Tmm MMERICJEFf BE® JOlSfRNJSI^. 



323 



EDITOR. 



Voinv. May 25, 1889. No. 21. 



We have IBcfcived the annual re- 

 port of the Experiment Station of the Col- 

 lege of Auriculture, of the University of 

 Minnesota, at St. Anthony Park, Ramsey 

 Co., Minn. This is the institution now pre- 

 sided over by Prof. N. W. McLain, who is 

 the professor in charge, and the director of 

 the Station. 



A Corrc»<ipoudcnt in Texas says : 

 " I have 10 colonies of Cyprian bees crossed 

 with hybrids, which make very vicious 

 bees ; at times they are almost unmanage- 

 able, but they are excellent honey-gatherers. 

 What is the best plan of subduing them ? I 

 dislike to use tobacco smoke." We reply : 

 To give the]n an Italian queen is the best 

 advice we can give. We have no use for 

 vicious hybrids, and tliere can be no excuse 

 for crossing Cyprians with hybrids. It is a 

 very dangerous proceeding, and is damag- 

 ing to the pursuit. To subdue them is almost 

 an impossibility. 



Draesing Out tlie Brood.— .\ 



correspondent writes us lliat his bees are 

 dragging out brood, and asks what to do to 

 stop it. They must be short of stores. G. 

 M. Doolittle, in theRiiral Home, writes thus 

 about the necessity of stores in the hives : 



To secure the best results in brood-rear- 

 ing, it should be known that each colony 

 has honey enough to last them at least two 

 weeks ahead, never letting them get nearer 

 out than this. When a prospect of starva- 

 tion in the near future confronts a colony, 

 they always curtail brood-rearing so as to 

 save tlieir stores if possible till the (lowers 

 yield honey. If there is no danger of their 

 supply of stores giving out, they carry on 

 brood-rearing as last as the weather will 

 permit. 



Secret)!. ontee-KeepinK'.— On page 

 359 we noticed a new claimant for public 

 favor, who proposed to send the " Secrets 

 of Bee-Keeping '" for a " nickel and a dime " 

 sent to his address williin two miles of the 

 office of the Ameiucan Uke Journal. 



Since then the bee-periodicals have been 

 after him in these words. The first is from 

 Olcaninas : 



A "Fisir Stoky" and a B.\it for 

 Novices.— For several days back, corres- 

 pondents have been forwarding on to us 

 circulars trom F. Andrews, Chicago. The 

 circular bears the stamp of a "fish story.'' 

 It advertises a new hive that will prevent 

 swarming, that will set every idle bee to 

 work, and that will store twice as much 

 honey as any other hive made. Mr. A. 

 further claims that it will cost nothing to 

 keep bees, as they feed themselves ; that a 

 siuglecolony will net from 835 00 to $00.00 

 per season. It closes up by otfering to sell 

 a book, entitled, "Secrets of Bee-Keeping," 

 for 15 cents. 



Bro. Newman, of the Ameuican Bee 

 Journal, of course, was prompt to find out 

 whether there was any such individual. In 

 his last issue he says they have made four 

 trips to the address of Mr. Andrews, but 

 that he was " out " each time. A woman in 

 an adjoining room said he was there only a 

 few minutes each day, and that he expected 

 to make a trip to California in May. Mr. 

 Newman cracks his editorial whip over Mr. 

 Andrews' shoulders in his following charac- 

 teristic way. He says : 



" It is useless for ks to caution any one, 

 for our readers do not send ' a nickel and a 

 dime' for any 'secrets' of bee-keeping. 

 They know better. It is the ' novices ' he is 

 after. The circulars seem to have been sent 

 to postmasters, and by them distributed into 

 the ' boxes,' to catch the unwary, and many 

 83.00 and 'nickels and dimes' for Mr. An- 

 drews to go on a ' trip around the world." " 



P. S.— Since the above was in type, we 

 have the following from friend Newman : 



Friend Root -.—After some six special trips to 

 Sir. Andrews' advertised place. I have got a copy of 

 his pampliiet, and mail it to you to-day. His hive is 

 a Mitchell, and the extractor a McDoueall. In fact, 

 the wliole pamphlet is mainly a copy of McGouKall's, 

 pxlhlislied in Indianapolis twelve years aEo. He 

 told tlic person I sent tiiat tie had no hives on hand 

 —had sold none this year, and said it would take 10 

 days to get one made. He is doing nothinie. 



Thomas Q. Newman. 



The book kindly forwarded us, as above, 

 is a pretty fair bee-book for only 15 cent^, 

 only it does not fill the bill at all! according 

 to the circular. The principal illu.stratiou 

 is one used years ago by N. C. Mitchell. Mr. 

 Andrews, however, has dug out the " N. C. 

 Mitchell," giving the hive a botched appear- 

 ance. From the back cover we learn that 

 Mr. A. sells patent medicines, etc. The en- 

 graving of the extractor is one made for us 

 years ago by Stillman & Co., of Cincinnati, 

 O. The word " Novice '' is got rid of by 

 some means. 



The next is from the Bee Hive, by E. H. 

 Cook, of Andover, Conn. : 



Some three weeks ago our postmaster 

 handed us a leaflet circniar on bees, a num- 

 ber of which he was distributing to people 

 as they came for their mail. It proved to 

 be interesting reading ; here is a sample : 



It costs from $3.00 to f4.n() a stand to start with 

 and you can realize from t2^ to $60 per stand, etc. 



On the back a " New Improved Hive,"' 

 and a book, " Secrets of IJee-Keeping,"' were 

 advertised. The address was W. Madison 

 St., Chicago. We wrote to Mr. Newman, 

 editor of the AMKi'.irAX Bee Journ.\l, for 

 light on this "secret " kind of beekeeping, 

 and the following is his reply : 



We have made ponio six different trli)s to find Mr. 

 Andrews, and only this morning (April U7) have wo 



Kottheflrst copy of the"Pecret8 of Bce-Keeplng." 

 which he advertises. It Is asmall pam|ihlet primed 

 In the cheapest and roughest slyle. a re-hash nt the 

 McDouKall pamphlet, puhlished In Indianapolis In 

 IH77. Iho hive Is the N. C. Mitchell, and the ex- 

 tractor the McDougall. It Is hehind the times, and 

 in character it la the "Oklahoma boomer." He 

 could not agree to mi an order for a hive In less 

 than ten days— bad made none this seoBon, etc. Is 

 gomg to California in about ten days. 



Mr. Newman is ever working for the best 

 interests of bee-keepers, of which this is 

 only one instance of the innumerable 

 "skinners" that he has exposed. Only 

 novices and people unacquainted with bee- 

 keeping would be caught by the circular. 



A Vei-y Itriglit Idea.— The Cana- 

 dian Honey Priiducer nets off the follow- 

 ing "joke" in its May issue, under the 

 heading of " A Way to Get Apis Dorsata at 

 Last :" 



Some years ago Mr. D. A. Jones and 

 others made great efforts to secure Apis 

 Dorsata. but owing to the difficulty of trans- 

 porting bees when secured, they have failed 

 to get them to this country alive. We would 

 suggest that the next enterprising individ- 

 ual take a package of Dr. Mason's egg-pre- 

 servative with him, and secure not live ones, 

 but drone and worker eggs, preserve them 

 and ship them to America, where they might 

 be put into strong colonies, the drone eggs 

 first, and the fertilized egg later, and Apis 

 Dorsata shall be ours. It is needless to add 

 that we claim a moral right to the idea, but 

 will sell it to any responsible party tor a 

 halt interest. 



The Doctor will take that " half interest," 

 Mr. Holtermann, and " don't you forget it." 

 He is always ready to appropriate such 

 nice things. But how did you come to get 

 such a brilliant idea ? It entitles you to a 

 long chalk-mark ! 



Iliviiis: SMariiis.— Ray Murray, of 

 Ada, 0., gives the following in Oleanlngs, 

 as his method of hiving swarms : 



When a swarm is about settled on a pear- 

 tree, evergreen, or grapevine, I pick up my 

 swarming-box, throw back the duck top, 

 slip it under the swarm, and then give the 

 limb a few small jerks. I then have about 

 all in the cage. Next I throw back the duck 

 top, and wait a little while, till the outside 

 bees can hear, see and scent their little com- 

 rades in their wire cage. They will soon 

 settle on the wires, and peep in, I suppose, 

 to see " mother. " I then pick up the swarm 

 and pour it in front of the hive prepared for 

 them. 



In tlie Kxoitememt of swarming, the 

 bees fill themselves with honey before leav- 

 ing the hive. An exchange gives these rea- 

 sons for their doing it : 



This is one of the wise provisions of 

 nature. It gives them a start in their new 

 home, and sustains them until they can eet 

 " organized" and at work once more. But 

 this is not all, the main secret of why bees 

 can be so easily mauipulated when swarm- 

 ing lays right here. This is why we can 

 shake them into baskets, and pour them out 

 in front of the hive without their raising a 

 disturbance in our "har !'' In other words, 

 a " full stomach " has tlie same effect on a 

 bee as it does on a man — It makes 'era good 

 natured ! 



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