February, 1914. 



American ^Bec Journal j 



cellar because the warmer place of the 

 two. Instead of that we have the para- 

 dox that the chaff-hive bees are warmer 

 because tliey arc in the colder place. It 

 is well known that in general bees be- 

 gin breeding earlier outdoors than in 

 cellar, and that without regard to the 

 kind of hive used. Take two strong 

 colonies in single-walled hives, cellar 

 one and leave the other outdoors with 

 little or no protection, and breeding 

 may be expected earlier outdoors. The 

 outdoor bees breed earlier because 

 warmer, and they are warmer because 

 in a colder place. The explanation is 

 simple. An illustration will help. Take 

 a sitting-room with a stove in it. The 

 colder the day the hotter the fire kept in 

 the stove. Same with the bees. The 

 colder the surrounding atmosphere the 

 higher the bees keep the temperature 

 in the cluster by means of greater ac- 

 tivity and consumption of stores. So 

 taking three similar strong colonies, in 

 cellar, in chaff hive outdoors, and in 

 unprotected single-walled hive out- 

 doors, other things being equal we 

 should expect the earliest breeding in 

 the unprotected hive, and the latest in 

 the cellar. 



Putting ou a Super Upside Down 



C. B. Palmer writes endorsing Dr. 

 Miller's plan of using bottom starters 

 in sections, but he put on one super 

 upside down, and says if you want to 

 see how much honey bees can cram 

 into one super, just try one upside 

 down. That plan has never been tried 

 "in this locality," but one is curious to 

 know in how many pieces each section 

 had to be cut to get it out of the super. 



Mr. Palmer is the man who ships 

 section honey in candy pails. In the 

 past season he shipped thus in very hot 

 weather, and not a single section out 

 of a thousand was broken. 



"Canards" 



Some bee-papers of Europe are 

 stirred, and more or less satirical, over 

 the information that an Indiana bee- 

 keeper has succeeded in breeding a 

 stingless race of bees. We have not 

 heard of it on this side of the ocean. 

 Such news are properly called "ca- 

 nards" (ducks), for they can lly fully 

 as fast as wild ducks. 



sian contemporaries are not so illiter- 

 ate, and that they have plenty of schol- 

 ars capable of reading the American 

 Bee Journal, which we gladly send in 

 exchange. So let us not look at the 

 mote in our brother's eye, but remove 

 the beam which is in ours. 



and our heartfelt sympathy goes to t^^ 

 bereaved husband. 



Foreign Bee Journals 



For some months past we have been 

 receiving both a Russian and Japanese 

 Bee Journal. In spite of our boasted 

 civilization and advancement, we have 

 been unable to find a student capable 

 of reading either. We will venture the 

 assertion that our Japanese and Rus- 



A Generous Secretary 



We receive the following letter from 

 our good friend J. F. Diemer, Secretary 

 of the Missouri State Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation. No comments are necessary. 

 The beekeepers of Missouri should be 

 proud of their secretary: 



" I wish you would announce in the 



American Bee Journal for February, 

 that while the secretary was allowed 25 

 percent of the collections, by vote, he 

 will not accept it. Every cent paid 

 to me by the charter members of our 

 new association will be used to the best 

 advantage of the association. I admit 

 that the secretary has lots of work to 

 do, but I will enjoy the work more 

 than I would the percent, if beekeepers 

 throughout the proud old State of Mis- 

 souri will help make this association a 

 thoroughly successful one, to the credit 

 of themselves and the industry." 



J. F. Diemer. 



Exaggeration 



The reader will find in this number 

 the translation of an article written for 

 L' Apiculture Nouvelle by Mr. Crepieux- 

 Jamin, who is not only an experienced 

 apiarist, but a capable physician, and 

 perhaps the most renowned grapho- 

 logist in the entire world. 



The article has to do with exaggera- 

 tion in statements on honey and its 

 virtues. The same writer also criticizes 

 the eulogies given to bee-stings as a 

 sure cure for rheumatism. We do not 

 give this part of his argument, because 

 it has to do with an extravagant state- 

 ment made in some European bee- 

 journals by an Austrian physician. Dr. 

 Terc. Mr. Crepieux-Jamin argues that 

 rheumatism is due to various causes, 

 and is usually only a symptom of some 

 organic trouble, such as arthritism. 

 He asserts, therefore, that it is useless 

 generally to rely upon it to cure, or to 

 have more than a local effect; that it 

 cannot remove or " modify the deep- 

 seated causes of arthritism which must 

 be looked for in heredity, in a too sed- 

 entary life, too rich food, the use of 

 alcohol and meat, a damp climate or 

 other causes." That is probably why 

 we have contradictory statements as to 

 the effect of bee-stings in rheumatism. 

 They are not universally efficient and 

 are not suited to every case. 



Mr. Crepieux-Jamin had the sorrow 

 to lose his devoted and amiable wife 

 on Dec. 11 last, at the age of hX She 

 is regretted by all those who knew her. 



The Two Foul Broods 



More and more it becomes apparent 

 that confusion arises from having the 

 name "foul brood" applied to two 

 separate and distinct diseases. The 

 case would be different if the distinc- 

 tion were always made between Ameri-. 

 can and European foul brood. Un- 

 fortunately the distinction is not al- 

 ways made — indeed, not often. So we 

 are often in the dark. For illustration 

 take that interesting summary of the 

 Minnesota inspector's report, page 8. 

 We find that 6 percent of the colonies 

 inspected were found diseased (but with 

 what disease?), and that 10 percent of 

 the diseased colonies were destroyed. 

 That probably means that combs, bees, 

 everything but the hive itself was de- 

 stroyed. If one out of ten diseased 

 with American foul brood was so bad 

 as to warrant destruction it was bad 

 enough; but it is hard to imagine one 

 out of ten so badly diseased with Eu- 

 ropean foul brood as to make it advis- 

 able to destroy bees and combs. 



For the sake of the foul-brood laws 

 it may be necessary to call the two dis- 

 eases each by the same name, "foul I 

 brood, but let the distinctive term < 

 "American " or " European " always be 

 added. It may be argued that it takes 

 up too much room to write out the 

 full name "American foul brood." 

 Well, then, give the contraction, "A. f. 

 b. ;" that's even shorter than to write 

 the indefinite term "foul brood." 



Those Hive Covers 



Wesley Foster doesn't approve of 

 the hive covers he thinks he saw in my 

 cellar (see page 12). Sorry I wasn't 

 there, Wesley, to demonstrate those 

 covers to you. I should have orated 

 something after this style: "What- 

 ever difference of opinion there may be . 

 between us as to painted or unpainted 

 hives, we are at one in agreeing that 

 no unpainted wooden cover should be 

 tolerated. Please take a closer look at 

 the covers you see in this cellar, that 

 on account of the dim light and be- 

 cause of previously conceived opinion 

 you call unpainted wood. Instead of 

 that the surface is of zinc, and not even 

 Colorado weather will make cracks in 

 zinc to let the wet through upon the 

 nice sections. Let me tell you how 

 those covers are constructed. First, a 

 layer of fs-inch boards with the grain 

 running crosswise. Upon the outer 

 edge of this, clear around, lie cleats Ji- 

 inch thick and an inch wide, upon 

 which is a second layer of J^-inch 



