January, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



vest, an abundance of room for the storage 

 of the honey. At the near approach of the 

 swarming season, too much room is just 

 enough. But with very prolific queens, and 

 especially when a visit to the out-apiary haa 

 been delayed by rainy weather or for other 

 reasons when the weather conditions are con- 

 ducive to swarming, it occasionally happens 

 that a few colonies will become overcrowded, 

 and hence the loss of an occasional swarm. 

 IJut inasmuch as the lost swarms represent 

 a smaller sum than would be required to keep 

 an attendant in charge, or to compensate for 

 the upsetting of plans in order to reach the 

 out-apiary on exact time, the lost swarms 

 with me do not represent an actual loss of 

 profits. 



After some discussion of prevention 

 of swarming with colonies run for comb 

 honey, which he says is quite a different 

 proposition, he says : 



There is one plan of swarm control that 

 lias heretofore been the subject of discussion 

 in more or less of a desultory fashion, but 

 which seems to me to merit exhaustive ex- 

 periment by every apiarist who is now mak- 

 ing a specialty of bee-keeping, and especially 

 the comb-honey producer, and here I refer 

 to the plan of having a queen of the current 

 season's rearing introduced into every colony 

 that is likely to swarm, just prior to the 

 swarming season. It seems to me that this 

 plan is the most fruitful of possibilities of 

 any that has been discussed, and that con- 

 certed experiments by many apiarists with this 

 means to arrive at the desired end cannot 

 but result in much good to the craft. 



While all this is true, it may be well to 

 warn the beginner not to be too san- 

 guine. There is no doubt that in general 

 terms there is less danger of swarming 

 with young than with old queens. W. Z. 

 Hutchinson made a practise of requeen- 

 ing at the beginning of the season each 

 year, replacing each queen with a young 

 queen obtained from the South. With 

 him this succeeded in preventing swarm- 

 ing. Not with all others. Gravenhorst 

 said there would be no swarming with 

 a queen reared in the hive during the 

 current year. While this may be entirely 

 reliable in some sections — possibly every 

 season in some localities — at least a few 

 failures have been reported. 



Wintering Several Queens in One 

 Hive 



F. Wilhelm reports in the Prak. Weg- 

 weiser that he has learned the secret of 

 having several queens live over winter 

 peaceably without caging in the same 

 colony. In 1903 he succeeded with 3 

 queens in one colony. A year later he 

 tried 6 queens in one colony, 5 of which 

 lived. In the winter of 1905-6 he tried 

 10 in one colony, 7 of which came 

 through alive and lively. This winter 

 he is trying 20 queens in one colony 

 with little fear of failure. He does not 

 divulge the secret of success, and one 

 may be excused for being a little skepti- 

 cal until further particulars are given. 



Milk Peddlers Selling Honey 



Joseph Tinsley says, in the Irish Bee 

 Journal : 



I have devoted much time to this particular 

 branch of the industry, and peddling honey 

 can be done in a very simple and easy way by 

 procuring the assistance of a milk seller. Some 

 time ago I persuaded a bee-keeper, who was 

 also a milk seller, to try this method, and in a 

 very little time he had sold over 500 glass 

 jars of honey at 25 cents per jar, and is still 

 buying more to keep up with his customers. 



In this country every town of any con- 

 siderable size has at least one milkman 

 who daily supplies the people with milk. 

 In any of these places where satisfac- 



tory arrangements with the grocers do 

 not exist, it might be well worth while 

 to consider whether the purveyor of 

 milk might not be induced to take a 

 proper interest in getting the people sup- 

 plied, not only with milk, but with "milk 

 and honev." 



Ages of Queens 



As having some bearing upon the rela- 

 tive value of queens at different ages, the 

 following Stray Straw, in Gleanings, is 

 of interest: 



Summer of 1908 I had 18 colonies that gave 

 200 sections or more each. Of these, 



3 with 1905 queens averaged 217 sections 

 each, 



3 with 1906 queens averaged 233 sections 

 each. 



12 with 1907 queens averaged 223 sections 

 each. 



I am inclined to believe that, with a good 

 strain of bees, a queen's second year will in 

 general be her best. 



My 4 queens that stood at the head of the 

 list were as follows: 



A 1906 queen with 276 sections; 



A 1907 queen with 266 sections; 



A 1907 queen with 252 sections; 



A 1905 queen with 244 sections; 



The 1906 queen had at one time an egg in 

 one queen-ceil, and at another time a grub 

 in one queen-cell. I don't know whether a 

 swarm would have issued if these had not 

 been destroyed. Both 1907 queens would have 

 swarmed if they had been let alone. Strange 

 to say, the 1905 queen showed the least in- 

 clination to swarm of the lot. Just once an 

 egg was found in one queen-cell. 



Stopping Leaks in Hives 



When hives are to be hauled it is gen- 

 erally desirable that all leaks should be 

 stopped, so no bee can get out, and it is 

 especially desirable to have something 

 with which one can quickly stop any leak 

 discovered on the road. Cotton rags are 

 good, but R. F. Holtermann, in Glean- 

 ings, says he has never found anything 

 equal to cotton-batting. "In a moment 

 it can be broken into any size ; it can be 

 made to fit any opening ; it sticks well 

 where put, and it is so loose in texture 

 that the bees prefer to leave it alone." 



Shaking Bees Moved Short Distances 



It is well known that bees thoroughly 

 shaken become so frightened that they 

 have all the fight taken out of them. It 

 seems, too, that shaking takes the mem- 

 ory of location out of them. If bees are 

 moved a short distance at a time when 

 they are flying daily, the greater part of 

 the older bees will fly back to the old 

 location if no precaution is taken. Geo. 

 W. Williams relates in The Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review that he moved 4 colonies 50 

 feet, shook the bees out in front of their 

 respective hives, making a half-hour job, 

 and scarcely a bee returned to the old 

 location, although 2 hives were there to 

 receive them. 



Uniting Colonies of Bees 



It is more or less common practice, 

 when uniting two colonies, to make one 

 of them queenless some little time be- 

 fore uniting. It remained for John 

 Silver to discover that a still safer way 

 is to make both colonies queenless, as he 

 reports in the Irish Bee Journal. To 

 this he adds; 



I also find that swarms or driven bees 

 can be added to an established colony at any 

 time of the day; without fighting, if both 

 queens have previously been taken away, and 

 the bees have had sufficient time to discover 

 their loss — sometimes half an hour or an 

 hour is quite sufficient. 



Of course the queen is added after- 

 ward. 



Comb Honey Twelve Years Old 



In Gleanings, is a picture of honey in 

 a case that certainly presents a very fine 

 appearance on the printed page, and un- 

 derneath runs the legend, "This honey 

 is 12 years old ; there is no change in it, 

 and, so far as appearances show, it is 

 not candied." 



At the late Chicago convention a sec- 

 tion was shown said to be 12 years old, 

 and on picking open a cell there was no 

 sign of candying". But there was a de- 

 cided change in the outward appearance, 

 the cappings having that sort of mildew- 

 ed look one sometimes sees on sealed 

 combs that have been in the hive over 

 winter. This, however, might not show 

 in an engraving. 



0)i5cellaneou5 

 flews -Items 



Volume 49 Now Begun 



Yes, this is the 49th volume of the 

 American Bee Journal. Next year 

 (1910) will be its Jubilee Volume — 50th 

 year ! But we want to make this 49th 

 volume better than any preceding one. 

 And we think we can do it. We believe 

 we have made a pretty good start in 

 this January number. 



We want to invite all our readers to 

 help us make this a great year for the 

 old American Bee Journal. We want 

 more subscribers. We want more good 



pictures of apiaries, and of new and im- 

 proved apiarian implements, etc. We 

 want to publish your short cuts to more 

 successful honey-production. In fact, we 

 want your fullest co-operation and help 

 during all of 1909, so that together we 

 can produce a bee-paper worthy the 

 name and long record of the American 

 Bee Journal. 



Shall we not with each succeeding 

 month's number just make it over-run 

 with the most valuable and helpful read- 

 ing for every one who desires to have 



