568 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug. 10, 1905 



idea that the bees had gathered the honey from tobacco- 

 plants. 



I also saw in a store in a small city a case of honey which 

 reminded me of a rugged, rolling country. It seemed to be up 

 hill and down hill. The comb-surface was so uneven that it 

 was very clear that the bee-keeper had ased neither comb 

 foundation starters nor separators. This honey retailed at 14 

 cents a pound, whether the price was higher or lower iu the 

 general market. 



EATING GLUCOSE. 



I have had some experience with glucose (Karo Corn 

 Syrup). I have a delicate stomach, and certain articles of 

 food produce a bad, slimy taste in my mouth the next morn- 

 ing after eating thera. Glucose is among these articles, and 

 up to the time of reading what Prof. Eaton has to say (page 

 710 — 1904) I supposed it was the acid, about which so much 

 has been written, that produced these results. Now comes 

 Prof. Eaton and upsets it all, saying that it is perfectly whole- 

 some and contains no acid that is harmful. I have always 

 supposed that pure glucose would be as easy to digest as 

 honey. Yet if the commercial article is pure there is quite a 

 difference, for honey has a beneficial influence on my stomiich, 

 while glucose produces opposite results. 



HOFFMAN FRAMES WITH SQUARE EDGED END-BARS. 



Several bee-keepers have expressed a preference for the 

 Hoffman frames with a square instead of a V-shaped end-bar, 

 and I must say that I agree with them, and the bees, too, for 

 they will fill with propolis in the open space on each side 

 caused by the V-shaped end-bar, making it square. In this 

 way 10 times as much propolis holds the frames together as is 

 possible with a square edge, and in separating these frames, 

 and again in pushing them together, propolis gets between 

 the edges and the spacing is increased to a certain extent, for 

 frames need not be handled much, and they can not be gotten 

 into a 10-frame hive unless the propolis is scraped off. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION IN BROOD-FR.iMES. 



The method of fastening foundation with saw-kerf and 

 wedge works beautifully with Dr. Miller, and yet after having 

 tried both ways I find I can fasten starters or full sheets 

 much quicker and more securely with melted wax. I say 

 " more securely." for sometimes the saw-kerfs are not deep 

 enough (or the wedges are too deep), when the wedges can 

 not be driven in far enough, which leaves the foundation too 

 loose, giving a lot of trouble by falling down. 



My method is as follows : I get a piece of board '+ inch 

 thick, 3 inches wide, and long enough to fit between the end- 

 bars. One inch from one edge nail a strip one inch wide, and 

 in thickness half of the top-bar less half of the thickness of 

 the foundation. Hold this against the top-bar so that the 

 strip will reach halt across the underside of the top-bar, lay 

 the starter against it, and fasten with melted wax. Thus 

 fastened the starters will not fall down. 



VALUE OF PROPOLIS AS A REMEDY. 



L'Apiculteur advises beekeepers to burn propolis on a 

 stove to fill the room with a pleasant odor. I have often done 

 this. But I know of a better use for propolis. For a swollen 

 face, toothache, or other ailment, drop some propolis on a 

 shovelful of hot coals, allowing the fumes to pass over the 

 face, and its curative powers will soon be noticed. In Ger- 

 many it was even used in this way to cure caked udders of 

 cows. 



The products of the hive are used far more as remedial 

 agents in Germany than in the States. Little seems to be 

 known as to where bees get their supply of propolis. In this 

 locality they get their main supply from a sort of poplar-tree 

 or at least that is what I think it to be. The buds and short 

 stems are full of this sticky glue, and propolis freshly gath- 

 ered by the bees has the same odor as the glue on these trees, 

 but after it has been for some time in the hive there is some 

 difference in the odor. 



IS CEDAR-WOOD MOTH-PROOF? 



The honey-bees love the red-cedar trees because thev 

 know they are moth-proof. If one can afford to make cedar 

 hives for his bees he will never be troubled with moths. So 

 said Mr. C. S. Key before the Minnesota Horticulturists, when 

 lecturing on the red cedar. I wonder if moths really will avoid 

 cedar-wood. I do not think much would be gained by making 

 hives of cedar-lumber, yet it might be of value for keeping 

 brood and extracting combs secure from the moths. If any 

 bee-keeper knows more about it I wish we might hear of it. 

 I have also seen it stated that lice will not infest poultry if 

 they roost on poles of cedar-wood. 



WHY DO BEES IGNORE SOME FLOWERS AT TIMES ? 



Mr. D. W. Working (page 98—1904) tells of the prolific- 

 ness of the Rocky Mountain bee-plant — Cleome integrifolia. 

 One spring I got a package of its near relative, Cleome pun- 

 gens, but none of the seed came up. Having some seed left it 

 was again sown the next spring with the same results. To 

 my surprise a single plant grew there last summer. It began 

 to blossom the latter part of June and continued into Septem- 

 ber, and such a mass of bloom I never saw before. The dis- 

 couraging part of it was that I never saw a honey-bee upon 

 the blossoms, although a dozen or more bumble-bees were 

 constantly swarming over it. I have also noticed this condi- 

 tion of affairs with golden-rod. Can any one give a reason 

 why honey-bees will at certain times ignore the flowers of 

 some plants though they are visited by bumble-bees, wasps, 

 and other insects ? Winnebago Co., Wis. 



(£onr>cntion 

 Procccbings 



^ 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Chicago, 111., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



(Continued from page 552. J 

 QUEENS KILLED WHEN INTRODUCING. 



"I introduced a queen into a queenless colony and 

 they killed her; four days afterwards I introduced another 

 queen and they killed her. What should I have done?" 



Mr. Wheeler — I would say, put healthy young bees 

 into the hive to kill any drone-layers. They would pre- 

 pare the way for the queen every time. 



Mr. Swift — I had the crossest lot of bees I ever ran 

 across in my life; I couldn't get the queen into that hive; 

 I tried three dififerent queens. I gave it up. I kept them 

 supplied with young bees all the time. 



Mr. Snell — The best way is to introduce two frames 

 of young bees into the parent colony, and at the same 

 time put their queen in with them, or introduce a queen 

 at that time. Those bees seem to destroy the laying 

 worker so that the queen is never molested. I have never 

 yet had a failure in that way. 



DETECTING ADULTERATION IN BEESWAX. 



"How can we detect foreign substance in beeswax?" 



Mr. Dittmer — I don't know that I can give any rule. 

 It is force of habit with me. I get wax sometimes, and 

 it looks suspicious, and there is generally something the 

 matter with' it. The most common thing that occurs with 

 me is receiving wax that contains tallow. In fact, some 

 people have shipped wax to me and were rather rash 

 about it, so that I think almost anybody could have de- 

 tected it; but as to giving any chemical process, I can't 

 say anything about it. 



Mr. Abbott — I see Dr. Wiley has written another let- 

 ter to explain the matter with regard to what is called 

 the "Wiley lie," published in the Rural New Yorker. I 

 was writing an editorial note on it before I left, for the 

 Modern Farmer, and I used a sentence at the last of it 

 that these comb-foundation people will be interested in, 

 and these bee-keepers. Dr. Wiley saj's that paraffin is 

 used wholly or in part in comb-foundation in the United 

 States. This statement came from Canada a short time 

 ago, and now it is repeated by the chief chemist of the 

 United States, and I say in my editorial there are only a 

 few manufacturers of comb foundation in the United 

 States. If they put paraffin in wax they know it, and we 

 want to know it. If they don't do it, it will not be a very 

 hard thing for them to prove it. If they do do it, it will 

 be a very easy thing for the United States chemists to 

 prove. Now this subject of foundation is up, I think it 

 would be a good time to hear from the comb-foundation 

 makers right now as to what they have to say in answer 

 to Dr. Wiley. I have had my say in the paper, and it will 

 appear in the next issue, and I want to know if they put 

 paraffin in foundation. 



Mr. Dadant — I will give you three methods by which 



