274 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April SO, 



days when every other man you meet is complaining about 

 how hard it Is to sell anything. If the reader could eat some 

 of this man's honey, he would soon understand why he was 

 able to write such a cheerful account of his honey-trade. I 

 know times are close, and people are forced to economize, but 

 I am quite sure that Mr. Terry was not entirely wrong when 

 he said that a good way to increase consumption was to pro- 

 duce only a first-class article. 



I am reminded of a remark made by a little fellow when 

 his mother had placed upon the table some bread of the kind 

 of which he was very fond, and had eaten an unusually large 

 quantity : " It pays to make this kind of bread !" There 

 may have been some doubt in his mother's mind as to just how 

 she was to apply his statement, but there could be none, If 

 she had been placing bread on the market for sale, and all 

 who ate it had been of the same opinion as her son. 



It pays to make good goods, and when such goods are 

 produced, the first place they should be offered is in the home 

 market. No one should think of going elsewhere until he has 

 worked this all it will possibly bear. The reader may think 

 this advice Is becoming an old story, but there are very few 

 home markets that will not stand a little more pushing, if the 

 goods are of the vcrii best quality. If one has not done his 

 utmost In this line, I am inclined to think that he will be a 

 little surprised at the results, if he will go to work and push 

 the sale of flrst-class honey In his own community. By all 

 means do not waste any valuable time waiting for the coming 

 of some great Honey Exchange to do for you what you may be 

 able to do for yourself. There is entirely too much waiting 

 for others to do the work these times. The Exchange may 

 never come to you. If it does. It may not prove the ideal of 

 perfection for which you have been looking. Most men are 

 human, whether they belong to an Exchange or not. 



Another thing which many may do to advantage, is to 

 write and talk up the honey-business In their own locality. 

 Here Is a field which is bound to yield a bountiful crop, if 

 properly cultivated. I do not mean by this that every bee- 

 keeper should aspire to become a professional writer, and in 

 due time attach " Prof." to his name. Such titles are very 

 cheap. Every negro barber is a "Prof.," after the style of 

 some would-be professors. There is a great opportunity, how- 

 ever, for those who are willing to work, not for empty noto- 

 riety, but for the real enlightment of the masses as to the 

 great value of honey as a food product. Such work. If hon- 

 estly and persistently done, is sure to bring good returns to 

 the honey-producer. As productive employment always brings 

 contentment, perhaps we may hear less complaint of close 

 times, if the majority of producers can be prevailed upon to 

 try these methods of helping themselves. 



I trust no one will misunderstand me. I believe in mutual 

 help, but I take a deal of satisfaction in helping myself and 

 asserting my Individuality, especially when I come to a really 

 hard pull ; and I think others will do the same, if they try It. 



St. Joseph, Mo. 



Sports of Character in Bees— Longevity. 



BY F. L. THOMrSON. 



On page 67, Dr. Miller doubts whether honey-bees carry 

 off lilac leaves into their hives. An instance was reported in 

 the Bienen-Vater last year in which bees were observed car- 

 rying the sticky scales of horse-chestnut buds into their hives, 

 holding them in their mandibles. Another case was reported 

 in the Leipziger Bienenzeitung, in which the scales of horse- 

 chestnut buds were seen in the Inside of hives, serving to plas- 

 ter up the cracks made by manipulations in spring. Query: 

 Are not lilac leaves sticky ? 



Speaking of bees carrying things in their mandibles, I 

 have observed bees carrying dry sugar out of the hives by 

 means of their mandibles. But from Italy comes a report 

 that some bees were observed trying to pack grains of granu- 

 lated honey (which was outside) on their legs, after they had 

 sucked out and carried away the liquid part. Of course they 

 did not succeed, but they kept up the attempt day after day. 



The foregoing are not practical points, but to me they are 

 interesting. Bees and ants, from an evolutionary point of 

 view, have sometimes been referred to as possessing a Chinese 

 sort of civilization — elaborate, but inelastic, with Its develop- 

 ment all in the past. But such things show that bees at least 

 are still capable of a "sport," and tend to establish the fact 

 that evolution is continuing, which is difficult to realize in our 

 short lives and epochs. Dr. Gallup's observations, on page 

 824 (1895) may also have a bearing on this point. Perhaps 

 not every colony would act as did the two he referred to. 



Perhaps, too, this thought has a practical beariog. The 



Idiosyncrasies of different colonies in preparing themselves 

 for winter may explain why otherwise similar colonies event- 

 uate differently. One of my colonies builds very thin combs ; 

 its sections do not average more than three-fourths of a pound. 

 The strip of honey which it leaves above the brood, besides 

 being thin, is also narrow. Last June I discovered, just in 

 the nick of time, that it was entirely out of stores, though Its 

 hive has a 10-Langstroth-frame capacity. Otherwise It is one 

 of the best in the yard, having given me 78 completed sec- 

 tions in the past poor season. Such points should be watched 

 in breeding. 



Colonies of bees differ just as other animals do, and as 

 persons do. Why may they not differ In their methods of 

 work? Some people rush about In a nervous, flustered way, 

 but do not seem to get much done, after all. Others get a 

 good deal done without making much fuss about It. It seems 

 to me quite possible that the bees of an excellent but non- 

 prolific colony may not live any longer than others, and yet do 

 a good deal more work. 



Again, field-bees may have many other differences of 

 character besides that of a greater or less inclination to sport 

 around the hive, so that I feel like saying that not only is It a 

 difficult question to decide why some colonies are better than 

 others, but that it cannot be decided at all, because behavior 

 in the field may have as much, or more, to do with it than be- 

 havior around the hives. This theory cannot be proved — but 

 it cannot be disproved, either. 



About the best thing we can do in breeding, besides not- 

 ing comb-building and other points which are visible, is, I 

 think, to judge by results in surplus. There are too many 

 chances of error in attempting to apply these unproved prin- 

 ciples, though In most cases I think it all right to theorize. It 

 is enough that we know a good queen chiefly by the propor- 

 tion between the surplus honey of her colony and the amount 

 of its brood. That is one good point that the discussion on 

 longevity has emphasized, even though it should turn out that 

 longevity may not account for all cases. 



I do not understand why a large size of thorax should 

 make any difference. The big man is not necessarily the best 

 fighter or the best runner. The main requirement is that he 

 be well-proportioned. But we don't know enough about bee- 

 gymnastics to judge when a queen is well proportioned, unless 

 in exceptional .cases. Lots of good queens have been only 

 medium in size. Arvada, Colo. 



The Care ofComb Honey — Fumigation. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



In producing comb honey in order to have it stored in the 

 sections in such a way that they can be readily handled and 

 crated without Injury, separators are with me a necessity, but 

 I believe bees will work more readily and store a little more 

 honey in the supers if no separators are used, but with me 

 there Is always so many of the combs bulged and built out so 

 far that it is Impossible to handle and crate them without 

 breaking a good many of the combs, unless the sections are 

 placed in the cases in the same order and exact position they 

 occupied In the supers, and In handling a large amount this is 

 not practicable. But if I was producing only a small amount 

 of section honey, I would not use separators, for where only a 

 small amount is produced such combs as cannot be readily 

 crated can be used at home, or sold to neighbors. 



I remove the supers from the hives as soon as the combs 

 in the sections are capped, and use supers to keep it stored In 

 until ready to crate it for market. It is much less work to 

 handle and keep it in supers than it is to take the sections out 

 and set them on shelves, or to put them In boxes, etc. Mine 

 is stored In a warm, dry room, ao^ two pieces of lath are put 

 between each super in order to let the air circulate between 

 them. 



If at the time the supers are removed from the hives we 

 do not have time to scrape and grade the sections, we at least 

 take the wedges out and loosen the sections so that they can 

 be easily taken out of a super at any time, for moths are gen- 

 erally very bad here for awhile during warm weather, and 

 comb honey has to be watched pretty closely to keep it from 

 being damaged by them ; but It Is only necessary to remove 

 three or four sections from a super to find out whether It is or 

 not. 



I used to sulphur honey In the room in which it was 

 stored, by burning the sulphur in a kettle, and letting the 

 fumes pervade the whole room, but there would always be 

 some honey that on account of being removed later, or some 

 other cause, did not need sulphuring, so I would have to carry 

 this out- doors or remove it somewhere, for I do not care to 



