1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



259 



make a living solely from that pursuit. In years past it has 

 paid, but seasons have changed, the ground is much drier 

 than in former years — vire know this by all farmers having to 

 dig their wells deeper ; the almost entire tile-draining of every 

 low and swampy piece of land, and putting in some kinds of 

 grain that bear no honey-producing flowers, and destroying 

 the wild flowers that produced honey. (I speak of the condi- 

 tion of things in this neighborhood and surrounding country.) 



But this condition of dry weather cannot go on much 

 longer, or all crops, too, will be cut short. I believe as soon 

 as we have plenty of rain, as in former years, until the ground 

 is thoroughly soaked, we will have honey-producing flowers 

 and good honey-flows. What we need is courage to hold on 

 to our bees, and not let them run out or dwindle down to poor 

 colonies, as it is less expense to take care of good colonies 

 than it is to care for poor ones ; and then if there is any 

 honey, the good colonies will be sure to hunt it up. We need 

 to learn how to keep bees in good condition at all times. It is 

 not safe to weaken one colony to build up others, or to let bees 

 swarm more than once; often, then, it is the most profitable 

 to put the swarm back, and only take away one or two combs 

 of brood, so as not to greatly weaken the colony, using the 

 brood to build up other colonies that may not be in the best 

 of condition. If we let our colonies become weakened, they so 

 often do not become strong enough to fill their hives for win- 

 ter ; in that case the colony itself is too weak to winter well, 

 and we have to resort to fall feeding, which all bee-keepers 

 ought to dread, as it takes the poetry out of bee-keeping, and 

 the money out of the purse, especially if we didn't have a 

 honey-flow in the forepart of the season. 



Roseville, III., March 23. 



Some Subjects Reviewed and Commented Upon 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Going Into Hives.— I confess to some degree of surprise 

 on finding, by reading page 212, that Mr. Hutchinson des- 

 cribes exactly the kind and amount of handling that my bees 

 get in the spring — seeing that they have a good queen and 

 plenty of stores, and taking brood from weaklings to strength- 

 en others. The only modification — and perhaps he does the 

 same thing — is that the brood taken from the weaklings is 

 given to those that are fairly strong but not quite up to the 

 mark, and that I see that every queen is clipped. Now if I am 

 not mistaken he has very lately written something to the effect 

 that it is not necessary to take the honey-boards off hives more 

 than once in three years. Mr. Hutchinson, will you please 

 arise and explain ? 



Amalgamation. — I'm not so set on amalgamation that all 

 the light will go out of my life if it is not accomplished. And 

 if a majority of the members of the Bee-Keepers' Union vote 

 against it I shall be quite satisfied. As a member of the Union 

 from the first, and as one of its officers, I am anxious for its 

 continued success, and on that account in favor of amalgama- 

 tion. 



On page 221, Wm. L. Backensto thinks the combination 

 of business with pleasure will not be the same here as in Ger- 

 many, because government controls things there and anything 

 against the interest of bee-keepers is promptly brought to pun- 

 ishment, " while over here hell-hounds can do these things 

 [or attempt to, at least] and escape punishment." My reading 

 has not brought me to any such view. Very much complaint 

 is made in the German bee-journals as to adulteration of honey, 

 and adulteration of beeswax is probably carried there to an ex- 

 tent that has never been dreamed of in this country. Adulter- 

 ated foundation is so common that the advice is given for each 

 one to own his own press so as to be safe from adulteration, 

 and more than 7,000 Rietsche presses are in use. Who is 

 troubled with adulterated foundation in this country ? If 

 there has been auy punishment for it in Germany it has es- 

 caped my attention. Only lately, adulterated beeswax, under 

 the name of "trade-wax," is boldly advertised in Germany. If 

 these things are to be taken as deciding the matter, I see no 

 good reason why we cannot combine business with pleasure 

 here as well as in Germany. 



I think some of those who are so afraid of the corrupt in- 

 fluence of the North American know very little about what its 

 meetings are for. They have never perhaps been present at 

 such a meeting, and have an impression apparently that the 

 chief, if not the only object, is pleasure. I very much doubt 

 yvhether any one ever attended with pleasure as the chief ob- 

 ject. The thing that brings bee-keepers together at these 

 meetings is profit. You couldn't get a corporal's guard to- 

 gether if they didn't think they would learn something. 



Mr. Backensto wants to know what benefit those outside 

 the United States would have from membership in the Union. 

 Just the same as those inside. Mr. Backensto seems not to 

 know that the Union is no more limited in its membership than 

 the North American, and if he will just take the trouble to 

 look at its list of members he will see that it takes in Cana- 

 dians as well as members in the States. 



Like some others, Mr. Backensto persists in looking at 

 things the wrong way, and in thinking that the only effort 

 made is to increase the membership of the North American. 

 On the other hand, will it not increase the membership of the 

 Union if for the same dollar the additional advantage of mem- 

 bership in the North American, whether that belittle or much, 

 can be also had ? 



Mr. Backensto thinks that if nothing is hitched on to the 

 Union, " it is bound to continue a grand success." Has Mr. 

 Backensto not noticed that the Union is decreasing in num- 

 bers ? It is with the hope that«additional members will be 

 gained, and thus make the Union larger, that I advocate amal- 

 gamation. Now what harm, Mr. Backensto, will the "hitch- 

 ing on " do ? Suppose a man is ready to pay his dollar to join 

 the Union, and you say to him, " We can now do a little better 

 by you than heretofore, and when you've paid your dollar you 

 will also be a member of the North American." Please give 

 us the name of the man who will say in reply to that, " I want 

 to join the Union, but if that also makes me a member of the 

 North American I won't join the Union." 



Sweet Clover Hat. — In " Personal Mention," page 223, 

 it is said Wm. Stolley has 200 tons of sweet clover hay. I saw 

 the statement from which I suppose that is taken, and if you 

 will look closely, Mr. Editor, I think you will find that he has 

 200 tons of hay, leaving it uncertain what proportion of it is 

 sweet clover. I wish you'd find out just how much sweet 

 clover hay he has. — [Will Mr. Stolley kindly help us out about 

 this ?— Ed.] 



Rearing Queens. ^I've been much interested in reading 

 the excellent report of what must have been an excellent con- 

 vention — the Colorado one. I venture a few words to Mr. 

 Aikin. On page 229, you say that if a colony has no brood at 

 all except some fresh-laid eggs, " then you know there will be 

 no building from old or advanced larvaj." That seems entirely 

 reasonable, but after some considerable experience work- 

 ing upon that theory and some careful observation, I am in- 

 clined to say that if you want to make sure of having some 

 queens reared from well-advanced larvte, just leave a strong 

 colony queenless with nothing in the line of brood, but eggs. 

 At first I couldn't understand how it was that when I left 

 nothing but eggs I got not only some excellent queens but a 

 few that were very poor. Bees seem to have a tendency to 

 start fresh cells on successive days, and a few days after start- 

 ing the first queen-cells, if you will watch closely, I think you 

 will find, as I did, that they start queen-cells later from larvae 

 that had been advanced as workers. I'm wondering why you 

 think transferring larvae is a thing only for experts. If you 

 try it once I think you will see that a novice would have no 

 trouble with it. But transferring eggs that you speak of, I 

 should think would be a very different thing. 



Since writing the above, I find Mr. Rauchfuss, farther on, 

 made the same correction that I have, but it will do no harm 

 to emphasize by repetition. Sometimes I have taken the trou- 

 ble to destroy all the larvie that were not in queen-cells three 

 days after hatching from the egg. That makes a pretty safe 

 thing. 



That Assessment. — On page 237, Rev. E. T. Abbott pro- 

 tests earnestly against a clause in the New Constitution pro- 

 viding for an assessment. Right you are, Mr. Abbott, and 

 with such a clause I'm sure you're not the only one who will 

 simply stay out. Such a thing has never been practiced or 

 needed in the Union in the past, and why should it be in the 

 future ? Marengo, III. 



An Interesting Beginning — Numbering Hives. 



BV L. G. CASH. 



It may be remembered that I am the crank who took the 

 bee-fever over a year ago, while attending a Farmers' Institute 

 where Mr. E. T. Abbott gave a bee-lecture. It may also be 

 remembered that I rushed into bees rather stronger than Mr. 

 Abbott thought wise, as I was a green hand at the business. 

 Well, here's my experience : 



"To start with, I bought and traded for 33 colonies of 

 black and hybrid bees in every conceivable shape except in 

 improved hives. There were six or eight log-gums, one or two 



