 



American l^ee Journal 



by other States. We are just begin- 

 ning to realize the value of co-opera- 

 tion. 



^ 



Elementary Schools and Bee-Keeping 

 in the Black Country. I have been fort- 

 unate enough to secure a garden for 14 

 of the boys attending my school. For 

 hand and eye training last winter we 

 made a hive in school out of old, 

 though good, timber. On May !"i, I re- 

 ceived a colony of bees on (! frames, 

 and with the help of my young gar- 

 deners, transferred it to to the hive. 

 Their arrival excited no small interest 

 in the school and immediate neighbor- 

 hood. Four frames of foundation 

 were given it, and, with the fine weath- 

 er, it was soon busy. 



On June 19, a large swarm issued, 

 though I had put on a super of sec- 

 tions, which the bees never attempted 

 to work. I might mention that I had 

 taken out 2 of the new frames, which 

 were well worked out, in order to 

 crowd the bees into the sections. The 

 boys and I at once replaced these 

 frames, and successfully returned the 

 swarm to the hive, also putting on a 

 second super of sections. 



The boys, at the visit of His Majesty's 

 Inspector, opened the hive and showed 

 him the various parts, and were left to 

 replace everything. About 8 o'clock 

 that evening, a boy came to me in 



breathless haste to tell me that all the 

 bees were out of the hive on the alight- 

 ing-board, and some of them were 

 "running like mad up and down the 

 sides of the hive outside.' I told the 

 boys, who were there weeding their 

 plots, that evidently the queen was 

 missing. We removed the cover, and 

 the first thing we saw was the queen 

 on the side of the section-case by the 

 back of the hive. The boys had care- 

 lessly put the metal end of one frame 

 on the next, and the queen had 

 crawled out through the hole thus left. 

 After returning her, in an incredibly 

 short space of time every bee was in 

 the Iiive. 



We have taken nearly 30 completed 

 sections of honey from our one colony, 

 and the whole lU frames are covered 

 with bees, with plenty of stores, even 

 in this abominable summer. Headmas- 

 ter, St. Mark's School, Tipton, Staffs. — 

 Brih'sfi F-iet' fourual. 



The New Nexico Fair and Premiums. 



— This office is in receipt of the " Year 

 Book " of the Pecos Valley Fair, Ros- 

 well. New Mexico. The apiarian de- 

 partment is recognized to the extent of 

 $41 in cash and a number of premiums 

 on supplies, such as sections, extrac- 

 tors, etc. This department is in charge 

 of Mr. Henry C. Barron, of Hagerman. 

 The Fair took place Oct. 1 to 4. The 



earnestness of the managers in solicit- 

 ing exhibits cannot be too highly com- 

 mended. Judging by the cuts published, 

 the Pecos Valley is a great country for 

 orchards. 



*■ 



The Sting of the Bee Versus the Sting 

 of the Digger- Wasps.- In the Septem- 

 ber number, we quoted the French en- 

 tomologist, j. H. Fabre, concerning 

 the bee-eating philanthus, one of the 

 many diff^erent species of digger-wasps. 

 The same renowned writer calls atten- 

 tion to the fact that the sting of these 

 digger-wasps, who burrow in the 

 ground to breed and feed their young 

 upon the bodies of other insects, is de- 

 prived of the barbs found upon the 

 bees, who use this instrument for de- 

 fense or revenge. 



" The victims of the hymenopters, whose 

 larvEe live upon prey, are not truly dead, in 

 spite of their often complete inertness. 

 There is in them eitlier lotal or partial 

 paralysis; there is a suppression more or 

 less complete of animal life; but a vegetat- 

 ing life, a life of the organs of nutrition 

 maintains itself for a long time yet. and pre- 

 serves from decomposition or decay the 

 prey which the larva is to devour at a more 

 or less remote time. To produce this paraly- 

 sis, the hunting hymenopters use precisely 

 the same process which advanced science 

 of our day might suggest to the experiment- 

 ing physiologists; that is to say. a lesfon of 

 the nervous centers of their organs of loco- 

 motion through the use of the venom-bear- 

 ingsting." 



After describing the work of the 



North Half of the Honey and Bee Exhibit at the Kansas Fair. 



