June 7, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



359 



sawdust; the front facing- the South is left open. The 

 house is built high enoug^h to let supers stand under thcni. 

 I will leave the hives in the house or shed all summer to 

 protect them from the sun. Will it do to leave the sawdust 

 iu during the summer? Utah. 



Answbr. — 1. When a very prolific queen has not a very 

 strong force of bees, so that her field of operation is limited, 

 she may lay two or three eggs in a cell, hardly more, and 

 not often more than two. When laying workers are present, 

 you will generally find from two to a dozen eggs in a queen- 

 cell or in drone-cells. In worker-cells laying workers may 

 do their work as regularly as a queen. 



2. Sometimes there seems to be some imperfection that 

 makes an otherwise good queen do so, perhaps only for a 

 time. Generally, however, it is the work of laying workers 

 which seem to have difficulty in reaching to the bottom of 

 the cell. 



3. Anything in the line of wood that holds fire well and 

 makes a good smoke is all right. 



4. Almost any bees will be cross if handled at inoppor- 

 tune times, as at times when the weather will not allow 

 them to fly, too early in the morning, or too late in the 

 evening. Sometimes a colony will be very cross, and the 

 next time you handle them they will be very gentle, because 

 the last time was in the middle of the day and they were 

 busy gathering. Of course, the manner in which they are 

 treated has something to do with it ; go at them gently, 

 using smoke in advance only as needed. There are bees, 

 however, that are so vicious in disposition that they are 

 cross at all times, and the only cure is to pinch the queen's 

 head. Remember, however, that sometimes a whole apiary 

 seems cross, when in reality, if you observe very carefully, 

 you will find all the cross bees belong to a single colony. 



5. I think it is generally believed they are rather better 

 without the sawdust in summer. 



Plan for Italianizing Black Bees. 



1. I have two colonies of bees, one Italian and the other 

 black, and I want to keep only Italians. Will it be all right 

 to let the Italians swarm, and then divide the black colony, 

 and give a frame with queen-cells from the Italians to each 

 of the colonies that I have divided, and kill the old black 

 queen ? New York. 



Answer. — That may work all right, but you may like 

 this way better : When the Italian colony swarms, set the 

 swarm where the Italian colony stood, put the Italian colony 

 in the place of the strongest colony of the blacks, setting 

 the latter in a new place. In a week or 10 days the Italian 

 colony will swarm again, when the swarm will be put in 

 the place of the strongest remaining black colony, and the 

 latter will be put in a new place. A day or so later another 

 swarm will issue from the Italians, and the process will be 

 repeated as long as the swarming continues, each time put- 

 ting the Italian swarm in place of the strongest of the 

 blacks. 



Belgian Hares. 



CT- On page 292 there is an interesting article on " Belgian 

 Hares and Bees." I believe the combination one well 

 adapted to this island. Where can a pair of breeders be ob- 

 tained, and at what cost ? Has this industry been intro- 

 duced into the Southern States ? Cuba. 



cu Answer. — I cannot answer the first part of your ques- 

 tion, but you will probablj' find Belgian hares advertised in 

 these columns shortly. The industry is having a big boom 

 in California, and possibly in other places south. 



HakeS'Heddon Adulteration Case. — On page 312 we 

 publisht a report of the Hakes-Heddon adulteration case, as 

 reported by Dr. Mason. The following further statement 

 in regard to the matter appears in Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture, written by Editor E. R. Root : 



In the Bee-Keepers' Review for May, Mr. Hutchinson 

 gives a summary of the Hakes-Heddon adulteration case. 

 In this connection Mr. Hutchinson says a sample of a lot of 

 honey which he sold to Hakes, and which he (Mr. Hutchin- 

 son) says he bought of us, was also pronounced by the 

 chemist to be adulterated. This matter was brought to our 



attention ; but from the best information we could then get 

 hold of the matter seemed to be very much mixt. Further 

 investigation shows that the sample came from a shelf on 

 which there were also bottles of Hakes-Heddon honey — all 

 of the packages " having the same labels," and right here 

 would be a big chance for a mistake as to the .source. In 

 any case the sample is reported to have been "adulterated 

 the same as the Hakes-Heddon honey." 



We want the truth, no matter where it hits. If the 

 honey came originally from us, it is some we sold to Mr. 

 Hutchinson some three years ago. This he used for exhi- 

 bition purposes, and afterward, as he says, sold it to Mr. 

 Hakes. Mr. Hutchinson believed it to be pure, and so did 

 we, and we think so yet. Even if the honey came from Mr. 

 Hutchinson, it is not altogether clear that it came from us. 

 Referring to the lot of honey that Hutchinson sent him. 

 Hakes writes that Hutchinson wrote him that some of it 

 might have come from the A. I. Root Co. This would indi- 

 cate that Hakes had some honey from Hutchinson that did 

 not come from us. In my talk with Dr. Mason I took it 

 that he (Mason) gathered the same impression from corres- 

 pondence he had had with Hutchinson. Here again there 

 may be a mistake. I don't know. But however this may 

 be, it is of small consequence, as Mr. Hutchinson would no 

 more adulterate, or knowingly sell adulterated goods, than 

 we. We understand also that the food commissioner visited 

 Hutchinson, inspected his honey, and pronounced it all 

 right. 



The sample of the so-called Hutchinson-Hakes honey 

 was not purchast bj' the food inspector as were the other 

 samples referred to in Secretar_v Mason's report, and as a 

 consequence no regular records were made as would be re- 

 quired from the inspectors. The sample was simply bought 

 by Mr. Soper, and sent to the chemist after the food com- 

 missioners had bought the Hakes-Heddon honey. This is 

 the reason why the matter did not appear in the Michigan 

 Dairy and Food Bulletin No. SO. 



It is our rule to buy of reputable producers ; and, so far 

 as we know, we have never sold an ounce of adulterated 

 honey. 



Dr. Miller Honey-Queens. — Dr. Miller writes us that 

 he now expects to begin very slowly sending out queens on 

 our orders by or before June 10, accelerating as time passes. 

 He will mail to each queen-customer a postal-card a day or 

 two before sending the queen, so that it maybe known just 

 when to look for the queens. 



« * ♦ ♦ « 



Mr. O. O. Poppleton, of Florida, writes that he ex- 

 pects to attend the Chicago meeting of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association next August. It will likely be a big 

 gathering. Every bee-keeper who can possibly do so should 

 be present. The date is August 28, 29 and 30. 

 # # * * * 



C. B. BanksTon, formerly a queen-breeder at Rockdale, 

 Tex., was referred to in this column about two weeks ago. 

 Mr. C. H. Lothrop, of Massachusetts, wrote to us as follows 

 May 20, concerning his experience with Bankston : 



Editor American Bee Journal — 



Dear Sir : — I write you in regard to C. B. Bankston. I 

 find out by writing the post-master at Rockdale, that he has 

 left for parts unknown. Therefore, he does not receive the 

 money-orders, etc. He also tells me that his brother, J. M. 

 Bankston (I think those are the right initials) takes his (C. 

 B.'s) mail-matter. I got my order back from the brother. 

 If any of your subscribers wish to get their money back, 

 write to the brother. 



The American Fruit and Vegetable Journal is just 

 what its name indicates. Tells all about growing fruits 

 and vegetables. It is a fine monthly, at 50 cents a year. 

 We can mail you a free sample copy of it, if you ask for it. 

 We club it with the American Bee Journal — both papers one 

 year for $1.10. 



