June IS, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



425 



wondered why little Jack Horner inserted 

 thumb instead of finger in the pie ! Page 330. 



SOWING ALSIKE CLOVER SEED. 



I think R. A. Morgan is right that alsike 

 clover is the best honey-plant to push. 

 Farmers can be induced to sow it — but it's no 

 use to ask them to sow white clover. Page 331. 



A NEW FORM OF BEB-HAT. 



Shouldn't wonder if A. L. Oliver's form of 

 bee-hat would be liked by many— especially 

 by those who have not become habituated yet 

 to any other kmd. (Tobacco-pail cover with 

 screen tacked all around it; and then the 

 head, hat and all, butted into a suitable hole 

 in said cover.) Be a great success if all the 

 " butting in " folks adopt it. Page 334. 



EV0I.t7TI0N OF BEES. 



Great is evolution ! And how the bee of 

 the newspapers does evolute! Talk of three 

 genera for the bee — here comes a fourth 

 genus already ! Room for Stmclainapis rneli- 

 phohia! And the leading characteristic of 

 the new bee is great aversion to, and terror 

 at, the sight of flowers and the smell of nec- 

 tar. Page 339. 



EDITING A BEE-PAPER AT LONG RANGE. 



For an editor to conduct a leading maga- 

 zine in England and live in California at the 

 same time seems quite curious. The Yankee 

 proverb, " Some things can be done as well 

 as others," hath British followers as well as 

 American. Page 340. 



CONSTITUTIONAL VIGOR OP BEES. 



So Arthur c! Miller thinks there has been 

 a decline in tht- constitutional vigor of our 

 bees as a lot— to lake them as they run. Some 

 things do look a little like it. And he thinks 

 transferring larv^', and too constant feeding 

 of candy to nursery queens responsible in 

 part. His proof of this is not altogether con- 

 vincing (to breeders, at least), but It is worth 

 thinking of. I fear some seeming evidences 

 of decline might be picked up in regions 

 where never an aitificially reared queen has 

 been introduced since Samson took the honey 

 from his " frame hive." Also I incline to say 

 that Mr. M. and others exaggerate somewhat 

 the depressing ellects of old-style bee-keeping. 

 The light colonies that were spared to con- 

 tinue the apiary were largely second swarms 

 with excellent young queens, not decadents. 

 And some at least of the heavy ones chosen 

 to take up were heavy because the queen had 

 recently begun to lose her fecundity from age. 

 Page 241. 



EZERA THRASHER AND HIS BEE-FEVER. 



And Ezera Thrasher, who mourned the post- 

 office which the rural route wiped out, and 

 looked to the big bee-association to protect 

 him against stings, some of us will regret that 

 his bee-fever got well so soon. If Mandahad 

 only been a B.-K. Sister, now, he would have 

 seen some chance to rest up. Watching for 

 swarms may be made a good rest-up job, if 

 one doesn't have to do something else while 

 watching — vile scheme to distract the watch- 

 er's attention, and let the swarm get away. 

 Page 342. 



/T 



\^ 



^odox VCixWcxs Question Box 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 



or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



113^ Dr. Miller does 7wt answer Questions by mail. 



=\ 



=/ 



Prevention of Swarming- 

 ring Bees 



Transfer- 



1. I have 2 colonies of bees in common box- 

 hives which have already sent forth one swarm 

 apiece to the present date (May 15). I would 

 like to let them swarm again, and then stop 

 them from swarming any more. As they are 

 strong colonies I fear that they may swarm as 

 often as 3 or 4 times. Advise me how to use 

 them to the best advantage. 



2. I would like to get them out of the old 

 box if such a thing can be done. 



Washington. 



Answers.— 1. As I understand it, a colony 

 has sent out a prime swarm, and you desire 

 to prevent its sending out more than one 

 after-swarm. When the second swarm (which 

 is the first after-swarm i issues, hive the 

 swarm and put it on the stand of the mother 

 colony, setting the latter in a new place. That 

 will prevent further swarming. 



2. Twenty-one days after the issue of the 

 prime swarm, drum out all the bees, put them 

 in a new hive with frames filled with founda- 

 tion, or with starters, then break up the old 

 hive and get what honey and wax you can 

 from the old combs. 



Best Hive-Entrance— Bees Dying 



1. Regarding the quotation from Swarth- 

 more (page 356) as to the auger-hole being 

 the best hive-entrance, I wish to say I bored 

 a 2-inch hole in the front end of several hives, 

 put a button over each, and opened them dur- 

 ing the honey-how, but my bees did not use 

 them much. It might work belter if I turned 

 the hole to the back end, which I now intend 

 to do. 



2. Some of my colonies died mysteriously 

 last winter, with plenty of honey and a large 

 number of young bees. I should like to know 

 the cause. So far my theory seems to indi- 

 cate that they were clustered over combs of 



bee-bread when the long cold spell caught 

 them. Is there anything in ill In a divis- 

 ible brood-chamber I think the bees would not 

 have died. We are in Southern Nebraska. 



Nebraska. 



Answers.— 1. Bees are creatures of habit, 

 and it is not easy to get them to change their 

 place of entrance. If you had given the au- 

 ger-hole first, and opened the other entrance 

 later, they would have stuck to the auger- 

 hole. You'll probably not do any better with 

 the auger-hole at the back — I think not so 

 well. For several years I gave my bees an 

 opening at the baclt for the sake of ventila- 

 tion at the lime of putting on supers, and 

 they didn't use it as an entrance. 



2. The presence of pollen probably did no 

 harm ; the harm came from the lack of honey. 

 They ate all the honey in reach ; then the cold 

 held on so long that before they could get to 

 the honey in the other frames they starved. I 

 doubt that a divisible brood-chamber would 

 have saved them; although under certain 

 conditions it might. 



Canadians and Americans 



On page 329 you say that Mr. McEvoy is a 

 Canadian, but not an American. It may have 

 been the custom in the Stales to give the 

 name to no one but a United Stateser, but it 

 is only the custom among the lower classes, 

 and is purely an expression of provincial ego- 

 ism. We Canadians are proud of our name, 

 and have no desire to steal the name of an- 

 other country. Can you say the same? By 

 styling yourselves as *' Americans " you take 

 credit for the good works of all America. 

 Look out and see that some day we will be 

 refusing to annex the States. Canada. 



Answer. — As already said on page 329, 

 " There may be a certain inconsistency.. . .in 

 saying that a Canadian is not an American, 

 but established custom controls.'' The feel- 

 ing " in this locality " is one of such broth- 

 erly kindness toward the bee-keepers of Can- 



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D. J. BLOCHER p^'^HIil*?"^''- 



Y15, Do not send personal checks unless yoi» 

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"lease mention Bee Journal -when -writinp 



What Adel Bees Do 



E. Milton, Mass., May 27, l'>05. 

 Send me qneen same strain as the one sent 

 1904. That queen proved the best queen I ever 

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