April, 1909. 



American Hee -Journal 



es. with clear, open print; with 17 full- 

 page plates, each plate having one to 4 

 illustrations. 



The first chapter, "Historical," con- 

 tains much that is novel to the average 

 bee-keeper, and interesting as well. Per- 

 haps every one is familiar with the use 

 of wax in modeling, but not every one 

 knows that at one time it played an 

 important part in painting. 



Beeswa.x lent its aid to magic and en- 

 chantment. When young folks tire of 

 telling fortunes bv the grounds in a tea- 

 cup, they might return to the former 

 use of wax. "Divination by dropping 

 molten wax into water was in ancient 

 times called 'ceromancy,' the various 

 shapes assumed by the dropping of the 

 liquid wax as it fell upon the surface 

 of the cold water and became solid de- 

 termining whether the omen was to be 

 a happy or unhappy one." 



In some countries "a lighted wax 

 candle placed in a basket was floated 

 on the water near to the spot where the 

 body of a drowned person was supposed 

 to lie. it being believed that the candle 

 would remain stationary over the 

 corpse." 



"In Germany and other countries the 

 shape of that portion of the body of 

 persons affected by disease was molded 

 in wax and placed in the church with 

 the conviction that in this way recovery 

 would be ensured." 



As to one mooted point, Mr. Cowan 

 says: "Wax cannot be produced at all 

 times, but its secretion is voluntary, and 

 for its production a temperature of 

 from 87 degrees to 98 degrees Fahr. is 

 required." 



Mr. Cowan says sulphur fumes de- 

 stroy the eggs and larvae of the bee- 

 moth. In thi^s country it is pretty gen- 

 erally understood that sulphur fumes 

 have little or no effect upon the eggs, 

 bisulphide of carbon being much more 

 effective. 



Here is a paragraph taken from the 

 chapter on wax rendering, page 56, that 

 is packed very full of information : 



The melting of combs can be done cither by 

 the heat of the sun's rays, or with boiling 

 water, or by steam. But only rain or river 

 water is suitable for the pyrpose, and no 

 other should be used, seeing that well water, 

 if hard, is liable to cause wax to turn brown m 

 color. Lime in water also unites wth the fatty 

 acid of wax, saponifying it, so that, after cool- 

 ing, wax rendered with hard water has on the 

 under side a spongy, greyish mass. When 

 rain or river water is not available, vinegar 

 or a small quantity of sulphuric acid should be 

 put into the water, just sufficient to neutralize 

 the lime. Copper vessels are preferable, but 

 if not available, iron ones can be used, but 

 they should be first heated and rubbed with 

 a piece of mutton-fat, which not only pre- 

 vents the acid from attacking the iron, but 

 the latter will not afterwards discolor the wax. 

 It should also be noted that the nearer to the 

 melting point at which all melting operations 

 are performed the finer will be the product, a 

 high temperature destroying both the color and 

 aroma of the wax produced." 



The last chapter of the book con- 

 tains no recipes in which wax is used, 

 followed by a very full index. 



To any one who desires to make his 

 apicultural library more nearly complete 

 by adding to it a monograph on this 

 practical subject, "Wax Craft" is heartily 

 commended. It is mailed for $1.00 in 

 this country. 



Eqnaliziiig Colonies 



The beginner wdio has been told that 

 it is a good thing in spring to equalize 



colonies may do a lot of harm by it. 

 Suppose he has a colony that has 4 

 frames of brood, and 2 others with one 

 frame each. He takes 2 frames of 

 brood from the strongest colony, and 

 gives one of them to each of the others. 

 Now they are equalized, each of the 3 

 colonies having" 2 frames of brood each. 

 The 2 weaker colonies will be benefited, 

 but the combined benefit to the two will 

 be overbalanced by the harm done to 

 the stronger colony. 



So long as no colony has more than 

 4 frames of brood, no equalizing should 

 he done. When a colony has 5 or more 

 frames of brood, all but 4 may be taken 

 away. Then give a frame of the re- 

 moved brood to each colony that has 3 

 frames of brood, letting the weaker ones 

 wait. When there are no colonies with 

 3 frames of brood, then give I or 2 

 frames of brood to each colony that 

 has frames of brood. When there are 

 no longer any stronger ones to help, 

 then give one, 2, or 3 frames to the 

 weakest. 



Nothing has been said about giving 

 bees with the brood, but that is a matter 

 of the first importance. Also there may 

 be big mischief done if bees are not 

 given in the right way. Give a frame 

 of brood without any bees, to a colony 

 having already as much brood as its 

 bees can cover, and it means merely the 

 loss of so much brood. Take from a 

 strong colony 3 frames oU brood with 

 adhering bees, and give it to a weakling 

 having only one or 2 frames of brood, 

 and it's pretty sure guess that the queen 

 of the weakling will be killed. 



So the adhering bees must be given 

 with the brood, and too great a propor- 

 tion of strange bees must not be given 

 at a time. If a colony has 3 frames of 

 brood, it is safe to give another vyith 

 adhering bees, without any precaution. 

 Even with 2 frames of brood it may be 

 safe to give an additional frame of 

 brood. After a day or two, another 

 frame of brood may be given without 

 endangering the queen. 



If queenless bees are given with the 

 brood, then there is little danger of the 

 queen being hurt, no matter how many 

 frames of brood with adhering bees are 

 given. In an apiary of considerable 

 size, brood with adhering bees may be 

 taken from all the strong colonies (of 

 course it goes without saying that care 

 must be taken not to take the queen 

 with the bees), leaving at least 4 frames 

 of brood in each strong colony, and all 

 the brood and bees thus taken may be 

 put in a hive on a new stand, if neces- 

 sary piling up 2, 3, or more stories high. 

 Although some bees will return to their 

 old homes, plenty will remain to take 

 good care of the brood. A day or more 

 later these frames of brood and bees 

 mav be distributed wherever needed ; 

 and being queenless they will not endan- 

 ger the queen, no matter if given to the 

 weakest colonies. Besides, fewer of 

 them will return than would if they 

 were queenright bees. 



There is, however, a way of strength- 

 ening with brood without any bees, al- 

 though more troublesome. Exchange a 

 frame of brood in a strong colony for 

 one in a weakling, giving the weakling 

 a frame of sealed brood for one that 

 is mostlv unsealed, and the weakling is 

 strengthened. This suggests that in all 



cases of taking brood from strong col- 

 onies to help the weak, it may be well 

 to select the ripest brood. 



Getting Good Queen-Cells 



Homer W. Burke gives the following 

 plan for securing good queen^cells of 

 best stock, in the Canadian Bee Journal : 



During a honey-flow go to a colony that has 

 proven to be one of the best in the yard and 

 remove a frame out of the center and replace 

 it with a frame with only a starter in, say 

 about 3 inches deep. Leave this starter in for 

 3 or 3 days until the queen has started lay- 

 ing nicely in it. Now remove this frame and 

 put it in the center of a colony that is pre- 

 paring to swarm, as they can generally be 

 found at this time of year; or even better 

 would he if you had a colony that is super- 

 seding their queen, and remove one of the 

 center frames from it, also cutting out all 

 queen-cells that may be started -in any part of 

 the hive. Now take this frame with the eggs 

 in it from your best queen, being sure to trim 

 the bottom off first, so as to have eggs in the 

 bottom row of cells, then place in the hive. 

 In 10 days you will have a tine row of perfect 

 queen-cells on the bottom of this frame, as it 

 seems to be a very convenient place for them 

 to build. 



The reason I like this way of rearing my 

 own queens is because they are from the eggs 

 of the best queen in the yard, and naturally 

 we improve our strain of bees. Also the bees 

 that build those cells are not made queenless 

 and compelled to rear a queen, and therefore 

 they take their time in building those cells, 

 and we arc sure of having good queens. 



This is the plan given in Dr. Miller's 

 "Forty Years Among the Bees," page 

 239, with modifications. The average 

 bee-keeper is likely to be frightened out 

 of trying to get cells reared from best 

 stock because he thinks it must be by 

 means of artificial cell-cups. Whether 

 he is mistaken as to the difficulties or 

 not, he may feel assured that by this 

 plan he will get the very best of cells, 

 and there is nothing but what may be 

 easily done by the veriest beginner. 

 The modifications, however, are to be 

 avoided rather than commended. 



Mr. Burke, so far as one may judge 

 from what he says, has his best queen 

 in a full colony. Dr. Miller keeps his 

 in a nucleus. One reason for this is 

 that when a queen has thoroughly es- 

 tablished her reputation, one desires her 

 to live as long as possible, and keeping 

 her in a nucleus may prolong her life 

 a year or more. Another reason is that 

 in a full colony, when a frame with a 

 small starter is given, the likelihood is 

 that the bees will build only drone-comb 

 below the starter. In a nucleus they 

 will build only worker-comb. If the 

 frame be given to a full colony, it should 

 be nearly filled with worker foundation. 

 Even then, if a full flow is on, it may 

 happen that the frame will be filled with 

 honey and not an egg laid in it. 



Mr. Burke gives the comb upon which 

 cells are to be started to a colony in- 

 clined to swarin or to supersede its 

 queen, but leaves the queen. Dr. Miller 

 gives the comb to a queenless colony. 

 That does not seem very much of a dif- 

 ference, but sometimes a very small 

 matter inakes all the difference between 

 success and failure. When a colony be- 

 comes queenless, the bees will start one 

 or several queen-cells, using for each of 

 these a worker-cell containing an egg 

 or a larva — generally a larva. Such a 

 cell is called a post-constructed cell, to 

 distinguish it from a pre-constructed 

 cell, such as the bees build when pre- 

 paring for swarming, the cell being 



