1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



193 



Utah Honey 



The first atiiuial report of the In- 

 spector of Apiaries for the State of 

 Utah, Mr. F. B. Tcriiberry, shows an 

 estimated honcv production for that 

 State, in \9\9, of 2,221,710 pounds from 

 37,627 colonics, or aii average of over 

 59 pounds jier colony. 



Wintering Bees in Kansas 



We have received a copy of Dr. 

 Merrill's Notes on the Value of Win- 

 ter Protection for Bees." The ex- 

 periments made at the College on six 

 hives are quite conclusive. The colo- 

 nies were in single-story unpacked 

 colonies, two-story unpacked, and 

 packed colonies. Half were with 

 windbreaks, the otliers without. The 

 packed colonies consumed the most 

 honey, hut also reared the largest 

 amount of brood and were in best 

 shape in spring. The single-story un- 

 packed hives consumed the least 

 amount of stores, but were in the 

 worst shape in spring. The conclusion 

 is obvious {hat packed colonies, well 

 sheltered and well supplied with food, 

 bring the best results. 



Another Use for Propolis 



"Nahla." of Algiers, of March, 1920, 

 quotes the following from "Petit Al- 

 manach des Abeilles": 



"I used to wa.x my mustache — which 

 is ordinarily hanging down — with a 

 liquid sold in a small vial at the cost 

 of 39 cents. What were the com- 

 ponents of this liquid? A perfumed 

 resin, dissolved in a little alcohol, as 

 my brother beekeepers undoubtedly 

 know. At present, I take some pro- 

 polis, the odor of which is very pleas- 

 ant to me, and which my bees fur- 

 nish free of charge. I dissolve it in 

 a fourth of a pint of good alcohol. I 

 strain it and use it in lieu of the fa- 

 mous mastic. I obtain for 6 cents the 

 value of $2 of mustache wax. 



The same magazine recommends, 

 for the removal of propolis from the 

 hands, the use of either turpentine. 

 alcohol, benzine, petrol, or even Eau 

 de Cologne. 



Bulletins on Foulbrood 



Three more bulletins have lately 

 been published by the Department of 

 Agriculture, of importance to bee- 

 keepers: "European Foulbrood,"' 

 Bulletin No. 810, by Dr. G. F. White, 

 with 8 plates, contains a very thor- 

 ough description of the phases of the 

 above named disease. A synopsis of 

 this will be published in our columns 

 soon. 



"A Study of the Behavior of Bees 

 in Colonies Affected by European 

 Foulbrood," Bulletin No. 804. by Ar- 

 nold P. Sturtevant specialist in 

 bacteriology of bee diseases. He 

 shows a number of experiments, and 

 his conclusions are that European 

 Foulbrood is mainly a disease of 

 weak colonies. This tallies with the 

 experience of practical beekeepers. 



"Control of American Foulbrood." 

 Farmers' Bulletin No. 1084. by Dr. E. 

 F. Phillips, apiculturist in charge at 

 the Bureau of Entomology. This is 

 a 16-page bulletin which contains the 

 most important things to be known 

 on this disease by the specialist in 



beekeeping. It shows the appearance 

 of diseased combs and gives the best 

 treatment so far known. 



Kach of these Inilletins should be in 

 the hands of the beekeeper who is in- 

 terested in abolishing foulbrood. Let 

 me repeat that I kept bees for 42 

 years before I saw a sample of foul- 

 l>rood. There is no reason why we 

 cannot get rid of these diseases so as 

 to make them as rare as they were 30 

 years ago. 



Minnesota Experiment Station 



The management of the University 

 Farm Apiary at St. Paul has under- 

 taken the furnishing of choice queens 

 in limited numbers to the beekeepers 

 of the State. They now publish a cir- 

 cular announcing that the price of 

 these queens is raised to $1 for un- 

 tested and $1.50 for tested. They can 

 send only a limited number, filling or- 

 ders in rotation. These are, of 

 course, tnuch below cost. 



The statement is made, also, that 

 the winter losses in Minnesota are 

 around 40 per cent, this year. 



Weight of Bees 



As far back as 150 years ago, ex- 

 periments were already made on the 

 weight of bees. Wildman (1770) 

 writes : 



"On the 9th of March, 1768, being a 

 very cold day, I took some bees out of 

 a hive and suffered them to fly to a 

 window which so chilled them that 

 they fell as dead. Of them I collected 

 as many as weighed half an ounce, 

 and found the number to be 154, 

 which gives, to the pound, 4.928. 1 

 weighed another half ounce and 

 found the number to be the same." 



He also quotes another author who 

 weighed dead bees and found 5.366 in 

 a pound. The difference in weights 

 was evidently due to the latter being 

 dry and entirely deprived of honey. 



The Metric System 



The standardization of the metric 

 system is strongly urged just now. 

 But too few people know anything 

 about its simplicity. On the con- 

 trary, most people think it very in- 

 tricate. It would simplify our chil-^ 

 dren's labor ninety per cent. An- 

 drew Carnegie and Roosevelt urged 

 it. Edison, Burbank, Ford and Per- 

 shing are all advising it. It is used 

 by men of science everywhere. We 

 need it in our dealings with South 

 America. 



The Dismal Swamp 

 for Beekeeping 



Having read in the Literary Digest 

 a mention of the geological survey of 

 the Dismal Swamp, with mention of 

 its flora, we wrote the U. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey for a copy of the Bulletin. 

 It was sent to us with a very courte- 

 ous reply stating that the report was 

 no longer available for distribution, 

 but that they were sending us one 

 of the few reserved copies. 



The description of the flora of the 

 Dismal Swamp is disappointingly 

 brief. But it is suflicient to show that 

 there may be some chances for bees 

 in that vicinity. The trees and shrubs 

 upon which bees could gather pollen 



or honey, or both, are the following: 

 Water ash, Rattan (Berchemia scan- 

 dens), yellow jessamine, cotton and 

 water gum (nyssa), red maple and 

 sweet l)ay (Magnolia). 



Have any of our readers any knowl- 

 edge of practical beekeeping in the 

 vicinity of the Dismal Swamp? 



The Bulletin in question treats 

 mainly of the production of peat. 



Franco-Belgian Funds 



The I'Vanco-l'.elgian Committee met 

 in Paris early in April and ordered 

 one-third of the supplies sent to Mr. 

 Tombu at the Department of Agricul- 

 ture of Brussels. The other two- 

 thirds were ordered, one-half to Paris, 

 the other half to Nancy, to be divid- 

 ed between the eastern and western 

 regions. 



Mr. Crepieux-Jamin, of Rouen, who 

 is an active member of the commit- 

 tee, writes us : 



"You may report to your commit- 

 tee, Drs. Miller and Phillips, that 

 those subscriptions will give us the 

 opportunity of doing much good. Say 

 to them that we are very thankful. 

 The distress in the devastated regions 

 can hardly be conceived, for one can- 

 not imagine such continuous masses 

 of ruins, on such an extensive scale. 

 . You may have an idea of a part of it, 

 but the total is overwhelming. It 

 takes real courage to bear the sight 

 of it and one is filled with admira- 

 tion for the good people who strug- 

 gle in those stony deserts, where the 

 meanness of some human beings has 

 destroyed everything. All that we 

 may do is insignificant by the side of 

 what will remain to be done; it will 

 take IS or 20 years to revive those re- 

 gions, if they ever succeed. But the 

 inhabitants do not lose heart, and 

 they seem to have even more courage 

 than the visitors. They want to live; 

 they want to rebuild their homes; 

 they deserve to be helped. I am very 

 happy of having the privilege of ad- 

 ding ever so little to this rebuilding." 



The above-named gentleman is 

 too modest to speak of what he has 

 already done. But the French and 

 Belgian magazines report him as be- 

 ing the first civilian rewarded by the 

 King of Belgium with the Order of 

 Leopold, for services rendered. Dur- 

 ing the war he gave medical assist- 

 ance to more than 3,000 wounded 

 Belgian soldiers. Beekeepers may be 

 proud of his being one of their num- 

 ber. 



There is still more room for help. It 

 is never too late to do good. 



One lot of 56 smokers has been sent, 

 also. Six of these were subscribed by 

 J. W. Bittenbender, of Knoxville, la. 



Space Between Combs 



Cowan advises spacing frames "a 

 shade under IK- inches from the sep- 

 tum or middle of each pair of combs." 

 (Page 26 of British Beekeeper's 

 Guide Book). I'or wintering he spaces 

 them farther. He writes: 



"There sliould be sufficient bees to 

 crowd eight frames, and these should 

 be placed l->4 inches from centre to 

 centre, for the winter months . . " 

 (Page 181). 



