American ^ae Journal 



December, 1907. 



have learned it from A to Z, but con- 

 tinue, year after year, to fuss along with 

 a single apiary of 75 or 100 colonies, 

 lacking the confidence, or the 'nerve,' 

 to drop some other business that is 

 holding them back, and double their 

 profits by enlarging their bee-business 

 to the extent of their abilities." 



Where to Put a Caged Queen 



Some practise caging a laying queen 

 for a time in the hive, so that no eggs 

 shall be laid while she is thus caged. 

 Little or nothing has ever been said as 

 to any difference resulting from caging 

 the queen in different parts of the hive, 

 but according to G. M. Doolittle it 

 makes a very material difference where 

 she is caged. He says in Gleanings: 

 "I find that, when she is at this point, 

 the bees as a rule work right along the 

 same, or nearly so, as they would if 

 the queen had her liberty. In other 

 words, when I cage a queen and put 

 the cage near the top of the brood- 

 chamber the bees seem to feel as if they 

 were queenless, start queen-cells at 

 once, or as soon as they would if the 

 queen were taken from the hive, and 

 lack in energy about working, very 

 much the same as a queenless colony 

 does. But cage her near the entrance, 

 at the bottom of the hive, and work 

 goes right along, often without any 

 queen-cells being started at all." 



The Two-Queen Plan 



In Gleanings for Nov. 15, a good deal 

 is said about having more than one 

 queen in a hive, but the talk seems to 

 be altnost altogether about queens sepa- 

 rated by excluder zinc. This seems a 

 great disappointment to those who had 

 hoped that, like E. W. Alexander, they 

 could have two or more queens peace- 

 fully working side by side with no sort 

 of separation. If queens must be kept 

 apart, two in a hive will be little if 

 any better than the Wells plan, about 

 which so much was said a few years 

 ago, especially in England, but about 

 which almost nothing is said at the pres- 

 ent time. In the Wells plan, the two 

 colonies are separated by a perforated 

 wooden partition. 



One man reports that he can keep a 

 young queen in the same hive with one 

 or more old queens, but the attempt to 

 keep more than one young queen in the 

 same hive has always been a failure. 

 "How old a queen must be before she 

 will dwell in peace with a younger 

 queen is still an unsolved problem. 



While we may still hope that good 

 may come from the plan, there is no 

 denying that the prospect does not look 

 as bright as it did. 



Study the Subject of Bee-Keeping 



The editor of The Irish Bee Journal 

 says: 



'^ur correspondence during the past 

 few months shows that the number of 

 bee-keepers who know little or nothing 

 of their business, is not small, cither 

 here or in Great Britain. We strongly 

 advise all such to devote some time to 

 study during the winter months. A 

 good guide, a volume or two of a re- 



liable bee-periodical, will well repay the 

 cost if carefully read. Naturally we recom- 

 mend the 'Irish Bee Guide,' and the 

 Irish Bee Journal for the purpose, not 

 only because we believe in them our- 

 selves, but also because hundreds of 

 experienced bee-keepers have testified 

 that the two publications named are 

 hard to beat. Whatever the book or 

 the paper to be selected, we think it 

 safe to say that any bee-keeper who is 

 not sufficiently interested in the sub- 

 ject to read it up, would be wiser to 

 go out of the business altogether." 



To all of which we give a hearty 

 "Amen," even to endorsing the book 

 and periodical mentioned, and also mak- 

 ing application of the general sentiment 

 to American bee-keepers; and would 

 especially commend a careful reading 

 of the last sentence of the clipping by 

 any one who is yet without both a book 

 and a paper about bees. Of course "in 

 this locality," the American Bee Jour- 

 nal is supposed to be an excellent pub- 

 lication, but if you think you can find 

 something better you have our gracious 

 permission so to do; only be sure to 

 get some book and some paper, and 

 spend some time during the winter in 

 reading up so as to be an intelligent 

 bee-keeper, if you are not already in 

 that class. 



Reading Bee-Literature 



The time for reading up on bee-litera- 

 ture will soon be here. What with the 

 bee-papers and many good bee-books, 

 there is no reasonable excuse for every- 

 bodj-, who desires, not knowing a great 

 deal about bees and their cure — theoret- 

 ically, at least. 



The advice is given, that of the two^ — 

 the bee-papers and bee-books — the book 

 is the first that should be read by the 

 beginner, and that is good advice, too. 

 Of course, we say, get both book and 

 paper. For $1.50 or $1.75 the very best 

 bee-book can be had with the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal a whole year. Surely 

 it must be a very small business that 

 would not warrant an outlay of less 

 than $2.00 for the best obtainable in- 

 formation concerning it. 



In these days of strenuous competi- 

 tion, a man or woman needs to know 

 all that it is possible to know about any 

 business in which he or she embarks. 

 And so one must invest in some good 

 literature relating to the work which he 

 expects to do. 



Parcels Post in the United States 



Just now there is a revival of interest 

 in this matter from the fact that the 

 Post Master General is championing a 

 movement in the direction of greater 

 facilities for sending through the mail 

 articles of merchandise. Americans are 

 somewhat given to consider themselves 

 as in the van of progress, but so far 

 as cheap carriage through the mails is 

 concerned, or indeed So far as its car- 

 riage in any way in small parcels is 

 concerned, they are sadly in the rear. 



Is there not something wrong with 

 post-office regulations that allow a 

 package to be sent to Germany for less 

 money than required to take it 5 miles 

 to the next post-office? In the British 

 Bee Journal, W. J. Farmer reports 



what he considers a postal curiosity, ow- 

 ing to regulations on this side. He 

 mailed 3 pounds of honey at his local 

 post-office to be sent to America, pay- 

 ing 50 cents thereon as postage. A few 

 days later he received notice from the 

 postmaster at Liverpool, saying that al- 

 though the package might be sent to any 

 part of Great Britain, honey was not 

 allowed in the mail to the U. S., but 

 if he would send 75 cents more the pack- 

 age would be sent by a semi-official 

 company. He promptly sent the ad- 

 ditional 75 cents, and was surprised a 

 few days later to have it returned to 

 him with the information that the 3 

 pounds of honey would be sent for the 

 50 cents paid at the beginning, because 

 they had discovered that it was comb 

 honey and not extracted honey put up 

 in a tin can! 



The Post-Master General has the best 

 wishes of the people, but whether he 

 can accomplish anything is somewhat 

 problematical so long as the [j. S. Sen- 

 ate is controlled by the express com- 

 panies rather than by the people. 



An Invitation to Readers 



As the time of longer evenings is 

 again arriving, we would like to invite 

 our readers to send in their reports of 

 the season of 1907 with the bees. 



It may be, also, that some have been 

 trying experiments, or have had some 

 things to develop that would be of in- 

 terest to all. If so, we would like to 

 have such write out their experiences 

 for publication, and send tliem in. No 

 doubt what you have read in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal has been a great help 

 to you, so why not you add your mite 

 to the general fund of information about 

 bees? 



It may often happen that your way 

 of doing things may seem very simple 

 to you and of not sufficient importance 

 to describe in print. And yet, such 

 may be of great interest and help to 

 others. Why not let us have it for the 

 columns of the old American Bee Jour- 

 nal? 



World's Pure Food Show 



This great exposition opened Nov. 16 

 and continued up to and including the 

 23d. As previously announced the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association had an 

 exhibit of honey which was in charge 

 of General ^lanager France. It was a 

 most excellent display, containing hon- 

 ey from some 15 States and 5 foreign 

 countries, all arranged in artistic form. 

 It was a great attraction, and should 

 help to popularize the use of honey, as 

 there were visitors from all over this 

 country. 



We expect to have more to say about 

 it next month, as the show is still in 

 operation while we are writing this 

 item. 



The Illinois State Convention 



This was held in Springfield, 111., Nov. 

 19 and 20. The attendance was fully 

 as large as in any year for some time. 

 We had the pleasure of attending also. 

 It was a good meeting. The report 

 will be published in pamphlet form and 

 mailed to the members. One of the 



