1897. 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAl.. 



807 



have a " soakt" appearance from having become a Korman- 

 dizer, Just as a bee that has followed robbing for a few days 

 assumes pretty much the same color from her gluttonous way 

 of living. 



The others form a circle about a laying worljer, as tho 

 she were a real queen, and are constantly offering her honey, 

 which she as constantly seems to accept; so again, she is 

 almost constantly wiping her month. I have often taken 

 these bees and caged them with a queen-bee to see if they 

 would fight, but Id no case did they do so. But give them to 

 a colony that has a queen, and they will ball them just as they 

 do a strange queen. 



I have nev6r seen them in the act of laying, but I am In- 

 clined to the belief that they lay their eggs un tho face of the 

 comb, when they are then taken by others and placed, which 

 accounts, perhaps, for the indiscriminate way we find them in 

 the cells. I may be mistaken in this, for a good, prolific 

 queen will often pile the eggs into the cells In much the same 

 way, if not worse, if the strength of the colony is not equal to 

 her ability. 



My remedy for laying workers is just to break these colo- 

 nies up. I find it the cheapest, quickest, and best way to deal 

 with the few cases thatoccur in a well-regulated yard. These 

 and moth-worms are the fruits of carelessness on the part of 

 the apiarist. If I had no more to contend with I would think 

 bee-keeping easy. Poor seasons bother me worse. But this 

 one (1897) proved to be that long-talkt-of " good year." It 

 made me feel good ! Scioto Co., Ohio. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



Under this heading Mr. Muth-Rasmussen, on page 759, 

 says that amalgamation should have been discust "before the 

 Buffalo convention," and then adds: ''But as nobody has 

 brought the subject up. I now make this proposition," etc. 



As no report of that convention had been publisht when 

 he wrote, how did he know that nobody brought the subject 

 up ? 



To prove to the contrary, let me say that I prepared a 

 communication which was read at the Buffalo convention, 

 and if any action was taken thereon I have not heard of it. 

 [See page 804. — Editor.] 



I am informed by Pres. York that the communication 

 with the accompanying documents were mislaid or lost, and 

 that he thought no action was taken thereoti, other than to 

 order them publisht in the report. Mr. Muth-Rasmussen is 

 therefore not justified in saying that " nobody brought the 

 subject up at the Buffalo convention." I did so, but the 

 " overtures " I made were ignored entirely by the only body 

 that could act in the matter. So that ends amalgamation 

 until another annual meeting. 



This " lost opportunity " makes »io?ise?ise of the articles 

 on pages 75it and 760, about " uniting the two Unions." The 

 second " Union " was created by attempting to change the 

 name of the North American Bee-Keepers' Association to the 

 " United States Bee-Keepers' Union." This was done to at- 

 tempt to /orce the National Bee-Keepers' Union to amalga- 

 mate with it. The latter, however, refused to amalgamate, 

 and so there are now "two Unions." But who is responsible 

 for the duplication '? Certainly not the National Bee-Keeper>' 

 Union, which has been at work assiduously for the past 1-i 

 years. That Union was created for the purpose of defending 

 bee-keepers in their rights, and refuses to be compelled to 

 take up any other work at the instigation of a yearling 

 organization. 



The failure to re-submit amalgamation to vote this winter 

 rests entirely upon the non-action of the Buffalo convention. 

 If any one is to be censured, let it be justly awarded. 



DR. BESSE'S sweet CLOVER LAWSUIT. 



About this I desire to say a few words. Dr. Miller's re- 

 traction is all right. But had I not learned of the statement 

 having been made that the National Bee-Keepers' Union had 

 given BO aid to Dr. Besse — what an injustice would have been 

 done ! 



For any one to think that the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union is doing nothing for its members, and to then state it as 

 a/act without knowing anything about it, is an outrage. 

 " Love thinketh no evil." Justice waits for proof before con- 

 demning. 



A bee-man, who unfortunately has fruit-men for neighbors, 

 was put into jail in October for maintaining a nuisance. The 

 Union is helping him to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. 

 Is that nothing? Several cases in the courts have been won 

 duriDg the past three months — is thatnothiog ? . 



To all who do good, whether men or organizations, I say 

 "Godspeed." I have neither time nor inclination to envy or 

 abuse my co-workers, and heartily wish all others would act 

 ou the same principle. Let us all try to do good. 



Thomas G. Newman, 

 General Manager National Bee-Keepers' Union. 

 San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 6, 1897. 



[Perhaps only two things In the foregoing article need 

 any attention from us, viz.: 



First, we think that Mr. Muth-Rasmussen meant that 

 nobody had recently brought up the amalgamation subject 

 previous to the Buffalo convention, In the bee-papers. But 

 he is likely of age, and can answer for himself as to this. 



Second, in referring to changing the name of the old 

 "North American" to " United States Bee-Keepers' Union," 

 Mr. Newman says : "This was done to attempt to /orce the 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Union to amalgamate with it." 

 We wish to say such statement is entirely wrong, as we were 

 present all the time when the change was made, and would 

 simply commend to Mr. Newman his own utterance, a little 

 further along in his article, where he says ; " For any one to 



think and then to state it as a fact, without knowing 



anything about it, is an outrage ! ' Love thinketh no evil.' " 



Judging from the resolution on amalgamation adopted at 

 the Buffalo meeting, it would seem that if the two existing 

 Unions are to be united by vote, the first move toward it will 

 have to come from the old Union. But we begin to feel that 

 there may come about a uniting of the two "colonies" into 

 one big, strong "colony" without either "colony" voting 

 upon it. — Editor.] 



BEEDDM BOILED DOWN. 



Changing ftueens. — The question is askt in the Cana- 

 dian Bee Journal, " Is it a good plan to change queens annu- 

 ally?" The replies are all in the negative. 



"Large Entrances for hives are being advocated, and I 

 think it is a move in the right direction. A large entrance 

 can be contracted, but a small one cannot be enlarged." — 

 Review. 



Getting Outside Sections Finisht. — Gleanings says that 

 the coming season the new fence separator with the nobee- 

 way sections will take advantage of the Pettit plan : that is, 

 the fence separator will be used not only between the sec- 

 tions, but outside of each outside row of sections. 



The Bee-Moth's Eggs, Mr. Hutchinson, in the Review, 

 says he knows are destroyed by a zero temperature, from re- 

 peatedly storing empty combs in the fall where they would 

 freeze in the winter. But combs from colonies that died in 

 late winter or early spring were sure to become wormy. 



Large Average Yield. — Mrs. Spencer gives in the Brit- 

 ish Bee Journal an account of the bees of J. McArthur, of 

 Toronto, mentioning their remarkable gentleness, and giving 

 their average yield as ;i50 pounds per colony. If there is no 

 mistake in the figures, that is an average to challenge the 

 whole world. 



Giving Brood to Strengthen. — A German writer thinks 

 taking brood from one colony to give to another is like taking 

 a piece of money from one pocket to put in another. It's all 

 right if the pockets are all right, but if there's a hole in the 

 second pocket you lose your money. So if the brood is given 

 to a colony too weak to care for it, you lose your brood. 



Managing Apiaries. — A notable case is mentioned by 

 the editor of the Review. Mr. Koeppen, living near by, has 

 managed five apiaries during the past season, harvesting 

 12,000 pounds of comb honey, doing all the work himself, 

 except to have one man's help for about a week. There had 

 been no swarming worth mentioning, and with young queens 

 I he says there is no.trouble in preventing swarming. 



