

42dYEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, DEC, 18, 1902. 



NcSLl; 



^ Editorial Comments. 



When to Put Bees Into the Cellar.— Those who winter 

 bees outdoors hardly realize how grateful they should be for 

 being free from one source of anxiety that always confronts 

 the man who cellars his bees. Just about now there will 

 be some puzzling over the vexatious question as to whether 

 the bees shall go in as they are, or wait for another flight. 

 For some reason they have been left out till they have had 

 quite a nip of frost, and have not flown for a number of 

 days. Every day they continue out makes them less fit to 

 be taken in. But there is a chance that in a few days there 

 will come a day warm enough for them to fly. On the 

 other hand, there is a chance that no day before spring will 

 be warm enough for a flight, and the poor cellarer is on the 

 rack to know which way to decide. Be thankful if you can 

 winter your bees outdoors. 



A Bright Trick With Forced Swarms was given at 

 the Chicago Convention by J. C. Wheeler, who, it seems, 

 has been making such swarms fora number of years. Some 

 say that all the bees should be shaken or brushed from the 

 combs, so that the whole force of bees may be left on the 

 old stand ; and others reply that if the brood be placed on 

 the new stand without any bees there may be a great loss 

 from robbing, starving, or chilling. Well, Mr. Wheeler 

 succeeds in leaving all the bees with the gwarm and yet 

 avoiding danger to the brood after the following fashion : 



All the bees are shaken or brushed off, and the hive of 

 beeless brood is set on the old stand, the forced swarm near 

 by. The field-bees will return to the old stand, and the 

 brood will be well cared for. In a day or two the forced 

 swarm is put on the old stand, and the hive of brood re- 

 moved to a new stand some distance away. All the old 

 bees will be sure to go to the old stand, and enough young 

 bees will have emerged to care for the brood, thus leaving 

 all the bees with the swarm, and yet running no risk with 

 the brood. 



Brushing Bees from Combs, — In a very interesting 

 report of a visit to that veteran, O. O. Poppleton, Editor 

 Hill, of the American Bee-Keeper, gives Mr. Poppleton "s 

 plan of getting ahead of the dodgers when clearing the ex- 

 tracting combs of bees : 



After dislodging the greater part of the adhering bees 

 by shaking, the frame is rested upon the other frames, 

 while Mr. P. at the right, and his assistant at the left, each 

 provided with strong feathers, quickly brush the bees into 

 the hive. By thus brushing both sides at the same time, 

 there is little chance for dodging from side to side, and it 

 is readily cleared, and passes to the hand of the assistant, 

 who places it in the carrier while another is withdrawn and 

 treated as before. 



Eggs for Urones and Workers.— In the British Bee 

 Journal is copied without note or comment an article by Sir 

 Edward Arnold, in which, speaking of rearing a queen, he 

 says : 



Simply they build a special cell, shaped like the wicker 

 basket that is used when pool is played at the billiard-table, 

 and thither they conduct her Majesty. There does she en- 

 ter, "high and composedly," like (Jxieen Elizabeth, at Hat- 

 field. In that cell she deposits one of the 2CKX) eggs which 

 it is her daily duty to lay, and no microscope can detect the 

 slightest difference between that egg and the others which 

 will turn into workers or drones. But the bees place in her 

 cell certain special foods, and lock up its gates with certain 

 solemn observances, after which, in 16 days, lo I there is a 

 new queen, who shall lead a swarm or govern in the old one. 



If Sir Edwin had said that no microscope can detect a 

 difference between an egg intended for a queen and one 

 intended for a worker, it would have been all right. But 

 when he puts in the lot eggs intended for drones, and then 

 says no microscope can detect any difference, it shows that 

 he has not made microscopical examinations with sufficient 

 care, for in an egg intended for a queen or a worker will be 

 found one or more spermatozoa, while nothing of the kind 

 will be found in an egg that will produce a drone. 



is Sweet Clover Good for Pasture ? — Some report 

 that cattle and horses will not touch it, others that they 

 will eat it greedily. Both are no doubt correct ; at least 

 those who say cattle will not touch it are so far correct that 

 cattle unacquainted with it must learn to like it. But that 

 argument might apply to corn as a feed for stock, for it is 

 said that cattle which grow up without ever having had a 

 taste of Indian corn must learn to like it. Look at the cul- 

 tivated taste of a cow for " slops." The family bossy will 

 eat a mixture of dishwater and almost anything else, while 

 a cow that has never had anything besides green feed or 

 grain will sniff at it in disdain. 



An editorial in the Bee-Keepers' Review has this upon 

 the subject : 



Sweet clover as a pasture has been condemned by some 

 people, but down in Lenawee County, Mich., I recently 

 saw a striking illustration of the manner in which stock 

 will eat it down. Mr. C. A. Huff, of that county, seeded 

 down 12 acres to sweet clover. By the way, he secured an 

 excellent catch by sowing the seed in the spring with oats. 

 One portion of the field was fenced off and rented to a 

 neighbor, who put in plenty of stock, and they kept it 

 chopped down close. Mr. Huff put in only a small amount 

 of stock, not enough to keep the clover down, and it grew 

 as high as a man's head nearly all over his part of the field. 



Here comes a note from Dr. Miller bearing in the same 

 direction : 



"At one time one or both of the Dadants said that 

 sweet clover would not be allowed to grow if cattle were 

 allowed access to it when young. I don't know that I ever 

 said so out loud, but I thought that was putting the case a 

 little strong. For the unkindness of that thought toward 

 such reliable men I have been personally punished. Last 

 year I turned my horses into a field which contained a 

 patch of sweet clover some rods in extent. It was luxurious 

 in its second year's growth. I wanted it to re-seed the 



