May, 1909. 



American line Journal 



was promptly started. He thinks pol- * 

 len is absolutely necessary for the pro- 

 duction of brood. 



It is true that no brood can be reared 

 without the nitrogenous elements con- 

 tained in pollen; but it is also true that 

 even the clearest honey contains some 

 grains of floating pollen. The question 

 is whether the amount of floating pol- 

 len contained in honey is sufficient to 

 allow brood-rearing. The incident given 

 seems to show that it is not. Mr. Aikin, 

 as any other bee-keeper in his region, 

 where there is little or no pollen to be 

 obtained in spring, is in good position 

 to test the matter. Simply deprive a 

 strong colony of all pollen in spring, 

 and then note results. 



Bee-Space Above or Below Frames? 



G. A. Deadman, in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal makes out a pretty strong case 

 in favor of having the bee-space in hives 

 and supers at the bottom instead of the 

 top. He argues that with the space at 

 the bottom any perfectly flat surface 

 may do for a bottom-board, and no 

 matter where the hive is set down a lot 

 of bees will not be killed, as is the 

 case with the usual space at top. Also, 

 it is easier to scrape bur-combs and 

 propolis from the tops of frames if 

 there is no space above. Perhaps not 

 every one could readily say just why 

 the space is so generally at the upper 

 part. 



Likely Mr. Deadman does not use 

 flat covers. They are, however, in very 

 general use, and their users would not 

 readily give them up. With no bee- 

 space above, a flat cover would kill just 

 as many bees as a flat bottom-board with 

 no space below. A section-super can 

 hardly be made so that there will not 

 be some shrinkage as it grows older. 

 If it is made with no space above — the 

 sides of the super being exactly flush 

 with the tops of the sections — then as 

 the sides of the super shrink the tops 

 of the sections will project above the 

 top of the super, and there will be trou- 

 ble when another super is set on top. 



Giant White Clover 



On page i.-?8, Chas. M. Hix asked why 

 Mr. Burbank does not attack the prob- 

 lem of securing a larger kind of white 

 clover with the short heads, so that the 

 farmer could be persuaded to sow it 

 for hay. Attention has been called to 

 the fact that in Dr. Miller's "Forty 

 Years Among the Bees," page 149, Mr. 

 Hix may find a picture of the very thing 

 he desires. Concerning it Dr. Miller 

 says, page 120: 



"A new _ honey-plant has been mentioned a 

 good deal in the foreign bee-journals, a giant 

 white clover, called Colossal I^adino. I suc- 

 ceeded in getting some seed from Switzer- 

 land, sowed a few of them in the window in 

 the winter, and had the plants blooming in 

 the summer of 1902. For the purpose of 

 comparison you will see in Fig. 48, at the 

 right, a branch of red clover, and at the left 

 a plant of common white, or Dutch, clover, 

 both grown on the same ground. As you will 

 see by looking at the picture, the new plant 

 has leaves as large as those of red clover, 

 and in appearance I think they are identical. 

 The blossom, however, which you will see 

 toward the left, looks precisely like a large 

 white-clover blossom. The habit of growth, 

 too, is that of the common white clover, run- 

 ning along the ground and taking root as it 

 goes. 



"Just how much value there is in this new 



clover I do not know. As will be seen, 

 it grows much larger than the common white, 

 but only as its leaves and leaf stems are 

 larger, for it does not grow up and throw 

 out branches like red clover." 



That was in 1902 — 7 years ago. As 

 nothing has been said about the plant 

 in late years, it does not seem to have 

 met "a long felt want" among the farm- 

 ers. White clover is not cut for hay, 

 and is not likely to be, no matter how 

 large its leaves may be grown, since all 

 those leaves must start from the ground, 

 while red and alsike, with their branches 

 and leaves high up, produce so much 

 more hay per acre. 



The thing that Mr. Burbank could do 

 in the interest of bee-keepers is to breed 

 a variety of red clover with short blos- 

 som-tubes, and at the same time a little 

 earlier than common red, so that farm- 

 ers would prefer it. It requires only 

 time and perseverance, and some am- 

 bitious young bee-keeper may be able to 

 solve the problem as well as Mr. Bur- 

 bank. 



Sealed Combs for Winter and Spring 



Right now is a good time to plan to 

 have some extra combs of sealed honey. 

 In the fall they will come handy. If 



there happens to be a colony that you 

 fear may lack just a little in stores, there 

 is no nicer way to supply that lack than 

 by means of a comb plump full of sealed 

 honey. Next spring it will be the same 

 way. Especially is this true if you have 

 8-frame hives. Also, there is more need 

 of it when running for extracted than 

 when running for comb honey. Don't 

 begrudge the bees this extra amount. 

 In the long run you will get more honey 

 by it. ^^^^^^ 



Water for Bees in Spring 



At this time of year a good many bees 

 are lost in going to some distant place 

 for water. It is a very easy matter to 

 keep a good supply close at hand. Take 

 a half-barrel, tub, pail, or any vessel 

 you like ; put water in it, and then put 

 in enough cork chips so there is no dan- 

 ger of drowning, and yet not enough to 

 prevent the bees from reaching the water 

 easily. The only attention it will re- 

 quire throughout the summer will be 

 to add water occasionally as it disap- 

 pears. The cork chips you will get from 

 any grocer who has had them as pack- 

 ing in kegs of grapes received in cold 

 weather. 



wmmsmm 



WP 





Samples of Bee-Diseases Wanted 



Tlie Bureau of Entomology, at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, desires samples of comb 

 containing infectious bee-diseases, from 

 every county or township in the United 

 States where such diseases exist. Dr. 

 G. F. White will spend most of his time 

 on investigations, and the information 

 which he will be able to furnish should 

 be of great value, not only to those 

 sending the samples, but to the State 

 legislatures considering foul brood laws. 

 It will also aid the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy in distributing literature on symp- 

 toms and treatment of the diseases. 



We hope our readers will co-operate 

 with the Bureau in their efforts to be 

 of assistance to bee-keepers and bee- 

 keeping. Mail all samples, properly 

 packed, to the Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C, and don't forget to 

 put your own name and address on the 

 package. 



•*■ 



To Clip Queen 



The British Bee Journal gives the fol- 

 lowing succinct instructions for getting 

 a queen in position to have her wings 

 clipped with a pair of scissors : 



'*Grip hold of the queen while she is on 

 the comb by the thorax between your finger 

 and thumb, then slide them up off the thorax, 

 pressing them together at the same time, 

 which will give you a hold of the wings. 

 Then take hold of her with the other hand 

 by the thorax under the wings, which will 

 now stand up in a convenient position for 

 clipping." 



Dr. Miller and His Apiary 



A f:.irlv g3od picture of Dr. C. C. Mil- 

 ler and his home apiary, located at Mar- 

 engo, 111., appears in the British Bee 

 Journal for April 15, 1909. It was taken 

 by Mr. Alex. Schroeder, of Trieste, 

 Austria, when he and his wife were at 

 Dr. Miller's some months ago. Mr. 

 Schroeder accompanies the picture with 

 a brief article descriptive of his visit 

 to Dr. Miller's. 



Massachusetts Bee-Meeting 



At the April meeting of the Massa- 

 chusetts Society of Bee-Keepers the fol- 

 lowing-named officers were elected for 

 the ensuing year : President, E. C. Brit- 

 ton of Canton; vice-presidents, W. A. 

 Small of Waltham and X. A. Reed of 

 Belmont ; secretary. Miss S. J. C. Need- 

 ham, of Roxbury. 



The annual field-day is to be held at 

 the apiary of Mr. Henry W. Britton, 

 in Stoughton, Aug. 7; or, if stormy, the 

 next fair Saturday. 



Fall Treatment of Foul Brood 



At one time there was little thought 

 of treating foul brood in the fall; now 

 it begins to look as if the fall might 

 be the favorite time, as being less trou- 

 ble than at any other time. Merely take 

 away all combs in the fall and replace 

 them with combs entirely filled with 

 scaled honey. There inust, however, be 



