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(Entered lU the IN'St-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matterj 

 PubUshed Weekly at $1.00 a Year by Oeorge W^. York A. Co., 334 Wearborn St. 



(JBORQE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, DECEMBER 7, 1905 



VoL XLV— No. 49 



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(Sbitorial IXoks 

 anb (Eoininents 



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Mice in Bee-Hives in Winter 



A mouse will do a lot of mischief in a hive in winter. 

 Not so much the amount of honey eaten, but the tearing 

 down of beautiful worker-combs. Neither would the holes 

 made in the combs count for so much if the bees would fill 

 them up again with worker-comb ; but they're just about 

 sure to fill them up with drone-comb. To be sure, the bee- 

 keeper can put in patches of worker comb, either before or 

 after the bees have filled the holes with drone-comb, but it 

 is a troublesome thing, and so many other things are to be 

 done that it is likely to be neglected, and many a pound 

 less of honey is secured in the harvest because of the honey 

 used in rearing useless drones, and the honey they consume 

 after they are reared. 



Plenty of cats will help, and in the cellar traps and 

 poison may be used. In any case, whether in cellar or out- 

 doors, one th"ing may be done that acts by way of preven- 

 tion, and indirectly by way of cure. It is to have the hive- 

 entrances mouse-tight. Close them with wire-cloth three 

 meshes to the inch, and they are just as open as ever for 

 the bees, but closed to the mice. Of course you may fasten 

 a mouse in a hive by doing so ; but that is better than let- 

 ting him have the free run of the hive. Most of the time 

 the bees are so nearly dormant that a mouse is monarch of 

 all he surveys ; then comes a time of stirring up, and Mr. 

 Mouse runs out of the hive to get out of the way, only to 

 return or enter some other hive when matters settle down. 

 But if the entrance is closed he can not get out of the way, 

 and the bees make it so hot for him that in spring you will 

 find a dead mouse in the hive. 



Missouri Bee-Keepers Walking Up 



We have received from Robt. A. Holekamp, Secretary 

 of the Missouri State Bee-Keepers' Association, 4263 Vir- 

 ginia Ave., St. Louis, Mo., some printed matter which has 

 been prepared by him and issued by the Missouri State 

 Board of Agriculture especially for circulation among the 

 bee-keepers of Missouri. It is Mr. Holekamp's aim to keep 

 up this kind of propaganda among the bee-keepers in the 



hope that it may induce many who are now using bos-hives 

 to become modern, progressive beekeepers. 



The 16-page bulletin contains much valuable informa- 

 tion for the bee-keepers of Missouri. Much space is devoted 

 to the treatment of foul brood. The bulletin is illustrated, 

 and should create much interest in bee-keeping in that 

 great and growing State. A copy can be had by applying 

 to Geo. B. Ellis, Secretary of the Missouri State Board of 

 Agriculture, Columbia, Mo. 



It is the intention of the Missouri State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association to present a Bill before the next Legislature, 

 providing for inspectors of apiaries ; also a Bill providing a 

 heavier penalty for the sale of any article under the name 

 of honey which is not the unadulterated product of the 

 honey-bee. 



Every member of the State Association is asked to con- 

 sider himself a committee of one to form a bee-keepers' club 

 in his county. There is such a club in St. Louis, which has 

 27 members. Of course, every club member is also a mem- 

 ber of the State Bee-Keepers' Association. Monthly club 

 meetings are held. It is expected that not only will the 

 production of honey be stimulated by such clubs, but that 

 the consumption of honey will also be increased. 



A larger income is needed by the Association to carry 

 on the work already planned. Taking it all together, the 

 Missouri bee-keepers seem to have made a good start along 

 the line of improving their organization. Much of this 

 is doubtless due to the activity of Mr. Holekamp, who seems 

 to be a tireless worker for the greater progress and pros- 

 perity of all the bee-keepers of Missouri. 



"Disagreeable Peculiarities" of <'Best" Bees 



The subject of black bees vs. Italians seems to be up 

 for discussion again, and as on most subjects each side has 

 its advocates. One of our anti-black readers sends this 

 comment on a remark made by " Afterthinker " Hasty : 



Mr. Editor : — On page 795, I find the following written 

 by the man who thinks after : 



" One may refuse to keep certain bees because of dis- 

 agreeable peculiarities, and at the same time claim that 

 they are really the best bees." 



I wonder if Mr. Hasty would have written that if he 

 had done his thinking before writing in place of after. 

 There may, however, be another way of accounting for it. 

 Our " Afterthinker " lives in Ohio, and somewhere in the 

 neighborhood of the time in which that was written there 

 was a very exciting election, and the friends of one Herrick 

 were offering drinks at marked-down prices. Can it be that 

 our usually wary "Afterthinker," temporarily persuaded 

 by bargains in tanglefoot, should have imbibed so much 



