652 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 14. 1905 



with a poor queeo, and further to the fact 

 that its present queen is of the same stock ; 



'• May 3 q cl g 1 br it b in 4 1 fc 33d in 4 

 3so aOlh soq sv Jun 12 cl OK." That's the 

 whole of the entry for thai one colony for the 

 season, and all the entries there will be. unlets 

 I kill lis queeo and give it a better one — a 

 thing that a better bee-keeper would have 

 done before this. 



Translated into U. S. language, the record 

 would read: 



■ On the M of May I overhauled the colony 

 and found that the queen wasclipped ; I gave 

 to the colony 1 frameof brood with the adher- 

 ing bees, and that made it have brood in 4 

 frames. I also found present a sealed queen- 

 cell : May 23. I found brood in 4 frames, and 

 8 sealed queen-cells; May 30 I saw the old 

 queeo, and also saw a virgin queen. -June 12 

 1 clipped the young queen which I found lay- 

 ing; then marked it ' OK ' to indicate that 

 there was no need to go into the hive again." 



Here's a record that is more satisfactory, 

 not of the best colony, but one of the best, 

 which, up to Aug. 1, gave 120 sections, with 

 more to be heard from : 



" Apr 23 q cl May 3 .ibr 10th t 2 br & b 

 4br Jun 23 noc July 12 noc 22d noc Aug I 

 noc." And that's all the writing there will 

 be about that colony, probably, except the 

 figures showing the number of sections taken. 

 In fuller language: April 22 I found that 

 the queen was clipped ; May 2 that there were 

 5 frames of brood; May io I took away 2 

 frames of brood with adhering bees, leaving 4 

 frames of brood ; and the " noc " at the four 

 remaining visits means that no queen-cells 

 were started. 



2. No, there may be brood in the hive and 

 no queen, the queen having been taken away 

 since she layed the eggs that produced the 

 brood. There may also be brood from laying 

 workers. But as you gain experience you 

 will readily tell by the appearance of eggs and 

 brood wheiher it be the work of a normal 

 laying queen. If the eggs are evenly dis- 

 tributed, and the cappings of the sealed brood 

 be not raised like so many little marbles, you 

 are pretty safe in saying it is the work of a 

 laying queen. 



3. Sometimes it is advisable to take from 

 thei strong and give to the weak, and some- 

 times it is not. It may pay where, as with 

 you, there is a fine late How. 



4. It is better generally to take them off. 



5. Not many use straw pads, but they are 

 good things. 



Reports anb 

 (Sxpertcnces 



and lighter sections. The sections, shipping- 

 cases, foundation and work are all the same, 

 and the bees will till a 24-pound case about as 

 quickly as an IS-pound one in a good flow. 

 C. M. Tarr. 

 Chippewa Co., Wis., Aug. 19. 



Very Poof Season for the Bees 



I put 97 colonies of bees into winter quar- 

 ters last fall. Some of them winter-killed, 

 and some starved with plenty of stores, and 

 by the lime they got through dwindling and 

 robbing I had just 5.5 left, and they were very 

 weak. By the time they built up and were 

 ready for the supers it was June 10. Then it 

 turned dry, and white clover failed. The first 

 2 weeks in July were cold and rainy, and the 

 bees have been hanging about the hives more 

 or less ever since. But they have done the 

 best iob of gluing I ever saw. 



Sangamon Co.. 111., Sept. 1. S. T. Crim. 



Not a Good S'eason 



The season has not been especially good for 

 the bees so far, but I will have a fair return 

 for my work if the fall tlow proves good. 



Robert B. McCain. 



fJrundy Co., 111., Aug. 5. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



Honey Crop a Complete Failure 



The honey crop has been a complete fail- 

 ure in this State this year. There is not a 

 single pound of surplus that I know of any- 

 where in the State, and lots of bees starved 

 to death iu May and June^ the very time we 

 usually get a big surplus. Those that sur- 

 vived are getting in good shape now on cot- 

 ton. W. M. Bailey. 



Spartanburg Co., S. C, Aug. 3. 



Distance Bees Fly for NeetaF— Light- 

 Weight iSeetions 



There has been considerable discussion the 

 last few years in regard to how far bees will 

 fly and store surplus honey. A few years ago 



1 got over one ton of liuckwheat seclion 

 honey from about 50 colonies, and it was car- 

 ried 5 miles. The bees in the forenoon flew 

 almost entirely in one direction. There was, 



2 miles away, 4 acres of buckwheat, and 5 

 miles away, in the same direction, tiO acres of 

 it. The conditions were favorable for a 

 honey-llow— moist and hot weather. After- 

 noons they worked on goldenrod, and flew in 

 all directions. There was no other buckwheat 

 in that vicinity that I could hear of. 



As to light-weight sections, the honey-pro- 

 ducer would not know the difference in cost 

 to him, between sections averaging onepound 



Method of Rearing Queens 



I am not a baby-nucleus queen-breeder. I 

 use the full-size frame, and regular Lang- 

 stroth hive, with a solid division-board in the 

 center, with entrance at front for A, and at 

 back for B — opposite corners. Many of my 

 nuclei now have bees enough in them to unite 

 A and B, after removing one queen, and still 

 be strong enough to go through a moderate 

 winter safely. 



Instead of distributing queen-cells on the 

 evening of the tenth day, as per Doolittle's 

 instructions, I allow them to remain in the 

 full colony until the next morning, thus get- 

 ting the benefit of the heat of a full colony all 

 night, and then hatching in a strong nucleus 

 before a cool night comes on them. I claim 

 that by this method, there is no checking in 

 the development of a queen; that this ap- 

 proaches as near to Nature's way as it is 

 practicable to do in commercial queen-rear- 

 ing. .IohnM. Davis. 



Maury Co., Tenn., Aug 3. 



The PaptPidge Pea 



Is the sample plant which I am sending you 

 honey-producing? M. A. Stone. 



Ida Co., Iowa, Aug. 14. 



[The plant is the partridge pea, Cassio 

 cham:c*christa. The yellow flowers are very 

 conspicuous in swampy land, and the bees 

 easily find the nectar hidden at the base. 



Prof. Cook, in the Bee-Keepers' Guide, page 

 429, says, " The partridge pea furnishes 

 abundant nectar and... has extra floral as 

 well as floral glands."— C. L. Walton.] 



Queen-Excluding Honey-Boards 



I used to buy queen-excluding honey- 

 boards, but have found what is for me a 

 cheaper and belter way. The wood and zinc- 

 boards interfere too much with ventilation, 

 and come too high. The wood-bound zinc 

 costs too much. The unbound zinc-boards 

 are generally too short and too narrow, and 

 cost more than they would if one buys a large 

 sheet of zinc and cut;, it up to suit himself. 

 This is what I do, cutting the zinc up as large 

 as the top of the hive, outside measure. In 

 order to preserve the bee > pace below I put a 

 '4.inch strip of wood across the center of the 

 brood-frames, and, in order to make a bee- 

 space above the zinc I niiil a strip of lath 

 around the outside edges of the zinc, or else 

 nail the lath to the bottom edges of the su- 

 per. Sometimes the bee-space below the zinc 

 will be preserved by the Imrr-combs on top of 

 the brood-frames. I do not want any wood 

 between the top of the m ,nd-frames and the 

 super. Edwin Bevins. 



Decatur Co., Iowa, Aug. 7. 



National. — The International Fair is to be 

 held in San Antonio, Tex., Oct. 21 to Nov. 

 1. When this Fair is in progress there are 

 very low rates in force on the railroads out 

 for 600 or 700 miles. Then there are harvest 

 excursions from the North on the 2d and 4th 

 Tuesdays of the month. The 4th Tuesday in 

 October comes on the 24th. Considering these 

 tacts, it has been decided to select Saturday, 

 Oct. 28, as bee-keepers' day at the Fair. This 

 will give ample time for members from the 

 North to reach the city by starting the 24th. 

 The regular sessions of the convention will 

 begin Monday, Oct. 30, nnd cotitinue three 

 days. 



The headquarters of the National Associa- 

 tion will be at the Bexar Hotel (pronounced 

 Baer, long sound of a) , corner of Houston 

 and Jefferson Sts., and rates are only .^l. 00 a 

 day, and up. The convention will be held at 

 Elks' Hall, 125 W. Commerce St., only two 

 blocks from the Bexar Hotel. 



Flint, Mich. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Illinois — The Western IlUaois Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will meet in the County Court 

 Room, in Gatesburg, 111., on Wednesday, Sept. 

 2U, 1905. All are invited to come. 



E. D. Woods, Sec. 



New York.— The Fulton and Montgomery 

 Counties Bee-Keepers' Society will hold the 

 next meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 1905, at 

 the Central Hotel. Amsterdam, N. Y, The an- 

 nual election of officers will take place at this 

 meeting, and also two delegates will he ap- 

 pointed' to aitend the meeting of the State As- 

 sociation at some time during the coming win- 

 ter, and also any other business which may 

 come up at this meeting. All are invited to 

 come and bring vour bee-keeping friends. 



West Galway, N. Y. T. I. DbGCALE, Sec. 



ITjSLLiIA.3Sr 



Bees,Queens andNuclei 



Choice home-bred and im- 

 ported stock. All queens 

 reared in full colonies. 



One untested queen $ .65 



One tested queen 90 



One select tested queen.. 1.10 



One breeding queen 1.65 



One comb nucleus (no 



queen) 1.00 



All grades ready to send 

 by return mail. 



Safe arrival guaranteed. 

 For prices on quantities and 

 description of each grade of 

 Queens, send for free price-list. 100 or 200 lbs. 

 of Brood Foundation. Send for sample and 

 orices. ••• *-•• S1'K<»I^<w. 



304 East Logan Street. CLARINDA, IOWA. 

 14Atf Please mention the Bee Joarnd. 



' FOR SALE 



12 ixty-pound cans white clover E.XTR ACTED 

 HONbV. This was stored in combs free from 

 p.>Uen and In which no brood had been reared. 

 The honey was t radically all sealed when ex- 

 tracted. 8 cts Tier oouod on cars here. 



EDWIN BEVINS, 



37Alt LEON. IOWA. 



Queen-Clipping Device Free! 



The MoNETTE Queen-Clipping 

 Device Is a fine thing for use in 

 catching and clipping Queens' 

 wings. It is used by many bee- 

 keepers. Full printed directions 

 sent with each one. We mail it for 

 25 cents; or will send it FREE as 

 a premium for sending us One 

 New subscriber to the Bee Journal 

 Ifor a year at $1.00; or for $1.10 we 



will mail the Bee Journal one year 



and the Clipping Device. Address, 



QEORaE W . YORK & CO. , 



- CHICAGO, ILL. 



Please mention Bee Journal 

 when writing Advertisers. 



