JUNE 1, 1916 



house, and was sui'prised later on to find 

 slip had revived. Thinking that the bees 

 mii'-ht follow suit he scooped them up and 

 brought them in, and they, too, revived. 

 He fed them sweetened water, and they 

 seemed to be as well as ever. 



Bees will remain in a chilled condition 

 for several days, as we have proved by 

 exDeriment ; but we have never had them 

 last longer than ten days, because, appar- 

 ently, they starved to death while in that 

 condition. 



The presumption is, in the case cited by 

 Mr. Bohon, that the bees dropped from 

 the combs from sheer exhaustion resulting 

 from a want of food. A cold spell came 

 on, and they chilled while in that condition. 

 It Avas a case of what might be calle'd sus- 

 pended animation. Mr. Bohon happened to 

 come around at the strategic time, and 

 warmed them up and fed them. They would 

 not have survived much longer probably. 



Bees suddenly chilled in a zero atmos- 

 phere will die, while bees gradually cliilled 

 and gradually warmed up will sometimes 

 survive. How low a temperature they will 

 stand we do not know; but we do know that 

 a sudden chilling kills them. 



There are some interesting problems in 

 connection with this matter; but from 

 present data at hand it is apparent that 

 Nature has made it possible for bees to be 

 chilled thru and remain in that condition 

 for several days. A warm spell coming on, 

 the bees revive and move on to fresh stores. 



Stirring up a Hornet's Nest ; Legisla- 

 tion too Drastic 



AVesley Foster^ in his department in 

 this issue, expresses himself in favor of leg- 

 islation " prohibiting the shipment of comb 

 honey and extracted honey from an infected 

 apiary." He thinks it is doubtful whether 

 such a law could be enforced, but believes 

 we "shall have it sooner than many of us 

 think." He admits that " it will cause a 

 furore, the like of which the hubbub over 

 the net-weight law will be tame." 



Right you are, Bro. Wesley. If your 

 program can be carried out you surely will 

 stir up a hornet's nest, or, more exactly, a 

 " furore " among your fellow beekeepers. 

 We doubt if such exclusion of honey ship- 

 ments would be wise. Here is a beeman who 

 has $2000 invested; and if he cannot ship 

 any honey out of his apiary for a whole 

 year or longer because he is cursed with 

 careless neighbors, he might as well apply 

 the torch to the whole business. Moreover, 

 neither European nor American foul brood 

 is a serious menace to the up-to-date bee- 



keeper. He can keep them under control — 

 the European by the introduction of resis- 

 tant strains, and by dequeening, and the 

 American by shaking. Indeed, there are 

 not a few progressive beekeepers who feel 

 that foul brood is a blessing in disguise, 

 because it eliminates from the neighborhood 

 the careless or irresponsible, leaving only 

 the " survival of the fittest." 



In the same way, we doubt the wisdom of 

 legislation that prevents the shipment of 

 combless bees or queens in interstate busi- 

 ness. The man it would hit the hardest is 

 the producer, not the queen-breeder, be- 

 cause the latter can produce honey. 



A bill that would meet the strenuous op- 

 position of a considerable number of bee- 

 keepers could hardly pass any legislature. 

 Our law-makers, if past experience is any 

 criterion, will not pass any act unless it 

 can have the undivided support of those in 

 ivhose interest it is made. Several of the 

 states would have good foul-brood legisla- 

 tion today were it not for the opposition of 

 a very small minority of beekeepers. 



There is also danger of " reciprocity 

 legislation " that would virtually work out 

 a boycott, provided one state passes legisla- 

 tion that would be hostile to another. It 

 is a dangerous proposition at best. If the 

 other states should retaliate against Colora- 

 do that seeks the market of the country it 

 would be serious business. Colorado must 

 and should have the markets of the world 

 for her honey. 



The interests of beekeepers can be ade- 

 quately safeguarded by a federal law re- 

 quiring that all shipments of combless bees 

 and queens by freight, express, or mail bo 

 accompanied by a certificate of inspection, 

 or a sworn statement to the effect that the 

 honey in the food has been boiled to eon- 

 form to the requirements of the Postoflfice 

 Department. Such regulations, so far as 

 queen bees are concerned, are already in 

 force. 



Wax Production a Specialty, Not a Side 

 Line 



In countries where honey must be shipped 

 long distances to a market so that the net 

 price wliich the beekeeper receives is there- 

 fore low, there has been much speculation 

 regarding plans for turning such honey 

 into wax. When we received a request for 

 a special number on wax production we 

 hoped that Ave might be able to gai reports 

 from beekeepers who were actually doing 

 this very thing, making a specialty and not 

 a side line of wax. We are not able to pre- 

 sent as much information on this particular 

 part of the subject as we had hoped. 



