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Entered at the Po6t-0fflce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 

 Published ^Veekly at 91*00 a Tear by tieorge W. Tork &. Co., 334 Uearbom St. 



QBORae W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JUNE 29, 1905 



VoL XLV— No. 26 



The American Bee Journal is absolutely an independent publication, and not 

 connected with any bee-supply business whatsoever. It stands entirely upon 

 its merits as an educative force in the field of bee-keeping, and as a medium 

 for legitimate advertisers in apicultural or other lines. It is the oldest, and 

 only weekly, journal of its kind in America. Its publishers believe that it 

 deserves to be in the hands of every would-be progressive successful bee- 

 keeper in the land. It is in its 4Sth year, and to-day is acknowledged to be 

 better in every way than at any time during its long and honorable history. 



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(Sbitorial Hotcs ^ (Eommcnts 



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Scarcity of Section-Timber 



Some alarm is expressed occasionally lest 

 basswood timber become so scarce that it can 

 no longer l)e used for sections, and the sug- 

 gestion has lately been made that we may as 

 well face the problem in advance, and turn 

 our attention to deciding whether bulk honey 

 or what else shall take the place of section 

 honey. 



There is no cause for alarm ; there is plenty 

 of timber left for sections, even if every bass- 

 wood tree were wiped out of existence. To 

 be sure, the change must be made from one- 

 piece to the four-piece, but there are some 

 now who prefer the four-piece, and there is 

 no denying that the four-piece sections are in 

 some respects better than the one-piece. The 

 loss of basswood is not lil<ely to make much 

 difference to producers of section honey. 



But basswood lumber is not going to run 

 out entirely for some years yet, though it 

 may, of course, continue to rise in price. 

 Until basswood sections get to be -S7.00 per 

 thousand we believe they can be profitably 

 used by the great majority of comb-honey 

 producers, and possibly a few could afford to 

 use them even at a higher price than that. 



Is Foul-Brood Legislation Effective? 



In Ontario there were visited by the foul- 

 brood inspector — 



In 1900, 100 apiaries, among which 30 were 

 foul-broody. 



In 1901, "7 apiaries, among which 29 were 

 foul-broody. 



In 1902, 81 apiaries, among which 30 were 

 foul-broody. 



In 1903, 96 apiaries, among which 28 were 

 foul-broody. 



It will be seen that after the efforts of the 

 three previous years there appear to be still 

 left in 1903 nearly as many affected apiaries 

 as at the first ; and this is used by those across 

 the water who oppose foul-brood legislation 



as proof that the efforts of Mr. McEvoy were 

 of no avail. But does it so prove? What 

 with the ignorance of bee-keepers regarding 

 the disease, and the insidiousness of its 

 approach, it might well be that in many places 

 it would not be discovered until the third 

 year of its existence. In the meantime, 

 through the ignorance or culpability of those 

 having infected colonies, it is possible that 

 the seed might be sown widely and in unsus- 

 pected riuarters. 



Before pronouncing final verdict, some 

 questions might be asked and answered. 

 Were all infected apiaries discovered the first 

 year, or were fresh discoveries made each 

 year where the disease, not previously dis- 

 covered, had previously existed? Were all 

 the apiaries of Ontario, whether infected or 

 not, visited prior to 1903? And without 

 enumerating others, this final question : How 

 much worse would the disease have been in 

 1903 if there had been no inspector in the 

 three previous years ! 



A Tack-Puller as a Hive-Tool 



A common tack-puller, such as is used for 

 pulling tacks out of carpet, and costing about 

 10 cents, is recommended in Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture as an excellent hive-tool. 



Smoking Robber-Bees 



Beginners need ciiutioning as to the use of 

 smoke when working at bees, and when rob- 

 ber-bees begin to be troublesome. The first 

 impulse seems to be to deluge the robbers 

 with smoke to drive them away. So a good 

 lot of smoke is blown all over the frames 

 where the robbers are trying to get in. But 

 that has its effect also on the bees of the col- 

 ony, making them I'ss fit to defend their 

 home. The beginner will do well to avoid, 

 so far as possible, having hives open when 



robber -bees trouble. Sometimes the robbers 

 will not trouble at all if work be begun two or 

 three hours later. It work be done in the 

 evening, there is the advantage that night 

 will soon stop the attempts of robbers. Yet 

 evening is not generally the best time to work 

 with bees. Especially when buckwheat is 

 yielding, the gathering is done chiefly in the 

 forenoon, when the bees will be good-natured, 

 but cross in the afternoon. 



Invention of the Honey-Extractor 



Here's a bit of history that may interest 

 the younger readers : 



Major Von Hruschka, a Hungarian, took 

 from a hive a piece of unsealed honey and 

 gave it to his boy to take to the house — some 

 say in a tin pail, some say in a plate in the 

 bottom of a basket. Boy-like, the youngster 

 attached a string and whirled the basket 

 about his head, and when the father looked at 

 it he found the cells on one side of the honey- 

 comb emptied. That set him to thinking, 

 the result of which thinking was the cen- 

 trifugal honey-extractor. 



Much Chilled Brood Reported 



There seem to be an unusual number of 

 complaints of chilled brood. It is easy to 

 account for it by saying that it is due to the 

 unusual amount of wet and cool weather, but 

 it may not be out of order to ask whether this 

 alone would have resulted in chilled brood if 

 there had been no meddling with the brood- 

 nest on the part of the bee-keeper. Indeed, 

 it may not be an unfair question to ask 

 whether chilled brood ever occurs in colonies 

 left entirely undisturbed. When brood is 

 spread, it may turn out all right if the weather 

 favors, and it may be all wrong if the weather 



is adverse. 



■• 



Wintering a Queen With Few Bees 



Many a bee-keeper has sighed for a plan by 

 which he could winter over a queen without 

 having her in a full colony. E. L. Pratt 

 thinks he has solved the problem, and says in 

 the American Bee-Keeper: 



I have successfully wintered queens in 

 Swarthmore mating-boxes with less than a 

 pint of bees to each queen, and have, I be- 

 lieve, solved the problem of early queen-trafflc 

 for the Northern breeder. 



It is surprising hnw well these little clusters 

 of bees withstanJ tiie cold and blow of our 

 severe Northern iLilitude — the rate of death 

 seems much less in proportion to the strong 

 standard colony — but being in compact clus- 



