1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



221 



Not All Dead Yet 



There is a common saying that 

 "Fools are not all dead yet." In 

 proof that the saying is true one has 

 only to read the current comment on 

 beekeeping subjects appearing in the 

 newspapers. It seems that no matter 

 how fantastic a statement may be, 

 the average newspaper reporter is 

 always ready to pass it on as a gos- 

 pel truth. 



For some time past there has been 

 a story going the rounds of the press 

 of an immense cave somewhere in 

 Texas that is occupied by hundreds 

 of swarms of bees. These bees, ac- 

 cording to the story, have been there 

 for many years and have been storing 

 up their honey until there is now 

 available some millions of pounds. In 

 fact, the latest clipping to come to 

 our attention has increased the quan- 

 tity from mere millions and now gives 

 the figures in billions of pounds. 



It is reported that the delegates 

 to the recent Indianapolis meeting 

 enjoyed a whole evening of fun at 

 the expense of a gullible promoter 

 who had secured an option on this 

 mythical cave and who proposed to 

 organize a stock company to secure 

 and market the enormous store. 



It now appears that some eastern 

 people have taken the story so seri- 

 ously that they have employed an en- 

 gineer to visit Texas and locate the 

 cave and ascertain whether the build- 

 ing of an immense packing plant 

 there is feasible. At last accounts 

 the engineer had arrived in Texas, 

 but was having difficulty in finding 

 the location of the cave. 



Workers and Queens 



"Whilst most bee books speak of 

 the marvelous manner in which the 

 workers can raise a queen from a 

 worker egg, the reverse is actually 

 the case, and the miracle performed 

 thousands of times oftener, since the 

 queen is bound to reproduce herself 

 each time she lays a fertile egg, and 

 the rearing of workers from queen 

 eggs the more wonderful occurrence." 

 (Gilbert Barratt, quoted in October- 

 April Bee World.) 



Why did we never see it in that 

 light? Even Mr. Langstroth spoke of 

 the wonderful change which the 

 queen-cell and the better food pro- 

 duced, while it is really as Mr. Bar- 

 ratt says; for the wonder is that 

 the bees be able to rear neuters in- 

 stead of fully developed females in 

 each worker cell. 



Swarms 



Most of us do not wish our bees to 

 swarm naturally. Our apiary may 

 be located among high trees, where a 

 swarm is unpleasant to bring down. 

 Or we may be away on business, with 

 no one to watch the bees. We may 

 not want any increase in the number 

 of our colonies and, if we do, we 

 prefer to make the selection our- 

 selves of the hives that will furnish 

 the increase. 



If we have young queens in our 

 hives, few drones, large brood-cham- 

 bers, plenty of empty combs, or at 

 least plenty of room in the supers, 

 ample ventilation secured by rais- 



ing the hive from the alight- 

 ing board until the bees do not lie 

 outside in clusters, and, last of all, 

 good shade, either artificial or nat- 

 ural, we have our colonies in the best 

 possible condition to avoid swarming. 

 The amount of natural swarming will 

 then be probably less than 10 per 

 cent, and often less than 5 per cent, 

 of the number of colonies, spring 

 count. 



But if our bees do swarm, let us 

 enjoy the pleasure. If we have 

 empty hives in readiness, so that they 

 may be placed in a suitable spot im- 

 mediately after the swarm has clus- 

 tered, we may enjoy the sight of the 

 most exciting of all bee pranks. 



Did you ever watch a hive during 

 the exit of the swarm? No matter 

 how large the entrance, there does 

 not seem to be enough room for all 

 the bees that try to go at one time. 

 If you open the hive during that ex- 

 odus, you will see them fly out from 

 every comb, just as if they were so 

 many robbers frightened away after 

 filling themselves. The "home feel- 

 ing" is gone; their thought is on go- 

 ing, no matter where. 



If you can catch the queen, as she 

 emerges (and she does not always 

 emei'ge among the first), you may 

 make the hiving of the swarm a very 

 short business. All you need to do 

 is to put her in a cage, remove the 

 old colony to another spot, with the 

 cage containing the queen on the 

 alighting board. In a little while, 

 though the bees may have clustered, 

 they will perceive that the queen is 

 not with them and will return to the 

 old spot. But the old colony may be 

 too much deprived of bees by this 

 method, and it is well to either re- 

 place it on its stand, putting the 

 swarm in a new spot, or give it a 

 quart or two of young bees from the 

 swarm. 



The hum of swarming bees is a de- 

 lightful sound. Read what the great 

 Huber wrote concerning it: 



"Do you hear any discord in this 

 numerous concert? This soft hum-> 

 ming is, to my sense of hearing, com- 

 posed only of accurate tones. This 

 aerial music goes straight to my 

 heart; I acknowledge that I never 

 heard it indifferently; is it possible 

 that what I find in it expressive, 

 touching, melancholy and even sol- 

 emn, comes only from myself or my 

 imagination? I will not deny the 

 natural exaltation which rises within 

 me through this interesting event and 

 this apparent agreement in will and 

 sentiment in beings that are placed 

 (by us it is true) almost at the foot 

 of the scale. 



"Are the people with imagination 

 moi-e or less happy than the others? 

 If the pictures which they paint for 

 themselves always come to life, they 

 are surely to be envied, for, being 

 masters of their palette, being al- 

 ways able to select their colors and 

 assort them properly, their horizon is 

 made up mainly of pleasant perspec- 

 tives. They are accused, however, of 

 sometimes painting too flattering im- 

 ages and to welcome with too much 

 partiality air castles upon which wise 



and cool minds would never have 

 stopped." 



Huber holds that the humming of 

 the bees in a swarm composes harmo- 

 nics which form a perfect chord "to 

 me the most ravLshing of all, when it 

 is performed by 15,000 or 20,000 

 bees, workers and drones." 



In the issue of a swarm, there is 

 not only a very harmonious sound; 

 there is also a highly perfumed odor 

 composed of the different scents of 

 the honey, the pollen and the wax, 

 all blended together in the natural 

 odor of the little honeybee. There is 

 no odor of the sting, if they are prop- 

 erly handled, for bees, at swarming, 

 are always peaceable, since they are 

 all filled with honey and are bent 

 upon seeking a new home, where they 

 will again begin their active life of 

 work. 



The Beeswax Market 



From the Oil Paint and Drug Re- 

 porter, we glean some interesting sta- 

 tistics regarding the imports and ex- 

 ports of beeswax, together with 

 prices in this country for the past 

 four years. The imports have been 

 as follows: 



1917—2,858,190 pounds, worth 

 $994,159.00. 



1918—1,558,048 pounds, worth 

 $584,194.00. 



1919—2,383,901 pounds, worth 

 $896,327.00. 



1920—4,142,931 pounds, worth 

 $1,418,023.00. 



Duinng this same time our exports 

 were small in comparison to our im- 

 ports, as the following figures will 

 show: 



1917—256,467 pounds, worth $95,- 

 751.00. 



1918 — 165,382 pounds, worth $63,- 

 244.00 



1919 — 210,046 pounds, worth $92,- 

 285.00. 



1920—632,811 pounds, worth 

 $294,592.00. 



During the year 1919, the market 

 price is given as 3'.'> cents per pound, 

 at the low point, and 45 cents at the 

 highest. By the close of 1920, the 

 price had fallen as low as 18 cen*^s 

 per pound, on the same markets. It 

 will be seen that the foreign wax 

 coming into American markets in 

 1920 was nearly three times the 

 amount received in 1918 and the 

 price had fallen to less than half that 

 of the year 1919. 



To Stop Robbing 



Mr. Charles Boone Saunders, of In- 

 diana, writes about a method of stop- 

 ping robbing; he says: 



"The best method I ever learned is 

 to use half kerosene and half water, 

 in a Mason jar with holes in the lid 

 as in a pepper box, and sprinkle the 

 colony with it that is being robbed. 

 The robber bees soon leave it, but it 

 will kill bees if you get too much on 

 them. One should be careful and use 

 it sparingly. 



"Let those who have never tried it 

 give it a trial." 



.A.11 unpleasant smelling drugs are 

 good, but they should be resorted to 

 only when ordinary means fail. 



