43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL., DEC. 17, 1903. 



No. 51. 



c 



Editorial Comments 



) 



Canadian Experimental Bee-Farm. 



Quite interesting is the report which has been received at this 

 office in the shape of " evidence ' by Mr. John Fixter, the Apiarist 

 before the Committee of the House of Commons. Some items from 

 the report are here given : 



" We found that for the farmer the 9 or 10 frame Langstroth hive 

 is the best, while for the experienced bee-iceeper I would say that the 

 8-frame Langstroth hive is much better, because the experienced bee- 

 keeper will look after his bees better than the farmer usually does, 

 and will see they have plenty of stores in the bottom section to carry 

 the bees over the winter. I would say that the ordinary farmer should 

 have a little larger hive than the experienced bee-keepers, so that his 

 bees will be able to look after themselves." 



The difficulty of getting bees to start in sections, Mr. Fixter 

 thinks, is in many cases attributable to the fact that very small start- 

 ers are used, and he advises full sheets of foundation in all cases, both 

 in sections and in brood-frames, especially in the case of the inex- 

 perienced. 



The split-top section, in use on this side to some extent many 

 years ago, is mentioned as a new section only lately introduced, the 

 split in the top-bar being an improvement, and making it much 

 handier for the inexperienced bee-keeper. 



Mr. Fixter says it has been very strongly recommended by the 

 best bee-keepers in Ontario to wire brood-frames vertically rather 

 than horizontally. 



Experimenting with buckwheat, that sown June 16 came up in 7 

 days, and bloomed in 32 days from the time of sowing. That sown 

 June 29 came up in 6 days, and bloomed 32 days from sowing. That 

 sown July 6 came up in 7 days, and bloomed 37 days from sowing. 

 That sown July 16 came up in 5 days, and bloomed 35 days from sow- 

 ing. In each case the bees began work on it as soon as it was in 

 bloom, the earliest interfering with the white-honey harvest, so it is 

 advised to sow not earlier than July 1. 



Regarding the wintering of bees, Mr. Fixter reports: 



"We have tried very extensive experiments in wintering bees in 

 the following situations; In the cellar of a private house; in the 

 root-house where the roots are kept ; in a pit, that is, a hole dug in the 

 ground on the hill-side; out-of-doors, on the summer stands, and also 

 in the house-apiary. We found that wintering in the cellar is the best 

 method in this section of the country, and I am safe in saying it is 

 better to winter in the cellar in auy section of th« country where the 

 thermometer goes down to 10 degrees below zero. The amount of 

 honey consumed by outside wintering will beabout one-fourth or one- 

 half more than it will be by wintering inside." 



A Problem About Watery Honey. 



Quoting from this journal, a York County Bee-Keeper says in the 

 Canadian Bee Journal : 



" In ' Editorial Comments,' page 627,1 find this: 'Good honey 

 contains in the neighborhood of 1-<J of its weight in water; in a niois- 

 ture-laden atmosphere it may attract to itself so much moisture as to 

 be nearly half water.' Now, we will take, for instance, a barrel of 

 lOOO pounds of good honey with the bung-hole left open, said barrel 

 being stored in a moisture-laden atmosphere. It would draw into 

 itself the difference between )4 and 1-6, which is >,; ; 3b of WOO pounds 



is 333in pounds; the total honey and water in the barrel would then 

 be 1333>a pounds, would it?" 



Rather than to have the thin honey nonplused as to its course of 

 action, why could not our good Canadian friend put it in a larger 

 barrel ? 



Does it absolutely follow that, " water being lighter than honey, 

 the barrel could not begin to hold that amount of honey and water?" 

 Fill a pail with leaden bullets, and you may add several pounds of 

 water without making the pail any fuller, although water is much 

 lighter than lead. Is it not possible that there may be some kind of 

 an understanding between honey and water that will allow both to 

 occupy nearly the same space, just like the water and the bullets? 



But what law is there to prevent the barrel overflowing whenever 

 it became too full * That's exactly what happens in a sealed cell of 

 honey when it stays long enough in a damp place. 



Preparing Aleoholie Drinks with Honey. 



This seems to be an important part of bee-keeping in other coun- 

 tries, and one is wearied with seeing page after page of the foreign 

 journals occupied with telling about such things. It is refreshing to 

 find in the British Bee Journal the following protest against having 

 such matters in a book intended for public instruction; 



" However good the various recipes may be, we can not too 

 strongly deprecate the giving of alcoholic beverages such prominence 

 in a book intended for children, and we should be surprised if the 

 Board of Education would approve of its use in schools." 



American bee-papers have no space to worse than waste in that 

 way. Alcohol is a poison, and its use should be restricted to mechani- 

 cal and medicinal purposes, and in the arts. But some people are so 

 " artful " that they think they must put it into their stomachs as a 

 drink, and then the trouble begins. We never publish a recipe for 

 making an alcoholic drink. 



Bee-Licenses for Out-Apiaries. 



This is a live topic in the Australian Bee-Bulletin. A good deal of 

 government land is occupied with trees that are great honey-pro- 

 ducers, and squatters and others ring-bark these trees so as to kill 

 them. This helps the grass-pasture for stock, but is rough on the 

 bee-pasture. There seems a desire to have for other parts the advan- 

 tage bee-keepers have in Victoria, viz. : 



The Victorians have an arrangement with their Government 

 whereby they can secure a license for the purpose of " a bee-farm not 

 exceeding an acre in extent upon any crown lands, or upon any lands 

 held under a pastoral lease, or a grazing area lease, or annual grazing 

 lease." And ring-barking upon such land is expressly forbidden. 



Time for Development of a Queen. 



Commenting on a recent publication, the British Bee Journal says: 



On page 13, perfect queens are said to be " produced on the four- 

 teenth day after the eggs are put into royal cells," instead of the 

 sixteenth, which is the usual time. 



Could not our esteemed cotemporary make a compromise between 

 14 and 16, making it 15, so as to agree with the teachings of "The 

 British Bee-Keepers' Guide Book?" 



Two Queens in a Hive Eight Months. 



This is reported by the editor of the Australian Bee-Bulletin. They 

 are mother and daughter, the mother having not a vestige of wing. 



