436 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



July 14, 



on natural history and sciences. Garrison societies for special 

 study of the particular branches can be afterwards formed 

 when there. 



IMPROVING OUR BEES. 



There have been several methods and principles of selec- 

 tion for the Improvement of the bee publlsht since I began to 

 read on the subject, but I do not think the simplest, most 

 rapid and effective has been mentioned. That Is, to requeen 

 one-half of the apiary from the young queen of the best colony 

 In the other half the year before, and repeat back. Each sea- 

 son Is a double selection by the honey record of one-half of 

 the apiary. Of course, It may be necessary to keep a few 

 yellow out-cross queens In places where the wild stock Is 

 black. Weld Co., Colo. 



A "Six-Year-Old" Tells Some Experiences. 



BY OLIVER P. JOHNSON. 



As I have had six years' experience as a local newspaper 

 correspondent, with various other experiences, I will endeavor 

 to "do a few" for the " tormentation " of the readers of the 

 valuable Bee Journal. I am a natural-born lover of bees. I 

 do not keep a very large apiary, Just enough to be experi- 

 menting some in that line. My principal occupation is farm- 

 ing (tilling the soil), and as it Is on the medium Iowa scale, 

 one has not time to Indulge very largely In apiculture. 



When I was but a " kid " I would make dally visits to the 

 old box-hives in my father's garden. Tho 1 was often advised 

 to give them plenty of room, I would often venture too near 

 and get a genuine reception, which, very often, would result 

 as "Paddy O'Brien's Picnic." 



But even this did not satisfy my desire. I continued to be 

 inquisitive about the "critters," visiting the most learned 

 bee-keepers near me, and asking all sorts of questions, some 

 of which, no doubt, sounded very queer to them. 



Through an immediate neighbor I received a copy of the 

 Bee Journal, and thereupon subscribed for it, and the book 

 " Bees and Honey," and since then I have learned many 

 things in regard to bees, by reading them and everything else 

 In that line that came to hand, and experimenting In their 

 teachings. 



I learned to do away with the box-hive by transferring to 

 the movable-frame hive — one of my own make, which acci- 

 dentally happened to be the same size as the original 8-frame 

 Langstroth, but was so imperfect in Its construction that It 

 turned out to be a fraud, being more of an Injury to the Indus- 

 try than anything else. 



The hive I now use is the most substantial, and produces 

 the best results of any that I have yet seen. It contains nine 

 frames, and Is both longer and deeper than the Langstroth. 

 It Is used and manufactured in the nearest apiary to me. I 

 think that it was originated by one Beldin. The hive com- 

 pleted with foundation Is worth $2.50 or $3.00. I thought 

 It a little expensive for a novice, but have since discovered 

 that the dearest Is sometimes the cheapest. 



A liUEEN- STINGING EXPERIENCE. 



During the swarming season of 1897 an after-swarm 

 Issued, and desiring to return them Mr. B. O. Cook caught 

 the queen and proceeded to press her to death with his thumb, 

 whereupon the queen stung him In the hand, but it did not 

 appear to be so severe as the sting of a worker. I mention 

 this because I have read of some that claim queens will sting 

 nothing but royalty, but perhaps the writer of the article I 

 read accidentally inserted the word "queen," and really 

 meant to say "drone !" 



RHEUMATICS AND FORMIC ACID. 



July 20, 1893, I was seized with a slight headache and 

 other pains in all parts of my body. Thinking that I might 

 feel relieved I went to the creek, took a bath, and came ba^k 

 completely exhausted. The next day found me no better — 

 just able to be about. 



The pain halted in my neck for a short time on the 2:jrd. 

 In a week I was worse. I thought that I was getting the 

 typhoid fever. I called the family physician, and after a care- 

 ful examination he pronounced It acute rheumatism. 



Pains would be In my neck, then In my shoulders ; then a 

 lively game of hide-and-go-seek about the hands and arms. 

 The physician did me no good. Various patent medicines 

 proved to be worthless. I heard that one might be cured by 

 the sting of a bee, so I resolved to try. I would go to the hive- 

 entrance and catch them and force them to sting me, but I 

 could not feel the sting at all. Finally I gave It up. 



Some days I would be bedfast. The affliction then would 



be In one knee until It had swollen as full as the skin would 

 bold. It would then pass Instantaneously to the other knee, 

 the swelling gradually following. 



I continued to love the bees, and when I was able I would 

 be examining some of them. I had a very quiet swarm that 

 " knew me," and I thought they wouldn't sting, so without 

 veil or smoker 1 opened the hive, and, In so doing, accidentally 

 prest one of them, which raised the scent usually accompany- 

 ing the expulsion of formic acid. This enraged one of the 

 "critters," which immediately rose up and proceded to drive 

 Its awl into my face, (it is needless to say that I felt It.) 



The rheumatic pains were then in my feet. In less than 

 ten minutes the pain of the sting was In my feet also. (My 

 feet are very large, consequently they can contain lots of 

 pain.) I was on my back In the middle of the floor, and, 

 " suffering Isaac I" such pains as I did have In those feet ! I 

 might have died, but I bad so much pain that I couldn't. I 

 took nothing to counteract the sting, but just let it take its 

 course. In three hours the pains had all left. I was a new 

 man, and the happiest fellow to be seen. 



I have not had a rheumatic pain since, and hope that I 

 never shall have. 



COURSE TAKEN BY AN ABSCONDING SWARM. 



I xaw an article in the Bee Journal on absconding 

 swarms, and why they "go out west." This was a fact which 

 I had always observed when swarms escaped from my father's 

 garden — they invariably flew west. My present location Is in 

 the edge of a 200acre linden grove that might well be clast 

 as a forest, it being quite aged, and containing very many 

 large trees, hundreds of which are hollow. West of me, two 

 miles, Is a very large oak grove. A neighbor joins farms with 

 me on the west. He has quite a number of colonies, and I be- 

 lieve that from 20 to 50 swarms escape from there every 

 year. I have seen very many of them go. He will not sell 

 them, and I have never seen one swarm that left In any other 

 direction than west, tho some claim that they occasionally do. 



Cedar Co., Iowa. 



^ 



Rearing Early Queens— A Good Point. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I have received the following letter, with the request that 

 I answer In the American Bee Journal : 



" In ' Langstroth Revised ' we are told (page 513) that in April 

 queenless colonies should be given a frame of young brood to rear 

 ,a new queen. We are told in another place that queenless bees 

 will most likely select a larva three days old from which to rear 

 a queen. In that case the hees will have a new queen in about 13 

 days from the time the frame is given. Even if the queen should 

 be reared from the egg, is it not likely that the bees will have a 

 virgin queeu long before there will be any drones in the apiary to 

 mate with her ? Is it not likely that before there will be any 

 drones we shall have some pretty old virgin queens on hand ? 

 Will these old virgins make as good queens as those reared later ? 

 I found one or two queenless colonies and hesitated about giving 

 frames of brood for reasons above indicated, preferring to send 

 South for queens.— EiiwiN Bevins." 



There is certainly a very good point raised by Mr. Bevins. 

 We must say that in very early or sudden seasons we have 

 found quite a little difficulty in rearing queens too soon. But 

 this is not a rule. It Is an exception. Generally spring opens 

 slowly, with only occasional warm days and many a reverse. 

 In the average season the best colonies will have drones ready 

 to hatch by the time our queenless colonies can be prepared 

 to hatch their queens. 



Our drones should be reared In the best colonies, always. 

 It seems to be an undisputed fact, accepted by all physiolo- 

 gists, that the characteristics of a race are best perpetuated 

 through the male. If this be correct, our drones are of more 

 importance than our queens. That Is, we should take more 

 pains to mate our queens with drones of a prolific mother 

 than to rear these queens from a prolific queen. I know many 

 of our bee-keepers will say that this Is Impossible since we 

 cannot control the fertilization of the queen, but it Is equally 

 evident that we can to a very great extent encourage the pro- 

 duction of drones In the best colonies, which are already — 

 mark this — more prone to rear drones than the others, from 

 the very fact of their strength and greater proliflcness. We 

 can also, and to a still greater extent, discourage the rearing 

 of drones In indifferent or weak colonies, by removing the 

 drone-comb and replacing It with worker-comb whenever 

 opportunity offers. This point I have been fighting for, for a 

 number of years, and I am glad to see that it has not all been 

 in vain. 



We have queenless colonies every spring, and also every 

 spring we follow the Instructions given In Langstroth, and 



