(Bntered at tbd PuMtuUicc at Chicago as Second-Class Mall-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., lis W. Jackson Blvd. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAY 30, 1907 



Vol, XLVII— No, 22 



[itorial ^otes 

 and Comments 





The Alexander Weak-Colony Plan 



Some have met failure in trying the method 

 of strengthening weak colonies in spring by 

 placing them over strong colonies, and ex- 

 cluder between; but others are so enthusi- 

 astic over their success that it may be 

 worth while for those who have not suc- 

 ceeded to make further trial with perhaps 

 some precaution added. It has been sug- 

 gested that if greater care were used, even 

 hybrids would be all right. None but a very 

 strong colony should be used for the lower 

 one, and if it be very much stirred up at the 

 time the weak colony is placed over, it may 

 proceed at once to massacre the intruders. 

 So the work should be very quietly done, so 

 that the bees be not aroused. 



A. A. Ashley gives in Gleanings in Bee Cul- 

 ture a plan worth trying. He says : 



" I tried it on 3 colonies, audit proved a 

 success with me. I think the reason some 

 fail is because they fuss with the strong col- 

 ony till they get them too thoroughly roused 

 up. 1 put on the excluder, then put screen 

 wire over that, and I set the weak colony on ; 

 24 hours later I lifted off the weak colony, 

 and quickly and gently removed the screen, 

 then very gently set the weak colony back, 

 and I never had a bee killed. After .30 days 1 

 separated them, leaving the weak colony on 

 the old stand, moving the strong one to one 

 side. This gives the weak colony the most 

 of the flying bees. I can't tell any difference 

 in the strength of them." 



A correspondent suggests a little different 

 plan: Put over the strong colony a sheet of 

 newspaper. At the central part punch a hole 

 large enough for a bee to pass through. Put 

 over this an excluder, and over this the weak 

 colony. No matter how much the bees are 

 stirred up, they will have plenty of time to 

 quiet down before any considerable number 

 can get through the paper. The hole is made 



in the paper, not to make a passage imme- 

 diately for the bees, but to make a ready 

 starting point for the bees to gnaw through. 

 If this proves upon trial to work all right, it 

 has the double advantage over the wire-cloth 

 plan that it saves the trouble of removing the 

 wire-cloth, and it also saves any possible dan- 

 ger of stirring up the bees at the time of re- 

 moving the wire-cloth. 



The season is so late, and the number of 

 very weak colonies so unusually large that 

 there are no doubt still many colonies that 

 are mere nuclei, and there maybe no small 

 gain in trying the plan of Mr. E. W. Alexan- 

 der. 



— •• 



Destroying Foul-Brood Spores 



Samuel Simmins says this in the British 

 Bee Journal: 



" The conclusion I have arrived at is, that 

 while a short period of heat at boiling point 

 may fail to destroy the spores of foul brood, 

 there is no reason whatever why a more pro- 

 tracted term at blood temperature should not 

 bring about the end of their existence where 

 further propagation is out of the question." 



Dwarf Bees in Old Combs (?) 



In Prak. Wegweiser it is reported that un- 

 dersized workers appeared in a colony, and 

 inspection showed combs with cells not a 

 centimeter (about 2-5 inch) deep, because 

 these combs had never been exchanged, and 

 were now 10 years old. One wonders whether 

 closer investigation might not have led to a 

 different conclusion. Thousands of combs in 

 this country can probably be found that are 

 10 years old and older, some of them 20 or 30 

 years old, and none of them are found with 

 cells less than the usual depth. Indeed, a 

 little thought ought to make one expect that 



bees would keep their brood-cells of norma 

 depth unless such a thing were impossible. 

 Cut away the walls of a cell, either in whole 

 or in part, and the bees will build them 

 again, so as to make the cell the proper 

 depth ; why should they not build them out 

 to the proper depth it they are made too shal- 

 low by cocoons filling up the bottom? Ex- 

 actly that is what they do. Measure a brood- 

 comb from which its first set of brood has 

 emerged, and it measures J^ of an inch. Take 

 a comb that is old enough, and it measures a 

 full inch. The septum has become }{ inch 

 thick, and the mouth of the cell has been built 

 out to correspond, leaving the cells just as 

 deep as when first built. 



Tearing Down Worker Foundation 

 to Build Drone-Comb 



Dadant's denial of this, except in case of 

 imperfect foundation, calls forth this remark 

 in Prak. Wegweiser : 



" Many bee-keepers, who observe with open 

 eyes, will shake the head incredulously at this 

 assertion : noted leaders are not infallible." 



It might not be a safe thing to assert that a 

 thing never happened just because one has 

 not seen it, but after hundreds of swarms or 

 colonies had been given hives entirely filled 

 with foundation, if not one of them had torn 

 down any part of the foundation in order to 

 fill its place with drone-comb, it would seem 

 pretty safe to conclude that bees were not in 

 the habit of thus tearing down. Certainly a 

 great many in this country make a practise 

 of giving full sheets of foundation; has any 

 one had it torn down to be replaced with 



drone-comb? 



• 



Thickness of Hive-Walls 



D. M. M. says in the British Bee Journal: 



" Should the walls of a hive be thick or 

 thin? Fifty years ago it was advised that 

 wood one inch up to an inch and a half thick 

 should be used. Gradually a change came, 

 till now we rarely find factory-made hives 

 with wood thicker than half an inch. I am 

 not aware that bees have suffered in any way 

 from the innovation." 



In this country X is perhaps the universal 

 thickness. If ^4 'Dch does as well across the 

 water, perhaps it might also answer here. 

 Certainly there would be some advantage in 



