April, iqog. 



American Hae Journal 



instances where it was found neces- 

 sary and advisable to produce wax as 

 much as possible. The first was reported 

 by an apiarist of South America, living 

 away from civilization with very inade- 

 quate means of transportation. He 

 could not secure more than about 3 cents 

 per pound for his honey, and found it 

 profitable to have as much as possible 

 of it converted into beeswax, by cutting 

 out the combs and allowing the bees to 

 rebuild. The other is reported by Dr. 

 Phillips on Hawaiian Bee-Culture, "Bu- 

 reau of Entomology, Bulletin No. 75", a 

 very interesting report concerning the 

 status of apiculture in Hawaii. It ap- 

 pears that the bulk of the honey pro- 

 duced there is from honey-dew of dif- 

 ferent kinds, but dark and of poor flavor. 

 This is so inferior an article that Dr. 

 Phillips suggests that it may pay to have 

 this honey transformed into beeswax. 



But in our case, I believe it pays to 

 economize the wax as much as possible. 

 I do not have very far to find corrobor- 

 ative testimony to support my view. 

 In Gleanings for February 15, 1909, page 

 102, Mr. Louis SchoU narrates how he 

 accidentally supplied a number of colo- 

 nies with supers containing starters only, 

 while a similar number of other colonics 

 were supplied with full sheets, and the 

 latter yielded a crop averaging $1.10 per 

 colony more than the others, after pay- 

 ing the excess of cost of the i^'ii.r sup- 

 plied in the full sheets. 



If the beginner will carefully take note 

 of the above explanation and experiment 

 for himself, I think that he will readily 

 ascertain that we run no risk whatever 

 of loss of wa.x as long as we keep the 

 bees supplied with a sufficient number of 

 combs for storing honey. The wa.x pro- 

 duced will just about keep pace with the 

 lengthening of the cells to proper size, 

 and the sealing of the honey as it ma- 

 tures. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Double - Walled vs. Single- 

 Walled Hives — Wiring 

 Frames 



BY VVM. .M. VVHITXF.V. 



Wc often hear this objection to the 

 chaff or double-walled hives: "Tliey are 

 not so readily warmed Ijy the sun's rays 

 in the winter and early spring as the 

 single-board hive". The fact is, they are 

 packed, and are kept at an even tem- 

 perature, if the bees have sufficient sup- 

 plies, and do not need the additional 

 warmth of the sun ; they are not af- 

 fected so easily by the fluctuations or 

 changes of temperature ; not so liable to 

 spring dwindling; breed up stronger in 

 early spring: all of which reasons, it 

 seems to me, commend them to any prac- 

 tical bee-keeper who winters his bees on 

 the summer stand. 



Again, the outside case protects the 

 sections from the eflfects of chilly nights 

 in June which so often happen, and 

 which drive the bees from outside sec- 

 tions in supers on single-board hives 

 thus retarding the work of comb-build- 

 ing which otherwise would have been 

 carried on evenly throughout the entire 

 super of sections. 



Again, they are not so heavy or un- 

 wieldy to handle as many imagine — 

 they are made of thin stuff, and while 

 larger, are scarcely heavier than a single- 

 lioard hive. 



BEST WAY TO WIKE FR.-\MES. 



In aswering the question which is so 

 frequently asked as to the best method 

 or wiring frames, the same old, anti- 

 quated method is often recommended — 

 that of horizontal wiring, which is an 

 absolute failure, so far as accomplish- 

 ing the object for which wiring is done — 

 foundation buckles just the same. The 

 only successful method is by vertical 

 wiring, or by the use of wood splints 

 as recommended by Dr. Miller. When 

 I see end-pieces to frames come all 

 punched — well, I won't tell you just what 

 I think — it wouldn't sound well. 



The objection to staples, as mentioned 

 in "ABC of Bee-Culture," doesn't count 

 at all, even in the Hoffman frame. The 

 slimmest wire brad of sufficient length, 

 driven into the under side of the top 

 bar at the outside edge of the founda- 

 tion groove and from which, by the use 

 of a pair of round plyers little hooks 

 can be quickly made, and which do not 

 obstruct the insertion of the foundation 

 in the least, is the neatest thing imagin- 

 able to loop the end of the wire to; 

 thence, to a corresponding hook in the 

 bottom-bar, but of shorter length, and 

 driven from the under side ; thence, zig- 

 zagging up and down till about 2-3 of the 

 central portion of the space is occu- 

 pied — say 5 or 6 wires. With this ar- 

 rangement, properly done, there will be 

 no buckling of the comb. 



Rather than use horizontal wiring, I'd 

 use foundation heavy enough to need no 

 wiring — medium lirood. I think it would 

 be all right for standard l.angstroth 

 frames. By my method of wiring I have 

 produced, as an experiment, good combs 

 from extra thin super foundation, such 

 as is used in sections. Light brood 10 

 sheets to the pound, with the above 

 method of wiring, is quite a saving of 

 expense over the use of medium brood 

 of 6 to 7 sheets to the pound. 



Evauston, 111. 



Proposed California Apiarian 

 Legislation 



BY RALPH BENTON. 



In charge of Apiculture, University of 

 California. 



On page 107 of the issue of Gleanings 

 in Bee Culture and on page 45 of the 

 .\merican Bee Journal for February, I 

 note discussions of the proposed amend- 

 ment to the California statute law rela- 

 tive to foul brood and other diseases of 

 bees, now pending in the California leg- 

 islature. The main trend of these dis- 

 cussions is correct, but there are cer- 

 tain misapprehensions and interpreta- 

 tions that I desire to clear up in the 

 minds of the bee-keeping pul)lic. 



In the first place, when attempts are 

 made to discuss or interpret the Cali- 

 fornia law, or the amendment in ques- 

 tion, it must be borne in mind that our 

 law relates not only to foul brood but 

 to all of the brood-diseases of bees, and 

 also to the diseases of adult bees com- 

 monly and collectively called paralysis. 



Keeping this steadily in mind, let us 

 consider some of the questions raised 

 in the discussion referred to. 



First, the statement is made in Glean- 

 ings that the amendment provides for a 

 "University Inspector of Foul Brood." 

 This is but a slight error in name, but 

 I desire to correct it for the term so 

 used is misleading. What the amend- 

 ment does provide for is a State Super- 

 vising Inspector of Apiaries who shall 

 be .Apiarian Pathologist of the State 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, an in- 

 stitution separate but closely connected 

 with the University. Note that this 

 officer is an "inspector of apiaries" and 

 not simply a foul-brood inspector. This 

 is true of all of our county inspectors 

 under the present law — they are "in- 

 spectors of apiaries," and as such in- 

 spect and treat for not only foul brood 

 but all of the other maladies of bees. 

 As Apiarian Pathologist the State Su- 

 pervising Inspector of Apiaries will con- 

 duct investigations in the diseases and 

 other enemies of bees, and undoubtedly, 

 ranking an Instructor in Apiculture in 

 the University, it will fall to him to con- 

 duct such courses of instruction as are 

 given in the College of Agriculture in 

 the diseases of bees. 



Now coming to the main point around 

 which most of the discussion pro and 

 con has centered : I refer to the sec- 

 tion relating to the importation of 

 queens into California. There are two 

 things that must be remembered when 

 discussing this section : Firstly, the 

 section in question relates to the im- 

 portation of queens not only in ordin- 

 ary mailing cages but also queens in 

 "nuclei" or "swarm boxes ;" and, sec- 

 ondly, that the whole law relates in all 

 of its applications not only to foul brood 

 but to all brood-diseases and also to 

 the diseases of adult bees, or paralysis. 

 The exact causes of certain of these 

 diseases is not known, but there seems 

 to be an overwhelming evidence point- 

 ing to the fact that those known as 

 pickled brood and paralysis are in some 

 way directly connected in transmission 

 and spread through the queens. Time 

 and again have these diseases been in- 

 troduced into apiaries previously free 

 from disease through the agency of an 

 importation of queens. Time and again 

 have partial, and in some instances in 

 certain of these diseases a permanent 

 cure, resulted from requeening with 

 fresh and uninfected stock, the apiary 

 so infected. 



When I refer to these diseases which 

 in certain portions of the United States 

 do not flourish and in many sections are 

 minor maladies, an adequate apprecia- 

 tion must be had by the bee-keeping 

 public of the virulence and the extent 

 of the ravages of these same diseases 

 as transplanted and permitted to flour- 

 ish under California climatic and other 

 condititms. In soine localities so-called 

 paralvsis is nnich more dreaded than 

 foul iirof)d, and rightly so, if we are to 

 judge from the havoc wrought by this 

 baffling disease. The writer has been 

 in apiaries in which all of the flight bees 

 have been taken off and hive after hive 

 so decimated in numl)ers that brood- 

 rearing operations were at a standstill 

 for lack of bees and stores to proceed 

 on. In passing down the rows of such 



