Sept. 6, 1906 



American "Bee Journal 



r. /lasty" 



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

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



Comb Foundation Called " Arti- 

 ficial Honey-Comb." 



When foundation is sent by rail the 

 handlers of freight would get not the 

 faintest idea of what was in the pack- 

 ages if marked, " Comb Foundation." 

 It gets marked, "Artificial Honey- 

 Comb," that folks may have some idea 

 of what it is — albeit the idea so con- 

 veyed is a very incorrect one. Quite 

 likely the public belief that artificial 

 comb can be made is helped on by these 

 transit markings. Page 554. 



Young Larv.e on Outside of Brood- 

 Nest Repress Swarming. 



W. T. Brite's idea that young larva 

 on the outside of the brood-nest are 

 more repressive of the swarming im- 

 pulse than when in the center may 

 have something in it. More nurses 

 have a chance to take a hand. Page 557. 



Is Matrimony Worse than Light- 

 ning? 



Might have been worse, Sister Wil- 

 son. It wasn't matrimony that struck 

 the shop— only lightning. Page 557. 



Cutting Section Comb Foundation. 



I never yet cut foundation in a way 

 that seemed to me to be quite satis- 

 factory. I usually use old shears 

 chilled in cold water ; but that is 

 shamefully expensive of time. Let us 

 hope that the Stoflet method, given on 

 page 563, may at least afford an alter- 

 native way which some will find to 

 their notion : Long hot knife used 

 very swiftly on 6 sheets at once ; an 

 arrangement resembling the carpen- 

 ter's miter-box, enabling the swift play 

 to be correct. Wonder if a fine wire, 

 tight in a wooden bow, and kept hot 

 with an electric current, would not be 

 much better than a knife. To have so 

 little wax melted that there won't be 

 enough to reach out and stick to the 

 next sheet is the object, I take it. 



Transferring Eggs in Queen-Rear- 

 ing. 

 E. W. Diefendorf makes an astonish- 

 ing statement on page 563. Finds it 

 easier to put eggs into queen-cups than 

 larva;, on account of failing eyesight. 

 And they succeed all right if the cups 

 are bee-polished before the operation. 

 Only one page further back Dr. Miller 

 expresses a prevalent opinion, and says 

 he is not aware that any one has ever 

 succeeded at this. If (1) just the un- 

 damaged egg and nothing more was (2) 

 put into just the right small quantity 

 of (3) fresh, thin food, at (4) just the 



right hour in the age of the egg, and 

 (5) no uninterested bee-gluttons were 

 around to eat the food and tumble the 

 eggs out, then it would seem the pro- 

 cess ought to succeed. But securing 

 all 5 of these things is a pretty tough 

 problem. And maybe there are more 

 digits still in the bush. 



"Decent Jobs," and Others. 



And so they call this truth, eh ? to 

 be put at masthead : 



" One decent job's an earnest tbat you'll do a thou- 

 sand more." 



Well, even a Standard Oil lawyer can 

 not gainsay that truthful elucidation 

 of "making good." But the artist 

 who drew big jlegged bees just below 

 that truthful line, he didn't do the de- 

 cent job. And, eke, he might have 

 looked at white clover heads before he 

 proceeded to put a leafy involucre 

 around them. Page 569. 



President Dadant and Rheumatism. 



The bald-headed druggist was off his 

 base when he told the lady his remedy 

 would infallibly cure baldness; and 

 the President of we'uns the bee-bugs 

 shouldn't indulge in rheumatism unless 

 he is prepared to admit that bee-stings 

 do not always cure rheumatism. Page 

 574. 



Shallow Extracting Frames- 

 Cleaning Extracting Combs. 



Yes, Comrade Dadant, a frame only 

 6 inches deep is much easier to uncap 

 than a large square frame. That's one 

 point in favor of the shallow frame, 

 sure. But when the bees try to coax 

 the queen up through the zinc, as they 

 often do, the empty nest they polish 

 out is likely to occupy too nearly all 

 the frame, seems to me. 



The objections named against keep- 

 ing the extracting combs over to next 

 spring with the honey on them are real 

 and great objections — except that I 

 think it rather an alarmist idea about 

 the old honey thus given damaging 

 the new crop. Might, if not put on 

 until a flow of 6 pounds or more a day 

 was already in progress. I meant to 

 let the bees into my comb-house and 

 clean up my extracting combs last fall 

 (a way of doing O. K. if you proceed 

 wisely), but days when I wanted to en- 

 tertain the circus were not plenty. 

 Soon days warm enough for that pur- 

 pose got scarce, as I extract very late. 

 The upshot was it didn't get done at 

 all. Well, this spring the time to put 

 on supers was mostly regular starva- 

 tion time, and I was proper glad to 

 have so convenient a way to feed each 



colony when a little feed was a decided 

 help to them. Page 575. 



Almost a Cat-astrophe on Ferris 

 Alley. 



'Tis night. 



On the Hastily-constructed but lofty 

 fence of Ferris Alley three cats gently 

 tune it. Possibly not an idyllic situa- 

 tion, but a situation just as Nature 

 will have it. 



Ah ! Ah-h ! ! What's this ? A fourth 

 cat appears— mill-dust in his fur and 

 grit in his eye. 



A curse — a murrain — a bootjack on 

 fourth cats, don't you know ? Three 

 cats are company, but four are noth- 

 ing. 



I plead guilty of taking Mr. Alley's 

 figures without changing them. Prob- 

 ably was conscious that they were 

 capable of being squeezed a little, but 

 under the impression that it was so 

 little as not to be very material. Now 

 I know what impression did — when 

 sharply impressed on my fur by the 

 fourth cat. Much surprised to see the 

 5304 eggs per day squeezed down to 

 4645. Yes (as the windows all 'round 

 the court are opening), I'll come down. 

 Not sure that the lodgers hereabout are 

 willing for us to be on " speaking 

 terms," but we'll try it anyhow. 



Now as to the two bootjacks the Boss 

 holds up ; What is a frame of brood? 

 and, How many eggs a day will a queen 

 lay for 21 consecutive days ? My usage 

 in my records has been for many years 

 to call a frame of brood 20 squares. 

 And a square is a spot holding a quar- 

 ter thousand. This would allow 5000 

 head of brood to the frame— 1968 of Dr. 

 Miller's 6968 going blank. Very likely 

 the average is not so high as 5000 ; but 

 that number is convenient — and, more- 

 over, it's not quite so much as his pro- 

 posed ; 4 , which is 5226. My "square " 

 is a little over 3 inches each way, only 

 one side counted. I find it very con- 

 venient when taking the census of 

 colonies in spring, for which purpose 

 the " frame " is not usable. 



I don't know so much as I wish I did 

 about the consecutive laying of queens; 

 yet I will start out. Casting extreme 

 cases aside, I would suggest as a prac- 

 tical maximum, enough to produce a 7- 

 pound swarm of bees in the 21 days. 

 At 4450 to the pound that would be 

 4450x7 and divided by 21. This is 

 31,150 for the total, and 1485 per day. 

 For one, I am disinclined to believe 

 that a queen lays even so much as 2000 

 per day for so long a term as 3 weeks. 

 Page 653. 



Extracted and Comb Honey on 

 Same Hive. 



Some of us look with decided sus- 

 picion on producing both section honey 

 and extracted honey from the same 

 hive. Especially if your locality is a 

 poor one you will need all your address 

 to get good sections finished in paying 

 quantities anyhow. Think twice, aye 

 three times, ere you do any " monkey- 

 ing " with empty extracting combs 

 near your sections in such a location. 

 Ruin your already too slender chances. 

 With a first-rate location and half- 

 depth frames, quite likely the way out- 

 lined by James A. Green might work 

 very well. Lift the extracting super 

 just at the right time and put a super 

 of sections under it. Also, Mr. Green 



