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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 28, 190S 



The 



' Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



When Honey Had the Field. 



The days that never will come back — and 

 we don't want 'em to come back. But some- 

 how we lick our lips at them still— the days 

 when there was no su^ar. and honey had the 

 whole field to itself. Page .506. 



Experiments as to Odors and Bees. 



L. Forestier's verification c f previous ex- 

 periments as applied to bees is of interest. If 

 not quite positive evidence that recognition 

 is by smell, it weighs in that direction very 

 decidedly. A bee wet in dilute alcohol and 

 allowed to enter home at once is stopped by 

 guards. Kept till the scent of alcohol is com- 

 pletely evaporated, it is recognized as a fellow 

 citizen again. As one bee might die of lone- 

 liness and worry, take a dozen it you wish to 

 repeat this. Page 56". 



Tests for Paraffin in Beeswax. 



So strong, hot lye eats up beeswax and 

 makes a soap of it; but paraffin resists and 

 remainsparaffin still. I suppose a good-sized 

 piece of the suspected foundation should be 

 put in— kept hot for awhile — well stirred — 

 then cooled. Then if anything solid or semi- 

 solid appears, warm water will tell whether 

 it is soap or paraffin. Manifestly this will 

 not detect the taliow or rosin sometimes used 

 by noQ-manufacturing rogues. If foundation 

 was three-quarters beeswax and one-quarler 

 paraffin, I wonder how a slip of It would look 

 if bathed for awhile in lye at 135 degrees. 

 Should expect it to look different from a slip 

 of pure foundation. Page 568. 



The French Wax-Kettle Method. 



The French kettle, on page 583, may very 

 likely be a good one; but when they back it 

 to extract entirely all the wax from old combs 

 they are asking us to believe ralhertoo much. 

 The essential operation, after all, differs but 

 little, I should say, from that of other kettles. 

 And possibly also the contents of a wax-ket- 

 tle might be stirred properly in some more 

 simple way than putting in the machinery of 

 a flying machine to do it. The salt-water 

 idea ie probably very good. .lust the salt, in 

 and of itself, I don't know whether it would 

 help or hinder the separation of wax. But it 

 raises the boiling point of the fluid from 313 

 degrees to 330, and that is likely to be a 

 decided advantage. But (there it is again 1) 



those who scold gently about it injuring wax 

 to boil at 212 degrees will howl at 230. 



Finger-Nail Test forTallow in Beeswax. 



The finger-nail test for tallow in beeswax 

 seems to be an excellent one. We never have 

 to puzzle over the question what we did with 

 our finger-nails when we used 'em last. 

 Always on hand — in both senses of the term. 

 The elasticity of the nail, and the stubborn- 

 ness of pure wax combine to give a rippled 

 appearance to the furrow we plow with a 

 finger-nail. A smooth, unrippled furrow re- 

 sults when we plow in tallowed wax. Page .584. 



Decline and Rise of Bee-Pasturage. 



As to the decline of bee-pasturage, I think 

 there is a slow movement of the flora to meet 

 the bees half way. Once got along entirely 

 without the honey-bee, now (in blind, groping 

 way) recognizing the benefit of bee-visits, and 

 preparing to pay for them. If the more de- 

 sirable mints, and lupines, and veronicas are 

 gradually exterminated, and the asters mean- 

 time gradually learn to yield honey, the net 

 result may be in our favor. Page 587. 



Good and Poor Bee-Countries. 



Good bee-country, eh f And $50 of loss at 

 one lick from melting in shadded hives. 

 Thermometer 115 degrees — happy are they in 

 poor bee-countries ! Page 588. 



Difficulties in Definite Descriptions of 

 Bee-Raceb. 



Dr. Bohrer seems to be making a reasonable 

 demand about new races of bees — that they 

 be described in definite terms as to general 

 appearance. I suppose the main trouble is 

 that the definite description of one colony 

 fails to fit another colony whose claim to 

 purity is just as good as the first. Worse than 

 that, might you not describe a Caucasian col- 

 ony definitely, and then somebody hunt up a 

 pure Carniolan colony to fit the description 

 quite well? Page 5SS. 



Honey from Basswood Leaves. 



The question about honey from basswood 

 leaves brought out a decided negative. Only 

 about 5 of the 29 experts ever saw bees work 

 on basswood leaves at all; and none ever saw 

 them get much at it. Page 598. 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, lU. 



from one colony and given to another at any 

 time of year, and there will be no fighting. 

 If one weak colony is united with another, 

 unless special precautions are taken, there 

 will be fighting and slaughter. The fighting 

 in the latter case will be all the worse it the 

 uniting is done late. 



With these principles in mind, the few 

 cases of uniting that were needed among our 

 bees were undertaken early, and they were 

 made on the instalment plan. To-day, as it 

 might be, a queenless colony, instead of being 

 united as a whole with another colony, is 

 parceled around among two or several colo- 

 nies, a single frame with its bees being given 

 to a weak colony, and two or more to one 

 stronger. To-morrow another queenless col- 

 ony will be broken up, distributed in the same 

 manner, and as the weak colonies with good 

 queens are thus becoming stronger each day, 

 and thus competent to take care of larger 

 accessions, only a few days are needed thus to 

 distribute all the faulty colonies, and without 

 the danger of any fighting. 



Uniting Weak and Queenless Colo- i 

 nies 



However the sentiment ot the sisters might 

 incline them to the nursing along ot a weak 

 and queenless colony in the spring, when it 

 might be better economy m break it up, there 

 can be little question alioui such things in the 

 fall. Yet one doem't learn in a year, nor in 

 several years, to steel onr ■ heart ruthlessly 

 to break up the family uts ot a colony that 

 has been tenderly watched over, thus making 

 just one less the nuiuhrr t)f colonies in one's 

 apiary. But if one wmiid be a successful 

 bee-keeper, the lesson mu,--t be learned, first 

 or last, that it is not the number of hives with 

 bees in that counts, so much as the number 

 of bees that are in the hi\i;t 



Facilities for building' ; p and strengthen- 

 ing are not the same in the fall as in spring. 

 Brood does not abound in September or Octo- 



.ber as it does in May or June. In early sum 

 merit is an easy thing to find in populous 

 colonies frames of well-matured brood which 

 will produce 5000 bees or more. Two or three 

 such frames of brood properly taken care of 

 will of themselves make quite a little colony. 

 But if you have never given the matter much 

 attention, you will be surprised to find how 

 scarce such frames of brood are at this time 

 of the year. A search through a hundred 

 colonies may not reveal one, whereas in the 

 early part of the season more than one could 

 have been found iu every hive. So if you 

 have a queenless weakling at this time of the 

 year, throw sentiment to the winds, steel your 

 heart against all tender emotions, and reso- 

 lutely increase thechancesof a larger number 

 of bees next spring by lessening the number 

 of tenanted hives now. 



A frame ot brood, or even a frame of 

 honey, with its adhering bees, may be taken 



Sweet, "Hlvey" Mary 



Mary had a swarm ot bees. 

 And they, to save their lives. 



Must go wherever Mary went — 

 'Cause Mary had the hives. 



— Selected, 



The above bright stanza was sent in by Miss 

 Sadie A. Butts, a city bee-keeper in Cook Co. , 

 111., who has been very successful with her 

 little back-yard apiary. 



A City Offlee-Roof Apiary 



Miss Emma V. Haggerty, who will be re- 

 membered as the lady who was so successful 

 in passing the examination for the position 

 ot care-taker of the bees of the city ot New 

 York, but tailed for lack ot a political pull to 

 get the place, might do good service just now 

 in that city, in a case mentioned as follows in 

 a daily newspaper: 



Bee-Farm in Heart op Business District. 



'• It one were asked what is the thing he 

 would be least likely to find in the heart of 

 the business center of New York and replied 

 that it would be a bee-farm, he would con- 

 sider himself absolutely safe. But on the 

 roof ot an office building in Vesey street there 

 was discovered to-day a full-fledged apiary. 

 Not only are many thousands ot bees con- 

 tentedly swarming in their unusual surround- 

 ings, but they are storing away many pounds 

 of honey stolen from several candy factories 

 in the vicinity. The bees' happiness, how- 

 ever, may be shortlived. Complaint has been 

 made of them as a public nuisance by the 

 proprietor of one ot the candy factories." 



Miss Haggerty would no doubt suggest that 

 it would be a simple thing to screen out the 

 bees. Indeed, were no bees within a thou- 

 sand miles, the screens would be needed to 

 keep out the flies, for New York is by no 

 means a tlyless city. Consumers of candy 

 would no doubt prefer to eat confections that 

 had been visited by the cleanly bees to using 

 that which had been swarmed over by the 

 filthy tiles. 



It the candy-makers have a grievance 

 against the bee-keepers, the bee-keepers have 

 equally a grievance against the candy-makers 

 for exposing their sweets, especially if as 

 poisonous as some candies are said to be. 



Comb Honey Xot Machine-3Iade. — 



We have a fair supply of the typewritten 

 letter on this subject, which appeared in the 

 Chicago Daily News ot June 21, lil05. It is 

 just the thing to have published in every bee- 

 keeper's local newspaper. We mail it for a 

 2-cent stamp. Better order several copies, 

 and request as many newspaper editors to 

 publish it. It will certainly be a good thing 

 for both the reading public and the bee- 

 keepers. 



