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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 19, 1900 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 



118 Michigan Street, Chicago, III. 



[Entered at the Post-Office at Chicagro as Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



C.C.MILLER, E.E. HASTY, 



" Questions and Answers." * *' The Afterthoug'ht.'' 



LEADING CONTRIBUTORS: 



G. M. DooLiTTLE, C. P. Dadant, Prof. A. J. Cook, 



F. A. SxELL, R. C. AiKiN, "Old Grimes." 



IMPORTANT NOTICES: 



The Subscription Price of this journal is $1.03 a year, in the United States, 

 Canada, and Mexico; all other countries in the Postal Union, SO cents 

 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 chaugre the dale on your wrapper-label, which shows 

 you that the money has been received and duly credited. 



Advertising Rates will be g^iven upon application. 



VOL. 40. 



JULY 19, 1900. 



NO. 29. 



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. 



The National Queen=Breeders' Union Mr. J. O. 



Grimsley, the secretary of this organization, has an article 

 on another page of this issue of the Bee Journal. He sets 

 forth quite ably and fully the objects of the Union in which 

 it is desired to invite all honest queen-breeders. Undoubt- 

 edly its aims are worthj-, and it might be a good thing for 

 the few queen-breeders in the country to get into the or- 

 ganization. And yet, we fail to see very clearly just why 

 any of the bee-papers should devote much space to adver- 

 tising it, any more than they should push the claims of the 

 Carriage Manufacturers' Union, because bee-keepers need 

 carriages, and ought to be told who are the honest makers. 

 Or, to bring it nearer home, why should the bee-papers 

 push a Bee-Supply Dealers' Union, if there were one in 

 existence ? 



There are doubtless just as honest queen-breeders out- 

 side of the Union as there are in it. Shall the bee-papers, 

 by devoting space to the Union, favor those breeders who 

 have paid their SIO membership fees, rather than those who 

 are just as worthy outside of it, and who perhaps are more 

 inclined to patronize the ads'ertising columns of the bee- 

 papers, than are the members of the Union ? 



By the way, for what purpose is the SIO membership 

 fee used ? But perhaps that is none of our affair. 



A Ventilated Double Gable Cover is the one that H. 

 L. Jones says in the Australasian Bee-Keeper he has settled 

 upon as the only satisfactory one, altho he has tried many 



kinds, including flat, "Danzy," painted canvas, oilcloth, 

 and tin roofs. A double cover has been somewhat called 

 for in this country, but manufacturers have not seemed in- 

 clined to supply it, such a cover, however, having been 

 mentioned in the Canadian Bee Journal as on the market 

 in Canada. The advantage of a double over a single board 

 cover is claimed to be that a hive with a dead-air space be- 

 tween its two parts acts as a non-conductor — warmer in 

 winter, cooler in summer. One objection to the flat board 

 cover is that when it doesn't warp it twists, so that as soon 

 as it acquires a little age disagreeable cracks will be found 

 between the hive and the cover. With the double cover the 

 upper part may have the grain running one way and the 

 lower part the other, such a cover allowing a close fit even 

 when cold. The want for a satisfactory cover is yet to be 

 supplied. 



Colorado and Wax=Moths. — F. L. Thompson quotes in 

 the Progressive Bee-Keeper the letter of Prof. Gillette, 

 given on page 200 of this journal, which letter, and the 

 words introducing it, Mr. Thompson thinks might be mis- 

 leading. As the larva of the moth mentioned by Prof. 

 Gillette does not feed upon wax and honey, he thinks it 

 should not be said to infest honey-combs, but only pollen- 

 combs. 



Be Careful in Packing Bees for Shipment. — The 



British Bee Journal gives particulars of a distressing mis- 

 hap in which the cover came off a hive prepared to be sent 

 by train, and many persons were severelj' stung, the bees 

 holding possession of the grounds till dark. The very 

 greatest care should be exercised to see that by no possi- 

 bility a single bee can escape in case of shipment, and even 

 when hauling to an out-apiary for the first time it is very 

 likely to be the case that some little leak has been over- 

 lookt, and a stinging reproof teaches more caution for the 

 future. In case of shipment on the railroad, a safe rule 

 would be to accept no bees from one who has had no pre- 

 vious experience in shipping, and that is practically the 

 rule with railroads in this countt^. 



Small vs. Large Bottoms for Queen.Cell Cups. — 



Since the production of cell-cups "by the peck," thus popu- 

 larizing their use, there comes to the sui^ace a difference of 

 opinion as to whether the bottoms of the cell-cups should be 

 of the same shape as the bottoms of queen-cells that bees 

 prepare for swarming, or for a short distance the same size 

 as the bottom of a worker-cell. As originally made by Mr. 

 Doolittle, the cells had large bottoms, a portion of royal 

 jelly was put in the cell, and the little larva placed thereon. 



Then Willie Atchley conceived the idea of transferring 

 part of the cocoon with the larva, paring down the comb 

 containing the larvs to be transferred, then lifting with 

 tweezers the little cup of cocoon containing the larva, and 

 placing both cocoon and larva in the cell-cup. To make 

 this work more satisfactorily, he made the dipping-sticks 

 upon which the cell-cups were formed somewhat pointed, 

 so that for a little way the bottom of the cell was the size of 

 worker-cells, then suddenly enlarging to the full size of the 

 queen-cell. 



Then W. H. Pridgen took up the matter, and took two 

 long strides in advance He conceived an arrangement for 

 making the cells by wholesale, whether with large or small 

 bottoms, and devised an ingenious arrangement to take the 

 place of the tweezers. This latter consists of what he calls 

 a " transfer," or transfer-stick. The end of this transfer is 

 of such size as to fit snugly into the shallow cocoon, hol- 

 lowed out at the extreme end, so that the larva is unharmed 

 by the transfer. Pressing the transfer into the shallow 

 cocoon, he lifts the latter and places it in the bottom of the 



