t^ 



•^1861 '^ 



A '/N AMERICA ^'-^ 



4 2d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JANUARY 2, 1902, 



No.l. 





The Forty-Second Voluine of the 



American Bee Journal is beftiin with this 

 issue. Getting old, isn't it ; Hut some thin^ts 

 "improve with age," it is said. We trust it 

 may be so in this case. We can not malie 

 any great promises as to the future, but we 

 expect not only to do all in our power to 

 maintain the pace already attained, but hope 

 to make even a better record during 15102. 

 With the hearty support of so many sympa- 

 thetic readers, and with a deteruiinatiou to 

 keep the American Bee Journal in the front 

 rank, we look forward with high hopes to the 

 New Year, and trust that it may bring richest 

 blessings to all, whether readers of these 



pages or not. 



■*■ 



E-xpressions of Appreciation of the 



American Bee Journal have been so abundant 

 and hearty during the past tew weeks, that 

 we may be pardoned for taking a little space 

 to thank most sincerely those who — whether 

 renewing their subscriptions or requesting a 

 discontinuance — have written us so kindly 

 and so graciously. 



Many people think that the world at large 

 is often cold and unfeeling, but we are glad 

 to know that "the world of bee-people" is 

 seldom other than appreciative of honest 

 effort and devoted toil. And to receive so 

 many tokens of such enthusiastic esteem for 

 the American Bee Journal is a source of great 

 encouragement to those who plan and work 

 to make its weekly visits a help and a bless- 

 ing to all who read it. 



So we desire to take this opportunity to 

 thauk most cordially all who have helped, in 

 whatever way, to bring joy and gladness to 

 this office, and to assure them that the ex- 

 pressions of appreciation, as well as the more 

 substantial things that more often accom- 

 panied them, are greatly prized, and will aid 

 in lightening the labors, as well as the hearts, 

 of all whose united effort creates weekly the 

 old American Bee Journal. 



Selection of Drones. — In Le Ruoher 

 Beige are given some words of counsel as to 

 rearing queens, from the noted French queen- 

 rearer, M. Girard-Pabou. If the same pains 

 had been taken to breed only from colonies 

 giving best results that have been taken to 

 breed for looks, there can be little doubt as to 

 the progress that would have been made. 

 Some pay little attention to the production of 

 drones, which, for best results, should be 



lulcrated only in two or three choice colonicB. 

 ('. I'. Dadant says the inlluence of the male 

 is greater than that of the female. Destroy 

 carefully before their hirth all drones in colo- 

 nies other than the choice ones, and from 10 

 to H o'clock close with excluder-zinc the en- 

 trances of all colonies from which we do not 

 want drones to lly to meet the young (lueens. 



Honey Tooth-Wash to remove tartar 

 from the teeth: According to Le Miroir, 

 dentists use the following: Muriatic acid, 1 

 part; water, 1 part; honey, 2 parts. 



Cure of Bee-Dysentery.— It is well 

 known that a good (light is a cure for dysen- 

 tery in l^ees, but generally little is done to 

 oblige bees to tly except to wait till the 

 weather is warm enough. Loyalstone (in the 

 Australian Bee-Keepers' Review) goes at the 

 matter somewhat heroically, as follows: 



On a warm day remove all bees from the 

 hive, except the frame the queen is on, to a 

 distance of 50 yards from the hive — then 

 shake the bees off the frames, allowing them 

 to fly back to their hive. Two such treat- 

 ments, with about one hour's interval be- 

 tween them, will generally cure this disease. 



AVasps and Bees Compared. Mr. 



H. W. Brice has been investigating, and gives 

 some notes in the British Bee Journal. Like 

 the queen-bee, the queen-wasp is impregnated 

 once for life. L'nlike the queen-bee, the 

 queens of the wasp ( Vespa vahjarh) can be, 

 and are, fertilized in confinement. In a state 

 of nature they are fecundated within or in 

 close proximity to the nest. The male wasp 

 can live to fertilize several queens. At the 

 mating season there are more queens than 

 male wasps. While the larva of the bee takes 

 in its food by absorption, the larva of the 

 wasp is fed by the mouth, perhaps through 

 the entire period, certainly after the first 



three days. 



^ 



Changing Brood from one colony to 

 another is practiced by many, but not always 

 in the same way. Some think it advisable 

 early in the season to take brood from strong 

 colonies and give to the weak. Others think 

 it advisable to take from the weak and give 

 to the strong. Justification for these two 

 practices so diametrically opposed to each 

 other may be found in the different condi- 

 tions. In a region where the honey season 

 is long, or where a heavy honey-flow comes 

 late in the season, taking away brood from a 

 strong colony will result in a smaller return 

 from that colony, but that loss will be more 

 than made up by the gain from a weaker col- 

 ony, which, without such help, would have 

 given little or no return. For it must be re- 



meml)cred that a strong colony does not 

 merely yield in direct proportion to its 

 strength, as compared with a weaker colony. 

 That is, a colony of .50,0<X) liees will store morr. 

 than twice as much as a colony of ■i'),(MJO Itees. 



On the other hand, in a region where there 

 is a single (low that comes early and does not 

 last long, remembering that it is the strong 

 colonies that are profitable, the bee-keeper 

 takes from the weak and gives to the strong, 

 so as to have as many strong colonies as pos- 

 silile. 



In either case it should be borne in mind 

 that brood should never be tAkeii from a 

 strong colony till it is very strong; for up to 

 a certain point the stronger the colony the 

 more rapid the building up; and the mistake 

 of many is to take brood from a strong colony 

 until it is so weakened that it can not con- 

 tinue to build up rapidly. Taking brood from 

 a weak colony to give to a strong is another 

 matter; in that case it is understood that the 

 building up of the weak will be much re- 

 tarded; but the weak would give no returns 

 anyway, and the returns of the strong will 



be increased. 



.*. 



Feeding Robber-Bees. — S. E. Miller 



relates in the Progressive Bee-Keeper that the 

 robbers got the startof him one' day, when, for 

 a time, he left the lent in which he had been 

 extracting, and when he returned he found 

 the tent roaring with bees. He filled the tent 

 so full of smoke that they were glad to get 

 out. He continues : 



Still, I knew that after the bees had dis- 

 covered the inside of my castle they would 

 make extracting more than interesting, unless 

 I could interest them elsewhere. I therefore 

 carried some bodies, containing combs from 

 which I had extracted the honey, outside, 

 took a sprinkler and sprinkled water over 

 the combs in order to keep th? bees from be- 

 coming crazy, as they would have done had I 

 allowed them to work on the undiluted 

 honey. This worked very wfell, and 1 finished 

 up the extracting with very little further 

 bother from the bees. I carried out the 

 empty combs as fast as extracted, and each 

 hive-body full was given a good sprinkling 

 with water. 



■»■ 



For Ants About Hives, place a viesset 

 (an old oyster can will do^ containing a solu- 

 tion of sugar poisoned with arsenic or Paris. 

 green, covered with wire-cloth so that no bees 

 can enter. The Schweizerisehe Bienenzeitung 

 says this will not only kill the ants, but their 

 brood as well. 



The Size of a QueenCelT, in Austra- 

 lia, according to an article in the Australian 

 Bee-Keepers' Review, is that of an acoro. and 

 of the same shape. Queen-cells must t)e 

 larger in Australia than here, or acorns 

 smaller. 



^t'/OS^ 



