746 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Oct. 26, 190S 



facilities like Mr. France and Mr. Smith, perhaps, to ex- 

 periment upon. It seems to be a new way of experimenting 

 with formalin gas. 



Mr. Dadant — You can't get water to the bottom of the 

 cells by dipning it in water. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think that is proven every time you 

 fumigate a hive. From that gas that is generated there is a 

 steam, and there is nothing more penetrating than steam. 

 The combs, after they come out of the fumigation, will be 

 wet with steam. Surely the very bottom of the cells will 

 be saturated by steam from the formaldehyde gas. 



Mr. France — Anywhere over the States, since I have been 

 in this National position, the members have taken it as a 

 matter of fact that when they get into any trouble or 

 grievance no matter what it is, "fire" it into the General 



Manager: and among other things they "fire" in samples 

 of foul brood from all over the States. I analyze them as 

 well as I possibly can, and give a report. But I want to 

 make this one statement : Whenever you are sending samples 

 of suspected material by mail, put it in something so that 

 it will stand the racket in the mail. So many of the packages 

 come all smashed up. I had one come the other day with a 

 piece of newspaper around it and a two-cent stamp on it, and 

 the whole thing was about as thick as a piece of cardboard 

 when it reached me. 



Dr. Miller— Put it in what? 



Mr. France — The best of all is a tin box next a wooden 

 box. And, by the wav. the United States mail people may 

 get after you if you don't. 



(Continned next week.) 



r 



K. 



®ur Bee Keeping Sisters 



=\ 



J 



Conducted by EMM.i. M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Bee-Keeping in Australia 



I just came upon the following in our daily 

 paper : 



'• In many parts of the Australian continent 

 bee-farming has become a profitable and popu- 

 lar occupation. There are at present over 

 25,000 colonies in Australia, producing from 

 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 pounds of honey an- 

 nually." 



Can you or any of the reabers of our val- 

 uable American Bee Journal, give any more 

 light on the subject of bee-keeping in Austra- 

 lia? It so, I should be very grateful to have 

 some one write an article on the subject. 



Elsie A. Cdtter. 



Kent Co., Mich., Oct. '. 



The writer has never been in Australia, but 

 some reading of the two bee-papers published 

 there (and incidentally a visit from the editor 

 of one of them), warrants the statement that 

 bee-keeping in Australia is in many respects 

 the same as in this country. — hives, manage- 

 ment, etc., being more like those In use here 

 than those in use in the mother country, Eng- 

 land. Great yields have been recorded, but 

 perhaps no greater than in some parts of this 

 country, and prices rule so low that the busi- 

 ness is not so very profitable. A large part of 

 the honey is secured from eucalyptus-treee, 

 which Australians rate the finest in the world. 

 Unfortunately, people outside of Australia do 

 not all agree in this view, and repeated efforts 

 to obtain a favorable reception for it on the 

 London market have not been successful. It 

 certainly has a peculiar Havor, unlike any 

 other honey, but that peculiarity does not 

 seem to commend it greatly outside of Aus- 

 tralia. 



.Judging from what is said in the Australian 

 bee-papers, and from the one specimen seen 

 here, the bee-keepers of that far-away land 

 are a bright lot of people, concerning whom 

 it is a pleasure to be informed. 



If bought in the spring, the likelihood is that 

 there would be a larger number by fall, and 

 if one or two should fail to winter, the loss 

 would not be so heavy. Besides, the experi- 

 ence with bees through the summer, although 

 not directly bearing on wintering, gives one a 

 knowledge that makes the chances for suc- 

 cessful wintering greater. If the bees are 

 bought in the fall, the chief experience of the 

 winter will be that of worrying as to whether 

 they will eome through alive. Just as well 

 to omit that part of the program and start in 

 fresh in the spring. 



Secondly, bees can be shipped with safety 

 if properly prepared. But on most railroads 

 they can be shipped by freight only in car 

 lots, leaving the express as the only way to 

 ship small numbers, and express charges on 

 full colonies of bees are something fearful, 

 especially if the distance be great. 



Buying Bees in Fall or Spring- 

 Shipping Bees 



Dear Miss Wilson;— Will you kindly give 

 me your advice on the following points: 



Two sisters, friends of mine, have bought a 

 little farm. They will not occupy it until 

 spring. (It's in New Jersey). They want to 

 keep bees. Is it best for them to purchase 

 this fall or in the spring? -Also, is it safe to 

 ship bees, and is it not quite expensive — the 

 express charges? New York. 



Firstly, it is not advisable for beginners to 

 buy in the fall. Better buy in the spring and 

 avoid the risks of wintering. It one or two 

 colonies should be bought as a starter in the 

 fall, and if one or two out of those one or two 

 should die in the winter, it would be a pretty 

 large-sized wet-blanket on the whole business. 



That last question being answered as it is, 

 another question is likely to arise, and there 

 is no law against answering more than is 

 asked. If high express charges bar out the 

 shipping of full colonies, how shall the start 

 be made? One way is to get a 3-frame nucleus 

 instead of a full colony. Express charges 

 will be very much less, and such a nucleus 

 will rapidly build up into a full colony. 



A still better plan is to buy a colony of best 

 blood from some one close at hand. Very 

 likely that can't be done. Well, then, buy 

 from some one close at hand a colony that 

 isn't of best blood. You see there isn't the 

 same objection to "starting wrong" with 

 bees that there is with any other kind of 

 stock. 



If you start with Rouen ducks, you can't 

 change your Hook to Pekins; you've just got 

 to begin over again with Pekin ducks, and 

 the same way with other stock. But it is 

 different with bees. Get a colony of bees of 

 any kind ; buy for a dollar a queen of Italian 

 stock, and in 6 weeks of the working season 

 your whole colony will be Italian bees. The 

 chances are that that will be the best way for 

 you to start. 



While waiting for spring to come, it will be 

 a good thing to get a bee-book and study up 

 in advance. 



/T 



2TIi\ :^asty s ClftertI?ougI?ts 



=^ 



V: 



The " Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Glasses, 

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



J 



A Musical Face — Bee-Music. 



People mostly try to " keep their face." 

 Journals mostly try for a change of face. As 

 a new variety of face, No. 37 opens with some 

 bee-music for bee-sisters and aplcultural 

 going-to-be's. Comrade Secor is well up to- 

 ward his best in this, the second verse being 

 especially a gem. Nice music, did you ever 

 think of it, is divided into two classes, the 

 good class and the better class. The good 

 class sounds nicely when properly played and 

 sung at the instrument. The better class is 

 quite able to get away from the instrument, 

 a nd we hear people singing snatches of it 

 almost unconsciously. This effort of Editor 

 York's I have tried to locate in the nigher 

 class, but I rather think the other one is its 

 real place. By the way, if the bees get In the 

 linden tops sujierlalively, 5 pounds in a bunch, 

 and Prof. BIgelow gets after them with his 

 revival of the old "bee-music," it will be 

 quite unavailing to sing " bye baby" in oppo- 

 sition to it. 



Excessive Swarming and Nurse-Bees. 



It has become tolerably plain that excessive 

 swarming bears some sort of relation to ex- 

 cess of nurse-bees over and above the young 

 brood which they desire to feed. The idea 

 advanced by Adrian Getaz, page 645, may 

 prove a very valuable one indeed. If we can 

 make the nurse-bees go to the fields to work, 

 for want of anything else to do, they will not 

 again become supernumeraries, stirring up 



discontent and swarming. I fear, however, 

 that sometimes some bees (especially when 

 the flow Is poor) will sulk much more than 4 

 days, and resume queen-rearing the minute it 

 is made possible for them. But If we can not 

 have a remedy that works all the time, a 

 remedy that works part ot the time may be 

 worth considerable. And that's a wise idea 

 (not altogether a new one) that colonies that 

 refrain from swarming of their own accord 

 store better than those successfully prevented 

 from swarming. A wee bit tantalizing this 

 fact is. 



Swarming Oct and Virgin Queens. 



The solution given by Mr. Muth-Rasmus- 

 sen also seems to be an excellent one. Bees 

 do not swarm out with a virgin on her mating 

 trip except when they have no young brood 

 to fix their minds on. Page 645. 



Young or Old Bees as Queen's Escort 

 IN the Mails. 



It surprised me to hear C. P. Dadant give 

 decided preference to old bees fresh from 

 the fields as companions for a queen on a 

 journey. I had seen quite young bees recom- 

 mended, and supposed that all shippers pre- 

 ferred them. Willing to believe he is right. I 

 wonder If the uiliy of the matter is known. 

 I'll guess that joung bees feed the queen 

 seml-dlgesled food to some extent, and that 

 old bees do not. Presumably while she is on 

 a journey she is better off not to have any- 



