340 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 3, 



have already built, and thus put them In the same condition 

 they were when I first started. But they will not build combs 

 quite as freely this time as they did before, unless there can 

 be some younp bees hatching ; so, if lean conveniently, I give 

 them a comb containing mostly honey and a little brood (if 

 they have such a comb It Is left with them, which Is more 

 often the case than otherwise) from some other colony, when 

 they are ready to work the same as before. 



In this way a colony can be kept building worker-comb 

 all summer, or till the bees are nearly used up from old age, 

 the colony becoming so small as to be unable to build comb to 

 any advantage, under any circumstances. But If just the 

 right amount of brood Is left, or given them, so that they stay 

 In about the same condition, they will build worker-comb all 

 summer by the apiarist supplying honey or feed when none Is 

 coming from the fields. If not so strong but that I think they 

 will still continue to build worker-comb. Instead of taking the 

 brood away, I spread the frames of combs (now built) apart, 

 and insert one or more empty frames between, when these will 

 generally be filled with worker-comb before enough young 

 bees hatch for them to change the size of cell. But t/iis is 

 always to be kept In mind, whenever you find them building 

 drone-comb: The combs they then have, all except the one 

 mostly filled with honey, are to be taken away so that they 

 may feel their need of worker-brood again, when they will 

 build cells of the worker size once more. 



I have had hundreds of frames built full of worker-comb 

 In this way, hundreds completed, as our questioner proposes 

 to do, and hundreds " patcht '" where I had cut out small 

 pieces of drone comb, which had gotten in, In one way or another. 

 If any one wishes a mutilated comb to be flxt so It will be a 

 surprise to him, just give It to one of these little colonies and 

 see what nice work they can do at "patching" with nXl 

 worker-comb. — Gleanings. 



Willthe Good Years Come Again? 



BY S. A. DEACON. 



Among the 22 replies given to the above question in the 

 American Bee Journal of Dec. 24, 1 896, by the leading api- 

 arists, I fall to see one which treats the subject from anything 

 approaching a scientific point of view. Most of the an- 

 swers would seem to have been given In a random, haphazard, 

 happy-go-lucky sort of way. One curtly says: "If the con- 

 ditions are the same, why not ?" Another opines that, "All 

 depends on summer drouths and winter snows." Precisely ! 

 But In no case Is the great desideratum of a foreknowledge of 

 coming seasons mentioned, or any hints given as to how such 

 knowledge may be obtained. Yet I have reason to believe 

 that It coTi be obtained; that thoroughly reliable season 

 prognostications, or forecasts, can be formulated; the outcome 

 of a careful and patient scrutinizing of your meteorological 

 records as far back as they go. 



Three of the respondents came, tho all unconsciously, 

 very near to suggesting some such method of ascertaining the 

 nature of the seasons In advance; they, at least. Indirectly 

 affirmed their belief In the theory of weather cycles. Eugene 

 Secor, for instance, answers: "The thing that hath been. It 

 Is that which shall be." Mrs. L. Harrison, also drawing upon 

 scripture, laconically replies, " What has been will be again." 

 A. F. Brown replies, " History repeats Itself, as the sun rises 

 and sets." To all of which I again, and very emphatically, 

 observe — precisely ! 



These three respondents have given the clue ; it only re- 

 mains for some of the studiously Inclined members of our 

 fraternity — perhaps Dr. Miller, Dr. Brown, Hon. Eugene 

 Secor, or the Rev. Mr. Mahin — to devote a little time to ascer- 

 taining, from a careful study of the rainfall and other meteoro- 

 logical records of past years, with what degree of regularity 

 " the thing that hath been" was, and will he again; and 

 whether, haply, repetitions In meteorological history are, 

 equally with that of human and national events, as regular as 

 the rising and setting of the sun. In short, they must go 

 cycle hunting ; and If they should meet with anything approxi- 

 mating the measure of success In that fascinating pursuit 

 which has rewarded the pains and researches of Mr. D. E. 

 Hutchlns, chief conservator of forests for this colony, their 

 labors will by no moans have been In vain. 



Altho our records only go back to 1841, they have sufficed 

 for the establishing, and that most Incontrovertlbly, the fact 

 that seasons of drouth and of abnormally abundant rains pos- 

 sess an unfailing periodicity. Nor have the untold benefits 

 derivable from tho prognostications, or forecasts, we are now 

 enabled to make, been confined to this colony alone ; for, 

 from a few simple meteorological observations — In which the 

 barograph played an important part — made near Cape Town, 



Mr. Hutchlns was enabled to predict and forewarn the Gov- 

 ernment of India of the failure of the monsoon rains there 

 this year, thus affording them time to make preparations for 

 coping with that most awful of all calamities, and which, 

 alas I is now prevailing — a famine amongst the teeming native 

 population — calculated at three hundred million souls ! 



The fact of the climatic conditions of two countries sep- 

 arated from each other by a vast sea, and nearly 4,000 miles 

 apart, being governed or Influenced by one factor, may serve 

 as a hint to prospective cycle hunters on your side, not to con- 

 fine their attention too closely to local surroundings, or to 

 prominent local topographical features, though these may, of 

 course. Influence in a greater or less measure the operations 

 of the main factor, and which may have its origin some thou- 

 sands of miles away. The vagaries of the Gulf Stream should 

 (by the aid of Lieut. Maury's publisht researches) be studied 

 In order to ascertain what amount of regularity there Is In Its 

 Irregularities; for to Irregularities — regularly recurring — in 

 the southeast trade winds is due the failure of the monsoon 

 and the deplorable state of affairs obtaining In India to-day. 



It Is just possible, too, that great climatic variations on 

 the continent of Norlh America may be not totally discon- 

 nected — may, indeed, be possibly closely connected — with the 

 great and regular meteorological disturbances obtaining 

 every ten years (or is their storm cycle one of eleven years ? 

 I do not remember just now) on the sister continent of South 

 America, when prolonged and severe drouth carries off mill- 

 Ions of cattle and sheep, millions more being destroyed by the 

 heavy floods which regularly supervene. This fi.xt South 

 American cycle may form valuable material for the North 

 American cycle hunter to work on, considering the recent dis- 

 covery, that absence of normal energy in the regular south- 

 east summer winds (and, as shown by the barograph, their 

 nature having become cyclonic) at the Cape of Good Hope, re- 

 sulted In, or presaged, the failure of the crops on a continent 

 4,000 miles away ! 



You may somewhat despondently say that your climate, 

 especially In the eastern States, is too Irregular and altogether 

 too variable, defying all forecasts and calculations. So thought 

 we, too, until Mr. Hutchins appeared on the scene and reduced 

 the confused and perplexing data of meteorological records to 

 order, and enabled every farmer to have the oracle at his 

 elbow. Go ye and do likewise, oblivious of the fact that cycle 

 hunting has of late years fallen somewhat Into discredit, 

 owing to the poor results of much labor on the Sun Spot cycle 

 in your hemisphere ; for new searchers, with a knowledge of 

 the incalculably valuable results of Mr. Hutchlns' labors be- 

 fore them may, likely as not, hap on something to aid a solu- 

 tion of the problem which their predecessors in the field of 

 Inquiry have overlookt. 



As a still further incentive I may mention that Mr. H. C. 

 Russell, Government Astronomer of New South Wales, has, 

 after much labor and research, succeeded in establishing a 

 weather cycle for Australia. So we see that markt climatic 

 changes can now with certainty be prediclted in South Africa, 

 South America, Australia and India; and the discovery of 

 regular periodicity In such markt variations being of so recent 

 origin should, I think, greatly encourage the desire to work 

 out a dependable cycle, or cycles, for your part of the world, 

 too. I would suggest that a commission be appointed, includ- 

 ing among Its members the four gentlemen above named, add- 

 ing to the list such men as the Hon. R. L. Taylor and Prof. 

 Cook. Let them carefully examine and collate all your past 

 meteorological records, and see how markt changes In other 

 parts of the world have synchronized hitherto with similar 

 atmospheric variations in the States. If they examine as they 

 needs must do, the shipping records, they will doubtlessly find 

 a regularity in the recurrence of periods of an abnormal num- 

 ber of casualties coinciding. In all likelihood, with abnormally 

 wet seasons inland. Scientific men are not often smart men 

 of business, but see how Mr. Hutchins once turned his ability 

 to see Into the future to practical account, as appears in his 

 forecast for 18U7. He says : 



" We shall have deluges of rain. Violent storms will rage 

 over the whole of South Africa. Marine insurance shares may 

 fall, as happened at the last storm cycle year, when I chanced 

 to hold some of these shares, and seeing what was coming I 

 sold them out and saved three shillings per share !" 



As a guide to prospective cycle hunters, let me show how 

 Mr. Hutchlns set to work. By examining the rainfall records 

 he found the average fall at the Royal Observatory, near Cape 

 Town, to be 25 Inches a year; but he also noticed that cer- 

 tain years showed a groat excess, thus : 1850 — 33 Inches; 

 1859— 30 inches; 1869— 32 Inches ; 1878— 41 Inches ; and 

 1888 — 36 inches. At first these periods seemed too Irregular 

 to found a cycle on, till a little thought and closer observation 

 showed them to be regularly Irregular, these years of heavy 



