* \-rfty 



(Entered at the Post-Office at Cliicaso as Becond-Class Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 3:$4 Dearborn Street. 



GEOKGK W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., AUGUST 2, 1906 



Vol. XLVI— No. 31 



ditorial Mq 

 and Communis 



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Bees Don't Puncture Fruit 



Bees are often charged with sirjs that they are not 

 guilty of, and it seems to take a long time for their friends 

 to prove their innocence. But frequently misjudgments 

 arise from ignorance; and so, as fast as information is 

 found through careful investigation, false judgments will 

 be withdrawn and true estimates substituted therefor. 



It has long been believed by some people that the bee 

 is the great destroyer of grapes, peaches and plums by 

 puncturing them and starting them to rotting. Many a 

 time bees have been seen drinking the sap exuding from 

 such punctures. It has taken a long time to exonerate the 

 bee from this charge, but it is now found that most of the 

 injury is done by crickets and June-bugs. Prof. Garman, 

 of the Kentucky Experiment Station, says an exchange- 

 took up this matter and set a watch to find which insects 

 were puncturing the grapes, peaches and plums. He found 

 two varieties of tree-crickets working vigorously at night 

 cutting holes in the fruits named. He expresses the belief 

 that these crickets are the chief culprits in puncturing thin- 

 skinned fruit. One variety of June-bug was also found 

 in the same business. Many of our horticulturists and bee- 

 men will be gratified to learn of this new evidence in behalf 

 of the bee. 



Those M Frames With Brood from One Queen 



There is always trouble to prevent internal dissensions 

 in a large family, and the Editor of this Journal seems 

 called upon to interfere between two editors of departments 

 before any gore is shed. This time it is Dr. Miller, who 

 gets after the Afterthinker after the following fashion : 



I had not thought to mix up in the controversy between Messrs. 

 Alley and Ferris; but when Mr. Hasty starts in to umpire the game 

 and shows rank partiality in championing Mr. Alley (page 598), 1 feel 

 that some one should umpire Mr. Hasty. So I come, perhaps at the 

 risk of a broken head, to the defense of Mr. Ferris in what he 6ays on 

 page 251. I don't mean to his defense in all he says on that page — I 

 wouldn't like to do that— only as to the point of the combined Hasty- 

 Alley attack. 



Queens that " occupied from 9 to 14 frames with brood," page 

 251 — that's what started all the trouble, and causes the man who 

 thinks afterward to gag at 5304 eggs in 24 hours. But, look here, Mr. 

 Hasty, doesn't a6 close an observer as If. M. Doolittle stand sponsor 

 for the statement that a queen has laid 5000 eggs in 24 hours ? Per- 

 haps, however, he wouldn't stand for the extra 304 eggs, and possibly 

 not for the 500U kept up as long as 21 days. 



But now, honor bright, did Mr. Ferris say 5304 eggs in 24 hours ' 

 He said he had queens that occupied from 9 to 14 frames with brood, 

 and then you take " some mathematics of the knock-down sort," on 

 page 445, and coolly say that calls for 5304 eggs a day. Let's look at 

 those " mathematics," page 445 : 



" A Langstroth frame 9x17 inches, inside measurement, contains 

 153 inches. There are 52 cells to the inch of comb. In 14 frames 

 there would be 111, 3S4 cells." And then because you think it's too 

 big a stunt for a queen to fill 111,384 cells in 21 days, you want Mr. 

 Ferris to " cnme down a cat or two" with his queens that occupy 14 

 frames with brood. 



How about that 9x17 inches, inside measurement? A Langstroth 

 frame is 9 ',,xl7'~' 8 ' outside. If top-bar is % thick and bottom-bar \ — 

 nowadays they are not often made less than that, and sometimes 

 more— that leaves the inside measurement 8J 4 xl7. But the cells being 

 six-sided there is a loss of space all around next the wood, and besides 

 that there is nearly always a considerable space between the comb and 

 the bottom-bar. Let us say, however, that the comb is built clear 

 down to the bottom-bar, and that only '„ inch is lost at each margin ; 

 that will leave the available inside measurement 8x16%, or 134 square 

 iuches. At 52 cells to the square inch (I think bees naturally build 

 more than that to the inch, but with foundation it's likely right), 

 that makes 6968 cells in a frame, or 97.552 in 14 frames. To compass 

 that in 21 davs would call for only 4645 a day, or 659 less than the 

 estimated 5304. 



Still feel like gagging at 4645 a day. Mr. Hasty? Well, now, did 

 Mr. Ferris really claim anything like 4645? What did he mean by 14 

 frames occupied with brood? What do you mean by a frame of 

 brood? Place your hand on your heart and tell us whether you mean 

 that every cell in the frame is filled with brood? Does any bee-keeper 

 ever mean that? Did you ever see a frame of that kind? Do you 

 ever expect to? In this locality we call it a frame of brood when as 

 many as half the cells are tilled. But if we were talking about a 

 queen occupying 14 frames with brood, we would expect them to 

 average something like % of the cells occupied with brood. That 

 would call for only 3484 a day, and that's about all you ought to 

 charge up against Mr. Ferri6, instead of 5304. Don't you think you 

 ought to "come down a cat or two " yourself, Mr. Hasty? If you do, 

 I'll be on speaking terms with you again. Not otherwise. 



C. C. Miller. 



Before any permanent settlement of the matters at is- 

 sue, two questions must be answered. One of them is the 

 question, " What is a frame of brood?" Evidently it can 

 not mean that all the cells are filled ; what does it mean? 

 The term is one constantly in use, and it is really impor- 

 tant that there be some definite understanding as to its 

 meaning. Who will tell us ? 



The other question is, " How many eggs a day will a 

 queen lay for 21 consecutive days?" Don't all answer at 

 once. 



Alsike Clover Diseases on Horses and Mules 



A bulletin from the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 of the University of Tennessee has been received, which 

 gives an account of a strange disease sometimes produced 

 on horses and mules — not on other stock — by continuous 

 and exclusive feeding on alsike pasture. The serious fail- 

 ure of red clover, caused by "clover sickness " (a good stand 

 beginning to sicken and die in August and all being gone 

 in September), has turned attention to alsike, which is 

 largely taking the place of red clover. 



But an exclusive diet of alsike sometimes produces a 

 disease whose symptoms are in part as follows: 



On the skin are inflamed areas, appearing at first as more or les6 

 rounded vesicular swellings, varying from }■> inch to 5 or 6 inches, or 

 more, in diameter. The hair over the affected areas stands erect, and 

 has a dull appearance, indicating loss of vitality. Later the skin be- 

 comes hard and puffed out, as the result of the formation of pus un- 

 derneath. Finally, the deadened skin is cast off, leaving a deep, raw, 



