Feb. 8, 19C6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



123 



name many things which we weep over more frequently 

 than over our failures. Page 885. 



Gubsses it to Be Poison. 



My timid guess at " Cuba's " sad case of bees dragging 

 one another out until nearly all were gone would be poison. 

 Between poisonous nectar and poison given by some ill- 

 disposed person I would rather guess the latter. But, after 

 all, it may be a disease — more or less akin to the one known 

 as paralysis — perhaps still nearer to what has been called 

 " Evaporation." Page 886. 



Witch-Hazel a Late Bloomer. 



One of the latest things to bloom is witch-hazel. 

 Blooms are most conspicuous after its leaves have fallen off, 

 and everything else is going into winter quarters. Lots of 

 it around me ; although I do not remember ever seeing bees 

 at it. Possibly they would go for it if weather allowed. 

 Page 886. 



The Miller Wax-Extractor. 



For aught I can see, the removable cone cover of the 

 Miller wax-extractor is expected to be water-tight at the 

 bottom after it is put on. Beyond hoping for, and a fatal 

 defect, it seems to me. May be I'm too faint-hearted. 

 Nevertheless, the germ of a valuable new utensil may be 

 there. Actual use rather than inspection of pictures must 

 decide finally. Hope Mr. Miller, now he is in for it, will 

 stick to his task, like a dog at a root, until he does get a 

 satisfactory machine that will grind loose and float out the 

 the wax instead of penning it in. Page 898. 



Cerasin and Beeswax. 



Some rogues are pretty sharp. It rather jars us up to 

 be told by authority from Washington that pure cerasin — 

 not a particle of beeswax in it — has been encountered look- 

 ing and smelling very much like beeswax, and with the 

 correct melting point, also. Correct melting point would 

 not necessarily mean the proper amount of toughness when 

 at 100°, Fahr. Page 902. 



Bisulphide of Carbon in Canada. 



'Pears like the Canadian druggists have milder appe- 

 tites for profit than ours if they sell bisulphide of carbon at 

 10 cents a pound. Page 90S. 



Valuable Man Who Defends the Sparrow. 



In the country the sparrow multiplies and displaces our 

 native birds much better than he. I'll grant that in the 

 cities there was a time when the small boy had the native 

 birds driven out, and the sparrow had not come yet, leaving 

 a dangerous vacancy for worms to breed in. I think proper 

 public and police remedies should have been applied rather 

 than the importation of a bad foreign bird. And, with all 

 due apologies to Em Dee, the robin, as I see him, takes the 

 perfect cherries and leaves the wormy ones. But the man 

 who dares to defend the sparrow is an exceedingly valuable 

 man. We'll look to realize much good from his David-and- 

 Goliath performances some other time. Page 906. 



Farewell to the Old Year. 



Eugene Secor's farewell to the Old Year goes right to 

 the heart of some of us old chaps, who love the old things 

 and ways, and receive the rush of new ones with forebod- 

 ings, and more or less of reluctance. Alas, we repeat the 

 experiences of the dog tied to the hind "ex " under the 

 wagon ! Our hanging back doesn't count. Barking and 

 • howling occasionally is a little more to the purpose ; but 

 even that avails very little. On goes the wagon. I can 

 remember when for a country minister to take a fee for con- 

 ducting a funeral service would bring about his ears an 

 indignation meeting. Now the practise is general. On 

 goes the wagon. I can remember when no one thought of 

 such a thing as ordering people away from picking berries 

 in his woods or uncultivated lands. If any one secretly 

 desired it, wholesome fear of being called " a hog " re- 

 strained him. Now that practise is general. On goes the 

 wagon. And how much does my gentle howl avail ? Well, 

 there are berries in my woods ; and while I live I guess the 

 public will be free to come and pick. After then, who 

 knows? It's not only " Good-bye, Old Year!" but Good- 

 bye, Old Fraternity Times ! O Liberty, Equality and 

 Fraternity 1 Equality has gone ; Fraternity is going ; how 

 long will Liberty stay alone ? Page 1. 



See Langstroth Book Offer on another page of this 

 copy of the American Bee Journal. 



=\ 



Doctor ZTTUler's 

 (Question = Sox 



jp 



Send questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 



or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



|3g° Dr. Miller does ?w( answer Questions by mail. 



Internal Hive Temperature 



1. How many degrees of temperature is there in a bee- 

 hive, in the brood-nest, or above the brood-nest ? Answer in 



S 2 If I place one hive on top of the other, what would 

 be the temparature in the top hive ? Would this make any 

 difference? . „ 



3. How hot is it in a hive in the summer— in honey-flow, 



I mean ? . - 



4. If a thermometer be placed between two combs or 

 brood with bees on them as usual, at what figure would the 

 thermometer stand ? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. I can not give off-hand the temperature 

 to be found in a brood-nest in summer-time, and rather 

 strangely I do not find it by looking at the index in a num- 

 ber of books, although it is well known. I think it is not 

 very far below 100 degrees, although, of course, outside tem- 

 perature and strength of colony will make a little variation. 

 "Above the brood-nest" may be just the same as in the 

 brood-nest, and it may be quite different, something, of 

 course, depending upon how far above is meant. On a broil- 

 ing hot day the temperature above would be about the same 

 as in the brood-nest ; with the outside temperature at 60 

 degrees or lower, the temperature would fall, as the distance 

 becomes greater above the brood-nest. 



2. If both stories were occupied with bees, there would 

 probably be no appreciable difference in temperature ; al- 

 though on a cool day the temperature at the bottom of the 

 lower hive would be lower than in any part of the upper 



3. In the honey-flow the temperature of the brood-nest 

 will be the same as before and after the honey-flow. 



4 I don't know, but it would vary no little with the 

 variation of the surrounding air. In a full colony there is 

 very little such variation, for the strong force of bees is suf- 

 ficient to keep up a uniform temperature with little regard 

 to surrounding temperature ; but with only bees enough to 

 cover two combs the case would be different. If the outside 

 thermometer showed 100 in the shade, I should expect about 

 100 between the two combs ; but with the thermometer con- 

 stantly falling in the surrounding air, it might be expected 

 to fall also in the cluster, but not to so great a degree. 



Honey Dew-Late Winter ana Spring Feeding 

 Wood Separators 



Cleaning 



The last season was the worst I experienced in several 

 respects. The early part of the summer was wet and cold. 

 White clover— our main source of honey— bloomed profusely, 

 but furnished but little honey, and the cold, wet weather 

 did not allow the bees to gather much of the time. Later 

 the bees got busy for a time, but I could not see many work- 

 ing on white clover, and, on examination, I found they were 

 working on the leaves and small limbs of red-oak timber. 

 The honey they gathered was thin, of a muddy-water color, 

 and of poor quality. The season turned dry and the flow 

 stopped all at once, and we got no more honey to speak of. 

 Basswood was a failure, and we had no fall flow. I ex- 

 amined my bees and found that out of over 50 colonies I 

 would have to feed about half of them, which I did with 

 sugar syrup until I considered I had them all in shape to 

 winter. The fall was favorable for a late flight up to Nov. 

 20 ; I put my bees into the cellar the first of December, and 

 I was surprised to find that they had consumed their stores 

 until there was not more than a dozen that would winter, 

 and several had already starved. I put them into the cellar 

 and am feeding heavy sugar syrup. Some take it .Quite 

 readily, and some take it slowly. They appear all right so 



