IS98. 



THE AMEHICAN BEE JOURNAn. 



375 



Painting Hives. — W. C. Gathright says it may be all right 

 in the East to have unpainted hives, but) in New Mexico " iin- 

 paiuted hives are soon warpt, crackt and ruined." 



The German, Austrian and Hungarian Bee-Keepers' 

 Association — the society which holds such large and enthusi- 

 astic meetings as American bee keepers never dream of — will 

 have its 43rd annual convention this year at Salzburg, 

 Austria, Sept. 4 to 8. 



The Comb-Foundation Business is no small affair. In 

 Revue Internationale Chas. Dadant &, Son report that their 

 sales of foundation, which in 1S95 had gone down to 30,00<.) 

 pounds, and in 1S96 to 28,000 pounds, in lb97 rose to 

 52,1)00 pounds. If it averaged eight feet to the pound, this 

 would make the output of 1897 cover nearly eight acres of 

 ground. 



Room to Prevent Swarming — Doolittle is very positive, 

 (Progressive Bee-Keeper) that Quinby was right when he said 

 " a large amount of room filled with empty combs will entirely 

 prevent swarming." Doolittle says he has proved It hundreds 

 of times, but says the room without the empty comb will not do. 

 Editor Root stipulates that the empty comb must be given 

 before the bees have contracted the swarming-fever. 



Taxing Bees. — In his county in Iowa, O. P. Miller says 

 bees are put on the tax list and are valued at .S2.0O a colony 

 if a man has more than 10 colonies. He thinks this inconsis- 

 tent, for the laws of Iowa say, "All animals over six months 

 old shall be taxt according to their value, except dogs; they 

 shall be taxt per capita;" according to which the queen is the 

 only taxable member of the colony. — Progressive Bee-Keeper. 



Time for Sealing Brood— G. M. Doolittle takes R. C. 

 Aikin to task (in ProgressiveBee-Keeper) for saying that when 

 a queen is removed "the seventh day will find just about all 

 the worker-brood sealed." He makes a general appeal to bee- 

 keepers to make observations on the subject — sure that nine 

 days will be found to be the correct time — three in the egg and 

 six in the larval form. Cowan gives three days for the egg 

 and five for feeding a queen or worker ; six for a drone. 



Bees Swelling. — R. C. Aikin asks, in Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper: "Did you ever notice how a colony seems to swell 

 when a flow comes on.? How a colony that seemed comforta- 

 ble In its hive before this, now cannot find room to work, so 

 plies out of the hive?" Doolittle explains that it is a real 

 swelling In the size of the bees that stay in the hive, because 

 they receive from the field-bees the loads of nectar for evapo- 

 ration, thus becoming so large that two bees now take the 

 same amount of room that three or four previously did. 



Mashing Combs Between Rollers and then separating 

 the honey and melting the wax, as suggested by R. C. Aikin, 

 at BulTalo, was spoken of by Gleanings as a rather startling 

 idea. Bee-Chat reminds Gleanings that the same thing was 

 reported five or six years ago as being practiced by one of the 

 correspondents of Gleanings, and adds: " It is well known 

 that our Scotch friends have for many years used honey- 

 presses for removing their heather honey, which is so thick 

 that no extractor can force it from the cells after it has been 

 stored a few days In the combs." 



Prevention of Swarming. — R. C. Aikin (in Progressive 

 Bee-Keeper) tells how he manages to get the start of the bees, 

 and then gives a short cut as follows: 



"Take two brood-chambers for your colony. Eight or ten 

 days b(fore the flow, put the brood all in one of the chambers 

 and the queen In the other with an excluder-zinc between. 

 The queen will be more contented and lay more promptly after 

 the change if a comb with a little brood is put in her chamber. 

 She accepts this as her brood-nest, whereas if removed from 

 all brood, she labors to pass the zinc to the brood. As pre- 

 viously explained, the brood in the part from which the queen 

 was excluded will all be sealed by the eighth day. Now, the 



eighth day or after, just make a new colony with the chamber 

 having the queen and put her on a new stand. This leaves 

 the old stand with sealed brood only, hence impossible to build 

 cells. In three or four days a cell or queen, better a ripe cell 

 or virgin queen, can be introduced to the old stand. If a cell, 

 your young queen will not lay till all brood is hatcht, just a.s 

 in natural swarininri. This reduces the labor fully one-half, 

 and I think just as good in every respect. I expect to practice 

 this method the present season, 1898." 



Box vs. Frame Hives. — A somewhat animated contro- 

 versy has been taking place in Revue Internationale between 

 two octogenarian leaders — Messrs. Dadant and Boyer. It is 

 not probable they will be in entire accord at the close of the 

 controversy. The showing M. Boyer makes of the cost of a 

 movable-comb hive with its accompaniments is rather discour- 

 aging. He gives it as follows: 



Hive, §5.40 ; freight, 20 cents ; cushion, 40 cents ; paint- 

 ing, 40 cents; foundation, •'?1.00 — total, ST. 40. 



Certainly hives must cost a good deal more in the French 

 than in the English language, according to this showing, a 

 showing that does not, however, agree with the statements of 

 Mr. Dadant. 



Simmins' Direct Fasting Method of introducing queens 

 is thus given in his paper, Hee-Chat, remembering that the 

 bees must have been queenless three days: 



1. Keep the queen quite alone for not less than 30 min- 

 utes, without food, but warm. 



2. Insert after dark, under quilt, first driving the bees 

 back with smoke. 



3. No further examination is to be made until after 48 

 hours have expired. 



4. Make no division of, or nucleus, from the hive within 

 three days prior to insertion, unless the original queen is then 

 left on her own stand. 



Caution. — As many queens are ordered for inserting with 

 a divided half of a colony, it should be pointed out that the 

 old queen must always be left on her own stand, and the new 

 queen given to the removed part, unless three days are allowed 

 to intervene. 



Bee-Keeping for Beginners is the title of a 

 110-page book just out, from the pen of that expert bee- 

 keeper of the South, Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Georgia. It 

 claims to be " a practical and condenst treatise on the honey- 

 bee, giving the best modes of management in order to secure 

 the most profit." Price of the book, postpaid, 50 cents. Or, 

 we will club it with the Bee Journal for one year — both to- 

 gether for .§1.40; or, we will mail it as a premium to any of 

 our present subscribers for sending us one new subscriber to 

 the Bee Journal for a ytar (at f 1.00), and 10 cents extra. 



Xlie 'Wood Binder for holding a year's numbers of 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends to us 20 cents. It is a very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 

 get it yearly. 



^-w-*^ 



Langstrotli on the Honey-Bee, revised by 

 The Dadants, Is a standard, reliable and thoroughly complete 

 work on bee-culture. It contains o20 pages, and is bound 

 elegantly. Every reader of the American Bee Journal should 

 have a copy of this book, as it answers hundreds of questions 

 that arise about bees. We mail it for .$1.25, or club it with 

 the Bee Journal for a year— both together for only $2.00. 



Tlie Names and Addresses of all your bee- 

 friends, who are not now taking the Bee Journal, are wanted 

 at this oflice. Send them in, please, when sample copies will 

 be mailed to them. Then you can secure their subscriptions, 

 and earn some of the premiums we are offering. The 

 next few months will be just the time to easily get new sub- 

 scribers. Try it earnestly, at least. 



The McEvoy Foul Brood Treatment Is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for $1.10. 



