

43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUG. 6, 1903, 



No. 32. 





Editorial Comments 



] 



The LiOS Angeles Xational Convention — Aug. IS, 19 and 

 20. We suppose a great many bee-keepers, especially all over the 

 Western part of the country, are getting ready to go. It will be a 

 wonderful trip for those of us who live farther east. And those Cali- 

 fornia folks are all ready to welcome the buzzing crowd. 



It probably will be the regret of a lifetime to those who could go 

 if they would try, and fail to make the effort. There is still room in 

 the special bee-keepers' car going over the Santa Fe, and leaving Chi- 

 cago the evening of Aug. 13. If you are going to join that company 

 in the greatest trip a lot of bee-keepers ever took across the continent, 

 let us know quick, and we will reserve a berth for you. 



, The round-trip rate from Chicago to Los Angeles is J50, and $6,00 

 extra for berth. For the Grand Canyon trip (where we will all spend 

 Sunday, Aug. 16) the extra cost for carfare and berth is .?8.50. 



Since our last issue, the following have notified us that they will 

 join the party leaving Chicago on Aug. 13 for Los Angeles : 



N. E. France, of Grant Co., Wis. 



Geo. S. Church, of Winnebago Co., Wis. 



Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Tallady, of Emmett Co., Mich. 



Time of Taking Off Sections. — Just when it is best to take 

 off a super of sections is not an easy thing for the novice to decide, 

 and indeed one of considerable experience may sometimes be puzzled 

 about it. If one waits till every section in the super is fully sealed, 

 some of the central sections will be sure to have the cappings dark" 

 ened, and it is a question between unsealed sections at the outsides 

 and darkened sections at the center. 



It is better to be too early than too late, for a few unsealed cells 

 will not hurt the sale as much as the darkening. Take off the super 

 when the four sections at the corners are still incomplete, or even 

 when the entire row on each side lacks a little of being finished. Then 

 fill up a super with these unfinished sections, and return them to the 

 bees to be finished. Do not fill the super entirely with sections that 

 are filled, lacking only the sealing of a few cells, but let the outside 

 sections be such as are only half filled or less. Indeed, it may be well 

 that the four corner sections shall have only foundation in them. 

 Then there will be no temptation to leave the super on till the central 

 sections are darkened, and the outside sections will give a chance for 

 some storing, being returned again for finishing. 



Detecting Foul Brood.— On another page of this number will 

 be found a very practical article on foul brood by R. L. Taylor, copied 

 from the Bee-Keepers' Review, which is especially instructive in the 

 matter of detecting the presence of the disease. Read it, whether you 

 have any present interest in such things or not. No telling how soon 

 you may need knowledge about such things, and need it badly. 



A Good Cement for fastening the handles of knives, forks, and 

 other things that have become loose, is said in the Australasian Bee- 

 Keeper to be the following; Four parts of resin, one of beeswax, and 

 one of brickdust, melted together. 



The Use of Smoke on Bees.— A. J. Alden sends a clipping 

 from Farm and Ranch containing this paragraph from Heddon's " Suc- 

 cess in Bee Culture : " 



" Take the average colony of blacks or hybrids, have your smoker 

 in good trim, blow smoke across the entrance, and if no honey-flow is 

 on, into the entrance; then noiselessly pry up the cover and pour two 

 or three good puffs of smoke into the top of the hive, when you can 

 handle your frames rapidly. But half smoking such a colony will 

 make perfect terrors. With the gentler bees less smoke is needed, 

 but the method should be the same. This can be done quickly. Smok- 

 ing the entrance starts the panic, and the smoke on top of the frames 

 completes it, and also gains the complete surrender of the crossest 

 hybrids." 



Mr. Alden's comments, " This is a little different from the ac- 

 cepted rule: ' Never be rough with bees nor fight them.' " 



There is really no conflict between the rule and Mr. Heddon's in- 

 structions. It will be noticed that he has in mind gentleness of move- 

 ment, even when dealing with cross bees, for he says to pry up the 

 cover noiselessly. Giving smoke may or may not be considered fight- 

 ing them. No more smoke than is absolutely necessary should ever 

 be used, but with cross bees it is much better to give enough in ad- 

 vance to make sure of subduing them, for once thoroughly aroused, it 

 will take more smoke to control them than if a sufficient amount had 

 been given at the start. 



Judgment and no little experience is needed in the use of smoke. 

 Some bees need little or none when conditions are favorable, the 

 weather hot and honey coming in a flood. If a queen is to be found, 

 an overdose gf smoke will prevent finding, for when the bees get to 

 running like a flock of sheep you may as well close the hive till another 

 time. In this regard there is no difference in individual colonies. A 

 very little disturbance will set some colonies on a stampede, while 

 others with more disturbance will remain quietly on the combs. 



Adding Supers Under or Over.— The practice followed by a 

 large number has been, when giving additional supers, to put the 

 empty super of sections under the others next to the brood-nest, ex- 

 cept near the close of the honey-flow, when the empty super is put on 

 top. This practice will probably continue, in spite of the claim by 

 some that better results can be obtained by giving the empty super al- 

 ways on top, and never allowing a colony to have more than two su- 

 pers at a time. 



But there seems to be some tendency to depart from what has 

 been the general practice with regard to the arrangement of the supers 

 tiered up other than the empty one. That practice has been to have 

 the oldest super at the top of the pile, the next in age immediately be- 

 low the upper. Instead of the continuance of that practice it is likely 

 to be reversed, the empty super being next to the brood-nest, the one 

 next above it being the one nearest completion and so on. This will 

 sooner secure the finishing of the super earliest given, while at the 

 same time the empty super under it will prevent the darkening of the 

 comb in the nearly completed sections. 



Bee-Stings That We Do Not Ijike.— The following is an 

 editorial from Gleanings in Bee-Culture by the younger Root: 



It there is any place over my whole body that I do not like to get 

 a sting outside my face it is up my sleeve on my wrist. Ordinarily I 

 never take any precaution about putting on cuffs or extra sleeves that 

 are bee-tight; that is, fitting closely around the wrist. But last week 

 when I went down to the yards (it was just after a rain) the bees were 

 particularly cross. Two or three got up my sleeve and stung me on 

 the wrist. I paid little attention to the matter, although 1 suffere'd 



