1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



311 



Michigan Meeting 



The beekeepers of Michigan will 

 hold their summer meeting at Alpena, 

 August 3 and 4. The Michigan meet- 

 ings are always well attended and we 

 are told that this is expected to be one 

 of the best ever held. 



Mississippi Summer Meet 



The meeting, which was held June 

 15, at the home of W. W. Worthing- 

 ton, at Wayside, Mississippi, had an 

 attendance of about 100, and they 

 report a splendid time. W. E. Elam, 

 of Green\ille, presided at the meeting. 



A Universal Bibliography 

 of Beekeeping 



We are in receipt from Italy of ten 

 copies of De Keller's "Elenchus Lib- 

 rorum de Apium Cultura," a book of 

 224 pages, published in 1881 and 

 which is said to be the most complete 

 list of bee books in existence. It men- 

 tions some 2,000 books or essays on 

 bees, published in the different coun- 

 tries, at different dates, giving au- 

 thor's name, title, size, date, etc., in 

 its own language. We will supply 

 them as long as they last at $1.25 per 

 copy. These are invaluable for col- 

 lege libraries. 



Georgia Beekeepers' Meeting 



A short course in beekeeping is to 

 be held in the Chamber of Commerce 

 Auditorium in Macon, Georgia, Au- 

 gust 16, 17 and 18. 'The program is 

 good. The State Entomologist is to 

 be present. A banquet will end the 

 day. For information address L. C. 

 Walker, of Waycross, or Mrs. Madge 

 B. Merritt, Secretary, Brunswick, 

 Georgia. 



Young Queens Lay 

 Few Drone Eggs 



Huber, who had no knowledge of 

 parthenogenesis and who wondered 

 how the queen could know when she 

 was about to lay drone eggs, would 

 have been highly pleased, had he been 

 informed of the rule of parthenogene- 

 sis which shows that it is only the egg 

 that is not fertilized as it passes by 

 the spermatheca, in her abdomen, 

 which becomes a drone. But he was a 

 very keen observer and had already 

 noticed (New Observations, 10th Let- 

 ter) that a young queen rarely lays 

 any drone eggs, if fertilized, until 

 she is at least 11 months old. So we 

 know that it is not difficult to prevent 

 a young, healthy queen from laying 

 a too great number of drone eggs, es- 

 pecially if we see to it that but little 

 drone comb is left in her reach. That 

 is another argument in favor of re- 

 placing our queens regularly. Mr. 

 Charles D'adant held that the queen 

 finds a certain pleasure in the fer- 

 tilization of worker eggs as they pass 

 the spermatheca, and that she did 

 not care to lay drone eggs till she be- 

 came fatigued of this repeated action. 



selective breeding forced by keen 

 competition." We accept the compli- 

 ment, but would also suggest that the 

 diseases of the adult bee appear to be 

 intensified by damp weather. The 

 "May disease" or "paralysis," 

 whether or not it is caused by 

 the newly discovered "Tarsonemus 

 woodi," or stimulated by the Nosema, 

 is undoubtedly a disease which thrives 

 in damp weather. Wherever we have 

 heard of the May disease, whether in 

 Italy, France, Florida, California, or 

 here in Illinois, it has been during and 

 following a period of damp weather. 

 We conclude, therefore, that our dry 

 climate is much less favorable to it 

 than the climate of England. We are 

 anxious to see it proved that Tarsone- 

 mus woodi has been positively ascer- 

 tained as the main symptom of May 

 disease, and of Isle-of-Wight disease, 

 which have been puzzling the bee- 

 keepers of nearly every country for 

 centuries. Evidently our scientists 

 are getting their finger on the spot. 

 We will now need a preventative and 

 a remedy, while at the same time 

 breeding from the best strains. 



Adult Bee Diseases 



Our friends of the "Bee World," in 

 their June number, suggest that the 

 Nosema disease of the adult bee "ex- 

 ists but in a mild form in America, 

 thanks to the high standard of Ameri- 

 can bees, evolved no doubt through 



Old Combs 



Dr. Brunnich's photos of combs, 

 contained in this number, with his in- 

 teresting article concerning old 

 combs, have been published by us, in 

 1916, but they will bear reprint. 



The coating of the inside of the 

 cells, with a slight film of wax, which 

 is generally called "burnishing," was 

 thought to be only a sort of "polish- 

 ing" by the bees. But it is well- 

 known that the queen does not lay in 

 cells till they have been refreshed in 

 this way. 



Dr. Brunnich's statement agrees 

 with that of others, that the cast-off 

 skins of the larvse add but little to 

 the thickness of the cells. The ex- 

 crements, especially those of the 

 drones, have a great deal to do with 

 the increasing darkness and thickness 

 of old combs. 



In England 



The June number of the Journal of 

 the Ministry of Agriculture, published 

 in London, contains a very interesting 

 article from the well-known Tickner 

 Edwardes, on the modern beehive. 

 Mr. Edwardes puts himself on record 

 as favoring a thicker-walled hive than 

 those in general use and, if possible, a 

 hive with "dead-air cavity walls not 

 less than three inches thick over all." 

 There is but little doubt that our ordi- 

 nary beehives, made of so-called inch 

 lumber, which is actually but little 

 over three-quarters of an inch in 

 thickness, are hardly thick enough to 

 insure the bees against quick changes 

 of temperature. The old-time straw 

 skep, in its insulating properties, was 

 very far ahead of the thin lumber 

 hive. It would be good if we could 

 combine the qualities of the old straw 

 skep with the facilities of the modem 

 movable-frame hive, without too 

 much expense. 



one of which decorates our cover 

 page. 



The hives described are handy for 

 transportation, but to an American, 

 accustomed to a top-opening hive 

 which may be tiered up several 

 stories, these hives, which are con- 

 fined to one super, would seem ex- 

 ceedingly inconvenient. A modern 

 beekeeper in America can hardly pic- 

 ture to himself any hive but the one 

 with movable ceiling, with the combs 

 removable from the top. With the 

 Berlepsch system, the hives are made 

 like so many closets and the frames 

 are always removable only from the 

 rear. Either the combs run parallel 

 to the outer wall, and in that case 

 every comb has to be removed if one 

 wishes to reach the one nearest the 

 front; or, if the combs are at right 

 angle with the entrance, they must 

 be removed from the end, with pin- 

 cers. 



The Europeans who use this sys- 

 tem claim several advantages for it, 

 the main one being the compact shape 

 in which an apiary may be kept, in a 

 country where space is expensive. 

 They also prize the possibility of han- 

 dling bees and doing the work at any 

 time, even when it rains. There is 

 nothing exposed to robbers during the 

 manipulations and one easily learns 

 a number of methods to simplify the 

 work. But any one who has ever 

 tried hives with hanging frames of 

 the Langstroth system and the tiering 

 up of supers will soon become dis- 

 gusted with a system which permits 

 of only one super at a time and ma- 

 nipulation from the inside of a closed 

 room. 



Fruit Crop Short 

 in Middle West 



According to recent statistics, the 

 fruit crop this year will be much 

 shorter than last. Conditions of ap- 

 ples for 1921 is given as only 41 per 

 cent of 1920 for the United States, 

 and only 32 per cent for Illinois. 



Moreover, in many sections, there 

 will be no peaches, pears, plums, and 

 very few berries. 



In our experience a short fruit crop 

 means a large demand for honey. Not 

 only should we feel encouraged, but 

 we should use every effort to spread 

 the use of honey as a substitute for 

 canned fruits. 



Carniolan Beekeeping 



Our readers will be interested in 

 the short article on the above subject 

 by Mr. Miklovitch, and in the photos, 



The Flood in Colorado 



In a recent letter from Colorado we 

 learn of the death, by drowning, of 

 Mr. W. A. Dolsen, a beekeeper, at 

 Avondale, Colo. On the night of 

 June 3 the Arkansas River at flood 

 stage completely wiped out his home 

 and apiary, carrying his body with the 

 debris, far downstream. 



Mr. Rauchfuss, of the Colorado 

 Honey Producers' Association, states 

 that at least 1,000 colonies of bees 

 were washed away by the floods in tne 

 streams from Denver north, while in 

 the Arkansas Valley the losses are 

 said to be very much heavier. 



A good deal of sweet clover grow- 

 ing in the bottom lands has been de- 

 stroyed by being covered with mud. 

 On the other hand, the copious rains 

 in other locations make the outlook 

 for a crop hopeful, 



