428 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 17, 1906 



crossing over a corduroy, his teamster, while driving behind with a 

 load of 18 large chaff hives on his wagon, drove off the end of the 

 corduroy and turned wagon, bees and all bottom side up. They were 

 all large colonies working in 45-pound supers, and the supers were on. 

 They loaded 11 of them again, and then Mr. Frey had to go home for 

 lights and other things to use, as it was raining by this time, and he 

 had to fish a part of the remaining hives out of a water-hole with poles. 



This yard proved a failure that summer, so he brought the bees 

 home in the fall. In all the moving of bees we have done, tipping 

 over included, we never had a comb break out of its frame. You see 

 we U6e the right style of frames. 



On the whole, out-yards have paid us well. We often get our 

 best crop from the out-yards. 



If you want experience that counts, keep out-yards. 



Sand Lake, Mich., Jan. 30. Mrs. F. Wilbur Fret. 



The foregoing- very interesting- letter is taken from the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review. Mrs. Frey is evidently one of the 

 sisters who does things. Not every one would enjoy pilot- 

 ing two loads of bees through 4 nights of travel over the 

 best of roads, to say nothing of roads with dangerous places 

 in them. 



But, oh ! Mrs. Frey, how could you have the heart to 

 kill 100 colonies of bees after the busy little creatures had 

 spent their summer storing honey for you? Evidently, 

 however, you didn't have the heart to do it with your own 

 hands, but got a man to do it for you. 



VTlt. pasty's 



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The " Old Reliable " as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

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



Prof. Cook's Insect-Tester 



Prof. Cook gives on page 294 a good insect-tester to 

 keep in mind. All the bees (hundreds of species) feed their 

 young on pollen, all carry pollen on their hinder legs — and 

 so can be recognized, even when not carrying any, by the 

 broad leg-joints set about with bristles on which it is wont 

 to be carried. Little fellows barely visible, and big fellows 

 big as your thumb all'ee same. But some digest the pollen 

 and feed the concentrated nutriment, while some simply 

 knead up the pollen in a well-tempered mass, and lay the 

 eggs in the mass. 



Less Honey and More Price 



To round out the view of less honey and more price, 

 given in the first editorial comment, page 321, there needs 

 to be one more question : When people who ate ISO pounds 

 decrease their eating to 100 pounds (with signs of still 

 further decrease), is that a movement that is to our notion 

 or to our profit ? 



Is Cuban Bee-Keeping So Profitable? 



If Cuba's 82,000 colonies counted in 1902 increased to 

 100,000 in 1904, then that $1,100,000 of exported honey and 

 wax was $11 per colony. Good. Too good to be probable. 

 'Spects the statisticians fail to catch all the colonies, all 

 the same as in U. S. Page 322. 



Testing Beeswax for Adulteration 



Never thought of it in just that way before, but profes- 

 sional adulteration of wax and backwoods adulteration are 

 indeed two different styles of that bad art. Recognizing 

 this may help us a trifle in judging the purity of the article 

 when we know whose hands it has come through. Rather 

 awkward for a non-expert to tell if suspect is or is not just 

 146 degrees when it melts. The excellent dodge proposed 

 by Adrian Getaz is much simpler for green hands. Put a 

 shaving of the suspected and just such a shaving of un- 

 doubtedly genuine side by side on the same warm plate, 

 and gradually raise the temperature. May occur to some 

 one to inquire, if a sample feels right to the hand, and 

 looks right, and smells right, and tastes right, and melts at 

 the right temperature, why pursue the game any further? 

 The most important and crucial point is lacking yet. Will 

 it stand as much pull at ioo degrees, Fahr.? That's the spot 

 where adulterated wax fails if comb foundation is made of 

 it. But I guess the grand test could be managed, too. Not 



so very hard to shave and press two ribbons of wax about 

 the thickness of foundation. On one end of each clip a loop 

 of thick paper into which little weights could be piled. Get 

 them heated right in a hot box or oven. Hold them ver- 

 tically. Then see how many ounces it takes to pull each 

 ribbon asunder. Page 295. 



Sunflowers for Hive-Shade 



Dr. Miller's conclusion about sunflowers for shade is 

 not very favorable. I have tried them some and rather like 

 them. Unless hives are quite close together, put 3 plants 

 in a little row instead of one. Need not be afraid to remove 

 a few bottom leaves, provided there are a plenty of big ones 

 left. Greatest fault is that the foliage perishes too early in 

 the fall ; and you can prevent that by keeping all the blos- 

 som-buds picked. I had some that would indulge in but 

 one blossom anyhow ; and when that one was removed 

 there was no more fuss. But you must have mellow, good, 

 rich ground if you want big leaves reaching well over. 

 Page 329. 



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Ccmabtan 

 4-23eebom-f 



Conducted by Morley Pettit, Villa Nova, Ont 



Ontario Foul Brood Act and Inspectors 



J 



The Ontario Foul Brood Act has passed the Ontario 

 Legislature, giving the Department of Agriculture full con- 

 trol of the appointment of inspectors. The Minister of 

 Agriculture may appoint as many inspectors as he sees fit, 

 and the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association legally has no 

 say, though he is likely to consult them in regard to ap- 

 pointments. 



Next week the Act will be found in this department. 



Working- Intelligently With Bees 



A great many people seem to think that getting ahead 

 consists in working 16 hours a day, and in getting work 

 done ahead of time. These are both all right in their place, 

 but when I see a farmer " mudding" in his seed in the 

 spring for the sake of having it in early, or the bee-keeper 

 doing a lot of unnecessary work, which a little time spent 

 in forethought and planning would have avoided, the 

 thought comes to me that he might better have been sitting 

 in a comfortable room, busy with his farm journal, bee- 

 paper, and note-book. 



A great convenience and time saver is the little note- 

 book with " Things to be done." This, with a pencil, is my 

 constant companion. At the most inopportune moments 

 ideas occur to me — " So and so must be done soon." Right 

 there the work must stop long enough to note that down. 

 Then when the work in hand is finished, it is not necessary 

 to study over what is best to be done next — the note-book 

 tells. 



A pocket diary is very convenient, both as a record of 

 weather, condition of bees, and progress of work, and for 

 coming events and appointments. 



Natural Disinfectants in Colonies of Bees 



In Le Rucher Beige, M. Reidenbach propounds new ideas with re- 

 spect to disinfection of hives. He says it is well known that bacteria 

 are the cause of a great deal of mischief in hives, but these are in a 

 measure protected from the depredations of these microbes by the 

 formic acid, tartaric acid, and ethereal oils in the nectar. Formic 

 acid, in small quantity, is found in the poison of bees, but exists in 

 much larger quantities in the larva;, and in combs that have been bred 

 in. He was able to extract from a piece of comb weighing 41 grams 

 about 36 milligrams of formic acid. He found none in virgin 

 comb. He concludes that the object of this acid is to preserve the 

 nitrogenous food of the larva 1 , and, consequently, to prevent fermen- 

 tation and resulting disease. Damp prevents the evaporation of this 

 disinfectant, and predisposes colonies to disease; therefore, it is im- 

 portant to secure good ventilation, so as not to deprive the hive of its 

 weapon against bacilli. 



Another means of disinfection is in the tartaric acid found in the 



