126 



Feb. 14 1907 



American ^ee Journal 



boards to be used with T-super6, for at least 

 Dr. Miller does not use honey-boards. 



With regard to changing to T-supers, you 

 should not forget that there are those who 

 dislike them as much as Dr. Miller likes them, 

 and he would probably advise that you go 

 slow about changing till you know they 

 would suit you. It is possible, too, that the 

 supers you have might be changed to T- 

 supers. Whether this be so or not depends 

 upon the measurements of the super you now 

 have. If you should think of making any 

 such change, it might be worth while to give 

 Dr. Miller the exact inside measurements of 

 the super you have, and you may rely that he 

 will take pleasure in advising what may be 

 done in the case. Also he should know the 

 kind of sections you want to use in said T- 

 supers. ^ 



Carnegie and the Bee 



Carnegie is reported as saying in an address : 



" Don't interfere with the bee when it is 

 making honey ; but when it is through, take 

 a big share of the honey.'' 



Which is equivalent to saying : " Don't in- 

 terfere with a man like Rockefeller, when he 

 is accumulating a ' swollen fortune,' but 

 when he is through with it let an inheritance 

 tax take a share of it." 



That's hardly fair to an honest bee, which 

 doesn't get its honey by trickery from other 

 bees, but by honest toil, leaving the way en- 

 tirely open for other bees to do the same. 



A New Kind of Bees (?) 



When the veracious reporter can find noth- 

 ing else to romance about, he betakes himself 

 to the " busy bee." The latest is a clipping 

 sent by Irving Long, with the comment : 



Editor York:— Notice the new kind of 

 honey-bees. How much some folks know, 

 that they don't know at all. Notice how he 

 introduces his bees. Seems to cross the work- 

 ers of one kind with the workers of the others. 

 Guess he has hold of some hornets. 



Irving Long. 



The clipping, which has also been kindly 

 sent to us by others of our readers besides 

 Mr. Long, reads in part as follows: 



Captain John Holder, who lives in a cabin 

 in the Arbuckle Mountains in Indian Terri- 

 tory, believes he has discovered a new kind of 

 honey-bee, and he is trying to cross it with 

 the ordioary bee. 



" It is a strange mongrel honey-maker. 

 They appear to be a mixture of gray coated 

 bumble-bees and yellow-striped honey-bees. 

 Most of them are as large as Italian queen- 

 bees. They gather honey and deposit it in 

 honey-balls in holes which they excavate in 

 the ground. The honey-balls, or sacks, con- 

 sist of a waxy substance, and are about as 

 thick as morocco leather. Nearly every sack 

 or cell contains about a half pint of the 

 sweetest honey imaginable. 



" I have been experimenting with the new- 

 found honej -gatherers. I have been trying 

 to tame them so that they will mix and live 

 with my civilized bees. The new-comers are 

 curiously inspected by the old settlers in the 

 hollow stump or bee-gums. Often a terrific 

 battle takes place. Then, very often, the 

 aristocratic bees enter into amiable relations 

 with the new-comers by letting them crawl 

 into their hives. I am watching this cross- 

 breeding process with keen delight, and will 

 continue to introduce as many of the mon- 

 grels as I can capture. I think that, like 

 Burbank in the vegetable kingdom, I may 



succeed in producing a new and more profit- 

 able honey-bee than is yet known to the 

 world." 



Ought not the Government to take hold of 

 this matter? But instead of trying to cross 

 these bees with every-day bees, why not keep 

 them in their purity? Then, instead of fuss- 

 ing with sections, extractors, etc., the honey 

 might be sold in "original packages'' — half- 

 pints. Could these bees not be trained to 

 have their holes in the ground in straight 

 rows? Then one could in the fall plow out 

 the balls of honey. 



"Please Answer in Next Number" 



That request is not infrequently made by 

 those who send in questions to be answered 

 in "Dr. Miller's Question-Box," a request 

 not often easily complied with. It takes time 

 for a letter to travel through the mail, time 

 to write the answer, time for the compositor 



to set up the type, time for an edition of the 

 paper to be gotten ready for the mail, and 

 time for the paper to reach its destination. 



Then, too, it must be remembered that the 

 time in the week has something to do with it. 

 A letter may come just in time to get in with 

 a certain batch of questions, and another let- 

 ter, not 12 hours later, may have to be an- 

 swered in the issue of a week later. It is the 

 constant effort to have questions answered as 

 soon as possible, but from the foregoing it 

 win be seen that an answer in the next num- 

 ber that appears after mailing a question is 

 asking a good deal of Speed. 



It is well that questions be sent in as early 

 as possible, for sometimess a question is sent 

 in urgent haste which could just as well have 

 been sent in a month earlier. Also it may be 

 well to mention that when a question is sent 

 direct to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111., it 

 stands a chance for an earlier reply than when 

 sent to this office. 



fleijjs -Items J 



Mr. Victor's Bear-Wrecked Apiary 



is pretty well shown on the first page. Sir 

 Bruin's picture was also taken as he reclined 

 with head on a bee-hive. It was the last apiary 

 that bear ever helped to ruin. 



But what awful devastation was made of it ! 

 If an earthquake had shaken up that apiary 

 it could hardly have presented a more com- 

 plete wreck. We didn't suppose there were 

 still any bears in the bee-keeping part of 

 Texas, but it seems there are. But there was 

 at least one bear less after Mr. Victor's apiary 

 of some 50 colonies was destroyed. 



Being lovers of honey, it is no wonder that 

 bear meat is so good to eat. No doubt Mr. 

 Victor and his friend enjoyed eating that par- 

 ticular lot of bear steak. 



We thought our readers would like to see 

 what a big, healthy bear can do to an apiary 

 when he does his best, hence the picture we 

 have reproduced. 



3Ir. Smith and Black-Carniolans. — 



When sendiDg us the picture on the first page, 

 Mr. Smith wrote thus: 



Editor York: — Most bee-keepers think 

 that the black-Carniolans are worthless, so I 

 am sending you the picture of a colony in the 

 act of finishing 132 pounds of honey, which 

 you will see is in the sections. My honey re- 

 tails tor 25 cents a section, thus making $33 

 for this colony. Counting the stings I got at 

 a cent apiece (which I think is remarkably 

 low), they would be worth $50 more. But 

 when I want a " good scrap," I stir up my 

 pure Italians. I can almost hear Dr. Miller 

 say, " Serves you right for trying to handle 

 bees while dressed in black." Bjt if he 

 could see the way they jump on, and try to 

 puncture, those white buttons, I think he 

 would be willing to try some other " medi- 

 cine." L. A. Smith. 



Flathead Co., Mont. 



Dr. Bohrer and His Bouquet. — One 



of the beautiful things connected with the 

 National convention in San Antonio, Tex., 

 last November, was the general good feeling 

 everywhere apparent between those of the 

 South and of the North. Dr. G. Bohrer, of 

 Kansas, who was not only one of the oldest 

 beekeepers present, but who also had been a 

 federal surgeon in the Civil War, spoke such 

 fraternal words of greeting at the opening of 

 the convention, that many hearts were 

 touched, and the result was that the follow- 

 ing morning Mrs. Krebs presented the Doctor 

 with a large bouquet of flowers. These were 

 prized so highly that they were taken to Dr. 

 Bohrer's Kansas home and photographed as 

 shown. 



So far as bee-keepers are concerned, " the 

 war is over," and has been over for a long 

 time. It may still exist in the overheated 

 minds of certain politicians, who think they 

 must ever be stirring up discordant mem- 

 ories in order to win, but to the peace-loving 

 bee-keepers of our country this is an un- 

 divided nation, and they will stand united for 

 its highest progress and strongest defense. 



Fillmore Co., Minn., Convention. — 



This is reported as follows by the Secretary : 



The 5th annual meeting of the Fillmore 

 County Bee-Keepers' Association was held 

 at Preston, Minn., Jan. 25 and 26, 1907. The 

 meeting was a very interesting and harmo- 

 nious one throughout. Ever since it was 

 organized its members have been getting sup- 

 plies at wholesale rates. At the time of its 

 organization no one had an idea that a car- 

 load of comb honey was produced in this sec- 

 tion of country, but in the fall of 1905 a car- 

 load was shipped from Harmony, and in the 

 fall of 1906 two car-loads were shipped, one 



