July 20, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



507 



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®ur IS^ccUccpinq, Sisters 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



The Laying; of Laying Workers 



If you ever have much to do with laying 

 workers, you'll find that one of their pecu- 

 liarities is a preference for drone-cells in 

 which to lay their eggs, and rather than to 

 take up with worker-cells they will lay two or 

 more eggs in each drone-cell, if drone-comb 

 is present. It has been said that they prefer 

 the lirger cells because they can more com- 

 fortably reach to the bottoms of the larger 

 cells to deposit their eggs there. If that be 

 the case, a queen-cell ought to be still more 

 to their liking on account of its great diame- 

 ter. And in actual practice that seems to be 

 the case, for it is not uncommon to find in a 

 colony of laying workers a queen-cell with a 

 plurality of eggs, sometimes as many as a 

 dozen eggs in one cell. 



So when a queen-cell has been found con- 

 taining more than one egg, it has been 

 counted a sure sign of laying workers. But 

 it seems the rule can not be relied on as one 

 without exceptions. About 10 days ago, in a 

 prosperous colony whose queen was less than 

 a year old and doing good work, I found a 

 queen-cell containing three eggs I I called 

 Dr. Miller's attention to it, and he said he 

 had never seen or heard of such a thing be- 

 fore. Yet since then two other cases have 

 occurred, one with three eggs in a queen-cell 

 and one with two. Is there a conspiracy 

 among the bees to unsettle our dependence 

 upon a rule that has been heretofore consid- 

 ered without exception ! 



Roger's Song 



Who loves the rose without a thorn 1 Not I. 



No guardian darts around her close. 



For every passing hand she blows, 



With every touch her bloom is strawn— 



I love no rose without a thorn. Not I. 



Who loves the bee without a sting? Not I. 



'Tis but a stupid, idle drone 



May live a feeble life alone, 

 And be so dull and poor a thing — 

 I love no bee without a sting. Not I. 



Who loves a maid without a will? Not I. 

 A thornless rose, a stingless bee, 

 A will-less maid, are not for me; 



6ive me the sweet wild briar still— 



I love no maid without a will. Not I. 



— Dorothea Gore Browne, in Sweetbriar. 



Does it Pay to Double Up Colonies ? 



Mr. Allen Latham asks the above question, 

 on page 43.8, and gives the following rather 

 two-faced answer : 



" Evidently it does or so many successful 

 apiarists would not recommend it. Yet my 

 own experience in doubling up has never been 

 satisfactory in the results obtained." 



Then he goes on to say that in a few days 

 the doubled colony has apparently no more 

 bees than the single one previously had on 

 the same stand. 



In the spring there are times when colonies 

 dwindle away, and when they are taken with 

 the " dwindles" it doesn't pay to double up, 

 a half-dozen of them united will shortly 

 appear no stronger than each single one 

 did. Doubling such colonies has not been 

 advised of late years. Indeed, it is not gen- 

 erally advised to unite two weak colonies in 

 the spring if each has a good queen. In the 

 fall it is advised, as both are likely to die if 

 not united. 



Doubling colonies in the spring is advised 

 when a colony is queenless. Then is the time 

 when tile beginner finds it hard to believe 

 that by reducing the number of colonies she 

 will have more bees. She thinks that by 



giving to the queenless weakling a frame or 

 brood from time to time she can coax it along 

 and have it rear a ((ueen. But if she has only 

 two colonies, and one of them queenless in 

 early spring, experience will probably teach 

 her that reducing the two colonies to one will 

 result in more bees, and more colonies as well, 

 by fall. 



Honey for the Toilet 



Apart from the medicinal uses to which 

 honey is and may be applied, are those con- 

 nected with the toilet. A small jar contain- 

 ing honey should be kept on every washstand 

 and in every nursery. Honey proves a pana- 

 cea for most of the ills that flesh, or rather 

 skin, is heir to, in the shape of cracked lips, 

 roughness of the skin, blotchy patches 

 around the mouth, which are most disfigur- 

 ing to even the most beautiful, chilblained or 

 chapped hands, sore and cracked heels, wind- 

 caught ears, etc., which can all be prevented 

 by this simple remedy. 



The application is so easy, and no one can 

 object to it, as they do to so many other 

 remedies. After washing any part of the 

 body suffering from any of the above un- 

 pleasantness, apply to the part affected, while 

 still wet, a very little honey, by dipping the 

 finger into the jar and smearing over. To 

 those who suffer habitually in winter from 

 any of these distressing complaints, the con- 

 tinued use of honey will prevent them from 

 appearing. Begin to use as soon as the 

 weather gets cold, or as soon as the wind be- 

 gins to nip. — Irish Bee Journal. 



Reports anb 

 (Experiences 



Light Honey-Flow So Far 



This is the time when we should have our 

 heaviest honey-flow, but up to 2 days ago the 

 beee had barely made a living; now there is a 

 light flow on and we hope the same will keep 

 on getting better. Bees in general are in fine 

 condition and we may have a fair crop yet. 

 F. Radohfuss. 



Arapahoe Co., Colo., June 26. 



Good Clover Crop— Unsettled 

 Weather 



There is an abundance of white clover, but 

 the weather is very broken — so much so that 

 the bees are handicapped, and can not put in 

 over halt time. I lost 15 colonies through 

 spring dwindling, and had to feed a lot of 

 them. What are left are in good condition. 

 W. Irvine, Sr. 



Webster Co., Iowa, June 19. 



Season in North Central California 



"One swallow does not make a summer," 

 neither does a big rainfall make a respectable 

 crop of honey. At least such is the observa- 

 ttion I am led to record in regard to the out- 

 put of the beehives in that portion of Cali- 

 fornia about the Bay of San Francisco. For 

 nigh some 40 years bees have been kept on our 

 place in the foothill north of Oakland, and 

 about 12 miles directly east of the Golden 

 Gate. As near as lean recollect our bees 

 heretofore stored a fair, or, in most cases, a 

 good crop of honey, every year we had over 

 an average rainfall. This year, however, 

 there is an entire failure of a crop ; in fact, I 



have had some colonies make a fair storage of 

 nectar in our dryest years. 



The past winter and spring was above the 

 average as to rainfall, in places it was much 

 above the average, and extended over a long 

 period. The nights, too, were cooler than 

 usual. This state of affairs no doubt pre- 

 vented the flowers from secreting nectar. 



Such a long, wet season had a beneficial ef- 

 fect in producing a fine stand of vegetation; 

 the flowers were plentiful and marvelously 

 gorgeous. But, as stated, the nectar was lack- 

 ing, or could it be that the bees were lazy and 

 thought that there would be an abundance of 

 flowers the year through, and that it would 

 be unnecessary to fill their larders with win- 

 ter stores ! I hardly believe so. 



tee drones to go early. 



The indications were good for early swarm- 

 ing. Some colonies cast swarms in April and 

 some in May, but by the end of May and early 

 in June I noticed that many colonies began 

 to drive out the drones; in fact, there was a 

 great slaughter of them. I never saw the 

 banishment of the male population of the 

 hives begin before until toward the close of 

 July, or in August. This convinces me, too, 

 that the bees considered the honey season 

 closed early. No honey, no drones; no 

 drones, some winter stores, may be. Perhaps 

 this is bee-logic. W. A. Pryal. 



Alameda Co., Calif., June 19. 



Gathering from Sweet Clover 



I have l.T colonies of bees and they are doing 

 very well. I have a small field of sweet clover 

 in bloom and my bees gather lots of honey 

 from it. 



The American Bee Journal is worth its 

 weight in gold to me. James Ulrich. 



Lebanon Co., Pa., June 26. 



Terrible Cyclone in Kansas 



On May s a most terrible cyclone made its 

 way through our little town, doing an im- 

 mense damage to life and property. Twenty 

 were killed, 4.5 families were made homeless, 

 §10,000 worth of damage was done to prop- 

 erty, and a score or more who were seriously 

 hurt were taken to the school-house. Aid 

 came from all directions. Kansas City wired 

 us $1000 to-day. 



My loss is $1000, but my family escaped 

 from injury, so we are thankful. I lost 22 

 colonies of bees out of 75. The hives and 

 bees are entirely gone — no trace of them any- 

 where. Chas. Norlin. 



McPherson Co., Kans., May 15. 



Waterleaf— A Honey-Plant 



I enclose a specimen of honey-plant quite 

 common here, but have never seen it described 

 or named in any of the bee-papers. It grows 

 on high land, in the edge of forests, and in 

 the old slashings, and yields a light-colored 

 honey of good quality. Coming as it does be- 

 tween dandelion and white clover it is a valu- 

 able addition to our honey-plants. Our bees 

 often store quite a surplus from it and it is 

 rarely a failure. F. M. Cottrell. 



Shawano Co., Wis., June 10. 



[The flower is the common waterleaf 

 (Hydrophyllum Virginicum). The name is 

 not a characteristic of the flower, as it does 

 not grow in water. Damp woods and shady 

 places suit it best, but it grows well in more 

 open ground. The pale blue blossoms open 

 slowly and bloom from June to August, thus 

 giving the bees a lengthy harvest time.— C. L. 

 Walton] . 



ITALIAN QUEENS 



** 1 3 6 



Untested 6oo $1.75 $3.00 



Tested 90o 2,40 4.50 



Safe arriv:il truaranteed. 

 JOHN LEIMNQER, Ft.Jennlngs.OhIo 



29Atf Please meatlon the Bee JoaroaL 



