488 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 7, 1906 



many colonies as you would like, while working up to the 

 desired number, take comfort in the special advantages you 

 have because of small numbers. 



21It\ 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. 



Larger Baby-Nucleus Methods 



So F. Greiner, at work on a somewhat larger baby 

 nucleus, of quarter-sized frames, found out that he could 

 winter them (in the cellar) just as they were— and that he 

 liked it better that way. Four nuclei together— 20 frames, 

 Long-Ideal style. For winter just take out the three divi- 

 sions. For increase move the whole establishment, and 

 put a newly-made-up one on the same stand to catch the 

 flying bees. He seems to have struck an excellent set of 

 manipulations. Page 343. 



Formaldehyde in Molasses 

 This strikes one as a needless piece of wickedness. 

 They think it needs a little, it seems, to make sure of good 

 keeping qualities in hot weather— and then the care and 

 attention required to get in just the minimum amount is too 

 great, and they find it cheaper to douse in a large excess. 

 All these perverse naughtinesses should help some in build- 

 ing up the honey market. Page 347. 



That Firm of "Doll-ies" 

 " Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them " 

 (arrows), but in this case they seem to be dolls. The most 

 practical and do-things sort of dolls ever heard of. Only to 

 be excelled by this kind of dolls— ($$), if, indeed, even by 

 them. Head of the establishment also a Doll— and 5 more 

 dolls not in the picture. Pages 357 and 362. 



Ohio Foul Brood Law 



Ohio's new foul brood law is hailed by some as a good 

 thing. Hope so. Imaginable that it may anon be looked 

 back to as the beginning of a bad thing. First recognition 

 of the idea that bees may be subjected to special taxation- 

 like sheep-killing dogs and such. I poked up our Assessor 

 on the subject, and he said he had no orders to levy any 

 special tax. The dilatoriness of red-tape, most likely. Get 

 around to it in a year or two. Page 361. 



Another Tall Assistant Editor 



_ And is it feet and inches the staff are chattering about ? 

 which to look up to, and which to look down to ? Well, 

 Hasty used to be just a shaving short of 6 feet. With age 

 and general cast-downness probably more than a shaving 

 short now. Page 368. 



Cow-peas in the North 



When cow-peas were last up, page 369, I spoke of them 

 as not suited to the North. Fred May, a bee-brother in Illi- 

 nois (about the latitude of the State capital), says they are 

 extensively raised in his location. By means of them farm- 

 ers get as much hay on poor land as with timothy on rich 

 land. The soil is generally sandy in that vicinity. 



Honey Above the Hive-Entrance 



Yes, here's a black eye already for the honey-doubling, 

 up-above entrance. G. S. Blackman, from 30 years of bee- 

 hunting experience, testifies that the good "finds " mostly 

 have the honey above the entrance — and that most of those 

 with the comb below the entrance had but little honey. 

 Page 370. 



Properly Speaking of "Hybrid" Bees 



We have to call them something, Mr. Holtermann ; and 

 that's what makes us so persistent in the wickedness of 



calling them "hybrid bees." We love our bees, and to mal- 

 suggestively call them "cross bees " — we'll be "bowled to 

 death with turnips " before we'll submit to that. We might, 

 to be sure, call them " grade bees;" but no one likes to 

 start out first in the use of new terms when it is so sure that 

 a great part of our readers will fail to comprehend what we 

 mean. Page 341. 



fr — \ 



Doctor Utiller's 

 Question * 33ox 



j 



8end questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 



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



ISF° Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Preventing Bee-Moths, Worms and Roaches 



What can you suggest as a preventive for bee-moth, worms and 

 roaches? I have lost several colonies of bees through them. 



Mississippi. 



As a preliminary caution in the way of prevention, be careful not 

 to have pieces of comb lying around in comfortable places, as a breed- 

 ing-ground for the moth. Especially avoid having one piece of comb 

 lying upon another. I don't know how it is as far south a6 Mississippi, 

 but in northern Illinois a piece of comb may be left lying in the api- 

 ary all summer long, and there is little chance that a moth will touch 

 it if it is alone, but let another piece be lying close upon it, and it will 

 soon be alive with worms. Having taken this precaution, the only 

 thing needed in the way of a preventive is to keep strong colonies. 

 Italians are better to keep the moth at bay than blacks, and a weak 

 colony of Italians will put up a good fight where blacks would sur- 

 render. Neither need you feel troubled as to roaches doing any par- 

 ticular damage to a strong colony. 



Are you sure that you lost those oolonies through worms and 

 roaches? Was it not more through queenlessness and weakness, the 

 worms getting in at the finish? 



Perhaps a Laying Worker 



Of the 17 colonies of bees that I carried through the winter I find 

 2 not doing well. One is full of drone-cells ready to hatch ; the other 

 has plenty of honey and a fair supply of bees, but no queen, eggs or 

 young bees to be found in the hive. Are they queenless! 



Missouri. 



Answer. — The one filled with drone-brood is likely to have a 

 drone-laying queen. The best thing is to breakup the colony, dis- 

 tributing the bees on their combs to other colonies. The one with no 

 queen or brood may possibly have a virgin queen, such queen being 

 sometimes very hard to find. Give it a frame of brood containing eggs 

 and unsealed brood. Two or 3 days later, if you find queen-cells 

 started, you may decide it is queenles6, and break up the colony. In 

 rare cases, however, queen-cells may be started when a virgin is pres- 

 ent, and if you are anxious to preserve the colony, it might be well to 

 wait a week, or even 10 days after giving the brood before pronounc- 

 ing condemnation. It is believed that the presence of unsealed brood 

 helps to hurry up the laying of the young queen, if one is present. 



Albino, Punic and Holy Land Bees — Transferring- Put- 

 ting on Supers— Best Hive-Cover— Requeening 



I have not been very successful with my bees. Last spring all of 

 the Italian and hybrid colonies died, but a Carniolan colony came 

 through all right; it swarmed 3 times, and I caught the second and 

 third swarms. The old colony stored 72 sections of honey, the second 

 swarm 48, but the third swarm stored none. They all wintered well, 

 and my grandpa gave me a swarm last year that stored 24 sections. 



1. What do you think of the albino and Punic bees? Also the 

 Caucasians? 



2. When is the best time to transfer bees? 



3. When is it time to put on the supers? Is it all right to put 

 them on when the hive is full of bees, but not full of honey? 



4. Are the Holy Land bee6 cross? Are they good honey -gatherers? 



5. Does white clover, in a dry season, produce as much nectar as 

 in a wet season? 



6. Does blackberry yield much honey? 



7. What is the best kind of hive-cover? 



8. When is the best time to requeen, and what is the best method? 



9. Is the second edition of " Forty Years Among the Bees " any 

 different from the first edition, or is it re-written? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. Whether it be of the human race or the lower 

 orders of the animal creation, the rule is that an albino is of weaker 

 constitution than others. It is possible that an albino bee might be 

 superior, but, if 60, it is in spite of being albino and not because of it. 

 The little experience I had with Punics makes me think them hardy 

 and industrious, not with the sweetest tempers, the worst gluers I 



