43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, APRIL 9, 1903. 



No, 15. 



Editorial Comments. ^ | 



Spraying Fruit-Trees in Bloom. — Geo. W. Stoneman, of 

 Door Co., Wis., wrote us as follows March 28: 



Mr. Editor: — I now come to you in trouble, asking for help, it 

 such is possible. I am living in a fruit-growiog district, and must say 

 that last season my apiary was badly damaged, caused from fruit- 

 growers spraying while trees were in bloom. 



1 do not think our bee-papers are half as sincere on this matter of 

 spraying as they should be; it is very seldom we see anything in them 

 in regard to it. If we bee-keepers try to tell the fruit-growers that 

 they are killing ofE the bees that fertilize and carry the pollen from 

 blossom to blossom, they will simply say, " O pshaw ! I have been told 

 by good authority that the wind does the fertilizing.'' 



So what can we do to stop this spraying while the trees are in 

 bloom? Is there not some printed matter that could be distributed 

 among them to teach them otherwise' Even our nurserymen recom- 

 mend spraying while in bloom. Now, what do you think we had best 

 do? They will have to be taught otherwise, or we will have io go out 

 of the bee-business. Geo. W. Stoneman. 



This is no new thing. Every spring the Bee Journal has for years 

 had quite a good deal to say on this subject. How any regular reader 

 can charge the bee-papers with being insincere in this matter is more 

 than we can understand. 



Several States have laws enacted against spraying while in bloom, 

 notably New York. We believe that no intelligent fruit-grower now- 

 adays advises spraying while in bloom. The time to spray with pois- 

 onous mixtures, in order to get best results, is just before and just 

 after the blossoming period. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association has issued a pamphlet or 

 two on this subject, we believe, which will be mailed free on request 

 by addressing the General Manager, N. E. France, Platteville, Wis. 



Every bee-keeper should be a member of the National, and then 

 when anything of this kind comes up, he would feel at perfect liberty 

 to appeal to the General Manager for any aid that the National Asso- 

 ciation could give. The annual dues are only one dollar, and can be 

 sent to this othce if more convenient, as we are the Secretary for this 

 year, and one of our duties is to receive dues of members. The Gen- 

 eral Manager is the Treasurer of the As.sociation, and he also receives 

 dues. 



We hope that every reader of this journal will at once become a 

 member of the National, if not already on its membership roll. 



Sampling the Incoming Nectar can be done in the follow- 

 ing way, according to A. C. Miller in the American Bee-Keeper: 



" With the thumb and forefinger grasp ah incoming worker by 

 the wings; with the second finger of the same hand, push against her 

 abdomen near the end, but just above the sting, and at the same time 

 place a finger of the other hand against the worker's mouth. The 

 nectar will flow out upon it and taste will readily determine the source 

 from whence it came. If the novice is afraid of pushing on the 

 sting, let him ' set ' the worker down on the hive-cover." 



Starters Used in Forced Swarms are pronounced '• per- 

 nicious in the extreme " by W. K. Morrison in Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture, because of the amount of drone-comb that will be built. He not 

 only thinks full sheets of foundation better, but prefers full combs to 

 either, saying, " If combs are not available, use full sheets of founda- 

 tion." If with fully drawn combs Uiere is any trouble about goin^^ 

 up into the sections, he advises shallower frames. 



Taking Brood from One Colony to Help Another. — 



One of the things as to which a caution needs to be given each year 

 to the inexperienced is with regard to taking one or more frames of 

 brood from one colony to give to another. Here is a colony that is 

 really not a colony, but a nucleus, and a weak nucleus at that. The 

 beginner is likely to say: 



" That little thing doesn't amount to anything as it is, but if I 

 take a frame of brood — perhaps better two or three frames of brood — 

 from one of my strongest colonies and give to this weakling, I will 

 then have two colonies instead of one." 



Certainlj' it looks reasonable to believe that two colonies are bet- 

 ter than one; but things are not always what they seem. That weak- 

 ling, even after you have given it two or three frames of brood (and 

 if you give it as much as three frames the likelihood is that a good share 

 of the brood will be chilled), is still not in condition to make good 

 growth, while the colony from which the brood was taken has had a 

 setback from which it will not readily recover. 



There would be a good deal more wisdom in uniting the weak- 

 ling with a strong colony. It that is not thought advisable, then let 

 the weakling alone. After a colony is strong enough to fill si.x or 

 eight Langstroth frames with brood, it is time enough to think of 

 drawing a frame of brood from it, and even then it may be the better 

 way to leave it intact and give it a second story. It is the strong 

 colonies that make the rapid increase in building up, and 18 frames 

 of brood will be increased to IB a good deal sooner in two than in 

 three hives. 



Then when it is thought best to draw from the very strongest, let 

 it be to help, not the weaklings, but those that are next to the strong- 

 est, always helping the strongest of those that are weak enough to 

 need help. 



Cuban Honey Competition.— Arthur C.Miller, in the Rocky 

 Mountain Bee Journal, expresses the belief that there is little to fear 

 from the importation of Cuban honey, and adds: 



Furthermore, it is not the competition of aliens, but of Americans 

 who are sojourning in Cuba — brothers with whom we have worked 

 side by side. Shall we slam the door in tlieir faces J Shall we remove 

 about all that makes their life in those surroundings bearable! It is 

 not the Cuban's honey, but the American's honey, that you are cry- 

 ing against, and it is just as reasonable for those States producing 

 little honey, and which sells at high prices, to ask to have Colorado, 

 or Texas, or California, honey kept out of their borders, as for all of 

 us to ask that our brother's honey be kept out of the American mar- 

 ket (unless it pay a high tax) because it was produced in Cuba. 



To this the Editor replies : 



When Americans make use of the resources of an alien soil to 

 compete in the markets of their countrymen, to all intents and pur- 

 poses they become aliens, and they should be regarded as such. 



Some others might say that not only should we give the cup of 

 cold water to those of another State, or our citizens in another land, 

 but to our brothers born on foreign soil as well. 



Formalin for Foul Brood.— C. H. W. Weber writes thus in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture: 



Mr. Root: — Fulfilling my promise made you some time ago. to 

 inform you of any future developments regarding the cure of foul 

 brood by means of formalin gas, I now hand you the final report of 

 Prof. Guyer, of the University of Cincinnati. The combs mentioned 

 in his report were sent to me to experiment with, by friend bee-keep- 

 ers. After fumigating them I sent them to the Professor, with the 

 request that he endeavor to find signs of lite; but, as he says, he could 

 not. Following is his report: , 



" Seventy-five tests for foul brood in bee-comb. Tests were as fol- 

 lows: Forty tests on comb which had been subjected to formalde- 

 hyde-culture, medium-agar at 37'''C; 10 tests on comb containing 

 honey treated as above; l.'i tests on coml) as above culture, medium 

 boriellon at 'i~"C ; 10 tests on comb ( foul brood) not treated with 



