804 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 18. 1902. 



ground, but those horses kept it eaten down so closely that 

 scarcely a seed was allowed to mature, and whatever seed 

 may have fallen and started into growth this year, not a 

 thing has been allowed to continue in growth, and the place 

 is now bare of sweet clover. Last year was an exceedingly 

 dry season and the pasturage a- little short, or the case 

 might not have been so bad. This year has been as wet as 

 last was dry, and the horses have had more pasture than 

 they could manage, so another field with a good start of 

 sweet clover has been cropped by the horses in moderation." 



Balled Queens in Swarms, says G. M. Doolittle in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture, are sometimes responsible for the 

 bees deserting the hive and returning to their old homes, 

 just as they would do if the queen had not accompanied 

 them. The remedy he gives is to find and smoke the ball 

 to make the bees release the queen, when a general hum of 

 content will announce that all is well. In exceptional cases 

 the queen will again be balled in a few minutes, when the 

 smoking must be promptly repeated or the hive will be 

 deserted. 



Baby Bees — Too Funny for Anything.— Occasionally 

 one meets with information about bees good enough to find 

 a place in a comic almanac, albeit the medium may be very 

 far from a comic almanac in character. The following sent 

 us by Mr. H. W. Cornelison, of Wisconsin, and taken from 

 that very excellent periodical, the Sunday-School Advocate, 

 has beeu received at this office : 



A B.\BY BEE. 



The honey-bee, like every other created thing, whether 

 beast, bird, insect, or plant, was once a baby. In the spring 

 the empty combs, made just the right size for baby bees to 

 grow in, are carefully looked over and made clean by the 

 bees that were born the year before, and in these cells they 

 lay some tiny eggs. In a few days each egg becomes a lit- 

 tle white worm. It has a large mouth like a baby bird, and 

 is very hungry. It is fed very often with bee-bread from 

 the mouth of a nurse-bee. In a little while it has filled the 

 cell with its soft, white body. Then it no longer needs 

 food. The old nurse looks at it and seems to say, " Poor 

 little dear, you are sleepy I" and she tucks a coverlet, which 

 has been used before, all over the top of the cell, and goes 

 to look after her other babies. She comes back to listen 

 once in a while to see if it is all right, and she hears a little 

 sound. It is the baby bee weaving for itself a blanket of 

 the finest silken threads, for it must be wrapped up for a 

 long nap. It is now a chrysalis, and while it is taking a 

 long rest its preparation for life is going on quietly and 

 beautifully. The same divine hand that formed the baby 

 boy or girl forms the baby bee, and does it just as wisely 

 and perfectlv. 



In about three weeks from the time the egg was placed 

 in the cell, if you lift the cover and look carefully into the 

 top of their house, you will see the top of the cell, or a little 

 waxen coverlet, break gently. Then a tiny face peeps 

 through the opening. It looks wondering and innocent as 

 young birds and animals do. Then it puts two hands on 

 the broken rim of the cell and lifts itself out.— Eliz.\beth 

 Grinn'EI,L. 



Comment is unnecessary. If " Elizabeth " should get 

 a text-book on bees and look into a bee-hive, she might be 

 better fitted to give instruction to Sunday-school scholars, 

 but she can do vastly better work at writing funny things 

 for the bee-papers by remaining in her present state of 

 mind. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song— words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



% The YVeekly Bud^t. * \ 



The Chicago-Northwestern Convention had a 

 gratifying attendance, especially of those outside of Illi- 

 nois, and yet quite a number were absent who possibly 

 might have been present if they had realized in advance 

 what was to be the character of the meeting. Bearing 

 directly upon the matter comes the following letter from 

 one who was present : 



■' Mr. Editor ; — I wish I could say something to some 

 of my brother bee-keepers within easy reach of Chicago, to 

 awaken in them a sense of the privilege they are missing 

 by failing to attend the meetings of the Chicago-North- 

 western. It was a wide-awake convention. The time was 

 not filled up with long, prosy papers, but the question-box, 

 for the most part, furnished material for live discussion. 

 Bright bits of information sparkled out here and there, 

 some of them from men who would never have given them 

 in the columns of a bee-paper, nor in any other way than 

 by the stimulating influence of personal contact with other 

 men of experience in convention assembled. 



" Possibly the plan of having a convention with little 

 or nothing prepared in advance by way of program might 

 not be a success with a sleepy presiding officer, but with 

 the right man in the chair there will be brought out an in- 

 terchange of opinions such as can not be secured in any 

 other way. Written papers can be read at our leisure at 

 home in the columns of the bee-papers without the expense 

 of traveling miles from home, long speeches are likely to 

 bore all but those who are making them, but face-to-face 

 discussions are the things for a live convention. The per- 

 sonal meeting and interchange of opinion between two bee- 

 keepers is interesting and profitable in nearly every case, 

 and when, by set agreement, the number of such persons 

 meeting runs up into the scores, embracing in their number 

 thoughtful men of large experience, it is hard for any one 

 to attend without carrying away a considerable fund of 

 useful information. Add to this the social feature, the 

 hand-grasp of old and new friends, and those who have 

 never attended a live bee-keepers' convention little know 

 the treat in store for them if they attend the next meeting 

 of the Chicago-Northwestern." 



Mr. James H. Fishbr, when sending the pictures 

 shown on this and the next page, wrote us as follows : 



I have been sitting on the fence and watching the bee- 

 keepers in this vicinity for about six years, and now I am 

 about ready to come down and start for myself. I have ex- 

 perimented for six years. I have 9 colonies in good shape. 



I will send a picture of my apiary and Mr. Beitel's, 



Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, and the IVax-Extractor at ivork. 



