164 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



our readers ^\\\ try and help us all 

 that they can. 



It is generally conceded that 

 young queens lay only worker eggs 

 and that a number of months must 

 elapse after copulation, ere they 

 begin to deposit drone eggs, but 

 Mr. Alley claims that he can com- 

 pel a young queen, within a few 

 hours after first beginning to lay, 

 to deposit drone eggs in a piece of 

 comb placed in any desired part of 

 the brood chamber. To do this he 

 takes bees that have just completed 

 a lot of cells. We presume that 

 such bees realize the need of drones 

 and the queen acts in sympathy 

 with their Avishes. Perhaps as this 

 last is but a presumption of mine 

 it may either bring forth other pre- 

 sumptions or be passed by as of no 

 value ; but we have not yet mas- 

 tered economy of the bee republic 

 and many new and valuable dis- 

 coveries will probably be made. 



One of our subscribers who lost 

 a large percentage of his colonies 

 during the past winter states, that 

 " he extracted from the brood 

 combs too closely so thfit the bees 

 had to fill them for their winter 

 stores with fall honey, which, not 

 having time to ripen before cold 

 weather commenced, soured and 

 brought on the so-called dysen- 

 tery ;" hence his loss. He further 

 says, " Warn your subscribers 

 against injudicious extracting from 

 the brood combs. My advice to 

 most beekeepers in regard to ex- 

 tracting from the brood nest would 

 be don't ! don't ! ! don't ! ! !" The 

 caution of our brother is worthy 

 of notice and consideration. The 

 extractor never should be used 

 extensively excepting by those 

 who understand how to use it. No 

 apiarist who hopes to make a 

 lucrative business of beekeeping 

 will be without an extractor, but 

 our advice is, " go slow," and ex- 

 periment with a few colonies until 



" practice has made perfect." We 

 believe that it is now generally 

 conceded that fall honey is a poor 

 winter food for bees. 



We have just received a pam- 

 phlet entitled "To Honey Ship- 

 pers," issued by Mr. Jerome 

 Twichell of Kansas City, Mo, 

 His directions regarding shipping 

 honey are worthy of consideration 

 and we take pleasure in giving 

 some extracts from them. He 

 says, " It is a great mistake to 

 suppose that every pound of honey, 

 in the comb, regardless of kind, 

 color or condition, should be saved 

 and shipped to the market, ])ecause 

 it is for beauty more than anything 

 else that comb honey obtains a 

 preference ; so it is only the whit- 

 est and prettiest combs that will 

 sell to advantage and no dark, im- 

 perfect or broken combs should be 

 allowed to go in. There is always 

 a fair demand for dark extracted 

 honey and almost none at all for 

 dark comb honey, and on the con- 

 trary the Hemand is comparatively 

 small for wliite extracted, while it is 

 almost unlimited for white comb." 

 Regarding packages for extracted 

 honey he recommends good well- 

 waxed barrels or kegs with gross 

 and tare weight always marked 

 plainly upon them, and sa_vs, "• I 

 have issued a circular aflfidavit 

 of the aI:»solute i)urityof all honey 

 I sell, ott"ering a reward of $100.00 

 to any one detecting and proving 

 adulteration in any honey sold by 

 me, and I will charge said sum to 

 the person shipping such adulter- 

 ated honey to me. It is only with 

 this express understanding that I 

 will receive consignments or direct 

 purchases from any one.''^ 



» This is a good point, and we Avisli tliat all 

 commission inercliants, wlio would not do so 

 willingly, were c.oniiielled to ptiljlish and 

 stand by such an atlidavit. The great trouble 

 from adulteration, however, originated, we 

 think, with the dealer, and not with the bee- 

 keeper. 



The example set by INIr. Twichell is worthy 

 of geneial adoption. Ed.1 



