December, 1914- 



American Hee Joornal 



along in July or later; so late as to 

 make no practical interference with 

 the honey crop. 



It may be that in general a queen of 

 the previous year does better than an 

 older one; but I have had many cases 

 of extra work from queens more than 

 2 years old. In the best year I ever had, 

 1913, the queen of my eleventh best 

 colony was one which was born late 

 in July, 1910, and in her fourth year be- 

 fore the season closed. 



So the behavior of my bees is such 

 that I do not believe I would gain 

 enough, by taking the requeening into 

 my own hands, to pay for the trouble. 

 Indeed, if I should object at all to hav- 

 ing attributed to me the saying that the 

 bees usually requeen in good time, if 

 the matter is left to them, my objection 

 would be that it states the case rather 

 mildly. 



I would not have it understood that 

 I never take into my own hands the 

 matter of requeening. I always do 

 when I can conveniently replace a 

 queen with a better one; but no queen 

 is ever replaced by me merely because 

 she has arrived at a certain age. 



Even if I believed that by replacing a 

 queen on account of old age I should 

 get from that particular colony enough 

 more honey to pay for the trouble of 

 requeening, there are two reasons why 

 I should not want to do so. 



First, it is the belief of some good 

 authorities that longevity is an impor- 

 tant factor, and if each queen should 

 be killed upon arriving at a certain 

 age, it certainly would not tend to in- 

 crease longevity. 



Second, if there is one thing of more 

 importance than another in manage- 

 ment to get the biggest yield of honey, 

 I believe it is the constant improve- 

 ment of stock by breeding from the 

 best. Practically no queen can ever 

 make a record in the same season in 

 which she is born. For example, if 

 she is born any time in 1914, she will 

 not be born early enough to have the 

 crop of 1914 credited to her. It is to 

 be credited chiefly to her predecessor. 

 She will make her record in 191.5, since 

 all the workers of that season are her 

 progeny. Then in 1916 she can be used 

 as a breeder. Still better will it be 

 if she is left to make the crop of 

 191(5, to be used a« a breeder in 1917. 

 Of two colonies which give an equal 

 yield in 1915, one may yield better than 

 the other in 1916, and should have the 

 preference. There are other things, 

 such as temper, swarming, and winter- 

 ing, which it may be well to watch for 

 the second season. Neither will it do 

 to depend upon a single queen. No 



matter how good her record, accidents 

 may happen and she may be dead be- 

 fore time to rear queens. So a number 

 of those above the average are needed 

 from which to select, and this number 

 should be all the larger because from 

 them our drones are reared, and good 

 drones are just as important as good 

 queens. 



I do not say that what is best for me 

 is best for every one, but on the whole 

 I believe it is best for me to leave 

 superseding to the bees themselves, be- 

 ing allowed all the time the privilege 

 to replace a queen with one that I be- 

 lieve better, whenever opportunity 

 offers. I feel that I have some endorse- 

 ment in this belief in the fact that 

 having followed this policy for many 

 years, in a locality that I do not believe 

 up to the average, I still have crops 

 that are satisfactory. c. c. M. 



Eat Honey 



In the contributed articles of this 

 number, under the heading of " Glucose 

 Again," Dr. Bonney advises the use of 

 white and red stickers, " EAT HONEY," 

 of the same size as shown in the article. 



This idea appealed to us, and we im- 

 mediately had a cut made to print 64 of 

 these stickers at a time. Dr. Bonney 

 states that he pays 50 cents a thousand 

 for similar stickers. On ordinary lots 

 we can make a price of 35 cents a thou- 

 sand, postpaid, and could do much 

 better on orders totaling a million or 

 more. 



We have some of these stickers on 

 hand already. Send for a supply of 

 five or ten thousand, and help sell 

 more honey. 



Melting Wax 



Our neat and trim contemporary, 

 the Beekeepers' Gazette (Irish) for 

 October, quotes the Melbourne Times^ 

 which says : " When melting wax, add 

 one ounce of sulphuric acid lo every 

 gallon of water." 



Please, don't ! Unless you want to 

 destroy the bee and honey smell of 

 your beeswax, replacing it by a sour, 

 unpleasant odor. An ounce to 30 gal- 

 lons of water would be ample to do 

 that. Melt your combs, with plenty of 

 rain water, in a tin vessel, over a gentle 

 fire, and you will have wax of nice 

 color, however dark the combs may 

 be*. No need of acids. 



asks what his legal rights are in the 

 matter. After having supplied the in- 

 formation the editor says: " But the 

 best way is always that of accommo- 

 dating gentleness, with the observance 

 of reciprocal rights and duties as kind 

 neighbors." 



Right! A little kindness and regard 

 for the welfare of others and tolerance 

 for their feelings will save years of 

 war and trouble. We should all be 

 willing to do a little more than our share 

 towards others. War is more easily 

 begun than stopped. A smile and a 

 little honey will carry us farther than 

 a frown and a sting. 



The Sitari.s 



Mr. F. R. Bartsch, of Chicago, calls 

 our attention upon parts of an article 

 in the Independent of Oct. 19, entitled, 

 " Guided Evolution," by W. H. Ward. 

 It says : 



"There is a little beetle called the 

 sitaris. It chooses to lay its eggs in 

 the underground passages of a certain 

 sort of a bee. The young larva hatched 

 from the beetle's eggs springs upon 

 the male bee as it emerges from the 

 passage, clings to him, is carried on 

 his nuptial flight, when it passes to the 

 female b-e, and remains attached to 

 her until she lays her eggs in the 

 honey. It then leaps on an egg float- 

 ing on tlie honey, devours it and de- 

 velops, rests on the shell and under- 

 goes its first metamorphosis. Now it 

 eats th : honey which had been pre- 

 pared for the grub of the bee and de- 

 velops into the perfect beetle. Bergson 

 refuses to explain this on Darwinian 

 principles, and is diiven to the extra- 

 ordinary assumption that in a sort of 

 mysticism the invading insect has a 

 sympathetic understanding of the in- 

 sect it has invaded." 



Mr. Bartsch asks which kind of bee 

 is here meant. Can any of our readers 

 reply, and is there any truth in the 

 statement? It certainly has no refer- 

 ence to any of the apis family. 



Neighbors vs. Bees 



L'Apicoltore of September quotes a 

 letter from a subscriber whose neigh- 

 bors threaten him because his bees 

 have annoyed and stung them, and who 



What l)eterniiue.s tlie Cessation 

 of Laying by Queens ? 



On Sept. 28 two strong colonies were 

 examined, and neither eggs nor brood 

 were found present. There was no 

 reason for thinking they were excep- 

 tional cases. Neither was there any 

 reason for thinking that brood-rearing 

 should close earlier than usual this 

 year, for the flow of nectar, although 

 light, had been continuous. The queens 

 must have ceased laying not later than 

 Sept. 7. Yet in the same apiary were 

 nuclei in which the queens were still 

 laying Sept. 28. That might be ac- 

 counted for by saying the queens were 

 younger, but is it not possible that the 

 bees in the nuclei did a sort of reason- 

 ing in the case, saying : " We are often 



