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43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, OCT. 15, 1903, 



No. 42. 



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Editorial Comments 



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liate Once in 30 Years.— So far as we can recall, for the 

 first time in 20 years the American Bee Journal was not mailed last 

 week on time, or at the regular time. It was just two days late in 

 leaving our olHce for the post-oliice. But it was no fault of ours. We 

 sent the forms to press on Monday morning, Oct. 5, at the usual time, 

 but just as it was all ready to be printed, the press-feeders went out 

 on a strike. The firm who does our press-work then tried to get some 

 other printing firm to print it, and finally succeeded; but that firm 

 was also handicapped on account of the strike, so that it was almost 

 impossible to finish it at all last week. However, on Saturday (instead 

 of Wednesday) we got the last of the copies, and rushed them off to 

 the post-office, after wrapping them. 



We regretted the delay very much indeed, as we had made a fair 

 record for promptness in getting out the American Bee Journal every 

 week for many years. But our subscribers will now know the reason 

 why it could not be mailed on time last week, and doubtless will hope, 

 with us, that it may be another 20 years ere it need be late again. 



Peculiarities of the Past Season. — Over a considerable 

 scope of country there has been an abnormal amount of swarming, 

 and that, too, with an unusual honey-tlow. Hot days, and especially 

 hot nights with prevalent sunshine, are considered the proper thing 

 to accompany a heavy honey-flow; the best time for storing being 

 just as farmers begin to complain of drouth ; this year the flow seemed 

 to go right along with cool, cloudy, and damp weather. One of the 

 veterans, who had an unusually heavy harvest, reported: 



" When bees are crazy over a big harvest you can do pretty much 

 what you please with them without fear of being stung; but this year 

 breaks the rule; I never had such cross bees in my life." 



To the question whether he had not worked into a cross strain of 

 bees, he replied : 



" No, it happens that I have pretty clear evidence on that point. 

 The crossest colony of this year had a queen four years old ; the blood 

 in that colony ought to be the same as in the preceding two or three 

 years, yet in those years that colony never distinguished itself for 

 crossness." 



Foul Brood and Wild Bees. — It has been a discouraging 

 thought that no matter how careful one might be in one's own apiary, 

 there was always the fear that foul brood might be lurking in trees 

 occupied by wild bees in the vicinity. General Manager France speaks 

 reassuring words with regard to this, saying that we need have little 

 anxiety, for whenever a diseased wild colony dies out so as to leave its 

 combs and remaining stores a center of infection, the squirrels, and 

 perhaps other things, promptly clean out all that is left to do harm. 



Xational Bee-Keepers' .Vssociation — Its Province. — 



Never in the history of the Association has there been such a rapid 

 accession of members as at the present time. There is no good reason 

 why this should not continue. Indeed, if bee-keepers were not blind 

 to their own interests there would be a membership many times as 

 large, for et'ery bee-keeper in the land should become a member. 



It is not well, however, that there should be any misapprehension 



on the part of recruits. There have been those who seem to have 

 thought that they could wait outside till some trouble occurred, and 

 then the Association would stand ready to receive them with open 

 arms to take up their fight for them. A very little thought will show 

 the absurdity of such a thing. It would be much like a man living 

 without any fire insurance until his house was burning, and then ex- 

 pect to have the loss made good by a company in which he would in- 

 sure after his house was in ashes. 



Neither should it be understood that a member of the Association 

 is at liberty to foment trouble, get into all sorts of quarrels with his 

 neighbors, and then complacently folding his arms sit back and say 

 to the Association : " There, now, I've stirred the thing up good and 

 hot; you go ahead and finish the fight." It must be remembered that 

 justice is not necessarily always on the side of the bee-keeper, and it 

 would be a sorry thing to have a combination for the support of in- 

 justice. 



Let each member do all In his power to keep in peace with the 

 world " and the rest of mankind," and then if the attempt is made 

 unjustly to oppress him, he may confidently rely upon aid from the 

 Association to such an extent as seems right in the judgment of its 

 officers. 



A Great Stvarniing Year has been the year 1903, in certain 

 portions at least. Many report excessive swarming, and stray swarms 

 seem to have been flying through the air in all directions. It is well 

 known that the Dadants have heretofore had very little swarming, 

 not to exceed 5 percent. This year C. P. Dadant reports a perfect 

 avalanche of swarming; and this with an exceptionally heavy yield 

 of honey. 



It has generally been understood that when bees begin to store 

 heavily they give up all foolishness in the way of swarming, and 

 devote all their energies to saving the precious flood of nectar. This 

 year it seemed to work the other way — the more they gathered the 

 more they swarmed. 



Will we ever learn any definite laws by which bees are governed? 



Take Sections Off. — Here and there will be probably still 

 found supers of sections on the hives, where all storing has ceased. 

 Perhaps a super was put on late, and the bees have not begun work in 

 it at all. The bee-keeper thinks there is no immediate hurry, there is 

 no honey in the sections, and so it goes on day after day, with the 

 thought that so long as there is little or no honey in the sections they 

 may as well be on the hives as elsewhere. A serious mistake, for in 

 most places there will be propolis varnished over the comb or founda- 

 tion to such an extent that the appearance is marred, and if the case 

 is bad enough the bees will refuse to accept such sections the follow- 

 ing year. If any beginner still has sections on the hives where the 

 the bees are not storing, let him lose no time in hurrying them oflE. 



Formaldehyde, as a destroyer of the spores of foul brood, is 

 still on trial. Cases are reported in which it has seemed effective, but 

 so long as there are others in which growth of spores occurred after 

 treatment, it will hardly do yet to place entire dependence on the 

 drug. The question now is, whether the cases of failure were due to 

 the inefficiency of the drug, or whether something different in manip- 

 ulation might have produced different results. It is asking a good 

 deal of any disinfecting agent to dig down into the bottom of a cell 

 filled with pollen and honey, and there destroy a thing so tenacious of 

 life as a spore of liaciUus alvei. Can formaldehyde gas do it? 



