542 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of the frames are arranged in the new 

 hive, I would put her into the new hive. 

 2. No, not if the transferring is done so 

 as to Ifeep the queens away from the 

 bees but a short time. — G. W. Demakee. 



1. If the transferring is done while 

 honey is being gathered, there will be no 

 danger in " letting the queens take their 

 chances ;" otherwise, it will be safer to 

 cage them. 2. I do not think there will 

 be any danger in turning them loose 

 after transferring.— J. E. Pond. 



1. I would leave the queen with the 

 bees ; if the combs are in frames you 

 can put some of them into the new 

 frames, hang them in the new hive, and 

 shake the bees and queen into the new 

 hive, or in front of it, and let them run 

 in. 2. Not if you leave the cage among 

 the bees. — M. Mahin. 



1. Do the transferring when plenty of 

 honey is coming in. As soon as a frame 

 is filled with transferred comb, place it 

 in the new hive. Keep a sharp watch 

 for the queen, and, when found, let her 

 run down between the frames in the new 

 hive. 2. Usually, no; sometimes how- 

 ever, during a honey-dearth, they will 

 kill their queen when disturbed for any 

 purpose. — Mrs. J. N. Heater. 



1. No ; you have no occasion to cage 

 the queen. Place a hive alongside of the 

 one containing the swarm, and if you 

 have a few frames of comb of the size 

 you wish to use, lift out a frame with 

 bees upon it carefully, and after satisfy- 

 ing yourself that the queen is not on 

 that frame, with a soft brush-broom, 

 brush the bees into the new hive; when 

 you come to the frame containing the 

 queen, she can be shaken or brushed 

 carefully into the new hive with the 

 bees. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



"When "Writing a letter be sure 

 to sign it. Too often we get letters 

 with the name of the post-office, but no 

 County or State. One such came 

 recently, and we looked into the Postal 

 Guide and found there were places by 

 that name in 13 States. Be sure to 

 stamp your letter, or it may go to the 

 dead letter office, in Washington, D. C. 



Xlie Amateur Bee-Keeper, 



by J. W. Rouse ; 52 pages. Price, 25c. 

 For sale at this office. 



Topics g[ Interest. 



GoyernmeDtal Aifl for Ailciillure, 



p. H. ELWOOD. 



Apiculture is a branch of agriculture, 

 and as such is entitled to the same fos- 

 tering care extended by the government 

 to other branches of the same occupa- 

 tion. As a pursuit it is a new comer, 

 an "infant industry," and we should 

 therefore expect it to be treated with 

 exceptional favor. Instead of this, how- 

 ever, the 300,000 bee-keepers of this 

 country have been almost wholly neg- 

 lected. 



There seems to have been enough 

 money to spend on promoting the culture 

 of silk, an article of luxury, but nothing 

 for the production of honey, the most 

 healthful sugar food in the world. 

 Millions of dollars are freely offered for 

 the production of cane sugar, an indus- 

 tury that needs the fatherly care of the 

 government no more than does ours, if, 

 indeed, it needs it as much. 



Bee-culture is peculiarly important, 

 because it saves a product that, unless 

 gathered by the honey-bee, goes to 

 waste ; also because of the offices the 

 bee performs in the fertilization of the 

 flowers of fruits, grains, seeds, etc. 

 These indirect benefits are probably 

 quite as important as the primary work 

 of honey gathering. We have now under 

 Secretary Rusk, an effort by the govern- 

 ment to protect us, for it has within the 

 past year employed two able bee-keepers, 

 Mr. Larrabee at the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College, and Mr. Frank Benton at 

 Washington, to look after our interests. 



This well-intended effort, however, is 

 practically fruitless, since both of these 

 men are under the direction of Chief 

 Riley, of the Division of Entomology, 

 who, no matter how distinguished as an 

 entomologist, cannot be expected to 

 know much about practical and scientific 

 bee-keeping, not to be able to intelli- 

 gently supervise the expenditure of 

 money appropriated for experimental 

 work in advanced bee-culture. 



In proof of this assertion, notice the 

 misdirection of the efforts of these two 

 efficient men. Mr. Larrabee's time has 

 been so fully occupied with the care and 

 manual labor of the large Michigan 

 College apiary as to leave him but very 

 little time or energy for experimental 

 work. 



