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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 8, 1900. 



Plain Sections do not sell so well in the west as the old 

 style, according- to F. L. Thompson, in the Progressive 

 Bee-Keeper, for retailers must have it explained to them 

 that plain sections hold as much as the others before they 

 will take them. He says : 



"Plain sections have as yet just two advantages, and 

 no others, over all other sections ; thej' are easily scraped, 

 and there is less wood in proportion to the honey, because 

 the comb comes closer to a straight edge laid across. In 

 other respects, they are not perceptibly better filled than 

 the old-style sections, and I'd like to know the color of his 

 hair who is going to prove they are. Thej' have no partic- 

 ular disadvantages ; and when plain sections can be bought 

 cheaper than any others, then they will have two more ad- 

 vantages. But at present they only have the two referred 

 -to." 



The New York Disease Not Foul Brood Editor. Root 



attended the convention of New York bee-keepers at 

 Geneva, and of course the new disease that is making such 

 ravages in eastern portions of the State was a live topic. 

 Editor Root says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture : 



" From all the evidence presented, I feel sure in my 

 own mind, at least, that it is not foul brdod, because it dif- 

 fers in quite a number of important symptoms. Prof. Ben- 

 ton, from the Department of Agriculture, stated that so far 

 the examinations with the microscope had }iot shown the 

 Bacillus alvei in the diseased matter that had been sent to 

 the Department from the affected districts. The prelimi- 

 nary examinations of Bacteriologist Howard, of Texas, 

 seem to be to the same effect. It appears, however, what- 

 ever it is, that it is very contagious as well as destructive." 



Home=nade Bicycle Foot-Power Buzz-Saw. — The 



time has come when bicycles that have been cast aside are 

 by no means uncommon, and of one of these C. H. Pierce 

 has rigged a po%ver to run a buzz-saw. He says in Gleati- 

 ings in Be^-Culture : 



"It is the easiest-running foot-power saw I have ever 

 tried. The saw revolves about 3,500 times per minute. I 

 use it and the parallel gauges. In cutting off I have to 

 pedal backward ; but to a man used to the motion of a bi- 

 cycle, that is nothing. In ripping I change my saw and 

 pedal forward, drawing all my stuff toward me with a stick 

 with a short sharp brad in it. The boards, being all short, 

 are just as easy to handle, and all dust is thrown from the 

 operator. The fly (or belt) wheel is the rear wheel to a bi- 

 cycle, and in place of the tire it has about seven pounds of 

 lead run into the hollow rim to give the wheel weight. Anj' 

 one used to wheeling can sit in the saddle and work this 

 machine with perfect ease." 



Bees in a Schoolroom — Prof. C. F. Hodge, of Clark 

 University, tells in Gleanings in Bee-Culture how he 

 awakened interest by the use of nature itself as a text- 

 book. He says : 



" For an entire season I had a honey-section hive in my 

 study-vrindow, and the whole time it was the most fasci- 

 nating thing in the room. It was made from an ordinary 

 pound section by driving brads into the corners, letting 

 them stick out half an inch at the" bottom for it to stand on, 

 and '4 inch from the sides and top to insure a bee-space all 

 around. The glass case that fitted over it was made simply 

 by cutting glass the proper size, gluing the corners together 

 with narrow strips of cotton cloth, and carefully searing 

 hot beeswax into the corners on the inside to prevent the 

 moisture of the bees from softening the glue. To stock it 

 I put in a handful of bees with an old queen which I wisht 

 to supersede. She laid the little hive full of eggs, and then 

 decampt. The bees immediately set to work making queen- 

 cells ; and, happening to be cutting out a lot, I put in two 

 large queen-cells — one of them, with malice aforethought, 

 protected with screen wire. 



"The queen from the unprotected cell emerged first, 

 and then I had the whole story of ' piping ' and ' quahking ' 

 where every movement could be easily observed. At noon 



of the second day after piping began, the colony cast a 

 swarm, which clustered about the size of a spool of thread, 

 in the snowball bush in front of the window. I hived it 

 back, removing the offending quahker, and the young queen 

 staid, and laid, and kept up the colony until cold weather. 

 I saw her take her nuptial flight. She was gone about 10 

 minutes, and returned with the organs of the drone. With- 

 in IS minutes after the bees had removed these she flew 

 again, and in S minutes returned with a second trophy of 

 success. 



Almost any day I could see 'a little bee emerge and 

 make its first toilet — a most fascinating performance, and 

 at all times I could observe the bringing-in and disposal of 

 honey and pollen. I painted bees with different colors, and 

 watcht them work from daj'light to dark — that is, I watcht 

 them from daylight to dark ; but no single bee that I watcht 

 ever workt more than 3^2 hours a daj'. Then there were 

 all the different divisions of labor — the field-bees, the nurse- 

 bees, the wax-producers, the police, the barbers, the drones, 

 and the queen. 



" I mention all these things to show how marry interest- 

 ing points in the natural history of the hive can be intelli- 

 gently observed and studied in so small a device — an old 

 honey-section, a handful of bees, a discarded queen-cell, 

 and a few scraps of broken glass, all of which need not cost 

 a penny. And I will guarantee that it will be worth more 

 to a roomful of children than $10 worth of books about 

 natural history ; but, of course, we need some books as well. 

 And with all that has been written, not half the whole story 

 of the hive has ever been told." 



Burr-Combs — Messrs. Aikin and Doolittle have their 

 own times at having little family quarrels (?) in the Pro- 

 gressive Bee-Keeper. Mr. Aikin advocated divisible brood- 

 chambers. Mr. Doolittle objected, amongst other things, 

 to the burr-combs built between the parts. That was Mr. 

 Aikin's chance, and he was prompt to recall that a certain 

 man whose initials were G. M. D. had championed burr- 

 combs, saying they " were fine things — made ' ladders ' and 

 steps for bees to ' climb to supers.' " But the big man with 

 the small name was equal to the occasion, and smilingly re- 

 plied that burr-combs are one thing between the parts of a 

 divisible brood-chamber, and quite another thing between 

 topbars and super — in the first case, " a disgusting, bee-kill- 

 ing, temper-losing, «o;/-paying nuisance ;" in the second 

 case, a paying nuisance. In favor of this latter view he 

 makes out a stronger case than ever before. A fresh argu- 

 ment in favor of burr-combs is that when an escape is put 

 under a super, the bees fill up on the honey that is in the 

 burr-combs instead of tearing open the sections. His heavy 

 artillery, however, is a dollar and cent argument, after the 

 following fashion, which also appears on page 37 of this 

 journal : 



"This past poor season I had several colonies which did 

 not have a single ladder on top of the frames, while the ma- 

 jority did so have, from 1 to 10, perhaps 12 to IS, on some. 

 Those colonies having ladders to the supers, gave an aver- 

 age of about 10 filled sections more to the colony than did 

 those having no ladders. This honey averaged me 12 cents 

 per pound net, or $1.20 was given by those laddered hives or 

 colonies over the no-laddered ones, as the pay I received for 

 the nuisance of having to pry a little harder when taking 

 off the supers, and having to clean off that part of them 

 which adhered to the bottoms of the wide frames used in 

 the supers." 



It might be interesting to learn why these few colonies 

 had no burr-combs on the top-bars. If because the colonies 

 were not so strong and crowded, hence had not built burr- 

 combs, the force of the argument might be weakened^but 

 it is not well to be too inquisitive in a family quarrel ! 



York's Honey Calendar for 1900 is a 16-page pamph- 

 let especially gotten up to create a demand for honey among 

 should-be consumers. The forepart was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very 

 effective helper in working up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample 

 free ; 2S copies for 30 cents ; SO for SO cents ; 100 for 90 

 cents; 250 for $2.00 ; 500 for $3.50. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



