Aug. 3, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



541 



usual tin rabbet — like the spacer in the "St. Joe" hive, put 

 out by Mr. Abbott, only his notches are twice as deep as those 

 I use. But I employ another contrivance that makes up 

 for the difference in depth of the notches. My bottom spacer 

 is of wire, soldered solidly to a strip of galvanized iron, which 

 is nailed fast to the bottom-board. This wire projects upward 

 between tlie bottom-bars V,i inches and is shaped like the 

 rounded or closed end of a wire hairpin. Quinby advised a 

 wire spacer, in the appendix of his "Mysteries," published in 

 1S60, but he fastened it to a strip of wood. Soldered to 

 iron is better. In fact, by solderinsr it in a permanent posi- 

 tion is the only way wire can be used at all. But when so 

 used it becomes the best spacer. 



If it were not for these bottom-spacers, the full width 

 bottom-bars would crush bees when their edges pass one an- 

 other in the bottom of the hive, but before they come together 

 by about ],2 inch they are caught between the spacers and 

 guided into their positions. 



On page 38 mention is made of frames which were 10 to 

 12 inches. Dzierzon favored a hive which was only 10 inches 

 wide. Langstroth adopted a hive having a 14-inch frame, the 

 same as \'our present adoption. And he probably never would 

 have used any other length had not Quinby told him of long 

 hives being good winterers. Then Mr. L. went to work and 

 made his liive with frames 24 inches long. 



It is pretty certain that Quinby adopted the length of 

 frame on account of wintering while the deith was all right 

 for the production of comb honey by side-storage. But for 

 extracting, so large and deep frames are unwieldy. But 

 extractors were unknown at that time. If I am not mistaken, 

 the British Association adopted the 14-inch frame as the 

 standard. Cowan and Clieshire both use the 14-inch length. 

 And Mr. Root also used and preferred the 14-inch length ; 

 so all evidence eoes to show that that was the best length 



As to those closed ends I have no love for them. It seems 

 to be a cheap way of providing an outer casing, Americans 

 are getting to keeping bees entirely too cheaply. I expect 

 they would have their colonies camp out under a little piece 

 of canvas if they could get the honey that way. If one bee 

 gets smashed between two side-bars their purpose is spoiled. 

 Bee-glue will begin to accumulate so as to need scraping 

 every time they are handled — a la Hyde. I haven't scraped a 

 frame in 20 years. 



Gallup's plan of an outer protection was to make the 

 suoer or cover 12 inches deep. Then tack the strip which the 

 cover rested upon, and which extended all around the brood 

 chambers iome S inches below the upper edge of the brood 

 hive, so as to telescope. Then put a good chaff cushion in 

 the cover over the bees. I saw these in his apiary at Osage, 

 Iowa, in 1S81. I would think a colony would be about as cozy 

 in that fix as in the old straw hive. 



MARKET CHANGING FROM COMB TO EXTRACTED. 



I find it easy to shape a market according to what can be 

 produced for it. When I came to Southeast Los Angeles, 

 ten years a^o, all the stores were selling comb honey and no 

 extracted. Now since we have been pounding away in the same 

 spot and manner with extracted honey, there is not one case 

 of comb honey sold there in a year. And the five stores tliere 

 know better than to get any comb honey in stock. They all 

 have a good trade on extracted. A pound of comb honey could 

 not be found within three miles of Florence. Yet in all other 

 stores about the city comb honey takes the lead. Now, wliile 

 a hive arranged for the production of extracted honey costs 

 about the same as for comb honev. I think a hive built for 

 the production of extracted especially, can be run with oue- 

 diird the labor. Los Angeles Co., Cal. 



Our Country's Undeveloped Apiarian 

 Resources 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK 



I have 'ust made the entire transit of our great country 

 2"d I have been greatly impressed with the apparent niag- 

 nitrU' of unused bee-forage. I made a brief stop on the 

 Sac-.amento river, and while there visited my friend, Thonias 

 W. Stevenson, who today owns an apiary which as he in- 

 forms me rarely fails to give a crop, in precisely the same 

 locality that his father used for bees years ago. Indeed I 

 bought honev from his father from this same apiary ov.r 40 

 years ago. 



The reason that Mr. Stevenson is so uniformly success- 

 ful is not far to seek. He runs a large and successful d iry. 



and owns great fields of alfalfa. Indeed, he is in one of the 

 best alfalfa regions of the Coast. Here, as in the San Joaquin 

 Valley, unlike the alfalfa bloom of Los Angeles County, the 

 alfalfa flowers secrete richly of nectar. 



While in this region, I visited the Lisbon Reclamation 

 Tract, on the Yolo side of the river. It was never my 

 pleasure to look upon finer fields of alfalfa. Hundreds of 

 acres of this magnificent plant could be seen at a glance 

 of the eye, and much bloom was in evidence. Yet there were 

 very few bees so far as I could see. As the conditions here are 

 so similar to those on the Stevenson ranch, it seems almost 

 certain that this would be a good region for the apiarist. 



As we came north along the beautiful Shasta Route, 

 througlv the Sacramento and Klamath Valleys, and thence on 

 into Oregon and Washington, it came to me over and over 

 that here, as on the Sacramento, much nectar was going to 

 waste because no apiarist was there to utilize the ricli floral 

 resources of the region. 



As we came east over the Northern Pacific, through Mon- 

 tana, North Dakota, and Minnesota, the same condition was 

 apparent. Surely, we have a wonderful country. The man's 

 soul must be very dead, indeed, if he does not exclaim 

 proudly, "This is my own, my native land." Probably the 

 bee-keeper of no other land has greater reason to boast. Yet 

 I doubt if we have even more than touched the apiarian 

 possibilities of our great country. 



Since making this trip across our continent, I have asked 

 one who is in position to know, if there are not successful 

 honey-producers in all these regions. He answered, "Yes, 

 but very few of them." This makes me more certain of the 

 two positions which I take in this article : Excellent bee 

 territory, very much of which is not occupied. 



IMPORTANT WORK FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The fact of flowers does not necessarily argue a honey 

 region. The flowers may bloom when bees are few in the 

 hive, as in case of most fruit-bloom, and thus, while these 

 are valuable, unless they are supplemented by later flowers, 

 such regions are worthless for bees. 



Again, climatic conditions may stay nectar-secretion. I 

 have often referred to the fact that while alfalfa is a great 

 honey-plant in several States and regions, in parts of Cali- 

 fornia it seems almost worthless for such purpose. For this 

 reason, it would not be wise to embark in the bee-business 

 in any of the promising valleys mentioned in the above para- 

 graph, until an actual trial had proved the regions. This 

 kind of knowledge is of great general importance, and it 

 ought not to devolve upon the individual to gain it. What 

 better work could the Agricultural Division of the Depart- 

 ment of Entomologj- at Washington do, than to determine 

 just this point? 



Which of the great valleys of the West are really valuable 

 for bees? Surely such knowledge is most desirable. It is to 

 be feared that it will be long delayed, greatly to the detri- 

 ment of our people, if left to individual enterprise. Great 

 economy could be practiced if the Government should under- 

 take in scientific fashion to determine these facts. 



AGRICULTURAL WORK AT WASHINGTON. 



Without doubt all our bee-keepers have read with more 

 than oassing interest, tlie important article in one of our lead- 

 ing bee-papers, by Mr. Frank Benton, regarding his trip to 

 the Orient in search of new varieties or species of bees that w'e 

 may possibly improve our apieultural possibilities. I have long 

 thought that such work might well be undertaken, by the 

 Government, and urged it upon the Department of Agricul- 

 ture several years ago. Yet I am asked the very pertment 

 question. Why did not Mr. Benton give the article to all 

 our bee-papers? He. as an officer of the Government, is 

 working for the whole people, and surely he. and Dr. How- 

 ard as well, would be glad to have the work of the Depart- 

 ment receive the greatest publicity possible. It would have 

 been very easy for Mr. Benton to have furnished all the 

 bee-papers with duplicate copies of the article. It is equally 

 certain that all the papers would have been glad to have 

 published it. Of course, they are not so eager, if the pub- 

 lication is of necessity delayta and so seems to indicate a 

 lack of enterprise on the pan of the editor. 



I am sure that this matter has only to be brought to 

 the attention of Dr. Howard and Mr. Benton to secure the 

 desired change. 



HONEY CROP IX MICHIGAN. 



I tliink I have called the attention of our readers to 

 the fact that the present season has been disappointing to the 



