150 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 8, 1900. 



Prof. Gillette — The odor is caused by the gas set free 

 by the chemical action of the gfirms. The gferms are the 

 cause, and the disease the effect. 



J. B. Adams — I move that we request Prof. Gillette to 

 take up foul brood experiments, and that -vre help him all 

 we can. [Carried.] 



[Coutiuued uext week.] 



The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTV, Richards, Ohio. 



THE MESQUITB AND ITS HONEY. 



Mesquite honey far the best of its locality (southwest 

 Texas), and at least sometimes the only surplus in a very 

 bad season. So says very competent authority — L. Stachel- 

 hausen. We can mentally " stick a pin there ;" and if we 

 had pins enoug-h we"d know something about the different 

 honej's of this great country of ours. All our Northern 

 trees grow mainly above ground, with only a minor frac- 

 tion of the plant under ground. Mesquite reverses this, 

 and grows mainh' under ground. This is probably the 

 reason why it stands the terrible drouths of its locality so 

 well. Page SO. 



SMOKER MAY BE TOO LARGE — BURNING SLOMGUM. 



Probably Bro. Grimes is right, that a smoker may be 

 too large. And when we begin to feel as tho we needed an 

 extra man to carry it we've got to Tubig station ourselves. 

 I incline to put in a mild protest against burning slumgum 

 in a smoker. Robbers will get after you worse. The ability 

 to do some work at morn and eve, and the apiary at large 

 not find out what's going on, is precious. If we use a 

 smoke directly calculated to put mischief in their minds, 

 we will have to wait longer at night, and stop sooner in the 

 morning — at least I'll say so till some brother says he's 

 tried it out and out, and the slumgum doesn't make a " dit 

 o' bifference." Page 50. 



FEEDING SWARMS IN ROBBING-TIMES. 



Mr. A. F. Foote should learn that a swarm in robbing- 

 times should not have honey given them till evening. But 

 don't omit to give it then, else the danger of their taking 

 " French leave " of you one or two days later is much in- 

 creast. Brethren have got " locality " nicely rubbed into 

 them, and now we must rub in " the diurnal conditions." 

 Half of us are still somewhat oblivious on this — don't rea- 

 lize that a swarm in famine times must have honey, while 

 a swarm in times of plenty doesn't care a fig for it. A 

 swarm won't stay and starve on the roost — who can blame 

 them ? Page SI. 



BUMBLE-BEE HONEY. 



Dr. Miller's remarks, page S4, suggest quite an inter- 

 esting problem which I have often pondered over. Is bum- 

 ble-bee honey ;rff//)' better than ordinary honey (as it seems 

 to be), or is its special deliciousness wholly owing to the 

 stimulated relish with which it is usually eaten, and the 

 smallness of the quantity which we are limited to ? I once 

 plundered an unusual nest which gave me honey, not all I 

 wanted, but somewhere in that direction, and I failed to 

 notice that the last sip was less delicious than the first. I 

 guess bumble-bee honey is some better — gathered from a 

 different set of flowers as a general thing. Also the bum- 

 ble-bee (like the native Brazilian bees) adds a flavor of its 

 own to the honey. Probably the hive-bee does something 

 in that line likewise, but not in nearly so great a degree. 

 If Bombus had a hundred pounds to flavor up, his elixir 

 would run out, too, I reckon. ■ 



CAUSE OF SOME HONEY FERMENTING. 



The Doctor does not fully meet Chucklehead's conun- 

 drum on the same page. A small patch of honey sometimes 

 bursts off its cappings and runs out, leaving the rest sound 

 in the same section. Bees gathered a small amount of ex- 

 tra-poor honey just because they couldn't bear to be idle, I 

 think. Don't believe there is any remedy — except to keep 



such lazy bees as will not work except when the conditions 

 are perfectly " apple-pie." 



DRIVER IMPORTANT IN HAULING BEES. 



Rambler is right, that an important " appliance " in 

 moving bees is the driver. We don't want him to think the 

 foundations of the world are breaking up, and take to the 

 tall timber, just because he has got two or three stings, 

 and a few dozen bees are loose ; so the non-bee-keeping 

 driver is mostly ruled out. Page 56. 



AN UNDERGROUND HIVE-ENTRANCE. 



I hope Mr. G. E. Dudley's "underground" entrance 

 will prove an excellent thing, and eventually be added to 

 all hives where entrance traps are used. Apparently little 

 danger of a queen's ever getting out ; but perhaps a little 

 wider trial is needed, especially to assure us that drones 

 would never find the way. Page 59. 



A PRETTY, SPREAD-OUT APIARY. 



And now comes Mr. Lehman with a pretty apiary in the 

 widest kind of wide spacing — 6x16 feet. Apparently he 

 clips his queens and make them crawl back into the hive 

 themselves, when thej' have found that the "bullpen" 

 surrounding their domicile can not be surmounted, however 

 much they may want to abandon it. Comparatively few of 

 our craft would favor taking so much pains to wall in indi- 

 vidual hives — but " many men of many minds." His hive- 

 stands and shade-boards are admirable ones. Page 65. 



THE RICH VS. THE "works" AS TO HONEY-BUYING. 



The complicated conditions of modern life make suc- 

 cess something like walking a tight rope. We want every 

 element well in hand. R. C. Aikin, page 66, forcibly sets 

 out one of the elements. The honey custom of a working 

 man's family may be made worth more than the custom of 

 many rich families. So many delicacies are to be had, and 

 the rich want to buy a little of each, that so it comes about 

 that their purchases of honey aggregate but very little. But 

 they would buy the same little at high prices ; and with 

 high prices the workman's family wouldn't buy any. 



THE ANTI CLIPPERS ON TOP FOR ONCE. 



On the question of clipping queens I was pleased to see 

 that in the Michigan convention the anti-clippers for once 

 seemed to have the upper hand. Don't enjoy seeing my 

 sort of fellows playing the role of "underdog" all the 

 time. Mr^ Calvert is doubtless right that clipping, and so 

 compelling swarms to return, works more satisfactorily in 

 small apiaries than in large ones. Page 67. 



FOUL BROOD CONVEYED IN THE CELLAR. 



That was an important and rather gruesome fact con- 

 tributed by Mr. Rankin, page 68, that a foul-broody colony 

 infected five of its neighbors while in the cellar. I should 

 hardlj' have expected this. 



MEASURING BEE-TONGUES. 



With due respect to Mr. Rankin (page 74) I nevertheless 

 venture to hint that perhaps there is " something rotten " 

 about his measurements of bees' tongues. The difference 

 looks too great — especially as the samples for measurement 

 seem to have been taken in an extempore sort of way. We 

 may use his figures as ratios merely, and say as 4.5 is to 5.1 

 and 6.2 ; and if we accept them at face value, he already 

 has bees with tongues nearly 38 percent longer than those 

 of average German bees. 



WINTERING AND VENTILATION. 



Yes, plenty of air and a big stack of strong colonies, 

 say 80 to 120, would very likely make an aboveground win- 

 tering-house succeedby the sheer power of internal heat. 

 The trouble is that these winter-house fellows mostlj' all 

 get cleaned out by a cold winter before they reach the 80 

 strong colonies. And the idea which Dr. Miller contributes 

 — that internal warmth makes ventilation — is a very valu- 

 able one. Page 75. 



PERHAPS A SORT OF CRISSCROSS. 



If queens frequently meet more than one drone the same 

 day there must then be frequent cases when one of the 

 drones was an Italian and the other not. And "what would 

 the harvest be ?" In good sooth it would be a state of mix- 

 edness which we would a little rather not contemplate. Yet 

 we mustn't shut our eyes to assured facts, if Prof. Hodge, 

 or anybody else, can bring them. Page 75. 



