740 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 19, 1903. 



there are a good many bee-keepers that would never complain at all, 

 only guarantee them a fair crop of honey every year. They will take 

 care of the price. 



The fact is, there has never been a general oversupply of honey in 

 this country. There may often be more produced in any one locality 

 than can be used there during the year; but there are always many 

 other places where not nearly enough has been produced to supply the 

 demand. What should be done is to even up the surplus crop — dis- 

 tribute it, more evenly throughout the country. Then a better price 

 couldi)e secured. 



Honey will not usually sell itself, any more than it will take unto 

 itself legs and walk off. The honey-producer must make some effort 

 to dispose of his crop. But he must first see to it that it is put up in 

 the best possible shape for market. Properly graded, neat and clean. 

 He then needs to watch the markets—learn the supply and demand, 

 as far as possible. 



In our experience as a bee-supply dealer, we have not found the 

 bright, pushing, up-to-date bee-keepers objecting to the ruling prices 

 on bee-supplies. We have come in contact with a great variety of 

 bee-keepers, too, in what was our bee-supply department. No one 

 hears of a Coggshall, a Dr. Miller, a France, a Brodbeck, or any other 

 large bee-keepers complaining of high prices of bee-supplies. They 

 have done business enough to know that when the expenses connected 

 with manufacturing and handling bee-supplies are considered, the 

 present prices are none too high. But, actually, there are a few bee- 

 keepers who think .SI. 00 is a high price for 53 copies of the American 

 Bee .Journal ! But we doubt if any one can afford to keep bees at all, 

 if he can not afford to pay a dollar for a bee-paper. 



As to the suggestion that bee-keepers borrow money and buy sup- 

 plies in the tall, that is all right. It would in some cases be a saving 

 to the bee-keeper to do that. And for so doing, an early-order dis- 

 count is offered by some manufacturers. But, of course, no one need 

 borrow money or buy supplies in the fall just because some bee-supply 

 manufacturer suggests that he do so. 



In conclusion, we want to say that we don't know of any bee- 

 supply dealer or honey-dealer who is getting rich in either business. 

 Neither do we know of any honey-producer that is getting rich. Bee- 

 keeping is not a get-rich-at-it business; neither is the bee-supply busi- 

 ness, nor the bee-journal business. But all are businesses in which a 

 fair, honest living can be made bj' hard work, and by " keeping ever- 

 lastingly at it." 



Queens op Laying Workers. 



A Kansas correspondent wrote inquiring as to the value of a 

 tjueen which, upon beginning to lay, laid a number of eggs In a cell, 

 only occasionally having a single egg in a cell; but within 24 hours 

 .another letter came, saying: 



" I have looked into that hive again, and conclude that the queen 

 IS missing, and that laying workers are laying the eggs. What made 

 me think at first that it was not laying workers, was that every cell 

 contained one egg or more; that there were no vacant cells, but the 

 eggs are fastened to the pollen in partly filled pollen-cells. It beats 

 anything I have ever read about for laying workers; there must be 

 many of them, or they are very prolific in egg-laying.'' 



It may be said in general that a good queen will lay one egg in a 

 cell, only duplicating the eggs when cramped for room. Yet there are 

 rare exceptions, a good queen at first laying more than one egg in a 

 cell, even when there are plenty of vacant cells. There is nothing 

 strange about the large numbers of eggs laid by laying workers, for 

 there is not, as some seem to think, only one laying worker in a hive, 

 but a number, if not a majority, of the denizens of the hive are en- 

 gaged at the miserable business. 



There are cases in which it is impossible to diagnose certainly the 

 presence of laying workers, at least until the brood is sealed, for the 

 eggs will be laid just as regularly as if laid by the best queen. This, 

 however, is probably never the case except where there is only worker- 

 comb in the hive; for if drone-cells are present the laying workers 

 prefer them, and will lay a large number of eggs in each drone-cell— 

 sometimes a dozen in each — rather than to put up with the cramped 

 quarters of a worker-cell. Generally, however, one or several queen- 

 cells will be found well filled with eggs by laying workers. When 

 eggs are found only in queen-cells, it is safe to say laying workers are 

 the culprits. 



It is also pretty safe to say there are laying workers if an egg is 

 found laid on pollen, although, very rarely, a good queen may do such 

 a foolish thing. When the brood is sealed, then all doubt as to the 

 presence of a good queen is removed, for the sealing, instead of being 



flat, looks like a lot of Utile marbles, showing that there are laying 

 workers or a drone-laying queen. 



Automobiles for Bee-Keepers and Their Cost. 



This is a matter concerning which there is some interest, and A. 

 I. Root gives some figures in Gleanings in Bee-<;ulture. He copies the 

 following from the Cleveland Leader: 



" William Huston, who recently made an 8000-mile trip through 

 the East in his automobile, to-day figured out the cost of keeping his 

 machine in repair during such steady and hard service. He finds that 

 the mere cost of operating his automobile was 10 cents a mile, divided 

 as follows: Tire maintenance, 5 cents a mile; gasoline, 2 cents a 

 mile; general repairs, 3 cents a mile." 



This would be rather expensive for bee-keepers, but Mr. Root 

 thinks it unnecessarily high, probably being for a large machine cost- 

 ing $1500 or .*200u instead of $000 or $700. His own experience makes 

 him estimate: Tires,!}.;; gasoline, 3.1 ; repairs,! cent a mile, or 2 

 cents a mile in all. Bee-keepers, who are dreaming of some day own- 

 ing an automobile, will be anxious to put faith in the figures of Mr. 

 Root, rather than in those of Mr. Huston. 



Comparing this with the expense of using horse-flesh, Mr. Root 

 bases his estimate on the charges made by liverymen, and thinks 10 

 cents a mile none too high for a horse and buggy. Some bee-keepers 

 will smile at the thought of its costing them !0 cents a mile for old 

 Dobbin and the wagon. Perhaps some one will give us an estimate of 

 the actual cost for his team in visiting out-apiaries. 



Smoking Bees at the Hive-Entrance. 



Renewed attention is called to this matter by the wide variance of 

 opinion expressed by two l>ee-keeping editors. The Editor of Glean- 

 ings says that even in the case of a very cross colony he seldom blows 

 smoke in at the entrance. The Editor of Barnum's Midland Farmer 

 says: " Smoke first, several minutes before taking the cover off; this 

 will give them a chance to fill up with honey." 



Is it locality, the character of the bees, or what is it that will jus- 

 tify such opposite treatment? Are none of Mr. Root's cross bees ever 

 found near the entrance, and are Mr. Barnum's bees so savage that it 

 is not safe to open a hive without first pouring smoke into the en- 

 trance for several minutes! In the case of the average bee-keeper, the 

 choice between the two ways would probably be a choice between 

 stings and loss of time. The amateur, with only one or two colonies, 

 would probably prefer to lose the " several minutes " rather than to 

 run the chance of the stings. The practical bee-keeper, with 50 or 

 more colonies to open in a day, would hesitate at the loss of time. 

 "Several minutes '' would be at least three minutes to each colony, 

 and for 50 colonies that would make two hours and a half, to say 

 nothing of blowing the bees out of the hive with so much smoke. 

 Perhaps the two gentlSmen might get together and make some kind 

 of a compromise. 



( 



Miscellaneous Items 





General Manager France wrote us Nov. !0, saying that the 

 National Association had just won two more victories — one in San 

 Antonio, Tex., where complaints were made against a bee-keeper by 

 neighbors; and another in New Jersey, where honey-thieves were 

 caught, plead guilty, and settled. 



Ohio Bee-Keepers to Organize. — In Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture for Nov. 1, appeared the following editorial paragraphs: 



There is to be a joint meeting of the Hamilton County Bee- 

 Keepers' Association with the Ohio State Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 at Cincinnat Nov. 25, in the conventiou hall of the Grand Hotel. The 

 Hamilton County Bee-Keepers' Association, as I have already men- 

 tioned, is a very lively organization ; indeed, I believe it is the most 

 flourishing body of bee-keepers that ever existed in Ohio. It has 

 regular luonthly meetings, and the enthusiasm seems to keep up to 

 the boiling-point. Well, its members are thoroughly aroused as to 

 the necessity of having a foul-brood law in Ohio, and they desire to 

 co-operate with their brethren all over the State in asking our next 

 General AssemWy to pass such a measure. The old Ohio State organi- 

 zation held its last meeting in Cleveland, it 1 mistake not. The secre- 

 tary, Miss Dema Bennett, just before she died, turned over to mo the 



