March, 1914. 



American ^Bae Jonrnal 



prohibits the importation of any honey 

 whatever. Nor can beeswax and comb 

 foundation be shipped into the country 

 under the same regulation. They, there- 

 fore, feel themselves very safe. 



Yet South Africa cannot be consid- 

 ered a modern Utopia in the beekepe- 

 ing line in spite of the absence of foul 

 brood. Thirty pounds of honey per 

 colony is considered a good harvest, 

 but this is in part made up by the fact 

 that the price of honey ranges from 2(1 

 to 30 cents per pound. 



Then they have bee pirates. Prob- 

 ably some of our readers have never 

 heard of these insects which were de- 

 scribed in our April number for 1913. 

 It seems that there are only two ways 

 to get rid of these pests. One is to 

 catch each individual insect with a but- 

 terfly net; the other is to place water 

 covered with paraffin in a white dish in 

 front of each hive. The pirate is at- 

 tracted not by the water but by the 

 white spot. 



The following on bee pirates by G. 

 S. Oettle, in the South African Poultry 

 Magazine for November, may be of 

 interest : 



" These pests are hard at work, and 

 we wish that an easier method of ex- 

 termination were available than that at 

 present in force. If you realize what a 

 devastating effect the presence of these 

 insects has upon colonies, you will 

 appreciate these lines. Last week we 

 found no less than three hives deci- 

 mated by the attacks of these insects. 

 We sat for 20 minutes in front of an- 

 other and counted no less than 27 

 bees carried away by pirates. This 

 number does not include those caught 

 in the grass which surrounded the hive. 

 One significant thing we noticed and 

 that was that the pirate seemed afraid 

 or unable to tackle the bees while they 

 remain stationary or ran about on the 

 alighting-board. It was heart render- 

 ing to see how the pirates enticed the 

 bees into the air to their destruction. 



"The 'saucer' remedy is voted a 



success by some and a failure by others, 

 a great deal depending upon the actual 

 position of the saucer containing the 

 water covered with paratlin. One 

 method of relief, however, has been 

 proved a moderate success, and that is 

 to darken the entrance of a hive by 

 providing a shade-board not more than 

 2 inches above the entrance and mak- 

 ing it extend at least 8 inches in front 

 of the alighting-board of the hive. The 

 entrance-board should be about the 

 same width, but rather narrower so 

 that the bees can fly in and out from a 

 more or less shaded place. 



" Experience has shown that the at- 

 tacks of the pirates are usually at those 

 times of the day when the sun is shining 

 brightly and casting deep shadows, and 

 it has been proved that these insects 

 avoid shadows as much as possible. 

 The bees by this method do get a 

 chance. I should be glad if other bee- 

 keepers would make a trial of this 

 method of protecting their bees from 

 the onslaughts of these enemies to the 

 industry." 



Death of F. B. Cavanagh. — We regret 

 to have to inform our readers of the 

 sudden death of F. B. Cavanagh, which 

 occurred at Hebron, Ind., on Feb. 12. 

 Mr. Cavanagh operated over .500 colo- 

 nies of bees, and was a wide-awake 

 bee-keeper. He was yet a very young 

 man, advancing rapidly in his chosen 

 profession. He was a director of the 

 National Beekeepers' Association, and 

 had been chosen by the Chicago-North- 

 western Beekeepers' Association as 

 delegate to the National convention, 

 recently held in St. Louis. Our sympa- 

 thy goes to the bereaved wife. 



Correspondence Course in Beekeep- 

 ing The College of Agriculture of the 



University of California, located at 

 Berkeley, announces a correspondence 

 course in beekeeping to be known as 

 Course 1.5, open to applicants any time 

 after Feb. 15, 1914. Following is a de- 



scription of the course as given in the 

 College Circular No. 113, prepared by 

 C. W. Woodworth, Professor of Ento- 

 mology : 



"It is the aim of this course to cover 

 actual work with bees, giving direc- 

 tions whereby students can discover 

 by observation the significant facts re- 

 garding the structure, habits and life- 

 history of bees, and particularly those 

 facts most related to the production of 

 honey. The course is a practical one, 

 dealing with the production of both 

 extracted and comb honey. The student 

 should learn from it enough to enable 

 him to handle bees intelligently. The 

 aim is to have the student actually 

 study the bees, rather than study about 

 them." 



Any one interested in taking this 

 matter up should write to the Division 

 of Agricultural Education for registra- 

 tion blank and copy of the circular. 



Herman Kauchfuss and Son in the " Big Snow. 



Second Annual Report of the Iowa 

 State Bee Inspector. — The second an- 

 nual report of the Iowa State Bee In- 

 spector for 1913 is ready for distribu- 

 tion. Copies may be obtained by those 

 interested by addressing the inspector, 

 Mr. Frank C. Pellett, of Atlantic, Iowa. 

 The report gives a mass of very re- 

 liable and interesting information 

 which should be in the hands of every 

 Iowa beekeeper at least. We can give 

 but a short summary: 



According to the last census of the 

 United States, Iowa was fifth in point 

 of value of bees on farms ; other States 

 with greater value ranking in the or- 

 der named : California, Texas, Mis- 

 souri, and New York. When area is 

 taken into consideration, however, only 

 one State, New York, shows greater 

 value of bees. 



An annual appropriation of $2000 has 

 been provided for inspection work in 

 Iowa. This, as a matter of course, is 

 insufficient to permit of thorough in- 

 spection. The efficient inspector be- 

 lieves that the greatest good can be 

 accomplished by extensive educational 

 work through the State college, and by 

 answering correspondence of beekeep- 

 ers who require assistance. The office 

 of bee inspector has been given as 

 wide publicity as possible through the 

 papers of the State, with the result that 

 a large amount of correspondence is 

 carried on directly with the beekeepers. 



Mr. Pellett, with two assistants, has 

 also been in the tield inspecting wher- 

 ever possible, attending to the most 

 urgent calls first. The following is the 

 result of the personal visitation of the 

 three inspectors : 



Apiaries in which disease was found... uo 



Apiaries visited 3ii 



Total number of colonies '>.«73 



Number of diseased colonies 483 



Number treated by inspectors 52 



Number destroyed 32 



A considerable portion of the whole num- 

 ber of 4fH diseased colonies have been treat- 

 ed by the owners under direction of the in- 

 spectors. A number were also destroyed 

 by the owners. 



This is followed by a summary of 

 the laws in Iowa, applying to bees and 

 bee-diseases; a description of the dis 



