1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



453 



We thank Mr. Cole for recalling 

 this to us. This should not prevent 

 the apiarist from using a slanting 

 board in front of each hive moved, as 

 it calls their attention to the change 

 of location. — Editor.) 



HE LIKES SESAMUM 



A. W. Puett, of Jones County, 

 Texas, wi-ites an enthusiastic letter 

 about the sesamuni, after having 

 planted the sample package of seed 

 sent out by the American Bee Jour- 

 nal last spring. He planted the seed 

 on April 28, the same day he planted 

 his cotton. Part of the seed was 

 planted on what he calls "raw hide" 

 land, and the balance on good sandy 

 land. It succeeded about equally 

 well on both kinds of soil, except that 

 he had a larger number of plants on 

 the sandy land. 



Under date of September 5 he 

 writes as follows: 



"I counted as high as 231 pods of 

 seed on one plant. Sixty days after 

 planting it began blooming and con- 

 tinued to bloom for 60 days, when it 

 died, apparently from dry weather. 

 It only had one good I'ain the whole 

 season. Several times during tne sea- 

 son I found the bees working on it. I 

 don't know of anything that produces 

 as much seed to the stalk as sesamum 

 and I believe it will prove to be among 

 the greatest bee plants ever intro- 

 duced into this country. I secured a 

 half gallon of seed fi-om 40 stalks and 

 am well pleased with it, considering 

 the season. 



When the stalk begins to turn yel- 

 low and a few seed pods are opening, 

 cut the stalk below the lowest branch 

 and place upside down in a large sack, 

 barrel or tight box. In four or five 

 days all the pods will open, and by 

 shaking the stalk all the seed is 

 threshed out clean, and with little 

 work." 



THE HYBRID VS. ITALIAN 



By Claron D. Barber 



Mr. Prothero's ideal bee is certain- 

 ly an admirable goal to strive for. 

 However, I doubt very much if the 

 ideal bee, or the nearest thing to it 

 that will be evolved will be a hybrid. 

 Attempts at improvement by cross- 

 breeding along this line have not 

 proved singularly successful in the 

 past, no less a celebrated practical 

 beekeeper and student of bee nature 

 than the late Dr. C. C. Miller gave up 

 hybrids after years of use, during 

 which he constantly strove to improve 

 his stock by selective breeding. A lack 

 of fixity of character, even after a 

 so-called strain has been established, 

 is their glaring and omnipresent fault. 

 Also I question the possibility of any 

 hybrid strain possessing the uniform 

 foulbrood resistant qualities of a gooa 

 strain of Italians, a quality which, go- 

 ing hand in hand as it does with col- 

 ony strength and honey production, is 

 something sought after above all other 

 qualities. 



In live stock or similar lir.es we 

 find no attempts at improvement by 

 hybridizing; why should something 

 that has been given up along these 



lines work out in bee culture? I 

 would suggest that the qualities Mr. 

 Frothero would give to the Italian by 

 the addition of foreign blood should 

 rather be bred for selection in a pure 

 strain of Italians. It is my opinion 

 that this, when the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing the desirable characteristics of a 

 race in its crosses and other obstacles 

 are taken into consideration, s^hould 

 prove the easier of the two. Then, 

 when we did obtain the strain, we 

 would have it for all time, something 

 we would not be sure of with blacks. 

 Perhaps it were best to stick to the 

 old reliable three-banders, who have 

 proved themselves the best f'lr gen- 

 eral use by many years of trial 

 Illinois. 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



Weil-Known New Yorker 



In the State of New York there are 

 a number of well-known beemen, but 

 none more fascinated with the pur- 

 suit of honey production than George 

 B. Howe, of Sacket's Harbor. Howe 

 is one of the well-known queen breed- 

 ers of the eastern section, and there 

 are few who are able to secure queens 

 of such uniformly high quality as he. 

 He selects for a breeder the queen at 

 the head of a colony which has not 

 swarmed and which produces the larg- 

 est amount of honey. In this way he 

 IS building up a strain of heavy pro- 

 ducing bees. At the same time the 

 other qualities, such as gentleness and 

 color are not overlooked. Howe be- 

 lieves that by giving the same careful 

 attention to breeding bees which has 

 been devoted to poultry, cattle, hogs 

 and sheep, that equal results can be 

 obtained. 



BOTTOM STARTERS 



By C. E. Fowler 



In the July issue, page 280, Mr. 

 Greiner speaks about drone comb. He 

 says: 



"Yet we have to cull out many 

 otherwise nice combs on account of 

 the foundation having sagged to an 

 extent to make them for all practical 

 purposes drone comb." 



When I used starters (for econ- 

 omy) I made a big mistake, but that 

 was years ago; since I use full sheets 

 I have had better luck, and I never 

 have any drone comb from stretched 

 foundation. 



Either his wiring was wrong or his 

 foundation was too light. 



He says: "We cannot keep our ex- 

 tracting supers as free from drone 

 comb as our brood chambers." I al- 

 ways use full sheets of foundation 

 and bottom starters in the supers, and 

 never have any drone comb what- 

 ever; unless the mice make a hole 

 first, which happens sometimes. 



For years the comb-honey produc- 

 ers used starters, triangles, and short 

 foundation, but they found the full 

 sheet and bottom starter a great ad- 

 vantage and now many use them. 



A few years ago I found out the 

 bottom starters on frames were far 

 superior in many ways to single 

 sheets. 



My bees always fasten the comb to 

 the bottom bar before they put much 

 honey in; that is, they connect the 

 sheet to the bottom starter and fill 

 the frame entirely full of worker 

 comb, frequently not leaving room 

 for a single drone cell. 



The bottom starter gives about 5 

 per cent more room for honey, so 

 that 19 supers will hold as much 

 honey or brood as 20 supers without 

 bottom starters, and pays for the 

 trouble about once every year, 100 

 per cent. 



New Jersey. 



George B. Howe 



BLACKHAWK COUNTY, IOWA 



The Blackhawk County, Iowa, Bee- 

 keepers' Association was organized 

 the evening of July 29, 1921. The 

 following officers were elected to 

 serve until the regular annual meet- 

 ing in October: President, M. M. 

 Moore, Waterloo; Vice President, M. 

 W. Oman, Waterloo ; Secretary, Amos 

 Burhans, Waterloo. The Executive 

 Committee, which includes the three 

 officers mentioned, is also strengrth- 

 ened by the addition of two other 

 members, namely, H. S. Hayes, Cedar 

 Falls, and Roland Nutt, Waterloo. 

 They plan to hold a field meeting, 

 with the assistance of Mr. Newman 

 Lyie, of the Extension Department 

 of the Ames Agricultural College, as 

 demonstrator, in September. 



The objects of the association are 

 to promote good beekeeping, ;o assist 

 in the eradication of bee diseases in 

 its territory, to foster the interests 

 of its commercial honey producers, 

 to enlarge its honey market, to hold 

 an annual field meet within its dis- 

 trict, and to co-operate with the 

 State and National Beekeepers' As- 

 sociations. 



