950 



Nov. IS, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



batching; season closes with May, and the 

 work during the remainder of the season is 

 ■comparatively light, while the work with the 

 bees i6 most exacting from the last of May 

 through June and July. If the poultry- 

 keeper chooses to bend most of his energies 

 to obtaining fall and winter eggs, which are 

 the most productive of profit, he is free to 

 give them his entire attention, as the bees re- 

 quire very little of his time at these seasons. 

 The labor of both bee-keeping and poultry- 

 raising is comparatively light work, and to 

 one not very strong, and who feels the need 

 of an open air life, there are few occupations 

 which are more attractive and fascinating, 

 and certainly few which require so little capi- 

 tal to be invested and yet are capable of fur- 

 nishing one with a good living, if not some- 

 thing besides. 



Common Use of Honey in Russia 



In The Delineator, J. M. Devaux tells 

 about the dishes of different countries, 

 and when telling about Russia, he 

 speaks about the great amount of tea- 

 drinking, the lunching at noon with 

 its appetizers, cold food, and liquors, 

 and then says : 



When the appetite is thus prepared, the 

 event of the day, the more or less elaborate 

 course-dinner is served. This is followed by 

 a siesta, which is usually much needed, and 

 then comes " tea," a repast at which the ever- 



smoking samovar looks down upon a table 

 actually groaning beneath a weight of fruit, 

 cakes, pastry, honey, preserves, pickles, cold- 

 meat dishes, and many other delicacies. 



This is not given by any means as a 

 desirable thing to imitate, but to call 

 attention to the fact that honey seems 

 to be in so much use that it is worth 

 while to mention it in a general bill of 

 fare. Would a foreigner, after a visit 

 to this country, in describing tie 

 habits of the people, be likely to men- 

 tion honey as a general article of 

 diet? 



Here's what he says about honey- 

 drinks : 



I shall never forget my first taste of kvass, 

 which is made from barley and honey. Served 

 to me from such a delicate vessel I imagined 

 that I should find it the mostdainty of domes- 

 tic beers. What was my horror, therefore, to 

 discover that I was compelled to swallow 

 something that tasted like a most disagree- 

 able medicinal preparation, and though I 

 afterwards learned to drink it, I shall always 

 remember my introduction to the Russian's 

 substitute for beer. 



What a pity that the disgusting taste 

 did not continue! Let us be thankful 

 that in this country the making of 

 alcoholic drinks is not one of the com- 

 mon uses of honey. 



Mr /lasty$ 



fl 



The' 



Old Reliable " as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses, 

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



A Stretch of the Imagination. 



I have heard of corn growing so fast 

 that it could be heard to snap, but 

 never before of honey coming in so 

 fast that the hive would snap and 

 ■crack as the added weight told upon 

 the stands. That was in the county of 

 jolly Missouri, which sports the appro 

 priate name of Gasconade. Queen gets 

 so frightened for fear her house is 

 going to fall down that she only lays 

 one egg a week, Mr. Doolittle. Page 

 «0*. S 



Laying Ability of Queens. 



Well, maybe I can come down suffi- 

 ciently to stand Mr. Carr's story of 16 

 frames of brood pretty well filled— 

 stand it with only moderate choking 

 and gasping. Looking at the queen 

 not strictly necessary. (I suppose Mr. 

 Grimes was always glad to convince 

 skeptics by letting them look at his 

 justly famous two-eggs-every-Sunday 

 hen.) To have lot of brood at one time 

 is less incredible than a similar quan- 

 tity continuously. But 16 frames would 

 be 80,000, and to get them even once 

 would require average laying of 3800 

 for 21 days. Will admit some surprise 

 — and also class this case as one of the 

 " extreme cases " I spoke of. An ex- 

 treme case does not settle the question. 



" What is the usual work of a first-rate 

 queen under favorable circumstances ?" 

 Page 804. 



Extensive California Bee Keeping. 



We can't all be Mendlesons, can we? 

 Just look once at his tanks and tanks, 

 and stacks, and pipe line— like the 

 Standard Oil Company ! Still, it's a 

 rather lonesome looking picture. Face 

 of No. 39. 



Pure Mating of Queens. 



I'm not ready to send in my last regi- 

 ment and make it a Waterloo just now 

 —incline to hold off, after the celebrated 

 strategy of Fabius. Enemy pretty 

 strong, and I pretty much alone, and 

 cause a pretty important one. I'm in 

 no hurry to see my Rome taken. 

 Nevertheless I must talk a little— about 

 the prevalent trying to secure the pure 

 mating of queens — and securing ex- 

 actly the opposite thing. 



Thanks for the editorial kind re- 

 mark, that if swiftness decides getting 

 a million more slow-poke drones is not 

 going to help matters any. But. if I 

 have the right of it, neither swiftness 

 nor numbers avail ; and the queen does 

 not lead off with any great swiftness. 

 The drone that wins is the one that gets 

 ready first. None with any prompt- 



ness to spare. Most of them entirely 

 unready. The best account of mating 

 flight that I remember represents the 

 queen as coursing along followed at 

 greater or less distance by many 

 drones. Far from putting on highest 

 speed and trying to escape, the queen 

 now and then for a brief instant turns 

 towards them and says: " Have any 

 of you fellows any sand ?" and then 

 goes on again. First one ready is 

 elected — and a million not quite ready 

 stand no chance whatever. And no 

 discount on any drone if pampering 

 should render his flight not quite so 

 swift. It really seems to me that the 

 folly of the current practise and teach- 

 ing ought to penetrate the average bee- 

 man's noddle. 



Among plains-cattle the bull that can 

 conquer in fight wins ; and several 

 flogged ones don't count. Among birds 

 the one that can sing best, and appear 

 best in the eyes of the lady, wins ; and 

 a dozen not so pretty or not so musical 

 don't count — her fiat and selection 

 turns them down. Among bees the 

 male whose stock of virility and vim is 

 largest and quickest to overflow wins ; 

 and a hundred that would be ready a 

 minute later don't count. The birds 

 are far more admirable from the 

 esthetic point of view ; but the bees 

 have the style tending most strongly 

 to the improvement of the race. Yet 

 when man wants to try his hand at im- 

 provement, then Nature's way becomes 

 (to him) an obstacle. 



Now, Dr. Miller and his nice little 

 square of comb fitted in where he has 

 cut out a patch of drone-comb. How 

 on earth is he going to prevent one 

 drone-cell on each corner of his sliced 

 work ? And 4 on the other side makes 

 8. There are more combs in the hive, 

 but we don't need to talk of any more. 

 Eight drones in a hive are enough if 

 say 40 of the 100 colonies in an apiary 

 are on the black list. Let the apiarist 

 sacrifice his crop of honey and devote 

 all the other 60 to nothing else but 

 rearing drones — all the drones he can ; 

 and the Gideon's band of 320 from the 

 40 hives will get more than half his 

 queens. Slicing patches of drone- 

 brood is not very difficult ; but getting 

 all the scattered single ones is despe- 

 rately difficult, and if the number of 

 colonies is large it is practically im- 

 possible. Eyes will bobble the work 

 and miss some of them if kept so long 

 on the search. The work is disagree- 

 able as well as long. Can't get half 

 the scattered single ones till you shake 

 off all the bees — and drench the ground 

 with nectar. (All this a wild mistaken 

 notion — we don't know ?) (Orshallwe 

 say that a different handling of the 

 facts would lead to a different conclu- 

 sion ? More observations of mating 

 flight are urgently needed — that no one 

 can deny.) Page 814. 



Our Wood Kinder (or Holder) is 

 made to take all the copies of the imerican 

 Bee Journal for a year. It is sent by mail 

 for 30 cents. Full directions accompany. 

 The Bee Journals can be inserted as soon as 

 they are received, and thus preserved for 

 future reference. Or we will send it with the 

 American Bee Journal a year — both for $1.10. 

 Address the office of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. 



