132 



Feb. 14, 1907 



American ^ee Journal 



the most part — but one out of the dozen 

 ought to be Caucasians and Italians, 

 half and half. Only way to bring the 

 former exactly " to book " in the im- 

 portant item of honey-storing-. Not 

 absolutely necessary that they should 

 quite equal Italians, but we want to 

 know just where they are at. Page 1051. 



Time Spent in Overhauling Col- 

 onies. 

 So C. P. Dadant has seen bee-keepers 

 who would spend 2 hours overhauling 

 half a dozen colonies. I have seen one 

 such— in the looking-glass. But I guess 

 we won't quarrel much. The an« of 

 all should be to have things in such 

 a condition that the needed manip- 

 ulations need take but a few min- 

 utes. Don't spend 2 hours over 6 colo- 

 nies when 5 minutes for each might 

 just as well suffice — unless you are 

 overhauling for fun or for self educa- 

 tional purposes, and then the 2 hours 

 are all right. I was steering toward 

 the remark that the good theory and 

 the actual practise sometimes get wide 

 apart at my yard — and I suspect that 

 mine is not the only one. Page 7. 



Going Into Something New. 



F. L. Day alludes to an evil, on page 

 7, that may as well be clubbed a little 

 more. One prominent apiarist does 

 well with something new. Presto, all 

 the rest must be voted ignorant or stu- 

 pid unless they dive into the same, and 

 make a success of it also. What non- 

 sense ! Are men sheep, that they can 

 not be easy an hour except in a flock ? 

 I believe one Ohio man once made 

 someting of a success of raising figs. 

 Must all Ohio farmers raise figs, then ? 



Changing to an Exact Pound 



Section. 

 L. V. Ricketts wants to enlarge the 

 usual section in one direction until a 

 crop of honey will average pounds. 

 When he puts that to vote he'll get a 

 flamboyant minority. Such a crop will 

 be necessarily in 3 lots. Lot 1 will be 

 even pounds — and nobody knocking. 

 Lot 2 will be sections less than a pound 

 (else the crop would not average) ; but 

 these need make no more trouble than 

 the similar ones we now have. Lot 3 — 

 liable to be nearly a third of the whole — 

 will be sections weighing more than a 

 pound. Just for once or twice the bee- 

 man can sneakingly shove the trouble 

 ofi' upon the shoulders of the unsus- 

 pecting grocer by packing over-weights 

 and underweights mixed ; but sooner 

 or later the grocer will hit back, and 

 hit back hard. He doesn't make his 

 living by giving away 2 ounces of 

 honey with a section. And to get a 

 customer to pay for 2 ounces more than 

 a pound when he buys a section, is a 

 troublesome and difJficuU job. Page 8. 



How TO Insure Having Reapers. 



So to put in heavy combs of honey, 

 reserved for the purpose, 40 days be- 

 fore the honey harvest, is Doolittle's 

 " last and best " way to be sure of his 

 reapers — and that far the most impor- 

 tant thing of all. A beginner writes 

 to find out what is the prime thing for 

 the likes of him to know. An excel- 

 lent and comprehensive answer might 

 be given in one well capitalized word — 

 Beans ? But Mr. Doolittle kindly as- 

 sumes that he already knows beans. 



and writes him an excellent article. 

 Page 8. 



The Ways and Doings of Mice. 



The mouse experiences of our new 

 brother, J. L. Byer, as given on page 

 S3, do not tally very well with my ex- 

 periments, page 1036 (1906). Yet, per- 

 haps, there is no real clash. Difi^ereut 

 members of the mouse family differ 

 about as much as different members of 

 the horse family. No one would insist 

 that the horse, the donkey, and the 

 zebra, must have the same tastes as to 

 food. My experiments as yet extend 

 only to one species of mouse, the uni- 

 versal or house mouse — and, in fact, 

 to only one of the three or more varie- 

 ties of that species. I have long sus- 

 pected that the beautiful deer-mouse 

 (fawn-colored above and pure white un- 

 derneath) had an appetite more like the 

 squirrels. Then there are other species 

 of wide range. Also there are many 

 species of mice not of wide range, but 

 decidedly local. Every once in a while 

 the zoologists get hold of one never 

 before described. All, doubtless, have 

 some difi^erences of appetite. I want 



to investigate the deer-mouse — but had 

 better let him alone till I actually 

 finish off the ones I now have. In 

 such a place as Mr. Byer mentions 

 (even if the traps showed some 

 true house-mice present) deer-mice 

 and stub-tails, and rust-tinted fielders 

 are likely to preponderate, and I'll con- 

 veniently lay the mischief all to them. 

 I would even hint that a chipmunk 

 may be " in it." 



Two of my mice have just been eat- 

 ing quite a hole in the ice of their 

 water font. It froze up less than 48 

 hours before. Interesting as showing 

 how peremptory they are to have water 

 if they cayi get it — and yet are capable 

 of doing without it altogether. I think 

 the fur of the mouse has the same 

 quality that honey has, the power to 

 absorb moisture rapidly from the air. 

 Then (when there is urgent need) the 

 vessels of the skin turn to, and absorb 

 what is absolutely necessary from the 

 fur. The volume of the fur being 

 large, compared with the volume of 

 such a little body, this is brought 

 thereby within the bounds of possi- 

 bility. 



P^' Dur '"' 

 il^'Bee - Keeping 



iH^UittUiiMmk 



Conducted by Kmma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



A Kansas Sister's Report 



I started in the spring of 1906 with 9 

 colonies. I increased 4, lost 1, sold 3, 

 and secured 700 pounds of comb honey. 

 So I am going to winter 9 colonies if 

 all goes well. I have not lost my in- 

 terest in bees or the American Bee 

 Journal, even if I do not write often. 

 Mrs. Ben Ferguson. 



Ft. Dodge, Kans., Jan. 7. 



An average yield of 78 pounds per 

 colony, spring count, and comb honey 

 at that, in an unusually poor year, is 

 something well worth while, isn't it ? 

 You say, " I increased 4, lost 1." If 

 that one swarm absconded it may be 

 worth while to consider the advisability 

 of having all queens clipped. 



Small Closed-End Frame or Bingham 

 Hives 



I appreciate the ladies' bee-keeping 

 department remarks and grant their 

 soundness. I have no hives to sell, 

 and am in no way interested in their 

 sale. The little hive used by me 

 mainly meets my hive requirements. 



1. It is cheap. 



2. No one need ever lift more than 

 25 pounds at one time in its successful 

 management. r"__ 1 \ ' ^i 



3. Managed for section honey it is 



the only kind of frame-hive in which 

 all the honey and comb is built inside 

 the frames and sections. 



4. It is a box of movable combs, out- 

 side of which there is nothing to hinder 

 the easy and quick examination of 

 every frame, or a part of one, without 

 ruffling the bees. It can be opened 

 and closed while the bees are working, 

 and they will not appear to know that 

 anything is happening. 



5. Sometimes bees swarm, and if 

 one of these little hives of em pty combs 

 weighing about 5 pounds can be held 

 in the palm of the hand, close to the 

 cluster, the swarm can be easily and 

 quickly secured. (One of these little 

 hives will satisfy an ordinary swarm 

 until more room can be given. It is 

 very easy to handle and carry to the 

 place selected.) : C -1 1 ' ' I 



6. As the frames, or the hive, handle 

 like a light box, it makes no difference 

 whether the hive is bottom up or other- 

 wise. ; J iTZl 



7. All the spare combs early in the 

 autumn may be taken from the lower 

 part of the hive — that is, the part where 

 the brood has been altogether — and 

 put in a safe place to keep till spring, 

 leaving only the bees and honey for 

 the winter depository or cellar, which 

 practically increases the capacity of 

 the cellar, as this hive in winter quar- 

 ters uses only about a cubic foot. 



8. The queens occupy all the cells in 



