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43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUG. 27, 1903. 



No, 35. 





Editorial Comments 





How to Avoid Killing Bees. — There are some things that 

 every bee-keeper naturally learns by experience that are not always 

 found in text-books of instruction in bee-keeping. One of these relates 

 to the matter of killing bees. Iq some apiaries hundreds, or thou- 

 sands, of bees are killed in the course of a year simply by mashing 

 them when covers or supers are put on hives. The case is unusually 

 bad when a large amount of smoke has been used. The bees runout 

 of the hive, boiling over all around, and by the time the operator is 

 through with his manipulations there is a layer of them half an inch 

 thick or more all around on the upper edge of the sides and ends of 

 the hive. If now the cover be quickly placed over, a large portion of 

 these bees will be killed. If the operator is touched with a feeling of 

 pity for the little innocents, and slowly lets down the cover upon them, 

 so as to give them time to get out of the way, the result is but little bet- 

 ter. After their stampede the bees appear just a bit stupid, and make no 

 move to get out of the way till the cover presses down uncomfortably 

 upon them, and then it is too late, for they are held fast in spite ot all 

 efforts to get away while the cover is slowly crushing the life out of 

 them. 



The experienced operator will put on the cover without killing a 

 bee. In the first place, he will seldom have so many bees in the way, 

 for he does not find it necessarj' to use so much smoke. But if there 

 should be a border of bees an inch thick all around, he is still master 

 of the situation. A little smoke is puffed lightly upon the border of 

 bees just to stir them up enough so that they will be inclined to 

 " move on,'' and then the operator takes the cover in hand. Instead 

 of holding the cover level over the place where it belongs, one end of 

 the cover is raised 10 or 12 inches, and the other end is allowed to 

 touch the hive. Neither does it touch the hive the whole width, but 

 just the corner of the cover farthest from the operator is allowed to 

 touch the nearest corner of the hive. Still holding the cover with one 

 end raised, he slides it from him across the width of the hive. Then 

 allowing this end of the cover to remain resting on the hive, he 

 quickly drops the other end 3, 4, or more inches, and as quickly raises 

 it again. The bees that were squeezed by the dropping of the cover 

 will get out of the way when it is raised. Without waiting an instant, 

 he rapidly moves the cover up and down, each time raising it not quite 

 so high as it was raised before, and lowering it just a little more. At 

 the last, when the cover is raised only an inch, or half an inch, a few 

 rapid vibrations up and down gets the last bee out of the way, and he 

 can tell pretty well by the feeling when the cover no longer strikes 

 upon the bees but upon the solid hive, and the cover is then allowed 

 to rest. All this is so rapidly done that it does not take so much time 

 as seems in the telling, and it is well that each novice should in the 

 start begin practicing to save the lives of his bees. 



Cages for Shipping Queens Abroad.— J. P. Moore is re- 

 ported in Gleanings in Bee-Culture to have succeeded in "sending 

 about 95 percent ot his queens through alive to foreign countries." 

 For mailing queens to England he uses two Benton cages fastened 

 together face to face without any wire-cloth. Besides the candy, two 

 small tubes are contained, one filled with water, the other with honey. 



The candy varies from the usual formula a little, and it is just pos- 

 sible that it might be a good thing for domestic as well as foreign 

 mailing. He says; 



The candy is made of powdered sugar and honey, with the addi- 

 tion of a little glycerine, to prevent it from drying out and becoming 

 hard. It is made as follows: 



To seven cups of powdered sugar add one cup of nice, well-ripened 

 honey; knead thoroughly, and make into three or four balls. Let it 

 stand a few days; then break the halls up and pour a little glycerine 

 over the mass, and work in more powdered sugar. Make into balls 

 as before, and let it stand a day or two, when it is ready for use, if 

 you have added enough sugar and not too much. If the balls flatten 

 down the candy is too soft, and must have more sugar; but if they 

 retain their shape, and have a moist appearance, the candy is just 

 right. When just right, it is soft and pliable, and retains its shape 

 when made into balls. ^___^^_^^__ 



Are Queens Injured by Sudden Cessation of Laying? 



— On page 505, Mr. Hasty says : 



"My ideaof the thing is that injury (if any) by suddenly com- 

 pelling a laying queen to cease laying would all come in the first week. 

 Twelve weeks no worse than six, so far as the laying matter is con- 

 cerned." 



Evidently he is not in accord with what is perhaps a commonly 

 accepted view, that the suddenttess of the cessation does mischief, as 

 if violence were done to the queen by compelling her to retain eggs 

 that she feels impelled to lay. Really, is there anything in that view? 

 Is there any violence in the case whatever i A queen can continue— 

 does continue to lay— when suddenly removed from the combs, proven 

 by the eggs dropped on the floor-board of a swarm before any combs 

 are built. Is there, then, such a great xiiddetmess in the cessation? 



Destroying Queen-Cells to Prevent Swarming.— When 



the beginner has reached that point where it seems desirable to him to 

 prevent swarming, one of the first things that occur to him is to cut 

 out queen-cells. As the building of queen-cells is a part of the regu- 

 lar program of swarming, if they be regularly destroyed every few 

 days the rest of the program can not be carried out, and he thinks 

 there will be no swarming. He is surprised, however, to be told that 

 this can not at all be relied upon to prevent swarming. If constantly 

 thwarted in their efforts by the destruction of queen-cells, the bees 

 become desperate and swarm out just as soon as an egg is laid in a 

 queen-cell— possibly not waiting for that. The inefficiency of destroy- 

 ing cells as a means of preventing swarming has been so emphasized 

 that some seem to have the impression that it has no effect whatever. 



It does, however, have an appreciable effect, indeed to such an 

 extent that one with bees not especially given to swarming may go 

 through the season with very little of it. If, upon examination, 

 queen-cells be found in a colony, and they are destroyed, the bees may 

 swarm the very next day. But this is not likely. They may at once 

 start cells again, only to be destroyed again by the bee-keeper on his 

 next round, and if he goes through his colonies for cells every 10 days 

 or so he will find some colonies that will keep up this battle with him 

 the entire season without swarming. In other cases he will find the 

 bees not so constant in their attempts. On one of his rounds he de- 

 stroys cells in a certain colony, and the next time he finds none. On 

 subsequent visits he may find cells started, and he may not. 



Without actually recommending the cutting out of queen-cells as 

 a means ot preventing swarming, it is only fair to say that it is pos- 

 sible that one, especially it he can be present with the bees only a 

 short time each day, may go through the season quite satisfactorily, 

 provided he has a number of nuclei with young queens, or is willing 



