



43dYEAP. 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAY 7, 1903, 



No. 19. 



^ Editorial Comments. ^^ | 



Valuable to Members of the National. — General Manager 

 France has been sending out to each member of the Association three 

 pamphlets. The first contains a copy of the Constitution, and a brief 

 history of the rise and progress of bee-keepers' associations in this 

 country. The second is entitled, " Bees and Horticulture; their Rela- 

 tions Mutual." In this, much valuable information is compiled re- 

 garding pollination, cross-pollination, self-sterile fruits, with testi- 

 mony from various quarters of the globe, spraying fruit-trees, etc. 

 The third gives decisions of the courts— something of intense interest 

 to any one at all likely to have trouble with his neighbors. 



Every bee-keeper in the land, not now a member, would consult 

 his best interest by sending his dollar at once to be enrolled in the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Association. The dollar can be sent to the 

 office of the American Bee Journal, or to the General Manager, N. E. 

 France, of Platteville, Wis. 



A Snarl About Co-operation.— Some one objected to a 

 national honey e.xchange, that in some cases a man would not want to 

 be bound to confine his dealings within the exchange when he could 

 do better outside. Referring to this in (ileanings in Bee-Culture, Dr. 

 Miller said that a member of an e.xchange might sell outside the ex- 

 change so long as he did not cut under the exchange price. In a foot- 

 note, Editor Root replied : 



" An effective organization. National in character, should be so 

 complete and perfect in its workings that not a single buyer can get 

 any honey except through the accredited organization through which 

 bee-keepers are supposed to market." 



The Progressive Bee-Keeper quotes this, and says : " The editor 

 of Gleanings most certainly knows better than that," and accuses 

 (ileanings of being opposed to co-operation. Now, will some one tell 

 us how the matter stands* Will the genial manager of the Colorado 

 Exchange tell us whether a member is allowed to sell outside the 



Paper for Wintering. — It may be remembered that Arthur C. 

 Miller tried protecting hives in winter by tying tarred paper about 

 them. He has also used newsptkpers in the construction of hive-covers 

 made with thin boards, and now has gone a step farther, wintering a 

 colony with nothing over it but burlap and paper. He writes : 



" As a test of the efficacy of paper for protection, I, last tall, in 

 lieu of a cover, put over a moderate colony a piece of burlap, six (I 

 think) thicknesses of newpaper and a layer of tarred paper, the latter 

 being tacked tightly down around the sides of the hive. The burlap 

 was to prevent the bees gnawing the paper and sticking it to the 

 frames. The colony came through splendidly, notwithstanding several 

 long, cold spells, and several times 14 to '20 degrees below zero. They 

 had an entrance 14x?s wide open all winter." 



Temperature of Bee-Cellars.-S. T. Pettit says a wise 

 thing when he says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture: 



" I never could pronounce definitely upon the proper temperature 

 of any given cellar without first consulting the bees in that cellar." 



Cellars are not alike, hives are not alike, and thermometers espe- 

 cially are not alike. Find out at what temperature the bees enjuy the 

 greatest quiet in your cellar by ;/««)■ thermometer, and then try to 

 keep the temperature in that neighborhood. 



What Kills a "Ball«-a Vuoen'?"- At present there is some 

 little discussioa regarding this. It seems impossible that it should be 

 suflocation, for no matter how tightly the bees are crowded together 

 the shape of a bee is such that plenty of passages for air will be left 

 between the different bees. If the queen should be suffocated, there 

 ought also to be a number of workers also suffocated at the same 

 time, and yet when a ball of bees finally melts away from a dead 

 queen, did you ever find a number of dead bees in the center of the 

 cluster* 



A balled queen is sometimes stung to death, but that is when the 

 ball has been meddled with by the bee-keeper. If left to themselves, 

 balling bees do not sting a queen, and when the central bees are held 

 together in so tight a grip it does not seem possible that they could 

 sting if they tried. Besides, if it was the intention of the bees to sting 

 the queen, why should they not sting her the same as they sting a 

 worker, without going through the preliminary work of balling her? 



It seems more reasonable to believe that the balled queen is 

 starved to death. A queen, especially when in full laying, needs a 

 great deal of food, and can not go long without it. The balling con- 

 tinues tor a number of hours, long enough for a queen to starve when 

 not in a cluster, and the violent exertion that she may be supposed to 

 make in trying to extricate herself would only hasten the starving. 

 Does not starvation fully account for the death of the queen ; 



Formalin for Foul Brood.— There seems to bean interest 

 awakened in this matter calling for light. For some reason there has 

 obtained in this country a belief that no drug could be effectual in 

 curing foul brood, although in Em-ope cures thereby have been re- 

 ported for years. Now that formalin has come to the front, there 

 seems to come along with some skepticism as to its efficiency a dispo- 

 sition to give it more credit than it deserves. The blunt truth may as 

 well be told that formalin will not cure foul brood. The same means 

 must be used that have been used without formalin, if a cure is to be 

 effected. If formalin proves at all effectual- and there are certainly 

 pretty strong grounds for believing that it will — the only thing it will 

 accomplish will be to prevent the destruction of frames and combs. 

 That of itself is a great thing. 



Special apparatus is used to vaporize the drug. A dish contain- 

 ing the formalin is heated over a lamp, and the fumes are confined 

 with the combs in them, much the same way as when sulphur fumes 

 are used. It is a mistake to suppose that a comb containing healthy 

 brood can be treated without the utter destruction of all the brood. 



Experiments have shown that the fumes act with promptness and 

 efficiency in proportion as the germs to be destroyed are near the sur- 

 face — a thing naturally to be expected— and this gives room for some 

 fear that without very long treatment there might still be left living 

 spores at the bottom of sealed cells of honey. But let us hope for the 

 best. 



Honey for Sick Domestic Animals. — An article in Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture from the United States consul at Magdeburg, Ger- 

 many, gives some rather remarkable cures by the use of honey. A 

 cow with infiamed udders was cured in ten days by rubbing warm 

 honey into the skin. A sick turkey had bits of candied honey put in 

 its mouth, and afterward was fed pieces of brown bread dipped in 

 fluid honey ; rapid recovery followed. A sick hen with a swollen head 

 was also cured by the administration of honey. 



Phacelia is having a boom in Europe as a forage-plant. Some, 

 however, speak disparingly of it as a forage-plant, while admitting its 

 great value as a honey-plant. Phacelia tanacetitolia is the plant in 

 question, and whether it is of value or not as a forage-plant, it is 

 worth while for a bee-keeper to have a bed of it for the sake of its 

 beautiful blue flowers. It is certainly a great favorite with the bees. 



