r72 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bee. 3, 



Italics, or iQ large caps ? "Nothiugleft for its advocates to 

 do " but to wait till " next year !" Well, I think Mr. Newman 

 will find that Its advocates think there is something for them 

 to do besides waiting, if that is the course he proposes to 

 take; and it seems to me that about the first thing to be done 

 is to nominate the General Manager's^ successor, unless he at 

 once proceeds to pull in his bellicose horns and show a little 

 consideration for the wishes of others who have a rlghl to ask 

 that they be heard. 



I believe I fully appreciate the splendid work and achieve- 

 ments of General Manager Newman in pushing with all his 

 energy, often hoping against hope, till he, with the aid of the 

 Advisory Board, has established the Union on a firm founda- 

 tion, and achieved for it victory wherever called to battle ; 

 but notwithstanding his great achievements, it seems to me 

 that he has now planted himself squarely in the way of any 

 " progressive step " being taken ; and unless he " stands from 

 under " he will be very apt, sooner or later, to ask, "Where 

 am I at?" for the wheels of progress, although they may be 

 blocked for a time, will finally roll on, despite all obstacles. 



I know of no one having claimed that the Constitution is 

 perfect ; but it takes nothing from the funds now in the treas- 

 ury of the National Bee-Keepers' Union, but adds to the 

 funds ; and instead of In any way weakening the efficiency of 

 the work of the Advisory Board, its aim is to enlarge its field 

 of labor and add to its efficiency ; and I can see no reason why 

 the members of the Union should not take a "progressive 

 step " by adopting the Constitution adopted by the United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Union at Lincoln. 



If the Constitution is so adopted, the officers elected at 

 the next annual election of the Union will be the Board of 

 Directors of the new Union, until their successors are elected 

 at the annual election in December, 1897. 



Yours for the New Constitution and " every progressive 

 step." Station B, Toledo, Ohio. 



Mouutaiu Laurel Honey — A Short Report. 



BY S. B. SMITH. 



On page 626, Is a communication from Dr. W. M. Stell, 

 on poisonous mountain laurel honey. The Doctor is con- 

 vinced by his experiment that the honey obtained from moun- 

 tain laurel Is poisonous, but I am not convinced ; neither do I 

 see anything In the Doctor's experiment to convince any one 

 that laurel honey Is poisonous. If the Doctor had taken the 

 flowers alone, and obtained a poisonous sweet fluid, then his 

 experiment would have been proof positive ; but Instead of 

 taking the flowers alone, he used equal quantities of leaves 

 and flowers. Now the leaves of the mountain laurel have 

 always been known to be poisonous, so his experiment is not a 

 true test. I was born and always lived in a laurel country 

 until I came to Minnesota, therefore I know whereof I write. 



In closing, the Doctor cautions bee-keepers to be more 

 studious about poisonous plants. I have had some of those 

 poisonous plants in my flower-garden almost every year for 

 many years, and my bees have gathered honey from them, 

 and I have never felt any injurious effects from eating the 

 honey. The root of what Is known as "wild parsnip " 'is a 

 deadly poison to man or beast. Large quantities of this plant 

 are found In nearly all meadows here, and I have never known 

 of any cattle dying from eating the leaves of this plant. There 

 were hundreds of acres of it the past season, and It was in 

 bloom four or five weeks, and ray bees worked on it the same 

 as on sweet or Alsike clover — in fact, it was alive with honey- 

 bees, and we have been eating the honey for weeks, and feel 

 no bad effects from it. Try again. Doctor, and discard the 

 leaves, and see what the effect will be. 



THE SEASON OF 1896. 



Bees did well here the past season. Some bee-keepers 

 have been blessed with more new swarms than with a surplus 

 of honey ; others have had new swarms and a good quantity 

 of surplus honey. I have six colonies, and they have not cast 

 any swarms this year. They are now very strong, tne hives 

 full of honey, and all In good condition for winter. I have 

 taken off 412 pounds of honey in one-pound sections, and I 

 have 30 sections partly filled that I have laid aside to be 

 finished another season. 



I have a local market for all of my honey at 15 cents per 

 pound, but bee-keepers are on the increase here, and the local 

 market will be inadequate for the supply, so we will soon be 

 obliged to look elsewhere for a market. 



This is a very windy country, with no timber to protect 

 the bees on windy days, so I have a field of Alsike clover and 

 another of sweet clover only a few rods from my bees. Having 

 so short a distance to fly, I find that they can work on windy 



days as well as other days. There will be a field of 20 acres 

 of Alsike clover near my bees another season, and I shall ex- 

 pect a great honey-yield. 



Unless there is a great change in the weather I shall not 

 put my bees into the cellar for some weeks, as I think it better 

 for them to be out as long as the weather is such as to allow 

 them to have a flight every few days. 



Keeville, Minn., Oct. 30. 



" Swarmiag — Its Cause and Prevention." 



BT GEO. F. EODBINS. 



[We received the following enquiry, which we forwarded 

 to Mr. Robbins for reply : — Editor.] 



I have read in the British Bee Journal an article copied 

 from the American Bee Journal, by Geo. F. Robbins, entitled 

 "Swarming — Its Cause and Prevention." In this, Mr. Robbins 

 advises " removing the brood." Now will Mr. Robbins tell a 

 beginner a little more still ? Where does he put the brood 

 when he removes it? F. M. G. 



The remark in that article, to which the correspondent 

 refers, is this : 



" 3rd. Remove the brood a short time before the swarm is 

 likely to issue — perhaps a week, more or less." 



Notice, I said that Is one of " four methods " for preven- 

 tion of swarming, for each of which some success is claimed. 

 Removing the brood and replacing with empty combs, or with 

 frames empty of comb, will usually' prevent swarming, there 

 is no doubt about that. But I want to say here that I do not 

 practice it very much, nor recommend It very strongly. It is 

 laborious, especially If the combs are replaced with empty 

 frames, as in that case every frame of brood and honey should 

 be taken out. If combs are used, and the honey-flow is of 

 long continuance — three weeks or more — the process must ba 

 repeated, as the combs soon become filled with brood and 

 honey, and we again have all the conditions that promote 

 swarming. Another drawback is, if we are running for comb 

 honey these combs serve as ready-made receptacles for storing 

 honey, and make the bees slower to go Into surplus cases. 

 Still, the system is worth a trial. You might like it better 

 than I do. 



I believe I like best to use empty frames with an inch or 

 so strip of foundation fastened to the top for a starter, In 

 that case I always contract the brood apartment to five or six 

 frames, put on a queen-excluding honey-board, and then a 

 case of sections, in which I insert two or three sections of 

 drawn comb for bait, If I have them. When I use combs I 

 generally fill the brood-chamber to its full capacity. 



I never find it difficult to dispose of the brood. I have 

 practiced the following four methods : 



1st. I always have a few weak colonies in the spring. 

 These I confine to some three to five combs until they are 

 strong enough to cover more, which is generally about the 

 time I want to prevent swarming. This is about the begin- 

 ning of the clover honey-flow, usually early In June. I simply 

 take frames of brood enough to fill up these hives. I am not 

 particular to shake off all the bees. Except early in the 

 morning there are always cells of thin, freshly-gathered 

 honey, which will shake out and daub the comb and bees so as 

 to set the bees to cleaning things up, and effectually prevent 

 fighting. If the weak colony contains one or two combs hav- 

 ing little or no brood or honey, I take them out and put them 

 into a hive from which I am removing brood. If I am filling it 

 up with combs. If the colony Is very short of bees, I carry 

 more bees with the frames of brood. 



2nd. I rear nearly all my queens from one or two that I 

 have selected for that purpose, and at this time In the year I 

 am wanting nuclei In which to insert queen-cells from those 

 chosen breeders. To form them I take two or three frames of 

 brood and bees from a colony likely to swarm, put them into 

 an empty hive — aiming, of course, not to carry away the 

 queen — and Insert It all between two combs. If I am pushed 

 for room for these combs, I put more In a hive than the num- 

 ber above given. I prefer not to have very many bees in a 

 nucleus until after the young queen has mated, as the bees are 

 more apt to swarm out with the queen when she goes out on 

 her wedding flight, if there are very many of them. 



3rd. If I have neither of the above uses for brood-combs, 

 I simply form new colonies by shaking about two-thirds of the 

 bees off the combs and putting them into an empty hive. I 

 have sometimes allowed them to rear their own queen, some- 

 times giving them a cell. I have, however, done very little of 

 this at all. 



4th. While I work in the main for comb honey, I always 



