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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



of moth larva' hatching in it. Usually the eggs 

 which are laid by the moths are about the edge 

 of the sections, and if these are scraped at 

 ounce it may remove the eggs that may have 

 been laid on their edges. 



Mr. Calc's advice is good. Bi-sulphide is 

 easier to use than sulphur. There is very 

 little danger of coloring the combs, even with 

 sulphur smoke, fo- it is not the smoke which 

 is expected to kill* the moths, but the gas 

 formed from combustion. 



A very small number of moth larvx will 

 damage the sale of comb honey, so it pays 

 well to be careful about it. 



Bees and Grapes Again 



A friend of mine said, the other day, that 

 he wished I would move all my bees out in 

 the country, for when his grapes got ripe the 

 bees would sting the grapes and then turn 

 around and suck out the juice. He also said 

 that last year he bet he poisoned 10,000 bees 

 with poisoned water around his few grape 

 vines, from his kitchen door to the coal shed 

 on the alley. 



I told him I thought the birds were the 

 first ones tn pick the grapes, leaving an open- 

 ing in the skin so the bees would work on 

 them. 



It has been tried in the courts in California, 

 but I do not remember what the result was. 

 I hope there is a law some day fining peo- 

 ple for poisoning bees in fruit bloom or any 

 other time. I hope there is a honey flow when 

 the grapes get ripe, so they will not bother 

 them. My bees have done fine this year, so 

 far. KANSAS. 



Answer. — That friend of yours would prob- 

 ably deny having said that he managed to poi- 

 son 10,000 of your bees intentionally, if he 

 should be called before a court, for when a 

 man is mean enough to do that, he is mean 

 enough to lie about it. There is no doubt 

 that he could be held liable in a court if the 

 intentional poisoning could be proven. 



However, this man is also as ignorant as 

 he is mean, for he undoubtedly believed that 

 the bees do puncture fruit. He is like the 

 fellow who denies that the earth turns around 

 the sun or revolves upon itself, because he 

 does not see it move. He takes things for 

 granted which are false. There is one very 

 simple way to convince him, if he is open 

 to conviction. Take a bunch of ripe grapes, 

 puncture two of them, while making sure that 

 there arc no other damaged grapes in the 

 bunch ; then place them, before his eyes, in 

 a hive of bees, right upon the combs, and 

 leave them there 48 hours. After that time. 

 he will see that the bees have only suckeu the 

 juice of the berries that were punctured before 

 they were put in. This ought to convince any 

 sensible man that bees cannot damage sound 

 grapes. 



As to the bees stinging the grapes, if they 

 would do it. they would insert poison in them 

 and that would make them unfit for either 

 bees or men. 



We had to investigate this matter thor- 

 oughly for ourselves, for, we had a number 

 of irascible neighbors who took it for granted 

 that we were getting rich out of their grapes, 

 by our bees puncturing them and helping them- 

 selves to thjC sweet juice. Tin the contrary, 

 we were losing bees, and the juice which they 

 were storing in lieu of honey made them sick 

 in the winter. So we have as much reason to 

 keep the bees out of the grapes as the other 

 man has. This was in 1879. But our neigh- 

 bors were so fully convinced that we were 

 right and that our bees could nut injure sound 

 grapes that we have never had any trouble 

 since. 



Some men will tell you that the bees always 

 make two holes in the berry, one just a..ove 

 the other. 'I'hosc holes arc made by the beak 



of the bird, when eating. Of counse some 

 grapes also crack open, in moist weather, and 

 others are punctured by hornets, which have 

 saw-like teeth, entirely unlike the smooth jaws 

 of honeybees. That the bees cannot injure 

 sound fruit is a proven fact, but there are 

 people who would very much dislike to see it 

 proved, for they delight in holding some one 

 responsible for their bad luck. 



queens something to gossip about as 

 they strolled up and down in front of 

 the hives in the cool of the evening. 

 Fred Osier. 



ODDS AND ENDS 



Indiana News 



The July letter of the Secretary of 

 the Indiana Beekeepers' Association 

 is at hand. It breathes activity and 

 accomplishment. With only three in- 

 spectors at work, 1,262 apiaries, to- 

 taling 10,491 colonies, were inspect- 

 ed from May 2.5 to July 4. 



Both American and European foul- 

 brood are being overcome, according 

 to Mr. Yost. With larger funds avail- 

 able for 1922, it is hoped to carry the 

 inspection campaign near a success- 

 ful termination. 



Organized county associations are 

 helping the good work. 



Bees Trained to Answer Signal 



London, July 6. — The sound of a 

 gong is the signal for a large swarm 

 of bees to begin and end their daily 

 labors at Fleet, Hants, says the Daily 

 Mail. 



Trained by Mr. Alder, the bees 

 wait for the order to start work at 6 

 a. m., and at the sound of the mono- 

 tonous bangs on a meta! dish the 

 swarm starts from the hives. 



Working all day among the lime 

 trees which surround the estate, the 

 bees cease their labors when the time 

 gong sounds, like so many human 

 beings. An hour afterwards the bees 

 are sent to bed by a soft note from 

 the gong. 



The above is from a Toronto paper. 



I think the owner of these bees 

 might hang a pencil on a string to 

 each hive and have the workers mark 

 up the quantity of honey brought in 

 on each trip. One of the drones could 

 then figure up the grand total at the 

 end of the day. This would give the 



Changes at Ames 



The beekeeping work at the Iowa 

 Agricultural College has recently 

 been reaiTanged so that Prof. F. B. 

 Paddock will in future spend all his 

 time with teaching and investiga- 

 tional work. The extension work in 

 connection with the position of State 

 Apiarist has been so heavy that It 

 could well occupy the entire time of 

 the person responsible for it. We 

 have not as yet seen any announce- 

 ment as to who has been selected for 

 the position of State Apiarist. Our 

 Iowa readers will be glad to note that 

 Professor Paddock is to remain at 

 Ames and that his entire time will be 

 spent in the service of the beekeep- 

 ers, although the work is to be di- 

 vided to give him more time to devote 

 to teaching. 



Value of Bees in U. S. A. 



Completed census reports give the 

 total value of bees in the United 

 States at $16,855,251, as compared 

 to $10,373,615 in 1910. California 

 and Texas lead the list, with over a 

 million dollar valuation for each, with 

 New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, 

 Tennessee, Iowa and Missouri follow- 

 ing in the order named. 



Lower Freight Rate 



A recent news item conveys the in- 

 formation that the freight rate on 

 honey from Pacific Coast points to 

 the Atlantic seaboard has recently 

 been lowered 10 cents per 100 lbs. 

 in car lots. 



Millen in England 



F. Eric Millen, Provincial Apiarist 

 of Ontario, with headquarters at the 

 Agricultural College at Guelph; is en- 

 joying a two-months' vacation in 

 England, his native land. He ex- 

 pects to return early in September 

 to continue his school woi-k at the 

 College. 



BEES ON FARMS IN THE UNITED "STATES AND PRODUCTION OF 

 HONEY AND BEESWAX 



Preliminary report of the number of bees in the United States and produc- 

 tion of honey and wax, for both 1910 and 1919 are now available. We be- 

 lieve they are sufficiently intei'esting to our readers to be reproduced here. 



Unfortunately, no bees and no honey production was reported for cities. 

 This would make quite a difference in the totals as reported ; just how much, 

 it is difficult to say. 



Bees on Farms 



The number of hives of bees on farms in the United States on January 1, 

 1920, according to the Fourteenth Census, was 3,476,346, as compared with 

 3,445,006 in 1910, showing an increase of 31,340, or 0.9 per cent. In mak- 

 ing comparisons between these two years the change in the date of enumera- 

 tion from April 15 in 1910, to January 1 in 1920, should be taken into consid- 

 eration. Especially in States where the winters are severe, the number of 

 hives of bees on farms in April of any year is likely to be considerably less 

 than the number in January. In such States the 1920 figures may be some- 

 what too high for a fair comparison with 1910. It is probable, therefore, that 

 a count of the hives of bees in April, 1920, would have shown a decrease, as 

 compared with the nunibe.- in 1910, rather than even a slight inci'ease. 



The States reporting the largest number of hives of bees on farms on 

 January 1, 1920, were Texas, with 235,111; Tennessee, with 191,898; Califor- 

 nia, with 180,719; North Carolina, with 163.956; Illinois, with 162,630; Mis- 

 souri, with 157,678; Kentucky, with 156,889, and Alabama, with 153,766. 

 Those eight States are the only ones which reported over 150,000 hives of 



