152 



American liae Journal 



make due announcement of the fact. 

 Meanwhile, since Mr. White has already 

 made public mention of these studies, 

 it will not be out of place to say that 

 his experiments show the different 

 germs causing bee diseases much more 

 readily destroyed than was formerly 

 believed. Their exposure for 10 min- 

 utes to the following degrees causes 

 their destruction : American foulbrood, 

 194 to 212 degrees ; European foul- 

 brood, 140 to 149 degrees; sacbrood 

 and Nosema Apis. 131 to 140 degrees. 



So it is not astonishing that bees- 

 wa.x which has been heated to the boil- 

 ing point of water should be sterilized. 

 But this information will prove particu- 

 larly important and useful in the ster- 

 ilization of honey from infected colo- 

 nies. We have long suspected that the 

 sterilization point was placed too high, 

 and that it must not be difficult to kill 

 the bacteria at the boiling point of 

 water or lower. The beekeeping pub- 

 lic will await eagerly the publication of 

 this valuable paper. 



Ventilation au<l Swarming- 



In this number is contained an arti- 

 cle by W. N. Randolph, in which he 

 gives some views, as to what causes 

 swarming, that are somewhat at vari- 

 ance with current belief. He has evi- 

 dently been doing his own thinking, 

 and it is pretty plain that he does not 

 expect all to agree with him, at least 

 upon one point, where he has such 

 utter disregard for accepted traditions 

 as to say, "I do not believe that venti- 

 lation has much or anything to do with 

 swarming." While there are no doubt 

 cases in which other factors so 

 strongly favor swarming that no 

 amount of ventilation will prevent it, 

 the likelihood is that when other fac- 

 tors are almost but not quite strong 

 enough to carry the day, lack of venti- 

 lation is the deciding factor to cause 

 swarming. 



Hindering swarming byallowing the 

 bees to build below the brood-chamber 

 is the plan advocated by the British 

 bee-master, S. Simmins. But when 

 Mr. Randolph puts up the chamber of 

 brood to have it hatch out above the 

 sections, is there no trouble ? Others 

 have reported that the bees darkened 

 the cappings of the sections by carry- 

 ing down bits of dark comb from 

 above. Perhaps, however, he used only 

 new combs. 



Our Front Cover 



On our front cover we give the pho- 

 tograph of a portion of the apiary of 

 Mr. J. T. Starkey, a retired mill-owner 

 at Mapleton, Minn. Beekeeping in 

 Minnesota is going to occupy a high 



position in the State if the activity of 

 the beekeepers and of the depaitment 

 at the Universit/ aie any criterion. 

 Below is a photograph of Mr. Starkey 



Zoological Park, stating thatthe poison 

 sac of a rattlesnake becomes fully re- 

 charged with poison within about 48 

 hours. Has any experiment ever been 

 made to ascertain how soon a honey- 

 bee's poison sac would be recharged 

 after stinging ? 



Marking Queens 



We have had several enquiries for 

 Dr. Brunnich's method of marking 

 queens. We have just received from 

 him an article on that subject which 

 will appear in our June number. His 

 method not only serves to designate 

 the queen, but also makes her con- 

 spicuous, so she may be readily noticed. 



288 Pounds in 1913. 



beside his record liive whii h produced 

 288 seclions in 1913. 



Poi.son Sac of the Bee 



Referring to the comparison of the 

 poison of the bee with that of the rat- 

 tlesnake, mentioned on page 132, April 

 number. Dr. Bonney sends us a letter 

 from R. L. Ditmar, of the New York 



Foreign Expressions 



Two contributors of the British Bee 

 Journal are disagreeing upon the 

 translation of a French term, " Rucher 

 Ecole. The first calls it " hive school," 

 the other "apiary school." Turn it 

 the other way about. A Rucher Ecole 

 is a school afiary, or, in other words, 

 an apiary in connection with which a 

 school of apiculture is conducted, 'ihat 

 is the purpose of the Rucher Ecole of 

 the Luxembourg garden. 



Foreign terms are often difficult to 

 translate properly. In trying to give 

 the equivalent of " pickled brood " in 

 the French, the writer called it"cou- 

 vain aigre." This term was accepted. 

 Another beekeeper now calls it" cou- 

 vain marine," a much better and closer 

 translation. 



MiSCELlANEOUS ^ NEWS ITEMS 



Credit Due Mr. Holsinger The pic- 

 tures given on pages 117 and 118 of our 

 April issue are of the apiary of Mr. J. 

 B. Holsinger, of Johnstown, Pa., in- 

 stead of Mr. Hollopeter as stated. The 

 error occurred through identical ini- 

 tials and similarity of names. 



Summer Meetings for Iowa. — The 



Iowa State Beekeepers' Association 

 has arranged for a series of Field Day 

 meetings during the summer months. 

 They will be held at points of easy ac- 

 cess in difTerent parts of the State, so 

 that at least one will be within reach 

 of every Iowa beekeeper. It is also ex- 

 pected that beekeepers from adjoining 

 States will be present at a number of 

 these gatherings. Men, women, and 

 children are all invited to come. At 

 most places the plan will be for every- 

 body to bring a basket of lunch and 

 indulge in a picnic dinner. 



At Colo, the Ladies' Aid Society will 



serve dinner at a reasonable price. The 

 places and dates of these meetings are 

 as follows : 



.\t McMregor May 19. Hon. N. E. 

 France, of Wisconin, will be the 

 speaker of the day at this field meet, 

 and beekeepers of Wisconsin are most 

 cordially invited to be present. Foul- 

 brood is widely scattered along the 

 river on the Iowa side, and a discus- 

 sion of bee-diseases will be a promi- 

 nent feature of the day's program. 



At Colo June 10. The meeting will 

 be held at the Hall apiary, and a large 

 attendance is expected. Mr. Hall's big 

 honey house will be used as a conven- 

 tion hall in case of rain; but otherwise 

 the friends will meet in the open air. 

 Prof. Bartholomew, of Ames, will be 

 the principal speaker. Prof. Bartholo- 

 mew has charge of the new course in 

 beekeeping at the Agricultural College, 

 and will have something of interest for 

 all. 



On June IT the beekeepers will 

 meet at the apiary of Hon. I'.ugene 



