122 



AMERICAN BEE JOUFNAL. 



Feb. 



1899. 



Izal for Foul Brood is championed by Editor Simmins 

 in Bee-Chat, and a number of reports are enthusiastic as to 

 its success. 



Hand-Hole Cleats for Hives. H. R. Boardman and 

 others have strongly preferred cleats to hand-holes for 

 handling hives, and the A. I. Root Co. now announce that 

 they are making- a compromise — a short cleat directly over. 

 and continuous with, the hand-hole. 



Fruit, Bees and Poultry go well together. The bees, if 

 the weather gives them half a chance, will see that every 

 blossom of the fruit-trees is pollinated during- the blossom- 

 ing-time, and the chickens that have the run of an orchard, 

 particularly of a plum-orchard, are worth all it costs to keep 

 them if they never lay an egg. — Iowa Homestead. 



Likes Big Hives but Not Big Frames N. D. West en- 

 dorses most of what C. P. Dadaiit says about big hives, but 

 is emphatic in his dislike of Dadant's large frames. He 

 used them when first using frame hives ; they winter well, 

 give strong swarms, etc., but require a strong man to handle 

 t(iem all day long-, and they are bad about breaking down 

 when hauled over rough roads. — Gleanings. 



Jamaica Bee-Keeping — "Christmas pop," a white 

 morning-glory which is the bellflower of Cuba, begins in 

 November, and logwood last of December, the two lasting 

 three months. Nearly all the honey is shipt to London, 

 netting three to five cents. Hives must be at least two feet 

 from the ground on account of toads, which are very large 

 and swallow many bees if they have a chance. — H. G. Bur- 

 net, in Gleanings. 



Blocking Up Hives at the four corners, together with 

 equalizing and putting on sections early, prevented swarm- 

 ing for Mr. Bruce, as told by F. L. Thomp.son in a meaty 

 article in the Progressive Bee-Keeper. The only two colo- 

 nies that swarmed were induced thereto by superseding. 

 But he thinks brood-rearing is hindered by blocking up too 

 earl)'. Mr. Thompson surmises that another reason for the 

 lack of swarming- was the much swarming of the previous 

 year, giving so many young queens. 



Wood-Zinc vs. Plain Sheet-Zinc Honey-Boards. - 



J. H. Martin says in Gleanings that the wood-zinc are "in- 

 finitely better." R. Wilkin says he has been using the 

 plain sheet-zinc for 10 years, has 700 of them, likes them, 

 and wouldn't take the others and use them as a gift. He 

 takes hold of the plain sheet at one end or corner, peels it 

 off like a sheet of paper, with no snap to jar the bees, and 

 no care to prevent breaking: the wooden frame. If curved, 

 turn the convex side up, and the super set on straightens 

 it out. 



Stimulative Feeding — Editor Hill, of the American 

 Bee-Keeper, flings this somewhat defiant language at those 

 who oppose stimulative feeding : " The doctrine and prac- 

 tice of stimulative feeding is not as popular as it was some 

 20 years ago ; but, brethren, be it known, that yet a few of 

 its old-time adherents are stalking up and down in the land, 

 and the same satisfactory results are derived through its 

 latter-day application that gladdened their hearts in the 

 days of yore." 



He probably takes comfort in the thought that he has a 

 good deal of company the other side the water. 



Why Are Large Hives Best?— Editor Hutchinson 

 quotes from Gleanings an article by C. P. Dadant with ac- 

 companying remarks from the editor of Gleanings, and 

 then says : 



" I have no doubt that in Mr. Dadant's locality and 



management a large hive is better than a small one. He 



must have found it so or he would use a small hive. Ad- 

 mitting this, I am still at sea as to the ivhy of it." 



He then brings up various arguments proving that the 



large hive should be best, and demolishes them one after 

 a'nother, still leaving the question open, and demanding to 

 know wherein he is wrong and what the real why is. This 

 Boiler does not want to risk his life between the di,sputants, 

 but would hint, Mr. Hutchinson, that you either forget, or 

 have not seen, what Dadant has said about where the capi- 

 tal lies. You say it is not in the queens but in the hives 

 and combs. Dadant says it is in the queens. So long as he 

 holds that view, it is why enough for him to use large hives. 



The Dickel Theory is one that is occupying a good 

 many pages of the German bee-journals nowadays, and now 

 occupies a page or more in Gleanings. The theory was ad- 

 vanced some 10 3'ears ago, and is now revived and vigor- 

 ously advocated by Editor Dickel. Dickel objects to the 

 Dzierzon theory, and Dzierzon says the Dickel theory is 

 nonsense. According to the Dickel theory, every egg laid 

 by a normal queen is fertilized, and the workers determine 

 the sex by the kind of nourishment given. The editor of 

 Gleanings agrees with Dr. Miller, that it ma)' be well to 

 wait until the battle shall have been fought out in Germany 

 before taking up much time with it here. 



Do Bees Freeze?— Of late it has been bluntly asserted, 

 especially in the agricultural papers, that bees never freeze, 

 altho they may starve. Now comes W. Z. Hutchinson in 

 one of the leading agricultural papers. Country Gentleman, 

 and says that when he wintered bees out-doors in single- 

 walled hives without protection, the bees came through in 

 pretty fine condition in mild winters, but "in severe win- 

 ters the bees in the outside spaces or ranges of combs died 

 first ; the cluster became smaller ; the bees in more ranges 

 died ; and by spring all were dead " or ruinously reduced. 

 It would be somewhat troublesome to show clearly that 

 hunger and not cold was the trouble in such a case. 



Large or Small Hives.— A. E. Manum is confident that 

 in a poor season, and in a poor locality, a large hive is pre- 

 ferable to a small one. He says in the American Bee- 

 Keeper : " I find that in a location where the honey season 

 is short, that is, where the main dependence for honey is 

 from clover and basswood, with little or none from fall 

 bloom — nor but little is expected from fruit and other early 

 bloom in the spring. — that large hives are preferable to 

 small ones, for the reason that the large hive will admit of 

 suflicient winter stores gathered during the honey-flow 

 coming from ' clover and basswood ' to carry the bees 

 through until another season's harvest without resorting to 

 the sug^ar-barrel." 



Out-Door Wintering is the subject of an able article by 

 Editor Hutchinson in the Country Gentleman. He believes 

 in packing four inches at the .side and six on the top, using 

 means to make bees fly on warm days if necessary. For 

 packing material, chafif, leaves, planer shavings, dry saw- 

 dust. The best of all is cork-dust, but it costs. With a 

 good, strong colony and abundant ventilation above the 

 packing there is no trouble from moisture. To keep the 

 packing in place, boxes of thin, cheap lumber. Can be made 

 to knock down for summer. Or, hives may be in a row with 

 long box about them. He does not believe there is suflicient 

 gain to warrant packing before freezing weather. Have a 

 rim two inches deep under the hive with entrance above the 

 rim. Then entrance can never be clogg-ed. Weak colonies 

 should be put into the cellar. 



Ho-w to Know Honey is All Right for Feeding.— In the 



Canadian Bee Journal, page 476, appears the following- : 



" Look- out for foul brood. A note of wamniir has several times been 

 sounded by Editor Hidterniann atrainst feedinjir honey ^^ot from t)ther bee- 

 keepers. The safe thiny- is to feed no honey unless you know it's all 

 right."— Beedom Boiled Down. Please, Mr. Boiler, will yt»u tell us how 

 we may '' know it is all right?" 



Mr. Holtermann, you must not ask this Boiler to tell 

 how we may know, but ask Gleanings, the one that said it. 

 It might be suggested, however, that we may know it is all 

 right if we have saved it from our own bees or got it direct 

 from some one who we know has no foul brood. But while 

 your ear is at the 'phone, will you please tell us how such a 

 strange metamorphosis came to be made in the item quoted 

 by you ? On page 650 (1898) of the American Bee Journal 

 it reads: " A note of warning is sounded in Gleanings," 

 and you quote it as sounded by Editor Holtermann. Do 

 such typographical errors occur in your locality, was the 

 devil fooling with your copy, or how did it happen anyway ? 



