43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, SEPT. 24, 1903, 



No. 39. 



( 



Editorial Comments 





Don't Let Your Colonies Starve. — The colonies that have 

 given the largest amount of surplus may be the ones that have the 

 smallest amount of honey for winter. To be sure, they may have an 

 abundance, but the very fact that they have done so well in the supers 

 suggests that they have put all above, and if they have kept the brood- 

 chamber filled with brood till late, they are the very ones that may 

 starve. After doing such good work for you in surplus, it would be 

 too bad to let them starve, wouldn't it * 



Select Your Colonies to Breed Proiu.— No, it isn't the 

 wrong time of the year to decide the matter for next year. The per- 

 formance of each colony is more fresh in your mind now than it will 

 be next spring. If you cellar your bees, there is some danger that 

 they will be all mixed up, and that next spring you won't know which 

 is which. If you are wise, however, each hive will be numbered, and 

 you will have kept an exact account of the performance of each col- 

 ony, making it not so very hard to decide which colony, all things 

 considered, is the one that you want to rear queens from next year. 



Select Your Drone-Breeders.— That may sound like strange 

 advice to some whose chief thought with regard to drones has been 

 the thought of entire suppression. To be sure, it is a good thing to 

 discourage the production of a lot of useless consumers, but it may be 

 well to suggest to you, oh, inexperienced beginner, that not all drones 

 are useless consumers. A few are absolutely necessary, if you are to 

 continue in the bee-business, and it is of highest importance that these 

 be of the best stock. So, besides selecting the best colony from which 

 to breed your queens, select one or more other colonies in which you 

 will encourage the rearing of a considerable number of drones. Now 

 is the time to make such selection. 



FOul Brood at the Cliicaso Convention. — There appears 

 in a German bee-journal the statement that at a bee-convention held 

 in Chicago foul brood was much discussed, the sentiment prevailing 

 that fire was the only safe remedy, one bee-ksjsper asserting that out 

 of 667 infected colonies he had saved only three. 



Our good German friends may be assured there is some mistake. 

 Although fire might be the advisable thing where only one or two 

 colonies were diseased, no one would advise it where a considerable 

 number of colonies were attacked. Thousands of colonies have been 

 successfully treated without resorting to such heroic measures as 

 burning. 



An Extractor I'or E.vtracting Sections has often been 

 inquired for. So far as we know there is no special machine made for 

 that purpose. But for a tew cents any of the common honey-extract- 

 ors can be fixed to extract honey from sections. Here is one way to 

 do it: 



Go to any tinner, and have him make a tin shelf, say ly-.i inches 

 wide and 6 inches long. Then have a wire hook about 6 inches long 

 fastened to the center of each end of the tin shelf, so as to be able 



to drop it into the comb-basket of the extractor, hooking the two 

 wires over the outer edge. Then the sections can be put on this tin 

 shelf, one at a time, after uncapping them, and the honey thrown out. 

 It would be well to have a tin shelf for each comb-basket of the 

 extractor. Years ago, we believe these tin shelves (as we call them) 

 were furnished with the extractors. At least that is where we got the 

 idea. We do not claim any originality in the matter, but know it 

 will work. _^_^_^_^^_ 



A Severe Case of Stinging is reported in Praktischer Weg- 

 weiser. In an ungarded moment a child of 18 months wandered into 

 the apiary. Attracted by her cries, her father found her with her face, 

 ears, neck, head, and hands covered with stings. In greatest haste he 

 removed the stings, put the child in a bath-tub filled with cold water, 

 and continuously, for half an hour, poured upon her cold water from 

 the well. After the bath the stung parts were bathed with vinegar. 

 Then the mother put the child in bed, and warmed the shivering body 

 with the heat of her own body. Sleep soon ensued, and when the 

 child awoke, a few hours later, it was quite lively. There was no 

 swelling, and no evil aftereffects from the intense cold of the bath. 



It would not be difficult to try the same cure in less severe capes — 

 continuous pouring of cold water followed by the application of 

 vinegar. Possibly it would not always work so well. 



" The Queen-Bee and the Palace She Should Occupy " 



is the title of a work of 75 pages, written by T. K. Massie, the said 

 " palace " being the "Massie Ideal Hive," invented by the author. 

 This hive, he announces, " is the only hive in existence which is com- 

 plete in itself. It has more good principles, and fewer objectionable 

 features, than any other." It is " decidedly the best hive ever made," 

 and the " greatest labor-saving hive in existence." 



At the outset the author declares himself in opposition to having 

 anything as " standard," his book being dedicated to " that progres- 

 sive spirit of American apiculture which recognizes no 'standard.' " 

 Something like 20 pages are occupied with queen-rearing and kindred 

 topics. The remainder of the work is devoted, in most part, to in- 

 struction in bee-keeping, as practiced by the author with his hive. 

 Those who use " Massie's Twentieth Century Combined Ideal Bee- 

 Hive " should secure this book. 



Screens for Apiaries. — Those who wish to keep bees in towns 

 or cities have a problem to meet that does not concern the man whose 

 bees can be located at safe distances from any highway. Unless spe- 

 cial precautions are taken, the bee-keeper with only a small city lot, 

 and with neighbors clote about him on all sides, is pretty sure to get 

 into ttouble on account of an occasional sting inflicted upon a passer- 

 by. A board fence. 7 or 8 feet high, will put the flight of the bees 

 above the danger-line. Such a fence, however, is not a very sightly 

 affair. Mr. Wm. Duncan has solved the problem by means of a living 

 screen. 



It is not a very diflicult matter to establish such a screen. For its 

 basis a fence of poultry-netting; then vines to cover the netting, and 

 your screen may be made a thing of beauty. Among the vines that 

 may be used for immediate effect may be mentioned, morning-glory, 

 nasturtium, wild cucumber, Madeira-vine, hop-vine, etc. At the same 

 time, if desired, the're are other vines that can be started for a more 

 permanent effect, such as grape-vine, Virginia creeper, or American 

 ivy, etc. 



