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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 12, 1900 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 



118 Michigan Street, Ghicaoo, 111. 



[Entered at the Post-OfBce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 

 EDITOR: 



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



Dr. C. C. miller, E. E. HASTY, 



" Questions and Answers." * * " The Afterthought." 



LEADING CONTRIBUTORS: 



G. M. DoouTTLE, C. p. Dadant, Prof. A. J. Cook, 



F. A. Snell, R. C. Aikin, "Old Grimes." 



IIHPORTANT NOTICES: 



The Subscription Price of this journal is $1.00 a year, in the United States, 

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 a year extra for postage. Sample copy free. 



The Wrapper-Label Date of this paper indicates the end of the month to 

 which your subscription is paid. For instance, "DecOO" on your 

 label shows that it is paid to the end of December, 1900. 



Subscription Receipts.— We do not send a receipt for money sent us to pay 

 subscription, but change the date on your wrapper-label, which shows 

 you that the money has been received and duly credited. 



Advertising Rates will be given upon application. 



VOL. 40. 



APRIL 12, 1900. 



NO. 15. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthography of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philolog- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of England: — Change 

 "d" or "ed" final to "t" when so pronounced, except when the "e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. Also some other changes are used. 



What is the Character of the Cyprians?— Editor Hill 

 speaks of an attempt to revive interest in Cyprian bees, his 

 advice being-, " L,et Cyprians alone." He says : 



" We are aware that the Cyprian is reg-arded vrith some 

 favor by as high an authority as Frank Benton ; but even 

 he assents to the fact that they use their stings with great 

 energy when thoroly aroused. It is our experience that 

 they will do so at all times, and that they appear to be thoroly 

 aroused whether molested or not. The Cyprian will go 

 farther out of its way in search of some poor, inoffensive 

 creature to sting- than any bee we know of. 



"To those who are fortunately free from Cyprian 

 venom in their apiaries, we would say: Have a care how 

 yoti experiment with a race whose maliciousness and irrita- 

 bility has called down upon it the condemnation of nearly 

 every one with whom it has come in contact." 



On the other hand, M. G. Dervishian gives a clean bill 

 of health for their tempers, in the British Bee Journal, say- 

 ing they are more gentle than Italians, he himself handling 

 them without veil or smoke. He says Mr. Cowan is in error 

 when he says some Cyprians are gentle and others very 

 vicious, and accounts for it by saying that Syrians are 

 vicious and vindictive, and that many Syrians were sold in 

 America and England for Cyprians. " Indeed, Syrians were 

 often inadvertently kept in the same apiary along with 

 Cyprians, and were often supplied instead of the latter kind 

 to customers. Unfortunately the bees of these two 



races are so nearly alike that in outward appearances no 

 one could possibly detect any difference between them." 



Mr. Dervishian's residence in the island of Cyprus gives 

 him an opportunity of familiarity with the subject, but if 

 he makes a business of selling Cyprian queens he may not 

 be entirely disinterested. 



Ripening Honey.— G. R. Harrison says in the Austra- 

 lian Bee-Bulletin : 



" Mr. Doolittle points out, and has been pointing- it out 

 for long enough, and the average bee-keeper tells you he 

 knows it if you mention it — that the honey in the combs is 

 as ripe the morning after it is gathered as it ever will be, 

 and very often much riper.'' 



-Yet on page 194 of this journal Mr. Doolittle advises, if 

 you must ripen honey out of the hive, to keep it in a tem- 

 perature of 90 to 100 degrees for a month or six weeks. 

 Why should this be necessary, if each morning the honey is 

 as ripe as it ever will be ? Perhaps Mr. Doolittle will throw 

 some light on the subject. 



A New Hive=Cover. — Not that one has been made, but 

 one is askt for in the Progressive Bee-Keeper by Dr. Miller. 

 The " Higginsville " is a good cover, and it was a great im- 

 provement upon it to have the ridge-piece channeled, and 

 the shoulders of the two side-pieces projecting up into it, 

 so that water could only enter by running up hill ; but there 

 is still need of a cover that can not twist so as not to fit 

 down close, and to have an air-space in it so as to make it 

 warmer for winter and cooler for summer. He thinks this 

 might be accomplisht in this way : 



"Take a Higginsville, perhaps a little lighter than 

 usual, and have under it another surface ^g thick or less, 

 with a ^s air-space between, having the grain of the under 

 surface run crosswise, the cover fitting entirely flat upon 

 the hive with no cleat at the end projecting downward." 



A $i,ooo Bee (Model) — Mr. Geo. H. Stipp, of Califor- 

 nia, sent us some time ago a clipping from the San Fran- 

 cisco Examiner, showing pictures of a mammoth honey- 

 bee model that can be taken apart and put together again. 

 The description reads as follows : 



A great wooden model or manikin of a honey-bee, one 

 million times larger than the bee itself, is one of the latest 

 pieces of scientific paraphernalia which now furnishes the 

 new building of the Agricultural Department of the Uni- 

 versity of California. This immense construction is the 

 only one of the kind in the United States, and was made 

 especially for the University, in Paris, France. Its cost 

 was $1,000. 



It is four feet four inches long, the wings are two feet 

 ten inches long, the head is twelve inches broad, the thorax 

 one foot ten inches long, the abdomen is two feet five inches 

 long, and one foot five inches across ; the third, or longest 

 hind leg, is two feet five inches long, and the tentacles are 

 ten inches long. 



The dummy insect is complete in every respect ; every 

 gland, orifice or scale upon it is presented. It can be taken 

 apart, and so breaks up into 16 pieces. The legs, the wings 

 and head come off, but the most interesting part of it is 

 the internal arrangements, revealed by removing the caps 

 or tops of the several departments of the bee. The top of 

 the head comes off, revealing the brain and the air-cush- 

 ions surrounding it. Then the top of the thorax is removed, 

 and you may take out one of the strong, red, deflector mus- 

 cles, looking like the pile of fibers which they really are. 

 These are the muscles which lift the wings of the bee. 



, Farther back the top of the abdomen comes off, expos- 

 ing the stomach, intestines and entire digestive apparatus, 

 which also conies out as a separate part. Every vein, duct 

 and sac is detailed in the woodwork, each part being painted 

 the color that it bears in nature. 



Prof. Woodworth, who lectures on the honey-bee, states 

 that he finds the model more useful for laboratory work 

 than for any service. When any point comes up about the 

 anatomy of an insect, reference is had to the manikin, and 

 illustration is at once made. This may occur a dozen times 



