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

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



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., NOVEMBER 1, 1906 



editorial Moles 

 and Comments 



Texas Honey-Folks at the National 



Uvalde Co., Tex., has been considered one 

 of the greatest bee-keeping locations in this 

 country. It is expected that it will be repre- 

 sented by many from its large number of bee- 

 keepers at the San Antonio Convention of 

 the Nationa 1 . Mr. W. 0. Victor, President of 

 the Texas Bee-Keepers' Association, was in 

 Uvalde recently, interviewing bee-keepers on 

 the entertainment of the members of the 

 National, Nov. 8, 9, and 10. It is thought 

 that possibly many who attend the conven- 

 tion would like to visit Uvalde county and 

 inspect bee-keeping conditions there, as it is 

 not far from San Antonio. 



In a local newspaper, when speaking of 

 the condition of the bee industry of Texas, 

 Mr. Victor said there was no reason to be dis- 

 couraged. Bee-keeping, as a business, was in 

 better shape there than ever before. While 

 some years the honey crop was short, it was 

 still a profitable industry, one year with an- 

 other. Mr. Victor remarked further as fol- 

 lows: 



"The recent law passed by the Texas Leg- 

 islature for protection of the bees from foul- 

 brood disease has been of untold benefit to 

 the bee-industry. In some sections the in- 

 dustry would have been ruined but for the 

 protection afforded by this Act. No money 

 appropriated by the Legislature was ever put 

 to a better use. Of course, more was really 

 needed, but what was given was of great use 

 to the bee-inspectors for stamping out the 

 dreaded disease. 



" I believe there are sectioas of country, 

 especially in Uvalde county and vicinity, 

 where the bee-business yields greater revenue 

 than any other industry. Considering the 

 investment, few businesses yield such re- 

 turns. However, care should be taken to 

 guard against overstocking a range, as there 

 is just so much honey to gather, and bees can 

 look after just so much territory." 



Bees as Hive-Ventilators 



The following iiem, sent to us by one of 

 our readers, comes nearer the mark than do 

 most fugitive paragraphs concerning bee6: 



It is not generally known, but mo6t bee- 

 keepers will inform you that such is the case, 

 that each bee-hive has a corps of what could 

 properly be termed " ventilating bees. " Dur- 

 ing the hot season these ventilators station 

 themselves at the entrance to the hive and 

 fan the interior with the incessant motion of 

 their wings. These ventilating corps are 

 usually in relays of from four to a half-dozen, 

 and they are relieved at short intervals by 

 fre6h workers, who keep up the fanning pro- 

 cess. They are kept at work by a sort of 

 patrol of bees, which insuresincessant activity 

 on the part of the fanners during the time 

 they are at work. This story may sound 

 6trange to those who know but little concern- 

 ing the wonderful intelligence of bees, but it 

 is a scientific fact that has often been authen- 

 ticated. 



It might be said further, that not only may 

 ventilators be found at the entrance, but also 

 throughout the hive. To "fan the interior" 

 sounds as though the ventilating bees at the 

 entrance were blowing air into the entrance. 

 Instead of that, one can easily tell by holding 

 the back of the hand near the entrance that 

 a stream of air is being forced outward. In- 

 stead of only "four to a half dozen" being 

 seen at the entrance, a much larger number 

 may often be seen. 



Vol, XLVI— No, 44 



Foul Brood With Queens by Mail 



The editor of the Bee-Keepers' Review says: 



When I last met Mr. France he recounted 

 an experience where he found foul brood in 

 each alternate hive in a row of a dozen colo- 

 nies, and the owner was most positive in his 

 assertions that there was no possible way in 

 which foul brood could have been brought 

 into this yard— that is, to his knowledge. 

 Foul brood inspectors inherit, or soon ac- 



quire, the habit of poking around and finding 

 a great many things that escape the ordinary 

 observer, and it was not long before Mr. 

 France ran across half a dozen queen-cages. 

 " Hello!" he says, " What have you got here?" 

 "Why, they are queen-cages in which I 

 bought some queens" "In which colonies 

 did you introduce them?" Then there was 

 some scratching of the head, but it was finally 

 admitted that it was in those very hives 

 where foul brood was found. " Did you let 

 the bees eat out the candy to release the 

 queen!" "Yes," was the reply. That set- 

 tled it as to where the foul brood came from. 

 The only safety is in removing the queen 

 in the house, and destroying the cage and 

 bees, putting the queen into the new, clean 

 cage. 



When one orders a queen by mail, one 

 should feel safe in trusting to the sender that 

 by no possibility shall anything be sent that 

 could arouse a suspicion of danger. No hon- 

 est man would knowingly send infected food 

 with a queen, and probably there has not been 

 one case in a thousand where such a thing 

 has happened. Yet through accident or care- 

 lessness such a thing might happen, and the 

 consequences in such a case are so exceed- 

 ingly grave that the advice of Editor Hutch- 

 inson is sound : 



Kill all the bees of the escort, and put the 

 queen in a clean cage. In addition to this, 

 instead of letting the old cage with its con- 

 tents lie around, burn it. 



Black Bees vs. Italians 



W. Reid writes in the Australian Bee-Bulle- 

 tin : 



A neighbor had 33 colonies; 31 blacks died 

 of starvation, leaving him 2 Italian colonies. 

 Another bee-keeper alongside of him, at the 

 same time, had 19 blacks and 1 Italian. The 

 19 died from starvation, leaving him the 1 

 Italian. I knew another bee-keeper who had 

 42 colonies— 2 of them Italians. Bee-moths 

 ate out the 40 blacks, leaving the 2 Italians. 



Mr. D. M. Macdonald commented somewhat 

 savagely upon this in the British Bee Journal, 

 having no hesitation in voting the " facts *i 

 given as fiction, and counseling Editor Tipper 

 to edit such copy in the future. To this came 

 the following editorial reply in the Australian 

 Bee-Bulletin : 



The above is by a Mr. Macdonald, of Banf, 

 Scotland, who evidently knows little of what 

 he is writing about. Let him place an Italian 

 colony beside a black one, and he will soon 

 find the blacks are being robbed out. Tha 



