410 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



ported articles are out of vcach in 

 price. That is enough to disrourage 

 any one. It takes 100 kilos (220 

 lbs.) of honey to pay for an ordi- 

 nai-y umbrella; the same amount to 

 pay for a case of gasoline; 600 kilos 

 (1,320 lbs.) to pay for a rubber tirj 

 31x4 for my auto. I understand that 

 your beekeepers are better off, and it 

 gives me great desire of coming tD 

 the United States and see. Perhaps 

 I will come some day. 



Do you use the capping-melter? 

 How does it succeed? Does it dam- 

 age the honey? I have con-;;dei'able 

 trouble with small particles cf cap- 

 pings that gather on top cf the 

 honey after extracting, and a:> I have 

 so large a quantity (509 bands this 

 year) I want some good method of 

 getting rid of these cappings. I do 

 the extracting in a tent the edges of 

 which are held down with bi^; rocks, 

 e.xcepting the front, which is allowed 

 to drop to the gi'ound as w.; go in 

 and out. I would like to have a cen- 

 tral plant, but it is out of the ques- 

 tion, on account of bad roads and 

 long distances. Last year I had ty- 

 phoid fever in the middle of the sum- 

 mer and had to delay extracting until 

 cold weather. I did the work when 

 there was snow and rain an<l had to 

 warm up the supers with a stove un- 

 der a pile of them, in order to warm 

 up the honey so as to uncap and ex 

 tract. 



Let me hear from you, pleaise, with 

 advice as to what you think of the 

 situation. (j. J. 



(It looks as if our correspondent's 

 bees were suffering from some dis- 

 ease like European foulbrood. We 

 are sending him some information on 

 the subject. — Editor). 



THE CENTURY PLANT 



In the Southwestern States, Mexico 

 and Central America, there are a 

 number of long-lived plants, common- 

 ly spoken of as century plants. These 

 belong to the genus Agave, more than 

 138 species of which have been de- 

 scribed. Many of them are native to 

 Africa and desert regions of Asia. 

 Coulter li.sts seven species as native 



to Texas, and some others are to be 

 found in Arizona, New Mexico and 

 California. 



The flower stalks often rise to a 

 height of forty feet or more and are 

 a striking feature of the southwestern 

 landscape. The fleshy leaves are 

 armed with thorns or prickles to resist 

 attacks of hungry animals, and the 

 thick leaves hold large quantities of 

 water, so they are well adapted to sur- 

 vive in a region of almost constant 

 sunshine and little rainfall. 



The plants grow slowly, usually ma- 

 turing in from three to fifteen years 

 in their native regions. Although the 

 bloom is infrequent, enormous quan- 

 tities of nectar are available when the 

 plants do bloom. There are few plants 

 which yield so copiously. The pic- 

 ture gives a good idea of the appear- 

 ance of the plant before the flower 

 stalk appears. 



tact in my 40 years as a beekeeper. 



Wisconsin. 



SAVING A CHILLED QUEEN 



By Elias Fox 



In April, 1920, we had some bad 

 weather. One morning while looking 

 for bees which might be short of 

 stores, I noticed a double handful of 

 apparently dead bees outside the en- 

 trance of a hive. On top of the pile 

 was a nice yellow queen. On picking 

 her up I could detect no signs of life, 

 but placed her on the kitchen table 

 about 8 feet from the stove. After 

 half an hour she still showed no signs 

 of life, but an hour later I found that 

 she had turned over on her feet, but 

 showed no apparent movement other- 

 wise. A little warm honey placed di- 

 rectly under her tongue had the de- 

 sired effect, and in a few minutes she 

 was able to walk about. ■ 



The hive was then brought in and 

 a handful of the bees likewise re- 

 vived. In a couple of weeks I found 

 they had two small patches of brood, 

 so the remnant was transferred to a 

 colony which was queenless. Later a 

 strong colony resulted, and the 

 chilled queen with her offspring pi-o- 

 duced as much honey as others which 

 had been more foi'tunate. 



This queen was the nearest gone 

 of any with which I have come in con- 



THE QUEEN MATED, BUT COULD 

 NOT LAY 



By Vernon H. Jeffries 



While transferring some of my 

 bees from some of my nucleu.s boxes 

 I found one of my queens with a lit- 

 tle hard substance that resembled an 

 egg hanging on to her. I knew that 

 there must be something the matter 

 with her, for all of the other queens 

 that were put off the same time were 

 laying right along and were doing 

 fine. 



So I caught her and pulled it off of 

 her just with my fingers alone, and 

 when I turned her loose she took 

 wing and went into another hive 

 close to where I was working, and of 

 coui'se the bees balled her at once, 

 knowing that she was a stranger, and 

 I had to work in a hurry to get her 

 out of there. &o I caught her and 

 put her in her own hive and the ras- 

 cal flew out again. I put the top on 

 and made a note of the hive in my 

 note book, so I could give them a 

 queen cell or brood, and they could 

 go on to work. 



Two or three days after giving 

 brood I went back to see how they 

 were getting on, and the first thing 

 I saw was a very nice looking queen 

 running^, over the combs dropping 

 eggs in every cell the same as any 

 other queen I have. 



I saw a piece in the American Bee 

 Journal some time back something 

 similar to the above, and I suppose 

 that helped me out a lot. I will be 

 on the lookout for such things here- 

 after and maybe can save a good 

 many queens. 



Louisiana. 



(Usually when queens mate, the 

 organ of the drone remains attached 

 to the abdomen of the female. Usu- 

 ally the workers pull this away. Evi- 

 dently in this case it had not been 

 done, and it is quite probable that 

 she could not have laid any eggs if 

 you had not helped her out. — Ed- 

 itor.) 



I ttiiuiy plant 111 .SditthtTii California. 



RULES FOR THE PACKING OF 

 BULK COMB HONEY 



A recent bulletin sent out by the 

 Texas Honey Producers' Association 

 gives their rules for the packing of 

 bulk comb honey. As the packing of 

 this article is practiced more than in 

 former years, we give them herewith: 



Pack in new cans only. 



Use 3, 5 and 10-lb. friction-top 

 cans, putting most of vour crop in 

 lO's. 



Use only white comb, drawn the 

 jjresent season, and made on thin 

 surplus or extra thin super founda- 

 tion. 



All comb must be completely 

 sealed. 



No comb in which brood his been 

 raised or that is discolored from any 

 cause can be used. 



Use only the pieces of comb cut 

 in square blocks. The comb should 

 be of a size to just i)ass through the 

 mouth of the can, and then lie flat. 



Fill the can with comb first, then 



