1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



307 



bees, for he would slide into their 

 bee-gardens and, sitting down before 

 the stools, would rap with his finger 

 on the hives, and so take the bees as 

 they came out. He has been known 

 to overturn hives for the sake of 

 honey, lof which he was passionately 

 fond. Where metheglin was making 

 he would linger round the tubs and 

 vessels, begging a draught of what 

 he called bee-wine. As he ran about 

 he used to make a humming noise 

 with his lips, resembling the buzzing 

 of bees. This lad was lean and sal- 

 low, and of a cadaverous complexion, 

 and, except in his favorite pursuit, in 

 which he was wonderfully adroit, dis- 

 covered no manner" of understanding. 

 Had his capacity been better, and 

 directed to the same object, he had 

 perhaps abated much of our wonder 

 at the feats of a more modern exhib- 

 itor of bees; and we may justly say 

 of him now — 



"Thou, 

 Had thy presiding star propitious 



shone, 

 Should'st Wildman be." 



When a tall youth he was removed 

 from hence to a distant village, 

 where he died, I understand, before 

 he arrived at manhood. 



THE BEES AGAIN 



By Rev. A. A. Evans 

 I heard a man complain in lament- 

 able voice of the cruel behaviour of 

 his bees towards him. "You can look 

 at the beasts but they go for you. My 

 wife goes on about it, "I wonder you 

 keep such a strain,' says she; 'they 

 ain't fit to be near Christian people.' 

 Maybe I don't smell right for them. 

 They say there are some folks they 

 can't abide; something in the smell 

 which angers them." I did not smell 

 the speaker, but when an opportunity 

 came, I watched how he went about 

 the job. He took the hive cover olT and 

 proceeded to take off the inner boards ; 

 but no. he did not take them oft; he 

 wrenched them apart; he committed 

 an unpardonable sin, he set the whole 

 hive ajar, and at once I heard the hiss 

 and rumble which presages an army 

 on the wing, and I beat a hasty re- 

 treat. But the manipulator had no 

 ears to hear. "There, didn't I tell 

 you so? Aren't they furies?" So 

 they were, and such a handling, fre- 

 quently repeated, would transform 

 the most amiable of bees into violent 

 viragoes and a common danger. I 

 found that in painting the hives, the 

 parts overlapping, which should be 

 removed without friction, were sticky 

 and glutinous. A little emery paper 

 put this right, but it would take 

 months to restore those bees to a de- 

 cent temper and a becoming citizen- 

 ship. 



DO THINGS RIGHT 



By A. F. Mead 

 That article in the July Journal 

 about "Beginning With Bees," has 

 more real meat in it than some 

 whole books. Any beginner, and al- 

 most any experienced beekeeper, who 

 will reatl the article carefully will find 

 it of more value to them than the 

 cost of a year's subscription to the 



Journal, and I want to emphasize 

 what he says al)out thoroughness. 

 Do things right. 



We do not always know what 

 course to take, but if we go ahead 

 and do what we think should be done 

 and be thorough about it. we will not 

 often go wrong. Such a beekeeper 

 will keep things neat around his 

 apiary and will not be obliged to 

 make excuses when visitors or the in- 

 spector call. In my work I visited 

 one man with 34 hives, every one set 

 flat on the ground, no attempt made 

 to clean up weeds and grass, and in a 

 number of cases I was obliged to 

 clear away the growth before I could 

 find on which end of the hive was the 

 entrance. Another, with 19 colonies, 

 which had swarmed until he had used 

 up all his empty hives and did not 

 know what to do ne.xt, had supers on 

 less than half the colonies where they 

 were needed, giving as the reason for 

 his neglect that he "hadn't got around 

 to it." 



I believe one important part of the 

 work of the inspector is to punch up 

 the neglectful ones who will not read 

 and show them something of what 

 can be accomplished if they will do 

 things right and on time. Many of 

 them will be helped by a little good 

 advice, and perhaps assistance, while 

 with others it is plainly evident that 

 the only thing to tell them is to 

 straighten up their cross-combs and 

 box hives and clean up or go out of 

 the business. 



.Battle Creek, Mich. 



rectly on Ihc combs in the mating box 

 as I was looking for her. 



C. F. HOSER, 

 Norristown, Pa. 



A MATING QUEEN 



Yesterday I witnessed an incident, 

 the first of its kind in my more than 

 20 years at it. As I was looking for 

 a virgin queen, she returned from her 

 mating flight with the male parts at- 

 tached. Immediately the bees com- 

 menced to tug at her, and finally one 

 took good hold and pulled the parts 

 from her. I secured them, laid them 

 on a piece of paper and toc'.ay they 

 are hard as glass. The queen flew di- 



NEW BULLETINS 



We have received two new bulle- 

 tins from the Ontario Department of 

 .-Xgriculture. Both are by Prof. F. 

 Eric Milieu, the Provincial Apiarist. 

 The first, "Transferring of Bees," 

 contains 12 pages, and goes into detail 

 of all well-known practical methods 

 of transferring. The second, entitled 

 "Bee Diseases in Ontario," contains 

 24 pages, and is a good resume of 

 present-day information relating to 

 bee diseases. 



Those interested can probably se- 

 cure copies by addressing Prof. F. 

 Eric Milieu, Provincial .Apiarist, 

 Guelph, Ontario, Canada. 



HAS THIS OBSERVATION 

 VALUE? 



By Arthur C. Miller 

 When examining some cells in nur- 

 sery cages, from which queens had 

 emerged, large quantities of semi- 

 transparent jelly were observed. The 

 cells (on wooden bases) were re- 

 placed and later, when the queens 

 were put into nuclei, all the jelly was 

 found to have been consumed. The 

 cages had an ample supply of honey 

 and sugar candy. Now, why did the 

 young queens eat the jelly? What 

 did they miss in the candy food? 



Later, tests were made by putting 

 in fresh cells from which larva had 

 been removed, and the queens con- 

 sutiied that jelly. So, it seemed as if 

 they craved something which candy 

 did not supply. If that was true, how 

 about the health of young queens 

 who had only a very small residue of 

 jelly left in the cells from which they 

 emerged ? 



As it was not always possible or 

 convenient to supply cells of fresh 

 jelly for the young queens, the mat- 

 ter was ignored for a time, until one 

 day several nice young queens caged 



Details of reversing mechanism of Markle extractor. 



