1898. 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAl.. 



135 



become familiar with the habits of the bees, and work his api- 

 ary scleDtifically, thus the necessity of a union that we may 

 exchange opinions and further the cause of bee-culture, and 

 to add to our mutual benefits. 



It was also stated that the product of the hooey-bee has 

 been shamefully abused by adulteration, at the expense of the 

 apiarist, and needs protection by legislation as much as any 

 other industry. 



It was decided to organize temporarily at present, and de- 

 fer the permanent organization until the next meeting, and 

 then draft a constitution and by-laws. 



A committee was appointed to confer in regard to the 

 adulteration of honey, composed of Chas. H. Lake and L. A. 

 Hammond. 



The convention meets again in Hagerstown, March 8, 

 1898, for the purpose of organizing permanently. 



Chas. H. Lake, of the Maryland Agricultural College, was 

 requested to prepare a paper on "Adulteration of Honey," to 

 be read at the next meeting. W. J. Valentine, Sec. 



Borage for Smoker-Fuel. — Borage is an excellent honey- 

 plant, and it is recommended, in Le Rucher Beige, to dry its 

 leaves, which contain much nitre, and mix them with rags to 

 burn in the smoker. 



The Finest Honey in the World has been discovered. 

 According to an item in the Pacific Bee Journal, it is found in 

 the Carbiere mountains of Madagascar. But somehow a dim 

 recollection comes up that the finest honey in the world Jias 

 been located in sundry other places. 



Mixt. — N. Genu has no entrance in hive or floor-board, 

 but raises his hives on lath. A man asks, in Gleanings, how 

 Genn does in winter? The editor replies that Dr. Miller uses 

 a reversible bottom-board, and heads the item, " Hiving 

 Swarms on Poles." And his father is such a strong temper- 

 ance man ! 



"The Life of a Worker-Bee is about 45 days of actual 

 working time, or about 80 days from the time the egg is laid 

 until the bee has died from overwork, if there has been a flow 

 of nectar." — Geo. W. Williams, in Progressive Bee-Keeper. — 

 Maybe Doolittle better let up on Aikin for awhile, and 

 straighten this out. 



Reversing Sections in the Super, for the sake of having 

 them finisht to the bottom-bar, seems to have died out. R. C. 

 Aikin says, in Progressive Bee-Keeper, the plan was a failure 

 with him, because some sections would not be far enough ad- 

 vanced for the comb to stand alone on its head, while other 

 sections were already completed. 



Doesn't Like the Fence. — Editor Leahy, of the Pro- 

 gressive Bee-Keeper, thinks fence separators are not durable, 

 too many sharp corners to get knockt off, plain sections will 

 look too much like something with its ears cut off, and bees 

 won't make any evener work than in the old section. But he 

 hopes they'll be a success, as they can be sold cheaper. 



Honey the Cheapest Bee-Food. — A writer in the British 

 Bee Journal says : Years ago we bee-keepers used to turn all 

 the honey into money we possibly could, and any deficiency in 

 winter stores was made up with sugar-syrup. This was 

 thought to be a good stroke of business ; but I for one have 

 lived to learn that honey Is not only the best, but, all things 

 counted, by far the cheapest bee-food. 



Hauling Bees to the iJean-Fields in California is not 

 such a little business. M. H. Mendleson tells, in Gleanings, 

 aoout using a six-ton set of springs, and driving with a 2-1- 

 mule team over roads with curves so short the driver could'nt 

 see the leaders — " this, too, on one of the most dangerous 

 passes, where the least bad driving out of the track would land 

 all hundreds of feet down, none living to tell the story." In 

 six days from landing in the bean-fields, he has generally had 

 his hives filled with honey and the queens crowded. 



Bees Breaking Rules. — It having been fairly well settled 

 that bees do not thin the base of foundation, L. L. Skaggs 

 comes forward in Southland Queen and says he has a hundred 

 combs in which the base is thinner than the base of the foun- 

 dation given. He also has known bees to seal queen-cells when 

 the larvas were not over two days old, and says: "I have torn 

 them open and the bees have fed them for several days and 

 sealed them again, and it hatcht out a good queen; so it is 

 with all fixt rules with bees — they delight in breaking them." 



Virgin ftueen with Prime Swarm. — Editor Lehzen says 

 when a prime swarm is delayed by unfavorable weather until 

 a young queen is piping in a cell, the swarm is sure to issue on 

 the advent of fine weather, the young queen slips out of the 

 cell in the confusion, and accompanies the swarm. Usually in 

 such case the laying queen is stung, and the colony not being 

 satisfied with the virgin queen, returns to the hive. In a few 

 days the prime swarm issues with the young queen. He had 

 one case the past season when seven young queens issued with 

 a prime swarm ! 



Eggs that Would'nt Hatch. — To the few instances of 

 eggs not hatching is added another reported in Southland 

 Queen, by J. S. Worley. Eggs were placed by the queen in 

 the cells, food sometimes placed around the eggs, but in a few 

 days all would be cleaned out. A frame of brood in all stages 

 was given from another hive, and this was taken care of all 

 right. A frame of the defective eggs was given to another 

 colony, which gave food to the eggs, but they would not hatch. 

 The queen was kept a month, but in that time not more than 

 half a dozen cells were capt. 



May Sickness — a trouble of bees in Europe, and thought 

 by some to be the same as bee-paralysis — has at least this in 

 common with the American disease, that neither its cause nor 

 its cure Is well understood. Of late, in different quarters, the 

 lack of pollen has been assigned as the cause of the disease. 

 M. Bertrand, editor Revue Internationale, thinks that if pol- 

 len figures at all in the case, it is rather because of the bad 

 quality than of its entire absence. The few cases that he has 

 noticed in his four apiaries could not certainly be due to pen- 

 ury in that respect, as pollen was plenty and In excess. 



Honey-Tea. — Julius Steigel relates in Bienen-Vater that 

 he used to smile when he read of Pastor Kneipp's patients 

 taking a glass of houey-tea after each noon-day meal, and now 

 he does the same thing himself, only he takes his before break- 

 fast. Bronchitis had become so bad he could'nt speak above 

 a whisper. Used up his means doctoring, tried all sorts of 

 remedies, finally tried a teaspoonful of honey in half cup warm 

 water in the morning. Little by little he improved till no trace 

 of the disease remained. But he continues the daily practice 

 of the morning allowance to the benefit of his digestive as well 

 as breathing apparatus. 



Plain Sections made from Old-Style have been put up 

 by the ton by J. E. Crane, and his plan will, no doubt, com- 

 mend itself to many. He has arranged an arbor for a saw- 

 table so he can put on two saws 1 9-16 inches apart, and 

 coming up just }i inch above the table. He runs the four sides 

 of the sections through, and the edges are left clean and 

 white, much neater than by hand scraping. Thinks a strong 

 man could saw down as many in a day as he would clean of 

 propolis, perhaps more. The sections look undeniably neater, 

 and while he has received no higher price, his honey has sold 

 viore promptly, which on a falling markst might amount to a 

 cent a pound. — Review. 



No-Wall Foundation. — While many have been experi- 

 menting with drawn foundation with its high walls, Michigan 

 bee-keepers have Deen experimenting with foundation having 

 no walls, members of the State Association having had a mill 

 made producing an article without any walls whatever, run- 

 ning 16 square feet to the pound. The editor of the Review, 

 after seeing samples from Mr. Bingham, who produced a nice 

 little crop in 1897, using no-wall foundation exclusively, 

 thinks it worthy of a most thorough trial. L. A. Aspinwall, 

 after using 8 or -i pounds of the foundation, reports very 

 favorably in Review. He says it requires an export to detect 

 any difference between the finisht product and the natural 

 comb. He thinks it possible that in a poorer season results 

 might not be so satisfactory. The tendency to warp he con- 

 siders quite an objection, but thinks it may be overcome by 

 fastening the foundation on three sides. On the other hand, 

 Mr. Bingham had no trouble of this kind, as is plainly shown 

 by a beautiful picture showing i:i of the unfinisht sections. 



