928 



(iLEANlNGS IN HKK CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



a shade of a big tree is detrimental. While it is 

 very comfortable for the apiarist, the bees do not 

 spring and summer quite so well. — En.] 



You ASK, Mr. Editor, p. 867, whether my yel- 

 low bees (Italians) swarm more than my "hy- 

 brids and blacks," and say, " If all of them swarm, 

 then we should attribute this swarming to the pe-- 

 culiarity of the season rather than to the yellou 

 blood." I have no blacks. I have made special 

 effort in the past two years to get in Italian blood, 

 and a good number of my colonies are full-blood 

 or half-blood Italians. The rest are of my old 

 stock of hybrids. I have an impression that the 

 season is the worst for swarming I ever experi- 

 enced. But all have not swarmed. There are 

 six colonies that have never had an egg in a queen- 

 cell; three had an egg in a queen-cell just once, and 

 when the egg was destroyed the offense was not 

 repeated; four had a cell or two occupied on two 

 different occasions, but have gone on since with- 

 out starting cells again. Except these thirteen, 

 every colony has swarmed, or would have swarm- 

 ed, so far as I can judge, if special treatment had 

 not been given. These thirteen were all of the 

 old hybrid stock. Yes, emphatically my yellow 

 bees swarm more than my old hybrid stock. But 

 that is no proof that Italians swarm more than 

 hybrids. Please remember that for years I have 

 been breeding from bees that showed least incli- 

 nation to swarm, paying no regard to color 

 (more fool I), and they approximate non-swarm- 

 ing, not because they are hybrids, but because of 

 special selection; and if I had held to pure Ital- 

 ians all the while I might just as well have had a 

 strain of pure Italians little given to swarming. 

 The one important point in the case is that there 

 is some proof — quite a little I think — that by con- 

 tinued selection one can approximate a non-swarm- 

 ing strain. [As you say, the whole point is that 

 you have attempted to breed out the swarming 

 tendency, and that the same effort applied to pure 

 Italians would probably have been productive of 

 the same results. — Ed.] 



Editorial 



By E. R. Root. 



A GOOD SUGGESTION. 



The following note from Secretary Hutchin- 

 son will explain itself: 



E. E. Pressler, of Williamspon, Pa., stamps upon his station- 

 ery and price lists the following: " Will be at Detroit Oct. 12." 

 Why couldn't all of us who send out much mail get a lubber 

 stamp and do the same r It would advertise the National conven- 

 tion in a most telling manner. 



CANE OR BEET SUGAR IN KANSAS. 



We notice by the American Grocer that the 

 Kansas Board of Health, which has the enforce- 

 men,j of the pure-food laws of that State, says 

 that grocers who sell beet sugar for cane will be 

 subject to prosecution. We wish this ruling 

 might be general all through the United States, 

 as it is impossible now to know what one is buy- 

 ing — cane or beet sugar. We always try to get 

 cane exclusively for feeding; but the large sugar- 

 refiners will make no statement as to what they 

 are sending, other than that it is granulated sugar. 



AN OLD TI.MER. 



We had a call last week from F. H. Cyrenius, 

 of Oswego, N. Y. While our friend is not one 

 of the " old boys," he is an old-timer. He began 

 the culture of bees when he was only about twelve 

 years old, and has been an ardent student of them 

 ever since. He is considerable of an inventor as 

 well as a practical man in the field. He has prom- 

 ised to give us some items for publication. 



IS BEESWAX DIGESTIBIE.' 



There has been some little discussion among 

 our exchanges as to whether beeswax is digestible. 

 The fact that most hydro-carbons, including 

 fats, oils, and the like, are digestible, lends color 

 to the theory that beeswax, also a hydro-carbon, 

 may be partly so; at least, Mr. D. F. Robinson, 

 in the Canadian Bee Journal, last issue, pre- 

 sents some pretty good arguments, supported by 

 the authority of experts on food, in favor of the 

 proposition. 



A bee-veil WITH HOLES IN IT. 



Bv the way, did you ever notice that a bee-veil 

 with a few holes in it is almost as good a protec- 

 tion from stings as one with no holes.'' Even if a 

 bee should happen to get through an opening, it 

 finds itself a prisoner and is then more concerned 

 about getting out than carrying out its designs 

 of vengeance. When we talk about holes we 

 mean small ones, say a quarter or half an inch in 

 diameter. Larger ones, of course, will let in a 

 direct onslaught of bees, and then they strike their 

 javelins without stopping to argue the question. 



GOVERNMENT OFFICALS STUDVINCi FOUL BROOD 

 IN CALIFORNIA. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips and Dr. White, the Bac- 

 teriologist, are just now on the Pacific coast doing 

 some field-work experiments on bee diseases. 

 They are gathering data, which, no doubt will be 

 presented to the public in the form of a bulletin. 

 In our last issue we spoke of what the Bureau is 

 doing in Massachusetts and the bordering States. 

 It is a pleasure to know that our apicultural in- 

 vestigators are giving close and careful attention 

 to this subject of bee diseases. 



THE IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR EXCHANGES. 



It is a real pleasure to see the gradual and 

 steady improvement in our apicultural exchanges. 

 Our contemporary to the north of us, the Cana- 

 dian Bee Journal, has shown new life since it 

 went into the hands of the new managers. 

 Away to the south of us in Florida the American 

 Bee-keeper is giving us once a month a great deal 

 of practical and valuable matter. The American 

 Bee Journal, still the "Old Reliable," is furnish- 

 ing a large amount of interesting as well as valu- 

 able matter, with many illustrations; and last, 

 but not least, the Bee-keepers' Re-victv is shoAfing 

 the enthusiasm of an editor who is fresh from 

 the field; for Mr. Hutchinson is a honey-produc- 

 er. We wish all of our exchanges success. 



the folly of MARKETING COMB HONEY TOO 



late. 



Let us not again repeat the folly of last year, 



when thousands and thousands of pounds of 



comb honey were dumped on the market after 



the selling season. Much of that is still in the 



