62 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



when robbing), remain very quiet 

 when being handled, cap their cells 

 white, and winter well out of doors. 

 Winter losses do occur, but I think 

 this is the fault of defective hives. In 

 any case, the percentage of such 

 losses is not high — less than 5 per 

 cent — for the Chinese honeybee is a 

 very hardy creature. In regard to 

 propolis, they certainly cannot be ac- 

 cused of using this lavishly. Burr 

 and brace-combs do occur occasion- 

 ally, but a knife soon remedies these 

 defects. In regard to swarms, not 

 every hive casts one. Eight of my 

 colonies, although filled with bees, 

 have not cas't a single swarm within 

 the past two years. Some hives cast 

 one or two prime swarms a year, the 

 first in spring, which as likely as not 

 is followed in a few days by an after- 

 swarm, if queen-cells are not cut out, 

 and the second in Autumn (end of 

 August or early in September), but I 

 believe it is rare for an afterswarm 

 to follow the prime swarm in autumn, 

 even if queen-cells are not cut out. 

 The average number of queen-cells 

 found in a hive after the issue of a 

 prime swarm is three. I have on one 

 or two occasions seen four. I be- 

 lieve it is unusual to find more than 

 four cells in a hive after a swarm has 

 issued, although in one instance, in 

 my apiary, when a virgin was lost on 

 her wedding flight, the bees started 

 six queen-cells. These, however, did 

 not mature, for I gave the colony a 

 ripe queen from another hive, and 

 directly the vingin emerged she 

 promptly tore down all six cells. The 

 Chinese queen, however, is not all 

 that can be desired in the matter of 

 egg production. The rearing of brood 

 is curtailed, sometimes entirely 

 stopped, in a dearth of nectar. What 

 age does a Chinese queen attain? 

 Well, this is a question I cannot 

 answer, but I have noticed a number 

 of instances the queens were super- 

 seded after the working year. One 

 thing must be said of Chinese honey- 

 bees: they keep their hives clean. 

 The average colony defends its hive 

 well, against both robbers and wax- 

 moths, but a weak colony quickly 

 goes under. 



SELFISHNESS IN AMERICAN 



HONEY PRODUCERS' LEAGUE 



By W. E. Joor 



Unfortunately, selfishness is not 

 confined to the League, neither is it 

 absent from among beekeepers. As 

 a rule, I believe all real beekeepers 

 are gentlemanly in heart, but in ad- 

 dition to beekeepers there are honey 

 producers and keepers of bees who 

 are out only for the coin there is in 

 it; and they, as a rule, lose much 

 that they might have, because they 

 are not beekeepers. There is also 

 much selfishness and petty jealousy 

 in State amd County Associations, 

 and wherever such exist, they are a 

 severe handicap to the organization. 



I have known prominent honey 

 producers who would not join or 

 work with any association. They 

 would not give any information they 

 mig'ht possess to fellow beekeepers, 



nor to beginners, because they feared 

 both as competitors. For them "the 

 quality of mercy is strained." 



I wonder how many of us would 

 be keeping bees if we did not have 

 the teachings of such men as Lang- 

 stroth, Quinby, Miller, Alexander, 

 and the Dadants? These men all 

 made discoveries and inventions or 

 worked out methods and freely gave 

 them to others. Shall we not "pass 

 it on?" 



In "'Scientific Queen Rearing," 

 Doolittle says : "All that I have done 

 has been done with the hope that I 

 might be of benefit to the world, 

 benefiting some one by smoothing 

 over the rough places a little the 

 same as some of the writers of the 

 past have smoothed the way before 

 my tender feet, when they were still 

 youthful in the pursuit of apiculture." 



■'As I have freely received of the 

 good things in the bee literature of 

 the past, so I as freely give of the lit- 

 tle 1 know, that I may, in a measure, 

 pay the large debt I owe to those 

 who have preceded me in the way of 

 our delightful pursuit.' 



The very being of our country rests 

 on the sacrifice of the individual for 

 the benefit of the many, and the 

 benefit of the one through prosperity 

 of the many, "E Pluribus unum." 

 This is the day of co-operation. The 

 United States is a co-operative con- 

 cern, both as between States, and be- 

 tween individuals and other units. 



We must have sectional (State or 

 otherwise) co-operative organiza- 

 tions and these should combine into 

 a national concern, the American 

 Honey Producers' League. If any 

 special interests or sets of men try 

 to exploit it for their benefit, it will 

 be a failure. The interests that must 

 work unselfishly in the League are 

 the manufacturers, the honey dealers, 

 the journalists, the educators and 

 also the producers themselves. Any 

 of these classes, by attempting to 

 dominate or by striving to exclude 

 the other, will cause injury. 



There is another form of selfish- 

 ness that can cause serious injury to 

 the project. This is well expressed 

 in the slang phrase, "Let George do 

 it." Such is the man who refuses to 

 join, or help in the work, but who is 

 perfectly willing Co sit by and receive 

 more money for his honey and other 

 benefits; to sit in meetings and ab- 

 sorb all the information he can, but 

 never gives any himself; to use the 

 inventions and methods of others, 

 but does not help others at all. 



The objects of the League are so 

 broad that when it is functioning 

 normally every beekeeper will be 

 benefited. Some of these are : 



1. The standardization of equip- 

 ment or the reduction of the number 

 of different types of equipment to be 

 manufactured', and also carried by 

 the dealers. There are several types 

 of comb-honey supers and as a rule 

 these are not suitable to use as ex- 

 tracting supers. If we use sections 

 (as I suppose we always will), we 

 could use a section that could be used 

 in the standard extracting super with 



"T" tins (a la Dr. Miller) and thus 

 have a super that could be used for 

 shallow extracting frames. 



2. The standardization of race 

 markings for bees. There is no ac- 

 cepted standard at present. 



3. The definition of what is meant 

 by a pound of bees; a one, two or 

 three-frame nucleus; a full colony. 



4. The influence to secure just 

 freight rates; uniformity in regula- 

 tions regarding disease control; ship- 

 ping bees and queens; power to con- 

 test unjust laws. 



5. Universal advertising cam- 

 paign; assist beekeepers in buying 

 supplies and in selling their products. 



6. The promotion of broader edu- 

 cation in apiculture, and research 

 along lines of general interest to bee- 

 keepers. 



Sectionalism and sectional selfish- 

 ness must be held down and all ac- 

 tions taken in a broad spirit for the 

 best interests of the beekeeping in- 

 dustry of the whole country. 



But a reasonable selfishness, if 

 such a term is permissible, is abso- 

 lutely necessary to make the League 

 a success. Does that sound paradox- 

 ical? Well, it's so. Man, the aver- 

 age human, is, in a sense, inherently 

 selfish. How can that trait be made 

 useful in the working of the League? 



By making the League an organiza- 

 tion of service to the individuals of 

 its member associations and the al- 

 lied traders, this selfish trait can be 

 made especially useful. The trouble 

 with the old National was that it was 

 too altruistic and theoretical (with- 

 out teeth, as some would have the 

 League of Nations) and of no practi- 

 cal use to its members. The result 

 was that no one received any direct, 

 definite benefit, and where no defi- 

 nite benefit was visible the beekeep- 

 ers refused to part with their money, 

 and gave the National very little 

 thought, and less support. Also it 

 was too expensive for individual 

 members from all the States to 

 gather at a single meeting plac?, and 

 the meetings were almost the only 

 benefits. 



In the League plan, representatives 

 of member associations, chosen by 

 those associations, gather together, 

 like the United States Congress, and 

 transact such business as may be 

 timely. These representatives should 

 and will, if they carry out the consti- 

 tutional objects and policies of the 

 organization, set machinery in motion 

 that will be of direct aid to individual 

 beekeepers; thus making the human 

 selfish trait a means of drawing sup- 

 port. Care must be exercised that 

 these benefits be for all individuals, 

 whether producer, manufacturer or 

 dealer. It must be an association for 

 the industry at large and not for spe- 

 cial interests or sections. 



Texas. 



SOURCES OF KANSAS HONEY 



By A. V. Small 

 South central Kansas is very dif- 

 ferent from the white clover region. 

 Alfalfa is the main source of honey 

 with considerable sweet clover in 



