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AMERICAN BEE JOUPNAL 



Feb. 22, 1900. 



Breeding for Color has a word spoken in its defense 

 by W. H. Pridgen, in the American Bee-Keeper. He right- 

 fully holds that color can not be ignored, for whatever 

 traits may be desirable to breed for, color will always be a 

 distinguishing mark by which one can judge to some ex- 

 tent whether such desirable traits are present. 



Dark Colors and Cross Bees. — According to W. H. 

 Pridgen, in the Bee-Keepers' Review, dark objects do not 

 irritate bees, but when they are irritated they are more 

 likely to attack dark objects. He has seen bees in numbers 

 attacking a dark handkerchief hanging out of the pocket of 

 a man drest in light clothes ; but the bees were previously 

 angered. 



A Good Record.— I started in the spring with 60 colo- 

 nies strong and 20 weak. I increast to ISO, and have sold 

 $715 worth of extracted honey and 150 pounds of wax. My 

 70 colonies of bees at $3.00 net brought $210 ; 150 pounds of 

 wax at 23 cents, $34.50 ; extracted honey, $715. Total, 

 $959.50. Have you a better report than this from 80 colo- 

 nies? — Thos. M. SkklTon, of California, in Gleanings. 



The Pickard Bee.Brush is thus described by Ada L,. 

 Pickard, in the Bee-Keepers' Review: Take a piece of broom- 

 handle about 18 inches long and saw a slot in the end of 

 the piece, lengthwise, about six inches long. Take some 

 rope and cut it into pieces eight inches long, then unravel 

 the pieces and draw the middle of the pieces down the slot 

 in the handle until the slot is full, thus making a brush on 

 each side. Fasten by nailing the handle ends together, or 

 by wrapping wire around. This brush is very durable, 

 soft, and pliable, and will not injure the bees. It may be 

 washt when it becomes sticky with honey. 



The New York Bee-Disease or Black Brood is what 

 Dr. Howard has named the new disease that is making 

 havoc among New York bees. The editor of Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture says : 



"To relieve the suspense of some, I will simply say in 

 advance that the Doctor finds this to be an entirely new 

 disease." 



But what relief, will our good friend tell us, is there in 

 knowing that instead of foul brood about whose cure we are 

 pretty well informed, we have to deal with black brood as 

 to whose cure we are ignorant, when according to all re- 

 ports so far it seems to be about as fatal as foul brood ? 



Bees in a City Drawing-Room — In the elegant Lon- 

 don home of Col. Baden-Powell a peculiarity in the draw- 

 ing-room is the apiary. Two large straw bee-hives, with 

 glass sides, stand on ornamental pedestals close to a large 

 organ which occupies one wall of the lai^e room which 

 overlooks Hyde Park. The bees escape thru a wide pipe 

 which leads out of the window. Wooden models of various 

 objects, such as, for example, a bicycle, are placed by Miss 

 Baden-Powell in the hives. Over these models the bees 

 build their honey-comb, following the lines with delicate 

 accuracy. The honey is drained from these beautiful speci- 

 mens of waxen architecture, which are exhibited under 

 glass cases. — Chicago Record. 



Old Stagers and Cross Bees.— G. M. Doolittle, speak- 

 ing of the difficulty some have in learning that quiet move- 

 ments are important in getting along with bees, says in the 

 American Bee-Keeper : 



" Indeed, while visiting an apiary, as a body of bee- 

 men, at the adjournment of a national bee-convention some 

 few years ago, I saw nearly one-third of those bee-men (?) 

 take off their hats and go to striking the air in a most des- 

 perate fashion, because some bees seemed to want a ' busi- 

 ness association ' with them. It was very ludicrous indeed 

 to see ten or more 'old stagers' acting in that way." 



So difficult is it to believe that one with a moderate 

 amount of familiarity with bees should be found battling 

 cross bees with his hat that one can not help wondering in 

 what sense Mr. Doolittle uses the term " old stagers." 



What to Do with Candied Comb Honey, the combs 

 being old and dark, is thus answered by Editor Root in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture : 



"The best use you can make of these combs filled with 

 honey candied solid is to put them into the solar wax-ex- 

 tractor next summer. The honey and wax will both be re- 

 duced to the liquid form — the former being separated off in 

 a cake by itself. While the honey is not of as good quality 

 as that which has been taken with the centrifugal extractor, 

 yet it will do very well. If there is another and better way 

 of treating such combs, I should be glad to be informed of 

 it. Bees will sometimes take candied honey out of the 

 combs and use it ; but more often they will drop the granu- 

 les on the bottom-board; and when warm weather sets in, 

 these granules will be shoved out of the entrance. After 

 the first rain these will be wet down, resulting in more or 

 less robbing ; so that I recommend that combs containing 

 candied honey be treated as I have explained." 



Stung to Death by Bees is the heading of an item in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture, copying from a Cleveland daily 

 paper the following, which we referred to some time ago in 

 these columns : 



"John Carson, a farmer, aged 65, of Newton Falls, was 

 stung to death by bees. Carson desired to work in his api- 

 ary, and, to quiet the bees, burned sulphur. This only en- 

 raged the bees, however, and they swarmed over him, sting- 

 ing him in hundreds of places. He made his way to the 

 house, where he fell to the floor. Several hours later he 

 died." 



Editor Root comments that the man lost his life by not 

 knowing enough to let bees alone when they ought not to 

 be handled, and using the unheard-of method of trying to 

 quiet them with sulphur. He juight also have suggested 

 that it is also within the range of possibilities that the 

 stings alone were not the cause of death. Is it a sure thing 

 that burning sulphur will always or ever enrage bees ? 



Sticks Instead of Wires in Foundation. — Some con- 

 fusion seems to have occurred in the Australian Bee-Bulle- 

 tin with regard to the splints used by Dr. Miller instead of 

 wires (already described in this journal), as compared with 

 what is used by the editor of the Bulletin. The latter is a 

 middle bar running horizontally, of which Editor Tipper 

 says : 



" The sticks we use are the same width and thickness 

 as the bottom-bar, length to fit between the two end-bars, 

 placing it horizontal in the middle of the frame. A bit of 

 wax fixes it, and the bees do the rest. From the experience 

 of the past season we will not go back to wires again. 

 There is far less trouble in placing them in, the combs are 

 firm and strong, and no stretching of wire and comb break- 

 ing as under the old system, when extracting. We use 

 Langstroth frames." 



Starting an Out-Apiary — Ada L. Pickard tells in the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review how she manages it. A location is 

 sought with a flowing stream and desirable pasturage, if 

 possible placing the hives on an eastern slope with protec- 

 tion north and west from spring winds, and only rolling 

 enough for pasturage. A written contract is made with 

 the owner of the ground, stipulating the size of ground, 

 price, and term of years. Then she encloses the ground 

 with a good barb-wire fence of five wires, and builds a bee- 

 tight honey-house about 12x16 feet. The bees are then 

 brought and left permanently, being wintered in a partly 

 underground cave. A bushel or two of uuslackt lime is 

 scattered over the floor and walls to make the air sweet. 



A Caution to Purchasers of Bees is given by Editor 

 Simmins, in Bee-Chat. From time to time he has reports 

 from those who have bought not only bees, but foul brood 

 as well. In some cases those who sold may have been ig- 

 norant that foul brood was present, but when a large num- 

 ber of partly diseased colonies are crowded together on a 

 long journey, they generate the most fatal temperature for 

 propagating the malady, and the development proceeds with 

 alarming rapidity. 



Honey Cough=Medicine. — The Farm Journal gives the 

 following : 



Boil an ounce of flaxseed in a pint of water, strain it, 

 add an ounce of rock candy, some honey, and the juice of 

 three lemons, and boil again. Result: A nice, old-fash- 

 ioned cough medicine. Drink as hot as you can bear it just 

 as you are getting in bed, and^cover up warm. 



