(Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Claas Mail-Matter.) 

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



GEORGE W. YORK, Kditor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, AUGUST 9, 1906 



Vol. XLVI-No, 32 



CdifoHal Mo 

 and Comments 



Requeening Colonies 



Here are two paragraphs Irom an article 

 written by T. Maguire, in the Irish Bee Jour- 

 nal: 



" Experienced bee-keepers know the impor- 

 tance of requeening their colonies every year ; 

 from observation and practise, and probably 

 also from occasional failure and loss, they 

 know the difference in result between the 

 work of a young queen and that of an old 

 one. But, although the matter is strongly 

 urged in bee-guides and bee-journals, few 

 amateurs' seem to have grasped the full sig- 

 nificance of having, every season, a young 

 queen of the previous year's rearing, to head 

 each colony. 



" Whilst the old, barbarous methods of 

 smothering in skeps was cruel and wasteful, 

 it had at least the merit that the young queen 

 was generally saved. Under the rapidly 

 spreading modern system, which aims at 

 reducing swarming, there is no automatic 

 renewal of queens — quite the reverse. What 

 is the amateur, then, to do?" 



When so well-conducted a journal a6 the 

 Irish Bee Journal admits without comment 

 such statements, it seems to show that mis- 

 leading views are more or less prevalent. The 

 novice is practically told that all successful 

 bee-keepers destroy each queen when it be- 

 comes a year old. That is far from being true 

 in this country, and it is likely no more true 

 in Ireland. Is it true that " bee-guides and 

 bee-journals strongly urge that a young queen 

 of the previous year's rearing shall head each 

 colony?'' It would be more satisfactory if 

 the writer had given the page in two or more 

 of the bee-guides where such urging might 

 be found. 



The idea that there is automatic renewal of 

 queens where natural swarming is allowed, 

 and none otherwise, is about as far from the 

 truth as it can be; and yet it is an error into 

 which the novice is likely to fall. The novice 

 should distinctly understand that natural 



swarming does nothing toward renewing or 

 superseding a queen, and that there is just as 

 good a chance for the renewal of a queen if a 

 colony never swarms. "But," the novice 

 asks, " when a colony swarms, doesn't a 

 young queen take the place of the mother?" 

 Strictly speaking, no; for the mother's place 

 is now with the swarm, and she takes her age 

 with her when she 6warms, and needs super- 

 seding just as much as :f she had not 

 swarmed. Swarming does not change the 

 age of the old queen: after the swarming she 

 must be superseded ; and she can and will be 

 superseded just as well, and just as 6urely, 

 without any 6warming as with it. 



Interloping Virgin Queens 



A controversy is on in Gleanings between 

 Editor Root and Dr. Miller as to what hap- 

 pens when a strange virgin enters a hive with 

 a laying queen. Editor Root, with Mr. War- 

 dell, the Roots' queen-rearer, as authority, 

 claims that the virgin almost invariably dis- 

 places the old queen; Dr. Miller says his ob- 

 servation is exactly the opposite. It would 

 be interesting to know what is the general 

 law among bees in this regard. 



Value of Spring Feeding of Bees 



Frequent emphasis has been placed in this 

 Journal upon the danger of harm from allow- 

 ing stores to become scanty in spring. Even 

 though it be a long time till next spring, it 

 may be well to quote from Gleanings the fol- 

 lowing testimony of J. E. Crane : 



I remember some 30 years ago, before I had 

 learned the value of early brood-rearing or 

 the art of securing a strong colony in time 

 to gather the crop of honey as soon as it ap- 

 peared, nearly all my colonies were short of 

 stores, while many of them were weak in 



numbers also. I thought that the strong colo- 

 nies could take care of themselves, but the 

 weak ones I must feed. I fed them, but left 

 the strong ones to 6hirk for their feed. When 

 clover came into bloom I found th06e that 

 were strong early were almost without brood, 

 and fast getting weak, while those that were 

 weakest in early spring were my best colonies, 

 and gave me very much the most surplus 

 honey. Had I been a stranger to the resources 

 of our section I might have thought we were 

 overstocked. I believe that by judicious feed- 

 ing when Bowers yield little honey, the num- 

 ber of colonies in any given section may be 

 very largely increased — I think it safe to say 

 doubled, without any danger of overstocking. 



What Is Honey-Dew? 



So long as there is any uncertainty or dif- 

 ference of opinion among bee-keepers upon 

 this question, it is not strange that others 

 should lack entire information, but it is un- 

 fortunate that reputable periodicals are eo 

 much given, when any question of interest to 

 bee-keepers is involved, to making statements 

 that they do not know to be true. The follow- 

 ing paragraph from Successful Farming is a 

 case in point : 



" Honey-dew is the secretion of plant-lice 

 and scale insects. They send this substance 

 out in a spray over the leaves of trees and the 

 bees gather the stuff. It is unfit for sale, and 

 should never be sold or bought, though some 

 bee-keepers are ignorant or mean enough to 

 sell honey-dew." 



The definition of honey-dew is right so far 

 as it goes. But the term " honey-dew " in- 

 cludes also secretions from plants with which 

 insects have nothing to do. Even if the term 

 be used in the restricted sense in which it is 

 given in the paragraph quoted, it is not en- 

 titled to the severe judgment pronounced 

 upon it. There is honey-dew and honey-dew, 

 as there is honey and honey. Prof. Cook, 

 who has given special attention to the matter, 

 says: "Much aphid honey-dew is deliciously 

 wholesome, and the honey from it is superior." 



There is honey-dew that is unfit for the 

 table, and that can be said of honey-dew in 

 general; some of it is unfit for winter food 

 for bees. But there is also honey unfit for 

 the table, and no bee-keeper need be " igno- 

 rant or mean enough " to sell such honey as 

 a table luxury. But to call a bee-keeper 

 either ignorant or mean who should sell 

 honey-dew that is " deliciously wholesome,' 



