146 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Mar. 9, 1899. 



tnent. Mr. Doolittle practices what is called "spreading- the 

 brood-nest." That is, every few days he goes over his col- 

 onies, takes the center combs, which are full of brood, to 

 the outside, and those that have but little brood he puts in 

 the center. In doing this, he compels his bees to rear all 

 the brood that they can take care of. Under such circum- 

 stances, stimulative feeding could not add anything to the 

 amount of brood reared. 



The others obtain the same result by stimulative feed- 

 ing, and if they were to add brood-spreading to it, they 

 would probably lind no advantage in it. It is simply a 

 choice between the two methods. 



SPACE FOR QUEENS. 



Some time ago Mr. Dadant said that one reason for 

 having a pretty good sized brood-nest is, that if the queen 

 has only a few combs she maj' have to go over a good deal 

 to hunt up the empty cells, and therefore lose quite an 

 amount of time, while with plenty of comb space there will 

 always be some cells within reach. To which Mr. Doolittle 

 retorted that /it's queens didn't have to hunt up space to lay 

 in. Whether their queens spend much time in hunting up 

 space or not is evidently a matter of "guess-work." As 

 both " guessers " are experienced bee-keepers, their 

 " guesses " must be pretty near the truth. And here Doo- 

 little's brood-spreading explains the difference in their 

 opinions, for by it he gives his queens plenty of space to 

 lay, and at the best place, that is, the center of the brood- 

 nest. 



THE TWO-STORY BROOD-NEST. 



On commenting on_^ the subject of a two-story brood- 

 nest, Mr. Hutchinson suggests that it might be as well to 

 add one or two supers to the first storj- instead of a second 

 brood-nest story. This is unquestionably a question of 

 "locality." If I understand rightly, E. R. Root wants to 

 add the second story at a time when the honey gathered is 

 dark and comes in moderate quantity, and replace it by 

 supers only when the more abundant flow of white honey 

 comes, preferring to turn the dark honey into bees. These 

 bees are to gather the white honey which follows. 



If the honey-flow is of short duration, I should think 

 better to put on supers at once than to rear bees that would 

 be too late to help during the flow. In "my locality " the 

 flow is never very heavy, and is verj- irregular, and the only 

 way I can obtain some surplus is to keep the colonies very 

 strong throughout the whole season, so they can take ad- 

 vantage of whatever flow may come at any time. 



Knox Co., Tenn. 



Securing- a Foul Brood Law in Illinois. 



BY J. M. HAMBAUGH. 



I AM really gratified to see our old friends in " Sucker- 

 dom " taking such aggressive and bold steps for the ob- 

 taining of a foul brood law in that State. 

 Mr. Stone, as you know, is an old " wheelhorse," and 

 always ready for battle, and many a tilt have we had in 

 defense of the bee-keepers' interests in the days of " Auld 

 Lang Syne." 



As for Mr. Dadant, everv blow that he administers is a 

 "sledge-hammer blow," and now that he has appeared 

 above board in the aggressive vindication of the foul brood 

 law, we shall expect good results to emanate therefrom. 

 And now, fellow bee-keepers of my native State, wouldn't 

 it be a grand idea for you to bring proper influences to bear 

 that would elevate Mr. Dadant to the dignity of a "Member 

 of the Illinois General Assembly ?" You would have a pow- 

 erful exponent of your rights and privileges in the law- 

 making machinery of the State. With such a member (if 

 he is a Frenchman) to entrust to his keeping such a meas- 

 ure as the foul brood law as now proposed, you could rest 

 assured that his keen foresight would quickly map out the 

 ways and means by which to bring about the necessary 

 votes and support of the Bill to enact it into law. He would 

 reason like this : 



Never can this proposed measure be gotten upon the 

 statute books without the necessarj' number of members in 

 both branches of the legislature to approve of the Bill, and 

 the governor to sign it; and in order, first, to bring this 

 about, the members must first be convinced that there is 

 some true merits in the Bill. 



Secondly, that it is really and absolutelj- wanted by 

 their constituency. 



Thirdly, that it will utimately achieve the ends at which 

 it is aimed. 



And now, in order to bring this about, he must bear in 

 mind the old adage, " Eternal vigilance is the price of suc- 

 cess." He must know also that there is work to do. He 

 must not only have a strong representative lobby before the 

 committees of the two houses, but from all parts of the 

 State must come strong- appfeals from the constituent bee- 

 keepers, to the various members composing these commit- 

 tees, to vote favorably on the measure. The more cudgels 

 that can be wielded over the heads of members by their con- 

 stituents, the better ; and remember, that a favorable con- 

 sideration of a Bill before the committee is equivalent to 

 one-half the battle. 



After the Bill is favorably considered, see after the 

 measure closely that it is not pusht to the rear and " pigeon- 

 holed," but promptly brought to its place on the calendar. 



And now is the time for the importuning of the members 

 for a favorable consideration, with all the force that can be 

 brought to bear, from every bee-keeper that can be mustered 

 into service, in the way of writing to their representatives 

 and senators, and sending petitions, etc., in behalf of the 

 measure, and see to it that a strong, vigilant vanguard is 

 ever on deck to throttle opposition in whatever way it may 

 present itself, by counter active arguments and work from 

 its advocates and the opponents' constituency. 



And now, fellow bee-keepers, if you are in earnest and 

 need the law, it is your duty to work for the same. I appre- 

 ciate Mr. Stone's energy and grit. I know him of old, but 

 it is not within the province of any one man to convince a 

 whole legislative body of men to enact a law, where there is 

 no approval at his back from the people who are directly in- 

 terested, and a legislator is quick to note this point. 



Now, as neither Mr. Dadant nor Mr. Stone are members 

 of that " disreputable " bodv. J'ou must secure the services 

 of the next best man you can get, and. let me beg of j'ou, 

 don't get one to introduce the Bill and then sit back and let 

 the Bill take care of itself, as was done with a former foul 

 brood bill, which I have a recollection of. It was a case of 

 " The father of the Bill didn't father it." 



San Diego Co., Calif. 



[No doubt Mr. Hambaugh's advice is most excellent, 

 whether it be Illinois, Michigan, or any other State that is 

 attempting to secure a foul brood law. Mr. H. ought to 

 know, for he was at one time a member of the Illinois legis- 

 lature. — Editor.] 



A Prayer for the Night=Time. 



BY HON. EUGENE SECOR. 



O cover my senses, thou Giver of sleep. 



With the nig-ht of Forg-etfulness ^>ver; 

 May slumber be restful, and trustful, and deep. 



Till daylig-ht return, daily rover. 



The mornini^ will break on a world of unrest; 



For me there'll be duty or labor: 

 May the streugth which I g-ather w-hile Da.v's in the West, 



Be spent as for God and my neig-hbor. 



Forest Ciiv, Iowa. 



No. 2.— Doolittle's Talk on Bees at a Farmer's 

 Institute in New York State. 



BY REPORTER. 

 [Continued from pag-e 133.1 



HE next spoke on honey, told how it was of two kinds, 

 comb and extracted. How extracted was different from 

 the " strained " honey of former times, explaining fully 

 all about how extracting was done, and told in a story-like 

 way how his old mother used to strain honey SO years ago. 

 Then how honey was the purest sweet in the world, most 

 easily digested, etc., and j-et, strange to say, hardl3- one per- 

 son in three, as nearly as could be ascertained, ever tasted 

 honey. 



He next told how those eating honey never stopt to 

 think of the verj- nice mechanism of the comb, which is so 

 thin that it takes nearly or quite a thousand thicknesses of 

 it to make an inch ; how the six sides of one cell formed one 

 side to six other cells, and the three angling bases of each 

 cell form one-third the base to three other cells. Then how 

 the bees, by their antenn;e, told in the dark just how to 

 shape their cells, each bee having a rule and a square of its 

 own ; how the hexagon form gave the greatest strength 

 with the least waste of space and njaterial, illustrating it 

 with square and round circles, and how the wax was secreted 



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