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^ BEE^PAPf^ 



ERIC^ J^ 



42d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUG, 14, 1902, 



No. 33. 



I ^ EdiU 



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^ Editorial. ^^ | 



White Clover has an unusual history 

 this year, at least over a considerable extent 

 of country. The unusually cold and wet 

 weather of June, while destroyinf? all hope of 

 the usual June clover yield, kept the clover 

 plants in an increasingly luxuriant condition, 

 so that instead of becoming exhausted in 

 June, the plants were actually blooming more 

 profusely the last of July than the first of 

 June. One correspondent in northern Illinois 

 wrote us Aug. 4 : 



"I fed throughout the entire month of 

 June to prevent starvation. With July came 

 pasturage enough to sui)ply the daily needs 

 of the bees, but only with the coming in of 

 August has it appeared that there may po.s- 

 sibly be some surplus from white clover, 

 although it is too early to tell yet. There has 

 been no time without white clover blossoms 

 since the tirst week in June, but the number 

 of blossoms has been constantly on the in- 

 crease up to the present time." 



This is certainly remarkable, considering 

 that it is not often that white clover con- 

 tinues to yield much beyond the middle of 

 July. If it should turn out that clover, hav- 

 ing given no surplus whatever previous to the 

 first of August, should then yield a surplus, 

 it will be something contrary to the memory 

 of that distinguished individual — " the oldest 

 Inhabitant." 



Shallow Hives. — W. K. Morrison says 

 in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that when shal- 

 low hives are used it is better to use drawn 

 combs than starters in hiving a swarm, so as 

 to prevent pollen in sections. "The section- 

 super in the case of an older colony should be 

 placed on the hive earlier in the season than 

 is the case with ordinary hives." "Full 

 sheets of foundation must be used in the sec- 

 tions, otherwise there is troulile," probably 

 because of the queen going up. 



Profits of Bee-Keeping. — The Saint 

 Joseph Daily News contains an article of more 

 than a column relating to the bee-industry, in 

 which many good things are said, the article 

 apparently resulting from an interview with 

 our well-known friend, Rev. Emerson T. Ab- 

 bott. It is a good thing that the daily press 

 can be interested in our pursuit, but there is 

 always danger from misleading statements 

 like the following: 



The profits in bee-keeping are larger in pro- 

 portion, according to the money invested, 

 than of any other rural pursuit. Starling in 

 the spring with one colony, costing $6.00, the 



yield will be .50 pounds of honey and a good 

 swarm. The honey should bring on the open 

 nuirket l."> cents per- jjound, or a total of ^?..'>0, 

 and the swarm woui^l be worth as much the 

 following spring as tlio original colony. It is 

 a fact that small i|uiintities are a more paying 

 investment than the handling of many colo- 

 nies, as when grouped they can not be han- 

 dled so well, and contingencies arise which 

 materially reduce the profits. 



I'ity that Mr. Abbott had not censored the 

 article before it went to press, for reporters 

 seem to have a special aptitude for getting a 

 little " oil " when it comes to matters pertain- 

 ing to bee-keeping. The average reader will 

 plainly understand from the statement (juoted 

 that he may count on a profit of $13. .50 a col- 

 ony— $7.50 for the honey and ^G.OO for the 

 swarm. Most bee-keepers would be willing 

 to pay a good premium to be insured the half 

 of $1H.50 per colony annually. 



Wintering Bees in Canada. — The 



Ontario Association called for reports as to 

 wintering, and .5") members with 4303 colonies 

 responded. The average losses are given in 

 the Canadian Bee Journal as follows : In pit, 

 3.3 percent; in bee-house, 3.9; in cellar, 7.2; 

 packed outside, 7.3; in dug-out, 13.5 percent. 



"A Tale of Blasted Hopes" is the 



heading to a collection of crop reports from 

 the different quarters of Colorado in the 

 Rocky Mountain Bee Journal. Of the 39 re- 

 ports quoted, nearly all warrant the heading 

 given, and only two report a good crop. 



Editor Root says that after reading hun- 

 dreds of letters he thinks some regions will 

 have a crop, others none. Readers of this 

 journal will have noted that reports in gen- 

 eral have not been of the most favorable char- 

 acter. Late Hows may, however, be better 

 than anticipated. Ours is a large country, 

 and likely it will average up to fairly well. 



The British Bee-Keepers' Guide- 

 Book, by the well-known authority, Thomas 

 William Cowan, has passed through 16 edi- 

 tions, comprising in all about 40,000 copies, 

 and the 17th edition has now made its appear- 

 ance. That others besides our British cousins 

 appreciate the work is evidenced by the fact 

 that no other text-book on bees has been 

 translated into so many languages. What 

 many have felt to be a lack in the book has 

 now been supplied by a fine likeness of the 

 author. 



The American reader will be struck by the 

 fact that locality, fashion, or something else, 

 makes no little difference in the implements 

 and plans described In this book as compared 

 with those in vogue in this country. The 

 British, for example, have a standard frame. 



14xSi.; inihcs. In this country there is no 

 standard franie, the one most In use being 

 probably the l.augstroth, 17;<<x9'i,- Ten or 

 eleven frames are generally used in the British 

 liive, ten giving nearly the same comb surface 

 as eight Langstrotb frames. 



Don't I'ut Honey in the Cellar.--In 



the Rocky Mountain Bee Journal the advice 

 is given, " Do not store honey of any charac- 

 ter in the cellar." If that is sound advice in 

 one of the driest States in the Union — so dry 

 that in the cellar is a good place to keep 

 bread— it is eminently sound advice in places 

 where cellars are so damp that great drops of 

 moisture are fretiuently seen standing on the 

 wall. Of course, not many bee-keepers are 

 likely to make a mistake in this regard, but it 

 is well to keep it constantly in mind so as to 

 caution consumers, for the average house- 

 wife is pretty sure to consider the cellar just 

 the place to keep honey. 



Formalin and Foul Brood.- Those 



who have any i>ersonal experience with foul 

 brood will be interested to know particularly 

 about the experiments of Prof. Harrison, in 

 Canada. It must not be understood that 

 formalin is a drug that can be administered 

 to a colony to cure it of foul brood any more 

 than the fumes of sulphur could be adminis- 

 tered to a colony to rid it of the larvie of the 

 l)ee-moth. The fumes of the formalin will 

 kill the bacilli and the spores of foul brood, 

 and an agent powerful enough to kill the 

 spores could not be expected to be without 

 effect on bees and brood ; as a matter of fact, 

 all forms of bee-life will be promptly killed 

 by the fumes, so the drug works merely as a 

 disinfectant. It is much, however, if the 

 combs can be saved to be used again. 



The exact manner in which Prof. Harrison 

 proceeded is thus given in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal: 



Sections of comb were taken out and placed 

 in a box the same size as an ordinary hive. 

 The exit at the bottom was plugged up, with 

 the exception of a small hole, and a small 

 opening about half an inch in diameter was 

 left at the top. To the lower hole was affixed 

 a formalin apparatus consisting of a small 

 alcohol lamp at the bottom, with a reservoir 

 at the top which contains formalin. 



Formalin. I might say, is the trade name 

 given to a 40 percent solution of form- 

 aldehyde gas in water. A small portion of 

 this is put in the reservoir over the alcohol 

 heater, and then the top is screwed down. 

 The top connects with a small hose-pipe, and 

 it is placed in the lower hole of the hive. 

 Directly after the apparatus is attached the 

 alcohol lamp is lit and the formalin is vapor- 

 ized and spreads throughout the hive. This 

 means of disinfecting the hives was used; 

 and the wax of the comb that was placed in it 

 was several .\ears old, judging from the looks 

 of it. and contained dead larvie, foul brood. 



