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(Entered at thd P03t-0fBce at Chicago as Becond-Clasa Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Ca., 11« W.Jackson Blvd. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO. ILL, MAY 23, 1907 



VoL XL VII— No, 21 



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Mitbrial 

 mn4 Comments 



The Banat Bee 



The editor of the Far-Western Bee-Keeper 

 had a Bacat queea sent him by Prof. Frank 

 Bentoa. He reports BaDatians as gentle as 

 Caucasians, extremely prolific, but falling far 

 behind other bees as storers. 



Composition of Pollen 



An Illinois reader asks: "What is the 

 average composition of pollen?'' 



We don't remember ever to have seen an 

 analysis of pollen, and a search in some of 

 the books in which we thought it might be 

 found has not been successful. The likeli- 

 hood is that if an e.xact analysis were made 

 of pollen from different sources there would 

 be found no little diflerence. The word 

 " pollen," too, is used for two different 

 things — pollen as it is found in the flowers, 

 and also as it is found in the hive. The lat- 

 ter consists of the former mixed with some 

 honey, if we are not mistaken. 



Ventilation of Bees 



The generally accepted belief is that there 

 is a systematic ventilation of the hive by the 

 bees in hot weather, a regular detail acting in 

 concert for that purpose. In a somewhat 

 lengthy article in the British Bee Journal, 

 Col. H. J. O. Walker combats this idea, say- 

 ing in closing: 



To sum up, I believe that although the air 

 in the hive must be gradually renewed, and 

 the bees sometimes assist towards the desired 

 result by fanning, there is much less inlet and 

 outlet than is generally supposed, and most of 

 what takes place is automatic Although I 

 am well aware that a bee can produce, 

 in proportion to its size, a strong back- 

 ward or forward air motion in its immediate 

 neighborhood, enough, perhaps, to extinguish 



a candle, I do not think that the action of the 

 fanners always, if even generally, sets up an 

 exhaust current. 



This view will not be readily accepted by 

 one who has held his hand at the entrance of 

 a hive on a hot day. Yet Col. Walker is a 

 man whose word has weight, and no doubt 

 careful observations will be made the coming 

 summer, that will give us more exact knowl- 

 edge on the subject. 



Worms in Combs 



Combs that have been out all winter, sub- 

 ject to freezing, will need no immediate at- 

 tention. Freezing has killed eggs and larvit, 

 and there is no further danger until moths 

 have laid eggs in them afresh. If bees have 

 died in the cellar, or outdoors any time after, 

 say February, it is pretty safe to say that 

 they are more or less infested with the pests. 

 If kept in a cool cellar slow progress will be 

 made by them, but outdoors, as soon as 

 weather warms up, the worms will make 

 rapid progress in riddling the combs. 



"An Old Wives' Fable?" 



Under the above heading appears under the 

 signature of D. M. Macdonald, in the British 

 Bee Journal, the following paragraph: 



Certain statements once uttered become 

 stereotyped, and, from oft repetition, are very 

 liable to get established as so-called " facts" 

 Here, on page S61 nf the American Bee Jour- 

 dal,isone: "Not only some, but all honey 

 light or dark that is put into sections is car- 

 ried there from the brood-nest," and Mr. 

 Doolittle is quoted as affirming that " when 

 a fielder brings in a load of nectar she does 

 not go with it into the super, but deposits it 

 in some cell of thr iTood-chamber, whence it 

 is afterwards carric.i into the surplus apart- 

 ment" If true, lit us go on believing it, 

 but if evendoubtfu. let us revise our ideas. 



First, I would say that such heavy labor of 

 gurgitaling, regurgitating, charging and dis- 

 charging into cells and carrying upstairs 

 would be an absurd proceeding for any in- 

 telligent creature, and certainly so for one 

 Sifted with the brain powers of Api.i mellijtni. 

 Second, I see no necessity for it. It would be 

 a case of " Love's labor lost." Third, I have 

 never seen any evidence of it. Fourth, and 

 lastly, and including all the others, it is iin- 

 piissiblr. C'est impossible! shuts the door at 

 once it true— which it is. With a heavy flow 

 on, every brood-cell is crammed full of eggs, 

 larva', young and old, sealed and unsealed, 

 just emerging bees, or a percentage of cells 

 being cleared dry for " Her Majesty's " use, 

 along with a small percentage with unsealed 

 honey and pollen ready for the nurse-bees to 

 manipulate. Where, then, are the spare cells 

 for just gathered nectar to be even tempo- 

 rarily stored* No. like "Tom Bowling," it 

 goes to the right place—" aloft !" 



Of the four arguments used, it is hardly 

 necessary to discuss any, if the last of them 

 is true. And our Scotch friend asserts most 

 positively that it is true, that it is iinposxible 

 for bees upon returning from the field to de- 

 posit nectar in the brood-chamber. Well, if 

 it is impossible, of course there's no room for 

 argument; but there is probably no sin in 

 asking Mr. Macdonald a question. 



Will he kindly tell us what it is that one 

 shakes out of brood-combs any day when bees 

 are storing, when the combs are shaken hard 

 enough to shake the bees ofEl However it 

 may be in Scotland, " in this locality " it is 

 the regular and orthodox thing for some kind 

 of liquid to be shaken thus out of the combs — 

 not merely a few drops, but spoonfuls and 

 spoonfuls of it, so that one may collect from 

 the different frames a gill or more of a liquid 

 which looks like nectar and tastes like nectar, 

 but which of course can not be nectar, as it is 

 impussibb- for the bees to deposit nectar in the 

 brood-combs ! 



We are all attention, awaiting Mr. Mac- 

 donald's reply. 



Poultry or More Bees 



A symposium in the Australasian Bee- 

 Keeper seems to show a division of opinion 

 as to whether it is better for a bee-keeper to 

 be a specialist and keep more bees, or to run 

 some other business in connection with bee- 

 keeping; and of those who take the latter 

 view the majority favor keeping poultry as a 

 companion occupation. 



