724 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. IS 1900 



iweeii built combs). Mr. Muiula.v e()m])liiiiif 

 that hi.'i bees refuse to extend the cells when 

 shaved back. I think the reason is his ex- 

 tracting and brood combs are identical. If he 

 were to use separate extracting-comhs. and 

 win-kt his super-combs for deep cells. Vnit lit- 

 tle brood will get into his extracting-combs to 

 make the combs ■■ old." and he would always 

 have soft wax-cells, not tough cocoons, for 

 the bees to extend. 



Carbolic Acid for Spraying.— It is 



unwise to spray fruit-trees when in bloom, if 

 for no other reason than that it is a waste, as 

 at that time it does no good, and it is lie- 

 lieved that the poison is a damage to the blos- 

 soms. Even if there be no spraying until 

 after the blossoms have fallen, it is thought by 

 some that damage may be done to the bees 

 that may lick up the moisture that is on the 

 foliage. Asbees refuse to touch sugar s.vrup 

 that is very slightly flavored with carbolic 

 acid. J. S. Callbreath recommends in (ilean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture that when spraying fruit- 

 trees it will be well to mix carbolic acid with 

 the liquid used. 



Tongues and Tubes are actiuiring a 

 good deal of prominence nowadays — that is. 

 the tongues of bees and the tubes of red clover 

 blossoms. The editor of Uleanings in Bee- 

 -Culture is becoming quite enthusiastic over 

 the matter, especially over the prospect of 

 •obtaining Ijees with tongues long enough to 

 work on red clover as it now exists. He gives 

 the following figures: 



The approximate length of tlie tongues of 

 average bees — that is. the reach — is 10-100. 

 The greatest length so far measured is 23-100. 

 Red-clover corolla-tulies vary in length all the 

 way from 3s to \ : and an average of them is 

 fltiout '4 of an inch, or 25-100, deep. The bees 

 of red-clover queens have tongues anywhere 

 from lS-100 to 2.S-100 long : and we are now- 

 striving to get a strain that will have 2.5-100 

 length. 



■• 



The Illinois and Colorado State bee- 

 keepers' conventions w ill be held next week — 

 the Illinois at Springtield, Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, Nov. 20 and 21 ; and the Colo- 

 rado. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, at 

 Denver. We expect to be present at the 

 Illinois meeting, and hope to see many of the 

 cildaswell as new friends tliere. We trust 

 that both conventions ma,\" l)e well attended, 

 and be profitable and pleasant to all who can 



be present. 



♦ 



Carniolan Queens having been placed 

 :at the head ot the list as to i)roliticness by Mi*, 

 (ireiner, Mr. Doolittle says in the American 

 Bee-Keeper: 



They may be the most pioliHc queens of the 

 races named; but all of my experience with 

 them goes to prove that their prolificness is so 

 used that it counts for le.ss in section honey 

 tlian any other race of liees with which I am 

 .aci|uainted, unless it be the Syrians. The 

 trouiile lies in the fact that the tiueen docs not 

 .reach nearly to her height f)f egg- hi ,\in:i' 

 |)owers till the hone.v-harvest commence--, 

 .after which she will spread herself in a most 

 .magnificent style. This brings an excessive 

 swarming during the middle or near the close 

 .of the hone.v-harvest. causing nearly all the 

 honey gathered by the few liecs on liand at 

 the beginning of the harvest to be used in the 

 rearing of brood, the bees from which are of 

 little value, as the mo.st of them helii with the 

 excessive swarming, or become consumers 

 after the hoDey-harvest is past. 



All bee-keepers should understand that pro- 

 lificness in any queen counts for little or 

 nothing unless this proliticness is used at the 

 right time to produce hosts of bees just in the 



right time for tlie harvest. And it is Iteeause 

 the prolifienessof Italian queens can be so used 

 to a better advantage than can the iiroliticness 

 of any other race or variety that I am wedded 

 to the Italians, and not for their white cap- 

 ping of hone.v, as the reader of Mr (ireiner's 

 article would be led to think. If I have ever 

 said that my "strain of Italian bees will cap 

 their honey as white as the blacks," I must 

 have been dreaming, for the whiteness is in 

 favor of the blacks. But my Italians do cap 

 their honey white einmgh so that it never has 

 to take xerond place as to vrice in tlie markets 

 of Boston. New York or Philadelphia. 



Cessation of Brood-Rearing in the 



fall, according to an item in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture, is not always, possibly not often, 

 caused by a cessation of the queen's laying. 

 It is common to find in a hive in the fall eggs 

 and sealed brood, but no unsealed brood. In 

 such case the queen keeps on laying, but the 

 bees cease ministering to the eggs or young 

 larvae. More and more it is coming to be con- 

 sidered that a queen is not a queen, but that 

 the workers hold the reins of government. 



^ Weekly Budget l 



i 



Mu. W. S. Feeback asd Apiary are 

 shown on the first page. Mr. F. sent usthe fol- 

 lowing with the picture: 



I had about 100 colonies when the picture 

 was taken — very nearly all golden Italians, 

 but a few three-banded Italians. I prefer the 

 golden Italians to any other kind I have ever 

 tried. 



This was an off year for honey. There was 

 ver.v little surplus honey here, and what there 

 was IS of very poor quality. White clover 

 (which is our main source for surplus) yielded 

 but little. 



Messrs. Kitselmas Bros., manufacturers 

 of wire fencing, have changed their location 

 from Ridgeville to Muncie, Ind. The reasons 

 for this change are that they desire to get into 

 the gas belt, near the manufacturers of the 

 iron, steel, bolts., etc., used in the construc- 

 tion of their goods, and at the same time im- 

 prove their shipping facilities. Those of our 

 readers who are customers of Kitselman Bros, 

 will please note the change in address. This 

 firm is usually found among our advertisers 

 when the fencing season is at hand. 



Mr. S. p. Culley, a well-known bee-keeper 

 and writer on bees, of Higginsville, Mo., was 

 killed Nov. 1st, while on his way to Havana, 

 Cuba, with a ear-load of bees. Mr. E. T. 

 Flanagan, of St. Clair Co.. III., and- others, 

 have kindly sent us newspaperclippings about 

 the terrible accident. From the notices we 

 learn the following particulars: 



Mr. Culley was ground to pici-es beneath 

 Ihe wheels of a freight train at Venice. .Mo. 

 When just outside at \'enice he was awakened 

 b.v the conductor, who informed him that the 

 train would soon reach St. Lruiis. The con- 

 ductor then went on top of the car for the 

 purpose of switching the train thru the yards. 

 He had scarcely reacht the to)) of the caboose 

 before he felt the car wheels grind thru some- 

 body. He signaled to stop the train, which 

 was done as quickly as possible. Walking 

 back a few feet he found the liody of a man, 

 and he recognized the remains of Mr. Culley. 

 It is believed by the Irainmcn tliat when the 

 conductor awakened Mr. Culley he. in a half- 

 dozing condition, walkt to the front door of 



the caboose and fell off between the cars. The 

 conductor thinks the accident could have 

 happened in no otlier w^ay. 



In the pockets of Mr. Culley's vest was 

 found a letter which he had written to his 

 wife since his de]>arlure from his home. It 

 informed her of foreliodiiigs which he had had 

 during the preceding night, and hoped that 

 she would be doubly guarded about the fam- 

 ily during his absence. He said he had a feel- 

 ing that some misfortune would befall him or 

 his family. The letter contained many en- 

 dearing terms ascribed to the wife and family, 

 and wound up by hoijing again that she would 

 l)e very careful for her own safety. 



Mr. Culley was a recognized authority on 

 bees in the section in which he lived, and his 

 reputation had s)>rcad to different parts of the 

 world. Recently he entered into a contract 

 with a firm in tlie East to take a car-load of 

 bees to Havana, Cuba, and there attera|)t to 

 cultivate the industry. He was offered a lib- 

 eral sum to accomjiany the consignment, and 

 started on his long journey. He leaves a 

 widow and three children. 



This is all very sad indeed. How strange 

 are some of the occurrences in life, and how 

 uncertain is life itself. 



Mr. Flanagan was engaged by the railroad 

 company to take the car-load of bees on to 

 New Orleans. As Mr. F. is an experienced 

 shipper of bees, doubtless they were delivered 

 all right. 



Editor HfTCHixsON, of the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review, seems to be so unfortunate as to have 

 an annual attack of " rheumatics." This .year, 

 with other afflictions, it has interfered with 

 getting out the October issue of his paper, 

 which was just about a month late. Here is 

 his explanation : 



Soon after my return from the Chicago con- 

 vention I was taken down with my annual, 

 autumnal attack fif rhemnatic fever. Most of 

 the time I was able to sit up. but there were a 

 great many days when I was not able to even 

 answer the mail. Before I was really able to 

 do much work, came the moving from the old 

 house into the new. This was quite a task, as 

 there were the household goods, the office, 

 and the bee-hives, sections, and other bee- 

 keeping supplies to move. We were right in 

 the midst of this work, when there came a 

 telegram announcing the death of my father, 

 who lived in Tnsccila County. Altho scarcely 

 able to take the journey. I went to the funeral 

 and returned with apparently no bad effects. 

 At present I am writing with a great variety 

 of things piled up around me. Eventually, 

 however, things will get into their proper 

 places, and the long, hard task of building a 

 house and getting settled in it will be over, 

 and we can all put our shoulders once more 

 to the wheel that runs the Review, and get it 

 out on time. 



A Recorder Above. — Politics has no 

 place in this journal, but an item by Stenog, 

 in a rival bee-paper, may be excused for find- 

 ing a place here on account of the kindly spirit 

 in which it is written, and on account of its 

 closing sentence. Stenog says: 



The editor of the American Bee Journal, 

 Mr. G. W. York, has been nominated on 

 the Prohibition ticket as Recorder of Deeds of 

 Cook County. In view of the fad that in the 

 neighboring city of Cleveland nearly all. if 

 not all. of the city council are in criminal 

 court for briliery, it seems a pity that such 

 men as Mr. York — men of ability and uneom- 

 proraising honesty — can not have control of 

 iniblic affairs instead of such men as the slum 

 vote gives us — men who care nothing for 

 office except as a means of iiluiider. But 

 there's a '■ Recorder of deeds " overhead who 

 will make this all right some day. 



Mr. Thos. Chaxtry. of Clay Co.. So. Dak., 

 writing us Nov. 7. said: "We got very little 

 honey this year, and had to feed many colo- 

 nies for winter." 



