(Entered at thd Poat-Offlco at Cbtcago as Second-Class Mall-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $I.OO a Year, by George W. York & Co., 334 Dearborn Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, APRIL 18, 1907 



VoL XLVII— No, 16 



^mm^^i,^ ' 



editorial ^o 

 and Comments 



Fertilizine-tlives for Queen°Rearlng 



Probably there is very little dissent in any 

 quarter from the belief that to get the best 

 queens the queen-cells should be started by a 

 strong force of bees, and continued under 

 such care at least until the cells are sealed. 

 This can be the more readily afforded, as up 

 to the time the lirst young queen emerges a 

 number of cells can be cared for by the same 

 lot of bees. But after a young queen emerges 

 from her cell, and from that time till she be- 

 gins to lay, she does not cheerfully brook the 

 presence of anything in the shape of a rival; 

 and, moreover, there does not seem the same 

 need of a strong force of bees as during the 

 earlier period ot her development, so fertiliz- 

 ing-hives much smaller than the ordinary 

 hive have been used, or else a full-sized hive 

 without the full eomplement of frames. 



While some are confident that so-called 

 baby nuclei, with no more combs-urface than 

 that of a one-pound section, will produce as 

 good results as anything larger, others are 

 skeptical. Even among the ranks of those 

 who were at first enthusiastic as to baby 

 nuclei, there are those who seem to have a 

 leaning toward something larger; one of 

 them, Mr. E. R. Root, now advocating some- 

 thing by no means so " baby " as it might be. 

 Instead of a single comb the size of a pound 

 section, he now advocates two combs, each of 

 them one-third the size of a Langstroth frame. 

 This is getting back very nearly to the small 

 fertilizing-hives used by Adam Grimm and 

 others more than 40 years ago. Mr. Root has 

 virtually a larger mass of bees by having two 

 of these nuclei side by side in the same hive, 

 thus giving the advantage of mutual heat. 



While some say success can not be attained 

 with a very small quantity of bees, it is hard 

 o dispute the word ol honest men who say 



they have succeeded. " Locality '' is thit 

 pervading something which explains a great 

 many discrepancies; why may it not account 

 for different views in the present case? In 

 other words, may it not be that in the warmer 

 regions, as in the South, a smaller number of 

 bees are needed to keep up the proper heat? 

 Or is there some other way to account for the 

 differences in results? 



A Cheap Weed-Killer 



Salt is sometimes used to kill the grass and 

 weeds in front of hives, but in some places it 

 has the objection that it attracts cattle and 

 horses. Here is something not open to the 

 same objection, and, at a cent a gallon, 

 cheaper, as given by A. H. in the British Bee 

 Journal : 



The cheapest I know of is: Two ounces of 

 carbolic acid (98 percent) to V.< gallons of 

 water, preferably hot water. This is also an 

 excellent vermin-killer, and the cost for 120 

 gallons 5s., or },i'd. per gallon. This will de- 

 stroy even thistles and nettles, and the seeds, 

 too. 



-^ 



Ventilation of the Hive 



Prof. Cook says this in Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture : 



The bees ventilate so effectively, as they 

 fan the hive-entrance, that it is found en- 

 tirely unnecessary to arrange for any further 

 ventilation. It is, without doubt, best to 

 have only the one opening to the hive. In 

 the bee-tree or rock cavity the bees have but 

 this one opening, and yet from their great 

 activity they must have great drafts of pure 

 air, and so they have developed their venti- 

 lating habit, which is very perfect. Without 

 doubt we serve them best when we leave the 

 matter of ventilation entirely with the bees, 

 only arranging to give them an ample opening. 



The novice, upon reading the paragraph, 

 will feel that he need give no care to the 



matter of ventilation, only so that the bees 

 have an ample opening for an entrance, but 

 he is likely to feel a little uncertain as to 

 what is meant by an ample opening. If he 

 has been accustomed to box-hives with 2 or 3 

 notches in front, making the equivalent of a 

 square inch and a half or less as the entrance, 

 his idea of an ample opening maybe rather 

 unsatisfactory to the bees, 



In actual practise, the opening during hot 

 weather varies from the size mentioned all 

 the way up to 2 inches deep the entire width 

 of the hive, while some raise the hive on 

 blocks so as to make an opening on all 4 

 sides. But not all are agreed that only one 

 opening is best. It is argued by some that it 

 saves labor for the bees if there is an opening 

 at top as well as bottom. Certain it is that in 

 that case there will be a change of air in the 

 hive without effort on the part of the bees 

 whenever it is warmer in the hive than out — 

 just so certain as that there will be a draft 

 up a chimney whenever there is a fire at the 

 lower end. 



Will not that automatic change of air be a 

 saving of labor for the bees, or does the in- 

 stinct for making the air go in and out of the 

 same hole hold them in so strong a grip that 

 it will only make extra labor for them to 

 keep the air from going through the second 

 hole? 



It might also be urged against an upper 

 opening that in some localities the nights are 

 so cool that ventilation is a damage, and the 

 colder the night the stronger the current of 

 air through the hive, and against this current 

 the bees are helpless. 



An Industrious Bee 



The correctness of the general belief as to 

 the industry of the bee having been called in 

 question, Allen Latham comes to its defense 

 in the American Bee-Keeper, and gives the 

 following remarkable instance : 



There were thrown out from a hive late one 

 afternoon and early evening a hundred or 

 more dead and dying bodies of some stranger 

 bees. They lay in front of the hive, scattered 

 over a space of 2 or 3 square feet, some having 

 crawled before dying not less than 2 feet from 

 the hive. The following morning, while 

 standing by the hive, I saw a bee tugging at a 

 dead worker on the ground. She pulled this 

 way and that, and finally, by a great effort, 

 mounted wi[h her burden and disappeared in 



