628 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 4 1900. 



tive when others fail. He is likely to hesitate about trying 

 to winter over several weaklings if you tell him in a con- 

 vincing way that by uniting two weak colonies now he will 

 have more colonies next July than if he keeps them sep- 

 arate, and both live thru the winter and spring. More 

 colonies, mind you, for he has not yet reacht that point 

 where he counts more upon the number of bees he has than 

 upon the number of hi%-es that contain bees. 



In the cool weather of spring and early summer it 

 takes about all the bees of a weak colony to keep up heat 

 enough for life, without sparing any bees for outside or in- 

 side work. The bees cluster somewhat in spherical form, 

 the outside bees forming a blanket to keep the others warm. 

 It is easy to see that if a large cluster needs a blanket of 

 a certain thickness, a small cluster can not be kept warm 

 with a thinner blanket, and so it happens that at a time 

 when a small proportion of the large cluster do the blanket- 

 ing business the small cluster may be all blanket. This 

 explains why it is that a colony in the spring, able to have 

 only a small surface of brood in one or two combs, is at a 

 standstill till hot weather, while one with bees enough to 

 cover four frames will be increasing right along. 



Now suppose in the same apiary four colonies equally 

 weak No. 2 is united with No. 1, and Nos. 3 and 4 are left 

 separate. Now suppose that the loss of bees in No. 1 dur- 

 ing winter is just equal to that of both the other two — not a 

 very supposable case, but we suppose it. In the spring, 

 when brood-rearing has fairly started, there will be more 

 brood in No. 1 than in both the others ; but suppose the 

 amount is equal, four frames of brood in No. 1, and two 

 frames each in Nos. 3 and 4. The experience of every ob- 

 serving bee-keeper will tell him that for a time No. 1 will 

 be on the increase while the other two will be at a standstill, 

 if indeed they hold their own. So before there is any in- 

 crease in either of the weaker ones. No. 1 will have six 

 frames of brood. The bee-keeper can now divide No. 1 and 

 have two colonies with three frames of brood each, against 

 the two frames of brood in each of Nos. 3 and 4. 



He who is wise will lose no time now in uniting colo- 

 nies that have only enough bees to cover three or four 

 combs. 



Clarifying Beeswax. — An editorial in the American 

 Bee-Keeper reads : 



" An exchange says the secret of getting beeswax of a 

 bright yellow color is to 'allow it to cool slowly.' Our con- 

 temporary would increase its prestige with the bee-keeping 

 fraternity by running in a lot of slugs and quads instead of 

 such information (?)." 



Now will Editor Hill please tell us why ? Is it that the 

 information is of so little value that it is a waste of -space, 

 or because there is no bee-keeper who does not already 

 know it ? 



Errors in Bee-Journals will occur, no matter how 

 much one may try to be careful. In " Pickings " in Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture — a department conducted by Stenog, 

 the man to whom the A. I. Root Co. are indebted for the 

 large number of errors in language and printing that are 

 not allowed to appear in their journal and publish! books — 

 occurs the following : 



A correspondent says : "I set one sweet clover plant 

 to the right of each hive." I supposed all clover plants 

 were equally sweet. What kind of clover was it ? 



The greater number of the readers of Gleanings will 

 hardly make out what Stenog is driving at, and the few 

 who understand that he is calling attention to the omission 

 of a hyphen may feel just a little puzzled to explain why it 

 is that when one is speaking of a plant of sweet clover he 

 should not call it a " sweet clover plant " just as well as to 

 call it a " sweet-clover plant." Especially will he feel puz- 



zled when he finds the omission of the hyphen endorst by 

 so able an authority as Stenog himself. If Stenog will 

 carefully run his finger over the columns of the same num- 

 ber of Gleanings from which the above item is quoted, he 

 will find, 13 pages farther on, at the northeast corner of 

 page 693, mention made of " a S200 red clover queen." Now 

 if any evil-minded person should send in an inquiry asking, 

 " Are other clover queens yellow, and is this the only clover 

 queen that is red ?" he may as well understand at once that 

 no such offensive personalities will be admitted into these 

 columns. 



Base is the sin of ingratitude, and when Stenog so un- 

 selfishly points out what should be corrected in this journal, 

 the least that can be done is to return the favor by pointing 

 out what might be bettered in the very excellent journal 

 over which he keeps watch and ward. 



On page SSI of the American Bee Journal J. H. Martin 

 speaks of a new package for a small amount of honey, and 

 Stenog says (Gleanings, page 719) : 



In speaking of suitable packages for small amounts of 

 honey, Mr. Martin says he saw one lately that workt like a 

 charm. The containing medium was made of sausage- 

 stuflRng, but he thinks this was evidently unfit. 



It would not be appropriate to say that one would think 

 it "evidently unfit " to have honey contained in something 

 made of chopt meat, for that is not what Stenog means. 

 Instead of " sausage-stuffing," he means the thing that holds 

 the stuffing, or, as Mr. Martin exprest it, " the material that 

 forms the covering for sausages." 



When it comes to writing pure and undefiled English, 

 it must be confest, " We are all poor critters." 



Bee-Keeping; at the Pan-American. — In a private let- 

 ter from Mr. F. A. Converse, superintendent of live stock, 

 dairy and agricultural exhibits, at the Pan-American Expo- 

 sition, to be held in Buffalo, N.Y., next year, he has this 

 to say regarding the apiarian exhibit : 



" I may say regarding the bee-exhibit at the Pan 

 American Exposition, things are beginning to assume a 

 tangible shape, and already several exhibits from the vari- 

 ous States are being taken up, and the outlook is that the 

 bee-exhibit will be one of the prominent features of the 

 Exposition. Separate space has been set aside in the main 

 Agricultural Building for this display, and it will be fitted 

 with every accommodation possible to have this industry 

 represented in a way that shall be commensurate with its 

 importance." 



Bee-keepers had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Converse 

 at the recent Chicago convention, and everybody can feel 

 assured that he will do all in his power to make the bee- 

 keeping part of the Pan-American one of the most interest- 

 ing and helpful exhibits in the whole aggregation. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 



the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 



Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 



thought by some to be the bast bee-song yet written by Mr. 



Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 



furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copied 



for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 



sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 



Bee Journal at $1.00. 



♦-•-•^ 



The Chicago Convention Picture is a fine one. It is 

 nearly 8x10 inches in size, mounted on heavy cardboard 

 10x12 inches. It is, we believe, the largest group of bee- 

 keepers ever taken in one picture. It is sent, postpaid, for 

 75 cents ; or we can send the American Bee Journal one 

 year and the picture — both for f 1.60. It would be a nice 

 picture to frame. We have not counted them, but think 

 there are nearly 200 bee-keepers shown. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



