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43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, nX,, AUG. 13, 1903. 



No. 33, 





Editorial Comments 



] 



Ordering Supplies in Time.— It is not wise to wait to see 

 what the harvest will be before ordering supplies needed to secure it. 

 Some bee-keepers, who have followed that plan, have been badly 

 caught this year. Their stock of sections has run out, and more 

 could not at once be obtained, because they were not yet made, and 

 the manufacturers were away behind orders. 



The fall of the year is none too early to order for the next year. 

 Count your fall number as wintering without loss, then figure the 

 number of sections they will require should the season be the best you 

 have ever known, and order accordingly. 



" But," you say, " there will in that way generally be a lot of 

 dead capital, for nine times out of ten so many sections will not be 

 needed.". 



The loss from dead capital will be less in ten years than the an- 

 noyance and loss in one year of heavy flow, if you run out of sections 

 and can not get any. It is better to make up your sections and get 

 them all ready in the supers in winter-time or early spring, while not 

 crowded with other bee-work. If you don't need them they will be all 

 right for the following year. Even if not used for three or four years, 

 they will take no hurt. 



Keeping Empty Combs. — Instead of trying to keep combs 

 in a moth-proof closet, G. C. Greiner, as he reports in Gleanings In 

 Bee-Culture, keeps them in a light room, hung not too close together 

 in racks. The light, together with the airy space between the combs, 

 is sufficient to keep the moth away generally, and if perchance an 

 occasional attack be made, a simple glance enables one to see what is 

 going on. 



Old vs. Fresh Foundation. — The question comes up every 

 year from this or that beginner, " Can I use next year foundation left 

 over from this year!" Some say: " Yes, it is just as good as new 

 when a year old, or five years old." Others say : " No, I would melt 

 up all left over from the previous year, and would much prefer to 

 have it right fresh from the mill." 



It is not likely that locality plays any important part in the affair, 

 what is applicable in one place being equally applicable elsewhere, 

 and such widely differing views are to be accounted for by the fact 

 that too limited a view is taken in either case. The experienced bee- 

 keeper, instead of answering the question by either monosyllable, yes 

 or no, will answer, " That depends." 



Beeswax in the form of foundation is but little affected by age 

 when properly kept, although it may be much affected otherwise. Let 

 it remain in the packing-box in which it is received, and years of keep- 

 ing will have little effect upon it. Even if put into sections and piled 

 up in supers in the house, it will be readily accepted by the bees when 

 several years old. But keeping it on the hives when not beiny used 

 by the bees is another matter. In the early part of the season ii may 

 be all right, and it may do no harm to put on sections a few days be- 

 fore they are needed, but sometimes a super of empty sections is put 

 on about the time the flow ceases, and the bees will immediately tiegin 

 to put a very thin — not so very thin if left long enough — a very thin 



coating of bee-glue over the entire surface of the foundation. A sec- 

 tion thus treated, when given to the bees the next year, will be ac- 

 cepted very slowly, often not at all. Put such a well-glazed section in 

 the middle of a super among sections filled with ^resh foundation, 

 and when all the other sections in the super are filled and finished, 

 that particular section will be as empty as when given. 



The moral of all this is, that you need not be afraid to keep foun- 

 dation over from one year to another, either in or out of the sections, 

 but you should not leave it in the care of the bees after the honey-flow 

 has ceased, no matter whether it be partly filled with honey, merely 

 drawn out, or yet untouched. Sometimes there is quite an interval 

 between the early and the late flow. Better take off the sections at 

 the close of the first, to be returned when needed. 



Sweet Clover and Farmers. — A German friend sends a 

 clipping from the Green Co. (Wis.) Herold, which quotes the advice 

 to farmers of John Bauscher, Jr., with regard to sweet clover. That 

 advice is to take vigorous measures for the destruction of sweet clover, 

 for once introduced into fields it can be gotten out only with the 

 greatest difficulty, if at all, as it spreads with extraordinary rapidity, 

 completely overcoming other forage and grain plants. 



It does seem a little strange that men, otherwise intelligent, should 

 show such ignorance with regard to sweet clover. Mr. Bauscher need 

 only to use his eyes to know that sweet clover spreads very slowly, if 

 indeed it spreads at all, from the roadside into a field. Its sole means 

 of propagation is by seed, and it dies root and branch the second win- 

 ter, so if cut before going to seed it has no chance for continuance. 



In a field of cultivated crops sweet clover is no more troublesome 

 than red clover, and in certain places not so bad as white clover. In- 

 deed, in some cases white clover is a troublesome weed, as in a straw- 

 berry bed, but no one on that account is likely to condemn white 

 clover as deserving of annihilation. 



In spite of the unreasonable prejudice against it, sweet clover is 

 gaining ground as a forage-plant of value. More than one farmer, 

 who formerly railed against it, is now putting it in his barn as good 

 winter feed. But stock must learn to like it. 



Too Much Symmetry in an Apiary Undesirable.— 



Editor Root says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture: 



It is a mistake to have a queen-rearing yard laid out in straight 

 rows, and have all the grass and- weeds cut out. Hives should be 

 located in groups of one, two, three, four, and five. Do not have any 

 two groups of the same size and appearance near each other. If there 

 is a group of five hives here, make the next group of two; another 

 group of four. Make each group different from the adjoining one, 

 and, if possible, put near some distinguishing object like a tree or a 

 bush. One group can have a large tree, and another a small one. If 

 tall weeds grow up near the entrance, all the better. While they 

 obstruct the flight slightly, they help young queens in identifying 

 their entrances. 



And, by the way, we made a mistake in Cuba in cutting away all 

 the grass in front of the hives, and in putting them in straight rows. 

 The native Cuban bee-keeper lets the grass grow. His hives are laid 

 out very irregularly, with the result there Is much less robbing than 

 there would be if they were all laid out with perfect regularity in 

 rows, and entrances pointing in one direction. In an apiary of the 

 last-mentioned kind, it is no wonder the bees become confused, and 

 that robbers get a good start before the inmates of the hive realize 

 what is going on. 



There is another point: It takes a great deal of time to keep the 

 grass and weeds down. If I were running for honey and money only 

 I would keep the entrances, the paths, and roadways clear, and that 

 is all. 



You will ask why you would not find that condition of things at 



