264 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 6, 1905. 



headed the eligible list with a percentage of 97. It is understood that 

 O'Mara was fourth on the list. 



The Commissioner threw out the name of Miss Haggerty on the 

 ground that she was a woman, and the keeping of bees was not a 

 woman's work. 



We are indebted to Mr. James McNeill for sending the 

 following' witty comments on the transaction : 



Bees 



I Miss Emma V. Hagfrerty, permitted by the Civil-Service Board to talfe the 

 examination lor a $1"J0. job as city apiarist, led a dozen men, got 97 percent, and 

 iB now to be denied the position because she is a woman.) 



Say their judgment was B-lated, 



C. S. men have wisely done; 

 Though a woman's not B-rated 



Just B-oause she rates " A 1." 



Board, Bhind it's rail B-leaguered 



By the beats of politics 

 May B-moan the way it figured 



When fair Emma took the tricks. 



No B-sotted Bee the B-sora 



Of B-nighted woman fears; 

 On her face he's sure to see some 



Female smile which honey smears. 



" Oh, B-ware B-skirted woman " 



Is a B-atific plan, 

 Civil Service men are human. 



Job's B-stowed upon a man. 



Let the fair girl stick to sonnets 



On the billows and the breeze, 

 Since the Bees buzz in the bonnets 



Of the men who'd boss the Bees ! — J. A. 



Some may think this an appropriate place to deliver a 

 homily upon the down-trodden condition of the " sisters," 

 and the wrong they are called upon to endure at the hands 

 of the usurping " brothers," but all things do not-point ex- 

 actly in that direction. 



The three clippings were sent in, not by any of the sis- 

 ters, but by three different brothers, and it seems a fair in- 

 ference to believe that they were sent in just because these 

 three brothers resented what they believed to bean injustice 

 to one of the weaker sex. If, instead of being a woman, the 

 first name on the list of eligibles had been a man, there 

 would have been equally an injustice in rejecting him for 

 one lower on the list, but in that case would the daily papers 

 have given the matter so much prominence, and ^ould the 

 three brothers have thought it worth while to have sent in 

 the clippings ? 



It is something for us sisters to be proud of that the 

 first on the list should have been a woman ; but was her sex 

 really the cause of her rejection ? If so, why was the 

 fourth on the list chosen instead of the second ? No, if it 

 had been Mrs. Haggerty instead of Miss Haggerty, and her 

 liege lord had been the proprietor of a low dive to whom 

 Mr. Schrader owed a political debt ; in other words, had she 

 been the wife of a political boss, she might have gotten the 

 position even though she couldn't tell a queen from a white- 

 faced hornet. The very great probability is that Miss 

 Haggerty was rejected because O'Mara, or some of his 

 friends, had a pull, and not because " she was a woman, and 

 the keeping of bees was not a woman's work." Why, the 

 very idea ! 



Results of the Season of 1904 



Some time ago I saw that Miss Wilson wanted the bee- 

 keepers (or their wives, rather, because all men won't write) 

 to give an account of their success for the year's bee-busi- 

 ness. We didn't thiu!- we did very well, but when we com- 

 menced looking around we found that we did extra well. 



We had 30 colonies in the spring of 1904, and secured 

 ISOO pounds of extracted honey, besides about 40 pounds of 

 honey put away that we did not get around to extract (that 

 is 40 pounds to the colony), so our bees didn't do so badly 

 compared with what some others did. 



We are right in the center of three big bee-yards, so we 

 couldn't do very well. They are all within 2 miles. We 

 didn't get any increase to speak of. One of our neighbor's 

 told us where there was a swarm ; I caught one myself when 

 he was gone away from home, and that is about all the 

 increase. 



The bees are wintering well as far as I know. They are 

 on the summer stands packed in chaff. They have had two 

 good flights since being put away. The mice have been 

 working on some of them, but we think they have stopped, 



or, rather, we stopped some of them with corn-meal and 

 strychnine. 



It has been snowing here for a week, and it looks as if 

 we were going to have a good season for water. 



The American Bee Journal is a welcome guest at our 

 house. Mrs. Sadie Ellifritz. 



Uinta Co., Utah, Feb. 4. 



2Hr. f)astg 5 

 Clftertl^ougl^ts 



J 



The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



" TO TRUST " OR NOT " TO TRUST." 



" 'Tis a point we long to know. 

 Oft its causes anxious thought," 

 Do we boss our beans or no. 

 Have we Trust, or have we not? 



If that's our frame of mind, the title page of Feb. 9 is of interest 

 as a sort of side evidence. We hardly have an old, long-established 

 trust; else there wouldn't be two such nice agencies in one city. 

 Especially there wouldn't be two agencies in a foreign city like 

 Havana. A recently formed trust, however, may not think best to 

 sweep supernumerary things all off the board immediately — takes its 

 quiet time to fix things just right in its own eyes. 



SUGGESTION FOR PKETENTING SWARMING. 



So G. M. Jones wants to keep 4 colonies of bees in a city, mainly 

 for study and relaxation of mind. Yet he must be absent working- 

 hours every day. He wants a reliable plan to keep swarms from 

 spreading panic among his neighbors. I don't know as I can tell him ; 

 but I should hardly be living up to my reputation if I did not reel off 

 a plan. Keep them in big one-story hives, 12 frames or more in size. 

 For each hive have two tat dummies so the brood-chamber can readily 

 be run any size from 3 frames to 13. Have 16 hives in all, and prac- 

 tice double division — that is, have 4 colonies in the spring and 16 in 

 the fall. In the fall put the bees all in 4 hives again, and harvest your 

 crop by extracting the 15iJ combs not needed to winter on. If they 

 average 3 pounds each the harvest will be 456 pounds. Plenty of ob- 

 jections might be made. Unless the divisions are very wisely con- 

 ducted there will (sad to relate) sometimes be swarms notwithstand- 

 ing. And in a locality where the surplus all comes in quite early, and 

 the fall flow is poor, the plan would be a total failure— come out with 

 scant honey to winter 4 colonies, and most of that scattered through 

 the 144 combs that wouldn't go in. Page 107. 



SECTION FOUNDATION STARTERS DROPPING OFF. 



May he P. D. Jones is right about his comb foundation dropping 

 off because the sections were too smooth ; but 1 suspect a little that he 

 is barking at the wrong cat. Lots of foundation falls because the 

 sections are just a little damp. Be sure they are dry, especially if you 

 have poured hot water among them previous to folding. Lots of 

 foundation falls because the weather was to cool when it was put on — 

 wants to be just nice and warm, not too hot nor too cold. Also, 

 there's an expert and peculiar wriggling squirm that can be given to 

 the handle of the Parker machine that will make wax stick when a 

 non-expert would find " breakers " ahead. Page 110. 



SELLING FOUL-BROODY HONEY. 



To forbid a man to sell honey because his bees have foul brood 

 looks to me like going a little further than is best. Even if a simple 

 sale of honey is to be penalized at all a possible two months in jail 

 seems rather too severe. To sell foul-broody honey to a bee-keeper, 

 when he presumably wants to use it for feed, might be penalized with- 

 out injustice. Page 116. 



BUMBLE-BEES AND HONEY-BEES— CATNIP HONEY. 



Queer that bumble-bees should ignore the basswood and crowd on 

 the alfalfa while the honey-bees totally let alone the alfalfa and 

 rushed for the basswood ! Just merely a difference of taste — perhaps. 



From reports to date one might guess that pure catnip honey has 

 far too much flavoring to be good, while a second-rate honey rather 

 destitute of flavor is decidedly improved by a small admixture of 

 catnip. Page 117. 



POLLEN IN THE BROOD-NEST— STARTING SWARMING. 



I don't believe that pollen in the brood-nest is going to do any 

 harm as long as it keeps well. Quite liable to get damaged, and then 

 it may do harm, especially when it gets grown into solid lumps by 

 fungus growing in it. 



I think Prof. SchoU will find that many others not in Texas some- 

 times succeed in getting their bees begun at the principal harvest 

 while free from any strong inclination toward swarming. It's the 

 general rule (I take it) that a grand rush of nectar does not favor 

 swarming unless the bees had their minds turned that way to begin 

 with. I will grant that this last contingency is very apt to prevail 

 among prosperous bees that have recently passed through a hard win- 

 ter. Page ll?. 



