August, lowj. 



American Me Journal 



■■Self-interest! Supply business !" And 

 why should he not be "'glad" that 

 Government officials should agree with 

 him. thus helping to avoid the loss that 

 comes from hives that might be dan- 

 gerous, in his opinion.'' 



Some one may say, " In accusing 

 Editor Hurley of lack of charity are 

 you not precisely guilty of that same 

 sin? He has not said and may not 

 have meant that Mr. Root's interest in 

 the supply business warped his judg- 

 ment in the least." Well, what did he 

 mean then? It is true, come to think 

 of it. that Mr. Root's belief can hardly 

 be any aid to the supply business, for 

 he does not advocate the destruction 

 of the hive, but merely burning in it a 

 handful of straw, and then using it. 

 Yet what does Mr. Hurley mean — 

 again it may be asked — by that ■'Why 

 glad?" and by saying in connection 

 with his belief that he is not in the 

 supply business? If Mr. Hurley will 

 say that he is entirely misinterpreted 

 and will say out in plain English just 

 what he meant, it will be a very great 

 pleasure to offer him a most humble 

 apology. 



Queen's Sting Not an Ovipositor 



One can hardly fail to note that the 

 sting of the queen bears no little re- 

 semblance to the ovipositor of other 

 insects, and there have not been want- 

 ing good authorities who have claimed 

 that at least the sting was an aid in 



ovipositing. A. D. Downes-Shaw, in 

 the British Bee Journal, says : 



'■Qn examinintr a comb with new-laid esjKS. 

 it will be seen that the egss are almost cen- 

 tral in the cell. Now the sting being curved 

 downwards, if it were used as a guide, it 

 would direct the egg to the lower angle of 

 the cell, certainly not up to the center, and 

 it seems almost impossible for the egg to be 

 placed where it is usually seen if the curved 

 sting is the guide." 



The editor says that the view that the 

 sting is used as an ovipositor '■has not 

 met with general acceptance, and the 

 question has apparently dropped out of 

 notice." 



Young Queens to Prevent Swarm- 

 ing 



D. M. Macdonald, in the British Bee 

 Journal, desires to know whether the 

 introduction of a young queen of the 

 current year's rearing may be relied on 

 to prevent swarming. Editor Hutch- 

 inson says that with him the introduc- 

 tion of such a queen is a sure preven- 

 tive. Dr. Miller says it is a failure with 

 hiin. Gravenhorst says that if the young 

 queen is not merely introduced, but 

 reaifd in the hive, there will be no 

 swarming till the following year. The 

 temporary cessation of laying seems to 

 count in the case. Dr. Miller says that 

 with him the plan is practically re- 

 liable, as also is the plan of merely in- 

 troducing the young queen after hav- 

 ing the colony queenless 10 days. But 

 he has had one or two exceptions. 



The National at Sioux City, Iowa, 

 Sept. 22-23 



As we announced last month, the 

 Executive Committee of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association has decided 

 on Sioux City as the place of meeting 

 for the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion for this year. The time is Sep- 

 tember "22 and 23. 



.As we understand it, there may not 

 be any special railroad rates beyond 

 200 miles from Sioux City during the 

 dates of the convention, but within 

 that distance there will be a rate of 

 1 1-2 cents a mile each way. 



The Y. M. C. A. of Sioux City will 

 provide lodgings for the bee-keepers, 

 which will be quite a help, as the con- 

 vention is held during the Inter-State 

 Fair, when there will be crowds of 

 people in Sioux City. 



Meals will be 10 cents and upward, 

 as desired. 



General Manager France has re- 

 quested that the attending bee-keepers 

 have one afternoon in which to march 

 in a body with banners, led by the 

 President and Vice-President, to the 

 Fair Grounds, to hold a session of the 

 convention in the new building which 



I-. to be erected for the lioiK-y display 

 at the Fair; and the judge of the bee 

 and honey department may be selected 

 from among the members attending 

 the convention. 



We expect to be able to publish the 

 full program and any other necessary 

 information in the September number 

 of the American Bee Journal. The 

 foregoing perhaps will do for a starter. 



In the meantime, we hope that every 

 bee-keeper that can possibly attend 

 the convention will plan his work so 

 that he may not fail to be present. It 

 will likely be one of the largest and 

 best conventions ever held by the Na- 

 tional Association. It is in the center 

 of a large bee-keeping territory, and 

 the National has never before held a 

 meeting in Sioux City. The local bee- 

 keepers will certainly do all they can 

 to treat the visiting bee-keepers right. 

 And thev know how to do it. 



"Bee-Keeping in iVIassachusetts" 



This is th.- till.- of liulletin .\'n. "•">, 

 Part VII, by Mr. Burton N. Gates, and 

 for sale by the Superintendent of Doc- 

 uments, Government Printing Office, 

 Washington, D. C, for .5 cents (stamps 



not accepted). It gives the history of 

 bee-keeping in New England, and es- 

 pecially in Massachusetts. The sources 

 of honey, periods of nectar secretion, 

 races of bees, hives, swarming, bee- 

 enemies, bee-diseases, bee-keepers' or- 

 ganizations, and finally a summary of 

 the subject as it appears in Massachu- 

 setts, are contained in the pamphlet. It 

 is a very interesting Bulletin, particu- 

 larly for bee-keepers in that State, and 

 shows considerable research on the 

 part of Mr. Gates, who is one of the 

 experts in apiculture, working under 

 the direction of the Government at 

 Washington. 



■Moving Apiaries in tKie Alps 



We give a representation, taken from 

 the " Calendar of Swiss Bee-Keepers," 

 of the moving of a number of hives of 

 bees. The bees, shipped by rail from 

 Rapperswil, on June 16th, were un- 

 loaded at Lintal and taken from there 

 by wagon to a point at 4600 feet of 

 altitude, among the mountains of the 

 Swiss Alps. Fig. 1 shows the unload- 

 ing of the hives at destination, while 

 Fig. 2 shows the placing of the same 

 hives against the walls of the little 

 "chalet," where they are to remain un- 

 til the end of the late crop. Thus the 

 apiarists take advantage of the early 

 bloom in the valley and of the late 

 bloom in the mountains. But no ex- 

 tensive amount of bee-culture can be 

 carried on in this way. The hives are 

 of the cumbersome Berlepsch pattern, 

 sometimes accommodating two or 

 more colonies in the same box. 



"The Friend of Bee-Keepers" 



This is the name of a monthly bee- 

 paper published in Japan, a copy of 

 which has come to our desk. The 

 price is 95 sen per year in Japanese 

 money, which includes the postage to 

 the United States. Of course, only 

 those familiar with the Japanese lan- 

 guage can read this publication. A 

 copy of it can be had by addressing 

 the publisher. Kikujiro Iwata, No. 61 

 Shirokiclio, Gifu, Japan. We wish this 

 new bee-paper every success. 



Improvement in Bees 



F. J. M'llveen, Federal Independent 

 Bee-Keeper, 11, as showing that breed- 

 ing from the best makes improvement 

 very slow, says that Dr. Miller's best 

 crop was in 1881, notwithstanding that 

 he has been improving his bees ever 

 since. Evidently Mr. M'llveen has not 

 been keeping close tab on Dr. Miller, 

 whose previous records were left in 

 the shade by the crops of 1903 and 1908. 



Back Numbers for 1909 



We have ([uite a few numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal back as far as 

 January, 1909, so that any new siib- 

 scribers who desire it can begin with 

 Jan. 1, 1909, if they request it, so long 

 as the back copies last. 



Apiarian Pictures 



We would be glad to have those who 

 can do so, send us pictures of bee- 

 yards, or of anything else that would be 

 of interest along the bee-keeping line. 



