Sept. 13, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



/ 85 



I have just hived a swarm, and am 

 proud of it. The swarm came out 

 about 1 o'clock, just as I had finished 

 dressing for a reception at 2 o'clock, 

 and my good man away from home for 

 the day. It was a warm day, my lawn 

 waist was very thin, and my hands and 

 arms bare, but I could not see that 

 beautiful swarm get away, so I got a 

 hat and bee-veil over my head, got out 

 a hive which was all ready, picked up 

 an empty box, and went for them. 

 They fortunately clustered low down. 



By this time my neighbor, Mrs. F., 

 also got interested, and with only a 

 veil for protection, very kindly took a 

 hand. We had to crawl through two 

 fences to get to them, when Mrs. F. 

 held the box and I knocked them off 

 the branch into it, getting nearly all 

 in, then started for the hive, Mrs. F. 

 carrying the box. Going through the 

 first fence she caught her foot in the 

 wire, and down she went, bees and all, 

 only the box kept right side up ; but 

 the shaking up so irritated the bees that 

 they began scolding at such rough 

 treatment, boiling up the sides of the 

 box, flying in the air, crawling on our 

 hands and arms, and over my thinly- 

 clad shoulders. But what worried me 

 most was that I was afraid Mrs. F. 

 would get a few stings. I had forgot- 

 ten, for the moment, about myself, so 

 I grasped the box to get the bees to the 

 hive, found I could not get through the 

 fence, and had to go around by the 

 road about 100 feet further ; but at last 

 reaching the hive, and dumping them 

 in front of it, I took a piece of grape- 

 vine to push them along, and made 

 them understand where I wanted them 

 to go. They were soon happily settled, 

 and the whole job finished as good as 

 their master himself could have done it. 



After bathing my heated face and 

 hands, I was ready for my company. 

 Neither of us got a sting, which all 

 goes to show that "some things can be 

 done as well as others." 



Mr. P. has labeled that hive "The 

 Ladies' Colony," and says the honey 

 they are storing all goes to the two 

 brave women who saved the swarm. 

 Let us hope they will bring in plenty. 

 (Mrs.) G. P. Prankard. 



Ridgefield Park, N. J., July 5. 



Let us hope to hear at the close of 

 the season what "The Ladies' Colony " 

 has done. , 



A Mellifluous Sentence 



That popular writer, Kate Douglass 

 Wiggin.in a story in Scribner's, shows 

 her knowledge as to the preferences of 

 the bee in the following beautiful sen- 

 tence : 



" Back of the barn, and encroaching on the 

 edge of the hay-field, was a grove of sweet 

 clover whose white feathery tips fairly bent 

 under the assaults of the bees, while banks 

 of aromatic mint and thyme drank in the 

 sunshine and sent it out again into the sum- 

 mer air warm and deliriously odorous." 



Getting Subscriptions at Fairs — 



The season of annual lairs will soon be here. 

 Perhaps some of our readers would like to 

 take subscriptions for the American Bee Jour- 

 nal at their local fairs. If so, kindly write us 

 for terms and sample copies (telling how 

 many wanted). We would like to have one 

 or more representatives at each fair 



anadian 

 Ueedom 



Conducted by Morlet Pettit, Villa Nova, Ont. 



Winter Flights a Benefit to Cel- 

 lared Bees 



Mr. Pettit: — I am satisfied that the winter 

 flight I gave my bees did them good. They 

 quieted down nicely after the flight and all 

 came through alive and strong. One colony 

 deserted the hive during the first flight and 

 went in with others, and one became queen- 

 less early. Out of 61 colonies put in in the 

 fall, there are 59 strong to-day. One swarmed 

 May 15. lam sure winter flights are bene- 

 ficial when the bees get so uneasy; but the 

 trouble is, we so seldom have weather suit- 

 able. Geo. A. Howard. 



Lynden, Ont., May 2S. 



I am convinced that in winters like 

 the last, where bees become uneasy 

 through continued warm weather, to 

 carry them out on a suitable day and 

 give them a cleansing flight would be 

 a great benefit. They should probably 

 be put in again the same or the next 

 evening, to avoid their starting a lot 

 of brood. This can easily be done be- 

 cause it is very unusual to have more 

 than a day or two of flying weather in 

 a Canadian winter. Such a winter as 

 last may not come again for 20 years ; 

 but no opportunity to learn lessons by 

 experience should be let slip. 



Dysentery in Bees 



Praxis BieneDzuct contains a long article 

 on the subject by Dr. Follemus, of Hamburg. 

 He says that the first cause of this distemper 

 is thirst, the second is poor ventilation, and 

 the third neglect on the part of the bee-keeper. 

 The amount of water in honey varies accord- 

 ing to the season. In a dry season it will 

 contain only from 16 to IS percent water; in 



a wet season the average will run from 21 to 

 23 percent. In wintering, honey of the 

 former consistency will cause thirst much 

 sooner than the latter. If a winter follows 

 with variable temperature the bees will be 

 more restless than in the even temperature, 

 and this restlessness increases thirst. He tells 

 of his experiments along this line, and rec- 

 ommends sprinkling the bees with luke-warm 

 water as a remedy. Speaking of poor venti- 

 lation as the cause of dysentery, he blames 

 too much packing, and the leaving of too 

 small an entrance, thus shutting out the pure 

 air, which he considers as essential for bees 

 as for any other living creature. 



Some top or rear ventilation is necessary. 

 About winter flights, the writer says the gen- 

 eral belief is that the first cleansing flight 

 will prevent thirst and dysentery, the latter 

 may sometimes be the case, but not always 

 the former, if the ground is frozen. On the 

 first bright day they will take flight, cleanse 

 themselves in the air, and then drop down on 

 the ground for a drink; here a great many 

 will find their death; they will get chilled 

 and not be able to rise again. If the bees 

 were watered in their hive this would not 

 occur. They would not alight, but would fly 

 back directly to their hive again.— Mail and 

 Ehnpirt . 



This would seem to recommend for 

 winter thin honey, uniform tempera- 

 ture, watering bees in the hive, and 

 pure air. These may all be orthodox 

 enough except the thin honey, which, 

 in theory, is right because it gives the 

 bees more water, but in practise con- 

 veys a greater evil — its unripe condi- 

 tion adds danger of becoming sour. 



Moisture in a cellar is all right where 

 the hive has good, porous top-packing 

 and top ventilation, and the cellar is 

 cool enough to promote a change of 

 air in the hive. 



The •' Old Reliable » as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

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



Father Langstroth and Truthful 

 Biography. 

 Great humorists are apt to be sorrow- 

 ful men at heart, when you get down 

 to it. Their success at fun is the result 

 of a desperate struggle against depres- 



sion of spirit. In like manner it would 

 seem the jollity of Langstroth when in 

 one of his phases was his form of fight- 

 ing off the opposite phase — a phase in 

 which no smile could be seen for long, 

 long periods. Glad to see our grand 



