April 9, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



237 



cleaued out, but write simply to show that 

 my method is practical. 



Suramiug up the matter under discussion, 

 this is about the sizeof the ditTerenoe between 

 Mr. Baldwin's method and my own: He 

 would use a thin board, with a small hole in 

 one end of it, between the brood-chamber and 

 super, in order to prevent a too-free circula- 

 tion of air through the brood-charaoer. This, 

 I believe, to be unnecessary with colonies of 

 reasonable strength. If not of reasonable 

 strength, I would make them so. 



I use a piece of burlap because it allows the 

 heat of the cluster to ascend into the super, 

 and work can go on there at all times, except 

 when the temperature is so low as to compel 

 the bees to cluster on the brood-combs. With 

 a tight-fitting cover on the super there is no 

 circulation of air that will do a fair-sized col- 

 o.ny any harm. 



My aim is to have the work done as early in 

 the fall as possible. Edwin Bevins. 



Decatur Co., Iowa, Feb. 27. 



Season of 1902— Big Queens, Etc. 



Last season was the most honeyless I have 

 known in ha yearsof bee-keeping. Rain, rain 

 was the order of the day the whole season. 

 The result was no surplus to speak of, and 

 colonies light in winter stores. 



I am not going to say we expect a big crop 

 in 1903, for I have learned by experience that 

 a few big thunder-storms can knock the 

 poetry out of the brightest prospects of a 

 honey crop in double quick. 



While writing for the ■' Old Reliable," I 

 want to propose three cheers for Dr. Gallup 

 and Baron Lieawful. Oh, now, Mr. Editor, I 

 feel so kind of good and happy over the dis- 

 covery of great minds. Just think of it, the 

 Doctor has discovered a law in the bee-world 

 that like the laws of the Medes and Persians 

 changeth not, and that law is, the larger the 

 hive the larger the queen reared therein ; the 

 larger the queen the larger the colony ; the 

 larger the colony the larger the crop of honey '. 

 Now, let us all strike in on that line and see 

 how soon we can get a queen as large as a 

 yearling heifer ! What boots it though we 

 have to build hives like our barn, 30x40 feet. 



And then think of the Baron's wonderful 

 discovery, wrought out with such scientific 

 research and mathematical exactness as to 

 seconds of time, and the astonishing results 

 achieved. "O! brethren, the woi Id do move." 

 Let the Doctor give us the big queen, and the 

 Baron the great longevity and fertility, and 

 some other man start a blacksmith shop to 

 keep the queens shod and to splice their an- 

 tennie occasionally, and we can set up for bee- 

 keeping! 



Some of the older bee-keepers may remem- 

 ber I spoke a few years ago, through the 

 American Bee Journal, of starting in haste 

 for London, England, to secure one of those 

 wonderful queensi that were called " Punic 

 bees." I am glad I didn't go. We've got 

 something better. 



In conclusion, allow me to say to any 

 queen-breeder who wishes to try the " um- 

 ijilical cord," I will mail 30 or 30 free of 

 charge by enclosing stamp to pay postage. 

 W. J. Davis, 1st. 

 Warren Co., Pa., March .5. 



Tennessee dueens. 



Daughters of Select Imported 

 Italian, Select long'-todgued 

 (Moore's), and Select, Straijfht 

 5-baad Queens. Bred 3K miles 

 apart, and mated to select 

 drones. No bees owned with- 

 in 2"^ miles; none impure 

 within 3, and but few within 

 5 miles. No disease, 3i» years' 

 experience. WARRANTED 

 QUEENS, 75 cents each ; 

 TESTED, 11.50 each. Dis- 

 count on large orders. 

 Contracts with dealers a spe- 

 cialty. Discount after July 1st 

 Send for circular. 



JOHN M. DAVIS, 



9A26t SPRING HILL, TENN. 



Please mention Bee Journal when writing 



Cloth Over Fpames— Giving Bees a 

 Flight. 



Last season was a very poor one for bees in 

 this locality. It was so wet and cold up to 

 July 1.5, and then we had some fair honey 

 weather. We got 25 or 30 pounds of surplus 

 honey per colony, and the bees gathered 

 plenty to winter on in the cellar. My bees 

 are wintering finely so far; the thermometer 

 has been down to zero for the past week, 4 

 degrees was the coldest here. 



The coming season ought to be good for 

 bees here, as the white clover made good 

 growth the past season. 



I notice some of the bee-keepers advocate 

 the use of cloth over the top of frames; they 

 are probably all right in a dry season. In 

 such a wet season as we had here I do not 

 think they amount to murli. I had them on 

 my colonies until the wet WL-athercame. when 

 1 pulled them off and put ou a ^.^-inch board 



B 



IINGHAN'S PATENT 



Smokers 



T F. BINQtlAM, Parwell. Mich. 



PAGE FENCE BEING 



acknowledged the Standard, why don't snrne com- 

 pany try to imitate its quality and serviceability? 

 I»AGK WOVK^ WIKK KKM K (ML, A 1>U1 AN,M1CH. 

 Please mention Bee Journal "wlien "writing. 



Wanted lo Purcliase 



200 to +00 colouies of BEES— northern Califor- 

 nia, Oregon or Texas. State price, f.o.b. cars; 

 also kind of hive, with and without supers; and 

 condition of bees, about April 1st to 10th. 



Address, Dr. Geo. D. Mitchell & Co., 

 12.\-tf Ml Wash. Avenue, Ogden, Utah. 

 Please mention Bee Jotirnal "when "writliis 



9 I ^.80 For 



I ^ 200 Egg 

 ^INCUBATOR 



Perfect iu oon.Uruction and 

 action. Hat<'hes every fertile 

 egg. Write for catalog to-day. 



GEO. H. STAHL, Qulncy, III 



46A26t Please mention the Bee Journal. 



f Bee-Keepers, Remember 



f 



4 



I Root's Supplies at their 



♦ Factory Prices » ♦ * ♦ 



that the freig-ht rates froo 

 are the lowest of any city it 

 We sell 



Poultry Supplies and Hardware I 

 plements a specialty. Send for our 

 free Illustrated Catalog'. Honey and 

 Beeswax wanted. 



GRIGGS BROS., 



214 Jackson Avenue, 



TOLEDO, OHIO. 



f 



14A13t 



Please mentii 



1 the Bee Journ 



CUECD linWCV IS OOOD MONET 

 OnCCr IHUnCI andeasy toinake 

 f you work for ua. We «-lU start you in 

 lUeiness and furnish the capital. Work 

 Ifht and easy. Send 10 cents tor full 



The Dauz. Bive— 



Tlie Comb Honey Hive. 



We sell it. We are authorized iobbing agents 

 for THE A. i. ROOT CO., for Michigan. Send us 

 a list of the truods you want for this season, and 

 let us quote vnu prices. Beeswa.x wanted. Send 

 for catat.xr. H. M. HUNT & SON. 



lOAlTt BELL BRANCH, MICH. 



covir. The cloth was so wet and damp I 

 could wring water out of it. The Ijees left 

 the supers entirely and went below where it 

 was dryer, and staid until I put on the hoards. 

 How did it work? Fine. I lool<ed the next 

 mornint; and they were right bacl< in the 

 supers working for me. Probably my neigh- 

 bors' hives are made so they can not use a 

 lioard on top. My hives are made so there is 

 '., inch Ijetween the hive and the ijable of 

 the cover. The cover sets over the top of the 

 hive and }.! inch down on all sides. This 

 cover, with J^i-inch Ijoard instead of cloth, 

 makes an air-spaced double cover. They can 

 not glue the board to the sections as they do 

 cloth. The -V-inch space underneath keeps 

 the sections neat and clean. 



Some say that boards crack and disturb the 

 bees; they don't bother me much that way. 

 I loosen them up carefuUj' with a pocket- 

 knife, blow a little smoke under, and the bees 

 don't bother at all. I find a good plan in 

 handling bees Is to smoke your hands with 

 the smoker until they smell quite strong with 

 smoke; if a bee alights on your hands it will 

 not stay long. I never use gloves. I have 

 gone through the season without being stung 

 once upon the hands. 



On page 99, I notice what is said about 

 giving bees a flight and returning them to the 

 cellar. I tried that last spring with good suc- 

 cess. After the bees returned to the cellar 

 they were quiet, and did not come out of the 

 hive at all. I am waiting for a day to put 

 them out this spring, but we have not had a 

 day when the bees could fly since last Novem- 

 ber. ■ Manfred Reynolds. 



Kalamazoo Co., Mich., Feb. 34. 



Foul Brood in Ontario. 



A perusual of Mr. Wm. McEvoy's racy and 

 strongly worded article, on page 197, inclines 

 me to offer a word relating to it — just a point 

 or so, and never mind the rest. 



He says '* the province of Ontario had at 

 one time more foul-broody apiaries than any 

 other Province or State in the world.'' One 

 can hardly think that Mr. McEvoy had well 

 considered that wide statement before making 

 it. I have always been led to believe that 

 Ontario, Canada, would not suffer by com- 

 parison with other countries generally, with 

 regard to healthtulness of all useful animal 

 life. My experience with keeping bees, on 

 my own account, extends over more than 30 

 years, and during that time I have visited 

 quite a number of apiaries all about me for 

 "several miles," and f do not remember that 

 I ever had the pleasure ( ; ) of seeing one case 

 of foul brood. That Ontario like other coun- 

 tries is subject to the disease no one wishes to 

 deny. 



Continuing, he says : " The first season that 

 I went out on my rounds through the Prov- 

 ince, I found the disease in every village, 

 town and city that I went into, and also every 

 country place where bees are kept." To 

 make this statement clear, it should be ex- 

 plained that Mr. McEvoy works by the day, 

 and if he were guided by the law that was 

 placed in his hands for his guidance in his of- 

 ficial duties as foul brood inspector, he visited, 

 in the main, only apiaries or bees to lohieh he 

 ui.i.s snit by t/ie Prfsulent of the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, and of course the Presi- 

 dent would send him only to those places 

 where he had reason to believe foul brood ex- 

 isted ; and then we might reasonably expect 

 him to find it wherever he went. With the 

 facts before us, it does seem to me that the 

 Inspector is not justified in branding Ontario 

 as ever having been the worst in the world in 

 that respect. 



We have reason to believe that certain 

 parties, once prominent in bee-circles, bee- 

 societies and bee-literature, were not as care- 

 ful as they should have been when selling and 

 shipping bees; and probably a good deal of 

 mischief was done in that way ; but did not 

 cover all Ontario. 



Can there be any valid reason tor hiding the 

 existence of any infectious disease among any 

 of our domestic animals* To my mind, there 

 never yet has been anything offered that had 

 the appearance of a reason. When A. I. Root 

 Co. had foul brood, they told us so, and we 

 believe 1 them, and when it was eradicated we 

 believed what they said about it, and their busi- 



