March, 1909. 



American ^ac Jfourn^j 



CSX commendations, and some of his 

 friends think he should invent a hive 

 to be named "The J. G. D. Hive." It 

 has not yet materialized, but he has got 

 so far as to give quite a full description 

 of the hive that he has in liis head. 

 Without giving the full description, the 

 following excerpt, giving just one item, 

 may serve to show how far ahead of 

 all other hives is to be the "J- G. D." : 



*'An external gear, operating in the roof 

 gable, would revolve the brood-nest at any 

 speed required, and setting in motion a special 

 uncapping apparatus within, would extract the 

 honey without disturbance of the frames, and 

 would cause all foraging bees to regurgitate 

 immediately upon their return, the honey and 

 and crude nectar discharging underneath into 

 a ripening tank, kept up to a temperature of 

 66 degrees by a novel process of heat dis- 

 persal from the agitated bees within. At a 

 speed of 30 revolutions per second, artificial 

 swarms would be thrown out in any season, at 

 a moment's notice, by the centrifugal force 

 developed. A slower motion, keeping the po- 

 sition of the entry constantly changed, would 

 render attacks by robber-bees impossible." 



But after detailing the great advant- 

 ages of the hive. Editor Digges is not 

 blind to the inconvenience that would 

 arise from the introduction of the best 

 hive in the world — the great loss from 

 consigning to the scrap-heap the whole 

 outfit already on hand of hives at pres- 

 ent in use. Then he thinks of the pos- 

 siliility that some one might be so fool- 

 ishly blind to his own interest as not 

 to adopt the "J. G. D. Hive." Of such 

 a one he says : "His wife and family 

 would repudiate him as an ass. His 

 acquaintances would look askance at 

 him on the roadside, and would say one 

 to anotlier — 'Lo ! there is the idiot who 

 hasn't a "J. G. D. Hive."' * * * And 

 his bees would swarm, and cast, and 

 hunger-swarm, and would hie them to 

 other apiaries, where self-respecting 

 bees would congregate in 'J. G. D. 

 Hives.'" ... *l 



.At the thought of bringing such ca- 

 lamity upon any human being, his ten- 

 der heart is appalled, and so it is to 

 be feared that the only place where the 

 great "J. G. D. Hive" will ever be seen 

 is on the pages of the Irish Bee Journal. 



Pointer to Those Buying Queens 



A question of importance that often 

 comes up may be worded after this 

 fashion : "Would j-ou advise me to 

 buy a tested or an untested queen?" 

 Tlie usual answer is: "A tested queen 

 — she will cost you inore : but you arc 

 more certain of having good stock, and 

 you can afford to pay the extra price 

 for that certainty." 



But there's another question that 

 might be asked ; "Is it better to buy a 

 tested queen, or to put the same amount 

 of money into untested queens?" A 

 concrete example of this nature occurs 

 ill Gleanings. G. C. Greiner was to 

 liave 30 untested daughters of a certain 

 clioice queen, but the death of this 

 queen intervened to prevent, and in 

 place of the 30 untested queens for $30, 

 he was offered 6 of her tested daugh- 

 ters for the same money. Editor Root 

 says : 



"But he replied by saying he would much 

 prefer to pay $30, the amount he has appro- 

 priated, for 30 untested queens from an extra- 

 choice breeder than fur 6 extra-select queens 

 from that same breeder at $5 each. His argu- 

 ment was this: That out of the 30 untested 



he could himself select at least five or six 

 uueenf, that would be the equal of our $5 

 queens; and, besides, have all the others, two 

 dozen, ranging in valuation from $2 to $3. No, 

 it did not pay him to buy high-priced queens; 

 hut he thinks it is a good practice to lay in a 

 good stock of choice untested queens from a 

 fine breeder, and Mr. Greiner is right." 



Sliallow Chamber Below Brood 



John Silver makes use of this in a 

 way that some may think worth con- 

 sidering. He says, in the Irish Bee 

 Journal : 



"In working for sectioiis in an out-apiary, 

 I use a reversible bottom-board which will 

 admit of a 3-inch shallow frame under the 

 brood-chamber and below the level of the en- 

 trance. These 3-inch shallow frames are placed 

 on top at first, to catch the early gathered 

 honey and to enable the brood-chamber to be 

 tilled with brood right to tlie top-bar: the 

 fir-^t section rnck is put between these and* the 



brood, and as soon as the sections are well 

 started these shallow frames are placed below 

 the brood. This plan will work well every 

 time. (i) It makes a much larger brood- 

 nest available early, and right up to the 

 top-bar; (2) bees are certain to take at once 

 to the sections; and (3) it gives them an 

 overflow chamber at the right moment to pre- 

 vent swarming." 



This is something after the manner 

 of the "eke" that is a constituent part of 

 the "W. B. C." hive, as described in the 

 latest edition of the British Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Guide, page 46. Mr. Cowan says 

 this eke, "^ inches deep, when placed 

 l>eIow the shallow-frame box, converts 

 the latter, on an emergency, into a tem- 

 porary brood-chamber. This 'eke' can 

 be used below the body-box in winter, 

 or inverted and used above in spring, 

 for tucking in wraps and making all 

 snug and comfortable." 



0)i5cellaneou 

 flews -Items 



Indiana Foul Brood Law Passes 



We have received the following brief 

 but "rejoiceful" letter, dated March 5, 

 from Mr. Ponder, of Indianapolis : 



Dear Mr. York: — Our foul brood measure 

 is now a /fl7f. This is certainly good news for 

 Indiana. Rejoicingly. 



Walter S. Pouder. 



We congratulate Indiana bee-keepers 

 on their success. We hope the time may 

 soon come when every State will have 

 ;i much-needed foul brood law. 



tion. except tliat wc ihmk it shnuhi go 

 west of the Mississippi River, as it has 

 met in the East the last two years, and 

 the year before that in San Antonio, 

 Tex. No doubt the Executive Commit- 

 tee will soon canvass the applications 

 and suggestions as to place for the next 

 meeting, and decide, so that all bee- 

 keepers who would like to attend it 

 may begin to make their arrangements 

 for being there. 



The Next Meeting of the National 



We have received coinmunications 

 from Mr. J. J. Measer, of Kansas, and 

 E. E. Lawrence, of Missouri, suggest- 

 ing that the next meeting of the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association be held 

 in Kansas City. Sioux City, Iowa, has 

 ;ilso been mentioned as a suitable place 

 for the meeting. And there has been 

 quite a call from the far West for the 

 ne.xt meeting of the National, especially 

 in the region of Salt Lake City. The 

 ( irand .AriTiy of the Republic is to meet 

 there August 9 to 14. The round-trip 

 rate from Chicago at that time will be 

 $37.40, with a 30-day limit, and stop 

 overs at any points on the return trip. 

 No doubt a proportionate rate will apply 

 to various parts of the whole United 

 States. 



Many will remember tliat some years 

 ago the National followed the Grand 

 Army, and always had a good attend- 

 ance on account of the very low rate 

 on all the railroads. The National has 

 never met in Salt Lake City, and, in 

 fact, has had only one meeting west of 

 Denver, and that was in 1903, when it 

 went to Los Angeles, Cal. Personally, 

 as a member of the Executive Commit- 

 tee of the National, we have very little 

 choice as to the next place of meeting 

 for the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 



A Mummified Lizard in a Hive 



Some time ago Mr. C. T. Wise, of 

 Acton, Calif., sent us a lizard that a col- 

 ony of bees had covered with propolis 

 in their hive. It is quite a curiosity. 

 Mr. Wise wrote the following letter at 

 the time : 



Editor .\merican Bee Journal — 



I send under separate cover a small Cali- 

 fornia lizard or "swift," that I found "mum- 

 mified" in one of my colonies of bees. The 

 little animal had evidently entered the hive at 

 the front and run to the rear, where it had 

 been killed by the bees, and then encased in 

 propolis so as to preserve it in its present 

 condition. It was somewhat of a curiosity 

 to me, and I thought it might be interesting 

 to you. C. T. Wise. 



We wish to thank Mr. Wise for his 

 thought fulness in sending us the speci- 

 men referred to. We took it to the 

 last meeting of the Chicago-Northwest- 

 ern Bee-Keepers' .Association for the 

 inspection of those who were present. 

 We also read there the above letter sent 

 by Mr. Wise. 



Apiculture in the United States 



We have received from Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, In Charge of Apiculture, at 

 Washington, D. C, Bulletin No. 75, Part 

 6, being "The Status of Apiculture in 

 the United States." It was issued Jan- 

 uary 25, 1909, and can be secured for 

 5 cents by addressing the Superinten- 



