/s-M^ 



j^l^ERICAjl 





42dYEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, SEPT. 11, 1902, 



No, 37. 



3U^>^>^>4^>^|i^j!Vi^>V<'%K>s^i^>^i^>^ii^J^>^>i^ 



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^ Editorial Comments. 



Greatest Good to the Greatest Number. — Bee-keepers 

 as a class are a progressive lot, always on the alert for any 

 change that offers a reasonable prospect of gain. It is 

 human nature for a bee-keeper to be interested in an im- 

 provement by which he may make more, even if some one 

 else suffers a degree of loss by it. More commendable it is, 

 even if not so much according to human nature, that he 

 should be interested in an improvement likely to bring gain 

 to bee-keepers at large ; and most commendable it is to be 

 interested in that which will be an advantage to the world 

 at large. 



Suppose a bee-keeper discovers that by making certain 

 changes in his supers and sections he can produce honey in 

 sections that, without making any difference in the total 

 amount of honey sold, will make consumers prefer his 

 honey to other honey on the market. If there is no ditl'er- 

 ence made in price, he will have the advantage of a more 

 ready sale for his product, but whatever that advantage 

 may be it will be exactly balanced by an equal disadvan- 

 tage to competing producers. If a difference in price is 

 made, the final result will be more or less lowering of the 

 price of competing honey. Then his competitors must 

 make the same changes he has made, so as to bring up the 

 price they obtain. When all is balanced there will be no 

 gain either to bee-keepers or the public, and bee-keepers 

 will bear the expense of changes in fixtures. 



On the other hand, take such an improvement as the 

 extractor. The public at large is the gainer by its use, for a 

 pound of good honey can be obtained for a less price, while 

 hundreds of bee-keepers will testify substantial gains by 

 using the extractor. 



So, in laboring for improvements and in advocating 

 them, it will be well always to place the greater emphasis 

 upon those improvements which will bring the greatest 

 good to the greatest number. Just now there is probably 

 no more promising field for improvement which shall be for 

 the benefit of all— an improvement in which every bee- 

 keeper in the land can take a part — than that of improve- 

 ment of stock. Fortunately it is a field which gives promise 

 of immediate personal reward to each bee-keeper engaged 

 in it. 



The Bee=Louse (Braula coeca) is an enemy of the bees 

 that fortunately bee-keepers of this country know little 

 about. In Europe it is considered by some a troublesome 

 pest, while others think it not worth minding. It seems a 

 little strange that it does not flourish in this country, hav- 

 ing been introduced more than once on imported queens. 

 As many as ten lice have been found on a single queen. 

 Prof. Cook says in his Manual, that, compared with the 



size of the bee, it is enormously large, hence it is no wonder 

 that it devitalizes the bee " from which it sucks its nour- 

 ishment." 



Some European writers, however, assert that it does 

 not suck its nourishment from the bee on which it dwells, 

 but is merely a " table companion," partaking of the food 

 that the bee takes by running down to the mouth of the 

 bee. Ptof. Benton is quoted in Cook's Manual as saying- 

 that " if hives are kept clean inside, and colonies kept sup- 

 plied with young queens and kept strong, the damage done 

 by the Braula is very slight, if anything." 



Let us hope that in any case this pest may continue in 

 its present mind and refuse to take out naturalization papers 

 in this country. 



Wax-Production The Australasian Bee-Keeper con- 

 tains a symposium upon the production of wax, in which 

 some of the writers think that it may be made a profitable 

 thing to have wax the staple product, with honey a sec- 

 ondary matter, while a minority are of a different mind. 

 G. Colbourne. Jr., says : 



" One wa3' to increase the production of wax is to space 

 the frames wide and allow the bees to cap the honey well 

 over ; then, when extracting, cut the combs down level with 

 the frames. In this way I have increased the yield of wax 

 very much. I also find that it pays to insert a few emptj' 

 frames in the extracting-super. I can not see any differ- 

 ence in the yield of honey from colonies so treated and 

 those whose combs are left full thickness and all the frames 

 full of comb. The extra amount of wax is quite an item at 

 the end of the season." 



E. J. Rien says : 



"Always use bright, tin vessels if you would have a 

 good colored wax, and as the price varies as to color and 

 clearness, there should be a constant aim to produce the best." 



Box- Hives in Germany are in greater favor than here. 

 Indeed, in some parts they are preferred by intelligent men 

 who are experts in bee-keeping, and the bee-journal, which 

 has the largest circulation of all German journals, has each 

 month a chapter of instruction in "fixed" bee-keeping. 

 Strictly speaking, however, the hives are mostly skeps made 

 of straw. 



Securing White Sections of Honey — S. T. Pettit says 

 in Gleanings in BeeCullure : 



On page 435, American Bee Journal, under the caption 

 " Do not leave the sections on too long," the editor tells us 

 how to get the sections all finished ; but if I had to follow 

 the directions I should never take comb honey. This pull- 

 ing the supers to pieces during the honey-flow is just awful. 

 I pity the poor bees and their good owner. Now, if the col- 

 onies are slro/ig my best wishes would say, " Just try my 

 system ; use the wedges, or their equivalents, and my divid- 

 ers." 



Last year my son and I took thousands of sections. 

 Mine in Aylmer averaged over 100 sections to the colony, 

 and, with but very few exceptiois, the outside sections were 

 beautifully finished. In maiiv cases the choicest sections 

 were right next the dividers. Brother York's editorials are 

 generally of the very best — well chosen, well written, and 



