106 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 13, 1902 



brother with the "shooting-stick !" Perchance some of your 

 own "subs." need punching more. Page 3. 



A CO-OPERATIVE UNION AMONG BEE-KEEPERS. 



Wish I could second Prof. Cook's desire that the farmers 

 form a co-operative union (trust, under a mild name) and 

 get better prices. Can't do it. If farmers form a trust polit- 

 ical men now engaged in trying to bring the great trust 

 evil under control, will get right out from under, and all 

 hopeful opposition to extortion will collapse. Just now the 

 people are being helplessly scooped of multi-millions on their 

 coal and their sugar and their oil and their transportation. 

 This done for no service or reason at all except the con- 

 scienceless power of the scoopers. Flour, and everything else 

 necessary to life, is likely to suffer in the same way unless 

 help is found quickly. The trust method, 1 freely grant, is 

 a millennial method; but the Millennium is not here yet. 

 Leaving your watch and money on a post by the roadside 

 will be all right in the Millennium — ^won't do now. Com- 

 bines could be wholly beneficent — at present sure not to be. 



A second reason why I cannot do it, is that the farm- 

 ers themselves are not up to the moral level that would be 

 required to make it safe. Next to flour the potato is civ- 

 ilized man's food. Owing to a short crop it is expected that 

 people will pay twice the usual price for potatoes for the 

 next five months. A trust with all the supply under control 

 would easily get three prices instead of two. It would be 

 simply and flatly wicked to do it : but it would be done, and 

 the average farmer would approve. Alas, it's only when 

 somebody else takes his dollars for no reason except the 

 brutal power to take them, that the average man can see any 

 sin in devouring ! Page 4. 



^ Questions and Answers. I 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. miLLER, AJareng-o, 111, 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. MUler 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.1 



Running an Apiary with But Little Increase. 



1. I wish to run my apiary with but little innroase. Wliat 

 would be your plan to that end ? 



2. I had thought of destroying most of the queens .'ibout 

 the time basswood comes in bloom ; then about the time q aeen- 

 cells are ready to hatch destroy all but one. Then the progeny 

 of this new queen would be ready for the fall flow. Then, 

 again. I had thought instead of killing, caging her. If I do 

 that and put her cage betweeu the frames, would the worker- 

 bees feed her '? 



3. If I do that, would they start queen-cells with a view 

 of superseding her ? 



4. If in either case, either killing or caging, would the 

 bees be likely to till the combs with honey as they hatch out? 



Iowa. 



Answek.s — 1. I hardly know how to answer your question. 

 There are so many different plans and combinations of plans, 

 some of which would be best under some circumstances and 

 some under others. One plan that I followed with much sat- 

 isfaction, so long as I had some one on hand at all times to 

 watch for swarms, was a plan originating, so far as I know, 

 with G. M. Dooliltle. When a swarm issues, cage the clipped 

 <(ueen and put her in the hive. About 5 days after the issuing 

 of the swarm destroy all queen-cells, or at least all sealed cells. 

 Ten days after the issuing of the swarm destrov all queen- 

 cells and liberate the queen. In that way you can prevent in- 

 crease entirely, if you so desire, and I got good crops by it. 



2. The first plan you mention might work all right", but it 

 would be well to go slow till you know. Unless you are un- 

 usually good at finding quecu-cells you would miss a cell in a 

 good many cases, then out would come a swarm with a virgin 

 queim. Possibly a modification of the plan might suit you. 

 After removing the queen, wait till the first young queen 

 hatches, which you will know by listening for her piping in 

 the evBiiing, beginning to listen lOor 12 days after removing 

 the queen. The next morning after hearing the piping, de- 

 stroy all cells, paying no attention to the young qiu_'en. That 

 ought to end all swarniiiig and the plan would have the ad- 



vantage over your plan, that you would be sure of your queeu. 

 hatching all right, and you would be likely to average abetter 

 queeu than if you arbitrarily chose one of the cells. The cag- 

 ing plan you mention I tried, but it was not satisfactory with 

 me. I think others have liked it better. 



3. When the queen is caged, you may count that the bees 

 will almost certainly start queen-cells. 



4. Yes, to a large extent. 



Honey on Foundation New-Style Section. 



1. Is it the usual thing that comb-foundation honey sells 

 for 5 cents a pound less than that made without foundation, 

 as D. H. Metcalt says on page 59 ? 



2. What is the new style of section that he tells about, in 

 which bees will build combs more true and perfect than with 

 foundation furnished them ? Subscriber. 



Answers, — 1. I think that the usual thing is that comb 

 honey built upon foundation will sell for more than that with- 

 out foundation. It is possible some one may have used brood 

 foundation, or done something else to make his honey unac- 

 ceptable, but as a rule I think that the highest prices are ob- 

 tained by those who use foundation. 



2. I don't know ; and 1 am skeptical about bees building 

 more true and perfect without foundation than with it. 



Early Detection of Foul Brood. 



1. Proceeding on the McEvoy plan of curing foul brood, 

 are the bees confined while they are kept on the "starters" 

 the first four days, or are they allowed to fly at their will ? 



2. How can one detect the disease in its incipent state '? 

 It seems to me that it would be difficult for an amateur to 

 detect it until it had made a considerable progress. For in- 

 stance, if only a few of the larvie in a full comb of brood are 

 affected, one miglit have a big job to find them. I will need 

 to be on the lookout as soon as the hot weather comes, for the 

 development of the disease among my bees, and what I feel I 

 am not fully posted on is the method of detecting its appear- 

 ance. If I can get informed on these two points I feel confi- 

 dent the disease will not get much of a start in my apiary. 



Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. They are not confined. If they were to be 

 confined, there would be instructions to that effect given with 

 the treatment. 



2. You are right : it is not only difficult to detect the dis- 

 ease in its incipient state, but impossible. You'll have to wait 

 till the larvic are very much dead. 



Hand-Fertilization of Queens. 



Inclosed you will find a paragraph that I copied from a 

 report of Nelson W. McLain, apicultural agent of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, who made experiments with bees at 

 Aurora, III., in 1885. I have looked through other reports 

 of the Department of later years but could not find anything 

 further on this subject, which, if it is practical, would be a great 

 thing for bee-keepers. 



If you think this is worth publishing in the American Bee 

 .lournal, you are at liberty to do so. It might lead to further 

 experiments among the younger bee-keepers, who might make 

 a success of it. 



In Mr. McLain's report he tells of experiments made in 

 trying to fertilize the larva, and also when the queen is Just 

 hatched, liut he met with no success^, except in the latter case, 

 which yon will find in the inclosed article. 



I hope to hear more on the subject through the Bee Jour- 

 nal. Minnesota. 



The paragraph from Mr. McLain's report reads as follows : 



When the virsfin tiueen was G days old ori:i:asiii occurred, and on 

 tlie evening of the seventli day we removed lier from the liive and 

 l»laced drops of the male sperm upon the vulva as she was heid Ijacli 

 downwards, by gently grasping the thorax between the thumb and 

 finger. The instant the maie sjierm was pressed from the testes and 

 seminal sack of a mature drone upon the excited and distended 

 vulva, it was curious to observe the effect. The action of the abdomen 

 and vulva resembled that of young birds while hting fed. There was 

 the reaching up after the seminai fluid, and an action of the parts 

 resembling ttie opening of the mouth and swallowing food. As much 

 seminal fluid as could be obtained, by tbe imiierfect method employed, 

 from three or four drones, was utilized and readiiy absorbed by the 

 queen, after which her wings were clipped, and she was dropped on 

 a frame covered with bees and returned to the hive, and the frees were 

 liberated. Up to this time her appearance and actions were those of a 



