July, 1907. 



American ^ee Journal 



may be found on this side the water, 

 and they are frank to give, generally, 

 proper credit. Dr. Bruennich, a very 

 prominent Swiss authority, is quoted by 

 F. Greiner as scoring American bee- 

 keepers for their kindergarten position 

 in the matter of queen-rearing, page 455. 

 Whether such criticism is properly de- 

 served or not, it is quoted to mention 

 the fact that a man who could be thus 

 severe where lie supposed it deserved, 

 is also large-hearted enough to offer 

 commendation when he thought it de- 

 served, as he did when he mentioned 

 our G. M. Doolittle as a man whom he 

 held in highest esteem as one of the 

 foremost leaders in the world apicul- 

 tura!. 



It may not be amiss to say to Dr. 

 Bruennich that conditions are not pre- 

 cisely the same here as in Switzerland. 

 So far as they have been tried, it seems 

 that the general consensus of opinion is 

 that in that country no foreign bees can 

 compare with the natives. That being 

 the case it is the part of wisdom to ex- 

 clude the foreigners and bend all ener- 

 gies to bring the natives to the highest 

 state of perfection. But in this coun- 

 try there is a greater unanimity of opin- 

 ion than in Switzerland, even, that opin- 

 ion being that black bees are not the best 

 for us ; and so long as it is settled that 

 the favorite must be a foreigner, and 

 so long as there are foreigners yet un- 

 tried, why not try them? 



Scissors for Queen-Clippiiig 



For this purpose a pair of small em- 

 broidery scissors has been the favorite, 

 but of late a pair of ordinary pocket 

 scissors has been commended. These 

 may be carried in the pocket safely the 

 year 'round, their blunt points allowing 

 them to be carried in trousers' pockets 

 when the heat forbids the wearing of 

 coat or vest. Some who have tried- 

 them claim that they are even superior 

 to embroiderv scissors. 



Signs of Swarming 



Entire dependence can not be placed 

 upon any outside signs. Look inside; 

 if no queen-cells are started, the bees 

 have not yet taken under advisement 

 the matter of swarming. If cells are 

 started, you may e.\pect the bees to 

 swarm with the old queen about the 

 time the first queen-cell is sealed. If a 

 second swarm issues, you may expect 

 it in the neighborhood of 8 days after 

 the first swarm. If a second swarm 

 does not issue within 15 days after the 

 first, you need not watch any longer 

 for it. 



Dandelion as a Honey-Plant 



Gleanings for June 15 occupies no small 

 space in singing the praises of the 

 dandelion as a honey-plant, a valuable 

 spring greens, its root-yielding the val- 

 uable medicine tara.xacum, as valuable 

 cow-pasture, and as a plant with a 

 flower of rare beauty, although unappre- 

 ciated because so common. 



Regarding the same plant the follow- 

 ing note has been sent to this office bv 

 Dr. Miller: 



"In this region the dandelion is a 



honey plant of increasing importance. 

 I am told that the plant was unknown 

 here 60 years ago. I know that it was 

 scarce when I came here in 1856, but it 

 has been gradually increasing each year, 

 much to the distress of lawn-owners, 

 and this year it is plentier than ever 

 before. It first began blooming April 

 23, and 2 months later the bees are 

 still working on it to a small, extent. 

 If colonies had been in full strength 

 when dandelion was at its best, there is 

 little doubt that surplus would have 

 been stored from it. Only one more 

 week left of June, and bees seem mostly 

 occupied trying to rob, so the present 

 outlook is for another season of fail- 

 ure." 



The Mohr Extractor — A Swiss In- 

 . vention 



All the honey-extractors known up 

 to the present time are inconvenient, ow- 

 ing to the disposition of the comb- 

 baskets, which are placed at the lower 

 part of the rotating cylinder. It is thus 



difficult to reach the combs with the 

 hand. It is always unpleasant to place 

 them in and to turn them over. The 

 work is disagreeable, for it is almost 

 impossible to do it without soiling your- 

 self. This extractor claims to do away 

 with this inconvenience. The comb- 

 baskets are placed in an open frame 

 which can be laid back. The gearing is 

 placed at the bottom. The bottom of 

 the extractor is conical, which permits 

 the honey to run out Tapidly. 



Two Queens in a Hive 



Seed Time and Harvest quotes ap- 

 provingly from Gleanings the plan of 

 having 2 or more laying queens in a 

 hive, given by E. W. Alexander, and 

 then says : 



"The worst feature to overcome in 

 giving our colonies 2 or mor; laying 

 queens is in knowing how to introduce 

 them safely. 



"Mr. A. does not give his method of 

 introducing queens, but we will give 

 ours. Our theory is that the antagonism 

 shown by bees to a newly introduced 

 queen is mainly on account of her scent, 

 and for years the writer has success- 

 fully introduced queens, without caging, 

 at the same time the old one was re- 

 moved, by dropping the stranger in a 

 tea-cup partly filled with honey, taken 

 from that hive, and completely submerg- 

 ing her in it, after thinning with warm 

 water if necessary, then pouring the 

 whole into the center of the top of the 

 hive. The bees will almost invariably 

 proceed to lick her off and accept her 

 without question; and according to Mr. 

 A. it might not be necessary to remove 

 the old queen in order to succeed." 



It is no wonder that bee-keepers are 

 set guessing as to how much a hitherto 

 unbelievable thing can be done ; but the 

 guess of the Seed Time and Harvest 

 does not seem the most plausible. Gen- 

 erally speaking, a new queen is better 

 received when the colony is conscious of 

 queenlessness. In the present case a 

 queen is to be introduced where there 

 is no thought of queenlessness, and so 

 an unusually reliable method of intro- 

 duction is needed. The method sug- 

 gested is very old. and in many cases is 

 successful, as indeed almost any plan 

 is successful under favorable circum- 

 stances, but it has generally been aban- 

 doned as less reliable than the caging 

 method. The guess will hardly pass 

 muster. Next! 



Better Top-Pi-oteetion 



Editor Root is enthusiastic over the 

 advantage of having something more 

 than a single thickness of board over a 

 hive or a super. Some 20 years ago D. 

 A. Jones called his attention to a row 

 of hives the covers of which were cov- 

 ered with white frost except oval spots 

 over the centers of the clusters, the 

 stronger the colony the larger the 

 melted spot. That set Mr. Root to 

 thinking that the heat wasted in melting 

 these spots might be saved if the cov- 

 ers were non-conductors of heat. He 

 says : 



"Quite a number of the bee-keepers of 

 the country are beginning to use 

 double covers. 



"R. F. Holtermann and Dr. C. C. Miller 

 are both strong advocates of such cov- 

 ers. The former uses an e.xtra piece of 

 paper felting between the two covers. 

 Dr. Miller uses only two thick- 

 nesses of % boards with a dead-air 

 space between. While this is good, it 

 does not go quite far enough. Should 

 we have a cool summer, and especially 

 if we should have cool nights, there 

 will be a lot of backward work in the 

 supers unless the bees are provided with 

 a good thick cover. 



"Those bee-keepers who are fortunate 

 enough to own a double cover, one tele- 

 scoping over the other, should place be- 

 tween the two covers several folds of 

 newspaper. Those who are still more 

 fortunate in having a deep telescope 

 cover would do well to interpose be- 



