Sept. 27, 1906 



(_^v>r>.--:.y^'. f 4$ American Ttee Journal 



Conducted by Locis H. Scholl, New Braunsfels, Tex. 



Bees that Mourn Loss of Queen 



There seem to be two classes of 

 bees in a bee-hive that pay little or no 

 attention to the removal of the queen ; 

 that is, very young bees and old field- 

 bees. 



Bees under 4 days old will hardly 

 take notice of a queen being removed. 

 It seems to be the middle-aged or nurse 

 bees that mourn the loss of the queen 

 most. I believe it is a fact that bees 

 that mourn the loss of their queen 

 most are, as a rule, the best cell-build- 

 ers. I have had some colonies of pure 

 Italians that you could not detect from 

 the outside appearance that they were 

 queenless. Such colonies invariably 

 prove poor cell-builders. 



Queens Mating More Than Once. 



The writer believes that it is not a 

 very unusual thing for a young queen 

 to meet the drone, or male bee, two or 

 three times before becoming impreg- 

 nated. I have just had a case of that 

 kind. On July 13, 1 saw a young queen 

 make the third trip from a nucleus, the 

 last time showing signs of having met 

 the drone. On the 16th, I opened this 

 nucleus to cage the queen to take to an 

 out-yard, but found neither queen nor 

 eggs. So I decided the bees had de- 

 stroyed her, and was about giving 

 ai another cell when I saw what I 

 to be a queen alight at the en- 

 ce of the nucleus, and on investi- 

 gating I found it to be the queen, and 

 she Showed plain evidence of having 

 met ne drone again. I have witnessed 

 the,same thing once or twice before. 



Bountiful Rains in Texas. 



We have at last had bountiful rains 

 all over this State. Bee-keepers gen- 

 erally have been expecting a good 

 honey-flow from sumac and fall flow- 

 ers. The sumac blooms in August. 

 The worst trouble is in getting the 

 bees strong enough to take advantage 

 of this flow, which is less than 3 weeks 

 off from the time when bees are in a 

 weak condition. 



Tolerating Old Queens. 



I can't understand why so many 

 bee-keepers pay so little attention to 

 the kind of queens that are at the head 

 of their colonies — I mean their age. 

 At least half the beekeepers of my 

 acquaintance pay no attention to the 

 age of their queens, just allowing the 

 bees to supersede them when they 

 please. If I didn't know how to rear 

 queens by the latest methods, I would 

 remove those old queens and allow the 

 b ees to rear a queen to their own liking, 



believing that a young queen, poorly 

 reared, is better than an old one. 



Praising Their Own Hobbies. 



I could never understand why some 

 otherwise good writers seldom write 

 except to praise their sectional brood- 

 chamber hives, and their system of 

 management. A bee-keeping neigh- 

 bor of mine, not long since, told me 

 he always skipped a certain man's de- 

 partment in one of the monthly bee- 

 papers because, he said, "I don 't expect 

 to find anything except stuff of that 

 kind." I believe I more than half-way 



agree with him. If we must have such 

 as that, would it not be better to have 

 it on the advertising pages rather than 

 in the reading columns ? 



Why Such Difference in Colonies ? 



Here is something I should like to 

 get Doolittle, Dr. Miller, or Stachel- 

 hausen to take hold of : Say hive No. 

 24 has a good, strong colony of bees in 

 it. They always fly strong, and are 

 strong in numbers, and if I want a 

 frame of honey for any purpose, I 

 always find it in this colony, if it is to 

 be had in the yard ; and yet the queen 

 of this colony seldom has brood in more 

 than 5 Langstroth frames. 



Here is No. 30 standing not a rod 

 away, with the queen occupying double 

 the number of combs with brood, and 

 yet they are little if any stronger in 

 working power than No. 24; and if 

 the season turns out poor, I have to 

 call on No. 24 to supply No. 30 with 

 honey for winter, yet No. 30 always 

 flies strong, and seems to work fully 

 as hard as No. 24, but doesn't seem to 

 accumulate in either stores or working 

 force as they should. Who has not 

 noticed this ? L. B. Smith. 



Rescue, Tex. 



dr. /iasty$ 



The 



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

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



Can't Build Comb After July. 



Those North Carolina bees that can't 

 build comb after the middle of July, 

 must be related to that people (name 

 beginning with D) who can't see after 

 4 o'clock. Page 622. 



Phlox Drummondii a Favorite. 



No, Sister Wilson, I never got around 

 to investigate the color of poppy pol- 

 len. Not surprised to hear that it is 

 black, as many of them have the whole 

 center of the flower a mass of black 

 filaments. My favorite flower is the 

 Phlox Drummondii — largely because it 

 smiles on me, while the rose, which is 

 in higher repute, keeps most of its 

 smiles for some other fellow. My 

 young phloxes winter over in the open 

 ground, and give me early bloom — a 

 favor which the other fellow never 

 seems to get, and does not even expect. 

 The tubes of the phlox are ever so 

 much too long for bees. They are also 

 very slender, and got up, I take it, to 

 be cross-fertilized by the long tongues 

 of butterflies, and especially by the 

 sphinxes. But only a few days after I 

 wrote of the apiarian hopelessness of 

 my flower, I saw for the first time a 

 bee working on Phlox Drummondii. 

 Should be kept in mind that phloxes 

 left to take care of themselves for a 



number of years are abominations — 

 only a few dingy colors, and all the 

 brilliant ones missing. Page 617. 



Ventilation Between Brood-Cham- 

 ber and Super. 



Interesting to see that the Dadants 

 found that ventilation space between 

 brood-chamber and super, when the 

 hives were also raised 2 inches at the 

 bottom, made too much of the good 

 thing of ventilation except in hot sum- 

 mers. According to Mr. D., a consis- 

 tently hotter climate might always find 

 it right, and a cooler climate might 

 always find it wrong. Sounds sensi- 

 ble. Page 703. 



Notes on Wintering Bees. 



The wintering article of Grant Stan- 

 ley has several quite catchy sayings. 

 Sure to be scant stores below if sec- 

 tions are left on till frost. 'Spects that 

 depends upon the bees, as to the "cut 

 of their jib ;" but I fear it is true, too, 

 many times for one who practises 

 th it way to feel comfortable about it. 

 "Equally good for wintering" — the 

 late-gathered stores. How happy would 

 I be if that was the truth, or even some- 

 where near the truth ! Bees breed in — 

 say April — according to the amount of 

 stores in sight. Pretty v' ly that 



