(Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mall-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 334 Dearborn St. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MARCH 29, 1906 



VoL XLVI-No. 13 



(fbttonal Hotes 

 anb Comments 



Hives in Which Bees Have Died 



Every spring finds all over the land hives in which 

 bees have died. Some colonies have died of diarrhea, some 

 have been queenless, some have had drone-laying queens. 

 Whatever the cause of death, the hives have value, and can 

 be used to receive swarms. If they have movable frames, 

 the combs have a cash value for future use. The combs in 

 box-hives can at least be melted to obtain the wax, and 

 should not be left a prey to the wax-moth. 



Don't add to the loss of bees by allowing anything that 

 is left to be lost. 



Honey Left by Dead Colonies 



" Is it safe to feed to the bees honey that is in combs 

 left by colonies that have died?" This question is sure to 

 be asked by a number of anxious beginners. When the 

 weather becomes warm enough for bees to fly daily, it is 

 safe to feed anything in the line of sweets short of actual 

 poison, unless the honey comes from colonies that had foul 

 brood, and honey left by dead bees is all right at any time. 

 Very often the honey is robbed out by the bees before the 

 bee-keeper discovers what is going on, and this method of 

 disposal is not a bad one. It has at least the merit of re- 

 quiring no labor on the part of the bee-keeper. Another 

 way, and a good one, is to leave the honey in the combs till 

 they are given to a swarm. 



Care of Empty Combs Left by Dead Colonies 



The combs left by colonies that failed to pull through 

 the winter should not be left uncared for until swarming- 

 time. A swarm is pretty sure to desert if put into a hive 

 containing a lot of dead bees in a wet mass on moldy combs, 

 but is attracted by an outfit of empty combs in good condi- 

 tion. The first thing to be done — and the sooner it is done 

 the better — is to get out of the hive all the dead bees. One 

 way is to sweep the bees off the combs with a common 

 house-broom. One person handle^ the combs, and another 

 the broom. A comb is laid flat on the ground and swept, 

 turned over and swept on the other side, and then put into 

 a hive which has been carefully cleaned out, and then the 

 other combs are cleaned the same way. 



So long as the weather remains cool, such combs may 

 be left safely outdoors, but when the weather becomes warm 

 enough wax-worms will appear, and if left long enough un- 

 disturbed they will utterly destroy the combs. Closing the 

 hives up tight will do no good, for the eggs or young larva?, 

 are there from the previous season. If the combs are left 

 in a dry cellar, it will be too cool for the worms to make 

 much headway. But there is no place where these combs, 

 are so safe as in the care of the bees themselves. 



As soon as the weather warms up and colonies become 

 strong, each strong colony can take care of a hiveful of 

 empty combs. Put a hiveful of combs under the hive con. 

 taining the strong colony, so that the bees must pass 

 through the combs upon leaving or returning to their home. 

 Of course, this presupposes that the bottom-boards or floors 

 of your hives are removable, and if they are not you will do 

 well to make them so. 



It may surprise you to see how nicely the bees will clean 

 up dirty, moldy combs. If some honey is in the combs, all 

 the better. When the combs are well cleaned, a second 

 hiveful of combs may be given. Put this second hiveful on 

 top of the one already cleaned, and then set the colony over 

 all. These combs can then be left thus till needed for 

 swarms. 



Newspaper Declines to Correct Apiarian Errors 



A February issue of the Chicago Record-Herald con- 

 tained some misstatements of facts regarding bees and 

 honey, and several of our readers called our attention to 

 them. We at once wrote a courteous correction, and here is 

 the reply we received from the Record-Herald : 



Chicago, Feb. 23, 1906. 

 Mr. George W. York, Editor American Bee Journal — 



Dear Sir : — The editor directs me to acknowledge re- 

 ceipt of your favor of the 22d inst., to thank you for it, and 

 to explain to you that he regrets he can not see his way 

 clear to devoting space to making suggested corrections. 



The published matter to which you call attention was a 

 reprint from the New York Sun. The errors, therefore, 

 were the New York Sun's errors. And if the Record-Her- 

 ald started out to correct all material errors in other news- 

 papers, it would have to abandon, necessarily, its proper 

 function — the publication of news. 



Thanks again for your letter. 



Yours very truly, Managing Editor. 



Isn't it a little strange that the great Chicago Record- 

 Herald could find room for the misrepresentations, and yet 

 could not allow space to correct them ? 



As we look at it, when the American Bee Journal copies 

 errors from other sources, those errors in a measure become 

 its own, and we feel in duty bound to correct them in the 

 American Bee Journal so far as possible. We suppose if 



