234 



AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL 



April 12, 1900. 



Age at Fecundation. — In Bienen-Vater are given dates 

 for 30 queens. One was fertilized at 4 days after leaving 

 the cell ; 2 at 4;> days ; 4 at 5 ; 10 at 6 ; 8 at 7 ; 3 at 8 ; and 

 2 at 9. ' 



Parsley Angers Bees is the report in L'Apiculteur. 

 When any of the family pluckt parsley for culinary pur- 

 poses, very often a bee or two resented it, and when a bed 

 had gone to seed and was pulled up, the bees became s© 

 furious that there was fear of trouble with the neighbors. 



Honey and Horehound Cough=Drops.— Put a handful 

 of horehound into a saucepan, cover it with water, and boil 

 until the liquor is strong. Then strain and add honey to it, 

 boil until the water has evaporated, test it like other sweets, 

 and when sufficiently boiled pour into shallow pans to cool. 

 Then cut up into pieces.— British Bee Journal. 



To Kill Worms in Combs, the following is given in 

 the American Bee-Keeper : , 



" Place an empty brood-chamber on top of a stack of 

 combs, and therein a' dish with a little bisulphide of carbon, 

 then cover up tight ; the liquid will transform into gas and 

 kill everything living within the stack of hives." 



To Get Much Honey and No increase, the following 

 is recommended in Maehris'che Biene : Give combs of ripe 

 brood to the strongest colony or colonies ; when the young 

 bees hatch, take away all brood, leaving the colony in the 

 condition of a swarm. The brood removed will in turn 

 strengthen other colonies, and the process be continued. 



Uniting a Swarm with a Nucleus.— Speaking of the 

 difference of opinion between Mr. Doolittle and Dr. Miller 

 about uniting a swarm with a nucleus, Editor Pender, of 

 the Australian Bee-Bulletin, agrees with Mr. Doolittle, and 

 indeed goes still farther by saying : " In all cases where I 

 have tried uniting a swarm with anything but a swarm it 

 has been a failure." 



Traveling Bees Need a Queen or Brood, according to 

 Editor Pender. He says : 



"When shipt without a queen, unless the distance is 

 short, say under 48 hours, we always send some brood with 

 them. Bees do not travel well any distance unless they 

 have a queen or "some unsealed brood, and we would not 

 care to risk it over 48 hours." 



Honey=Soap. — Take one pound of best soap, cut it up 

 into thin slices, and put it into a double saucepan and melt. 

 Add tsvo ounces of honey and two ounces of palm-oil, stir it 

 well and boil ten minutes. Then pour into molds. A few 

 drops of oil of cinnamon or oil of cloves may be added to 

 perfume it. A good soap can be made by omitting the oil 

 and using more honey. — British Bee Journal. 



Effect of Locality on Bee.Moths. — Coloradoans claim 

 they have no bee-moths. Mentioning this, Editor Hill, of 

 the American Bee-Keeper, says : 



" By way of contrast, we might say in this connection 

 that in South Florida combs that are left in the extracting- 

 room over night are very apt to show webs in the morning, 

 and if left would be completely ruined within a week." 



Prevention of Swarming. — C. Davenport says in tlie 

 Bee-Keepers' Review that he thinks more extracted honey, 

 as well as more comb, can be got in the white honey har- 

 vest if the queen be confined to one story, but it is likely to 

 induce swarming. If the queen be allowed the free range 

 of three or four stories, the brood will be scattered, making 

 more frames to be handled to extract a given amount of 

 honey, and in the fall there is trouble reducing all to one 

 story ; but there is the saving clause that he has never had 

 a colony try to swarm when the queen had the free range of 

 three or four stories. He thinks, however, that this may 

 be partly attributable to the fact that this locality is slightly 

 overstockt. 



Thoro Ripening of Honey — Those Britishers know a 

 thing or two about getting honey in shape to take prizes. 

 Says a writer in the Bee-Keepers' Record : 



" You extract your honey, you strain it. You fill a bot- 

 tle and are delighted with its color. You taste it ; it is 

 delicious ! If you are inexperienced, you think you have 

 nothing else to do but send it to the show and secure a 

 prize. But no, honey for prize-winning is not so easily 

 produced, or prepared for the show-bench in such a rough- 

 and-ready manner. No matter how well ' capt-over ' the 

 combs may be, there are a few necessary tedious operations 

 to perform before we may say our honey is ' in condition.' 

 Even if, as I said, your honey is thoroly sealed, a few days 

 standing in a warm place— by the kitchen grate for in- 

 stance—in the ' ripener ' has a wonderful effect, enhancing 

 not only its flavor, but principally its consistency. And 

 where partly unsealed combs have been extracted, it is 

 doubly important that this ripening process have due atten- 

 tion. In such cases a week at least ought to be given to 

 ripening." 



Length of Tongue of Apis Dorsata.— Editor Root, of 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture, sent seven specimens of Apis 

 dorsata to Prof. B. P. Koons to have their tongues meas- 

 ured. The length of tongue, given in thousandths of an 

 inch, varied from .170 to .240. the average being .195. He 

 then measured the tongues of 12 Italian bees, which varied 

 from .199 to .232, the average being .220. Just as that 

 reads, it doesn't say much for dorsata. Its opponents, 

 however, can take a little comfort from these measurements 

 when it is known that the dorsata were specimens in alco- 

 hol, and the Italians were fresh. Prof. Koons says he does 

 not consider the measurements reliable, as alcohol is a 

 drier, and might materially affect the length. Indeed, the 

 testimony is on the side of the big bees, for one of them 

 showed a longer tongue, even after being in alcohol, than 

 any tongue of the Italians, and it is quite possible all were 

 much longer before being put in alcohol. 



White Cappings for Best Price — G. M. Doolittle says 

 in the Progressive Bee-Keeper: 



"What I believe is, that after the sections ^.re. filled 

 with a nice ztihite comb of honey, the sections are rarely 

 lookt at, either by the producer or the consumer, but it is 

 the beautiful comb honey that is lookt at ever afterward, 

 and it is for this reason that Doolittle has been advocating 

 taking off the honey while the combs are snow white, all 

 these years, rather than " white sections" as Mr. Aikin 

 imputes to me. I don't guess at the matter; 1 knozv that 

 snow-white combs will sell both in the New York and Bos- 

 ton market at from 2 to 3 cents per pound above those left 

 on the hives until they are colored, each having the same 

 quality of honey, and an experience as to the selling price 

 of the two during the past IS years, is the reason of that 

 'know.'" 



Do Bees Hade Queenless Prefer Too=01d Larvae for 

 Queen. Rearing? is a question taking up some space in the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review. Hon. R. E. Taylor thinks the ex- 

 periment made by Dr. Miller is not satisfactory, altho ad- 

 mitting the claim of the latter that, " there is no positive 

 proof that during the first five days any larva more than 

 three days old was chosen, and there is positive proof that 

 17 larvK under three days old were chosen." If this were 

 the only experiment that could be made, it might be worth 

 while to keep up the discussion, but would it not be the part 

 of wisdom to let it go and institute fresh experime nts that 

 would be satisfactory to both ? The question is one of 

 some importance, and ought to be settled. 



Each Should Improve His Stock.— Here are some 

 words of wisdom from W. H. Pridgen in the American Bee- 

 Keeper, that will bear a second reading : 



"Permanent improvements come slowly, being the re- 

 sults of persistent efforts and the ability to make wise selec- 

 tions, which each bee-keeper should be able to do, as well 

 as being sufficiently skilled in queen-rearing to perpetuate 

 the desirable qualities of faithful old mothers ready to pass 

 off the stage of action." 



"Shall We Adopt the Tall Sections?" is askt by J. 

 H. Martin in the Bee-Keepers' Review, and in answering 

 the question he thinks it not well to be to too much expense 

 in changing. He makes one point that is worth consider- 

 ing. Accounts are given that tall sections bring better 

 prices by comparison with square ones. Now suppose all 

 change to tall. Will the price of honey then be any greater 

 than if all had remained square ? 



