June 8, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



357 



out of a barrel — and perchance couldn't put it in ag-ain 

 properly — yet it is too costly a package to waste. Page 265. 



BEES .\ND SORGHUM-MILLS. 



Mr. Pierson's experience, on pag-e 268, is pathetic. Still 

 I think that on a pinch one ca}! have an apiary and make 

 sorg-hum too. Don"t/i/«c tlie entrances. A little labor and 

 expense betimes will make each colony a nice front apart- 

 ment of screen. Many years ago I ran a sorghum-mill one 

 fall. We kept bees then, did not shut them up. took few 

 other precautions, almost none, and had very little trouble. 

 Orion Conger, page 283, finds bees unendurable only one 

 year out of eight. Some other years he fought them ofl' 

 a little with smoke. 



DANDELION TE.-l .^N ENDUR.\BLE INSULT. 



Alas, alas I Our Dr. Peiro (progressive as he has 

 seemed to us to be) is non-progressive enough to believe in 

 some of the old gags. Insulting one's stomach regularly 

 with dandelio:, tea actually does people good. Page 270. 



NO LIKEK STINGKE SUG.\R-FLY. 



As I contemplate that poet yelling about a few stings, 

 on page 281. it occurs to me to ask a question. Do vee ever 

 get sufficiently habituated to stings to tike them? Some 

 stings I decidedly don't like, including all the extra-severe 

 ones : but still, I often find myself ■ asking of myself. Does 

 that hurt ? or. Does it feel good ? How is it with the other 

 old chaps ? Are any of them similarly affected ? Better 

 spring medicine than Dr. Peiro's dandelion tea. I believe. 



NAILED SECTIONS AND A PORTLY DAME. 



On page 275. Boomhower's charge on Doolittle for say- 

 ing that the ordinary section breaks down, seems to indent 

 his lines somewhat. When a ca.se can fall ten feet, and 

 smash the honey all up, without harming a section, it does 

 seem as tho fair quality must be accorded to the latter. But 

 it seems that that 200-pound, red-headed dame pusht back 

 his own lines a few paces ; and yet, with the help of the 

 bees, he won out. Perhaps Doolittle may do as well ; — still 

 retain a sort of hopeless hankering after the nailed section 

 myself, you see. 



PROTEST AGAINST HONEY WASHING OUT. 



In Lovesy's excellent article, page 273, I would file a 

 protest where he says rain washes the honey out of alfalfa. 

 If I am right, there is none to wash out — scarce a bee ever 

 seen on it in any weather wet or dry, thru an extensive ter- 

 ritory — and yet abundant honey-yield in the irrigated re- 

 gions. It seems to be a sort of general rule that plants do 

 not yield much honey except in regions where they specially 

 pro.sper. Plants made to grow out of their natural habitat 

 very rarelj- prove honey-producers. 



D.ARK AND LIGHT HONEY-DEW. 



Mr. Whitney's interesting problem about one colony 

 gathering only dark honey-dew, and another only light, I 

 would essay to solve thus : The dark supply began first, 

 and those colonies that got to work on it strong kept at it. 

 In some other colonies the main generation of bees were 

 not old enoug-h to gather till several days later, and they 

 struck into the later and better supply. Of couse, bt'cs don't 

 consider honey any the worse for being dark ; and their 

 taste for flavors probably differs some from ours. 



FORMULA OF BEES' BABY FOOD. 



And so. Honey 2, Pollen 4, Water 1, is the recipe the 

 bees follow for babv food, according to Doolittle's after- 

 think. Page 276. 



A TRIMMING FOR TKIMBERGER. 



"The loquacious paid writer," eh? Why, Mr. Trim- 

 berger, no judge will ever let you off from the charge of 

 being loquacious, the way you sling English. But I guess 

 you're right, that watery-looking honey is usually honey 

 left uncared for in hot weather by the swarming' of the 

 bees. Not quite so sure that a hot. dry room will reclaim 

 such honey ; but perhaps it may sometimes. Certainly the 

 acid %vill not counter-develop if souring has begun. Rather 

 doubtful if capping's which have sunk to touch the honey 

 can ever be made to leave an air-space. I was going to scold 

 about those half-capt sections given to the minister ; but I 

 forbear. My last run of unfinist sections are apt to be dark 

 and poor and raw ; but where there is no fall harvest they 

 may be much better — possibly as good as the minister's 

 sermons. It is instructive to see a competent judge aban- 

 don the Taylor leveler for a better method. If it seals over 



empty cells, and they appear as blemishes in next year's 

 honey, that is a drawback, indeed. Why has no one men- 

 tioned that before ? On the whole, a convention seldom 

 listens to so stir-up-ative a racket. Page 277. 



PLANS TO HEAD OFF SWARMING. 



Cutting out and throwing away the brood to head off 

 swarming is remedial work with a vengeance, Mr. Lathrop 

 — and job lots of it, if we examine each colony often enough 

 to know just when to cut. And your nice frames of worker- 

 comb will be changed to drone. 



The other plan will bear more investigation. Had Mr. 

 L. told us how many colonies, up to date, actually have been 

 run in this manner it would have helpt on some. Page 278. 



ALBINO BEES— POLLEN SUBSTITUTES. 



Probably the albino bee is not a true albino, and so in- 

 ferences of weak constitution founded on the name would 

 be amiss. Page 285. 



I conjecture that Mr. Presswood's flour and meal may 

 be all right, only that the bees are waiting for a trifle of 

 nectar, and more springlike weather. Page 285. 



COGITATOR. 



Report of the Chicag-o Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



BY HERMAN F. MOORE. 

 [Continued from pafje 342.] 

 Dr. C. C. Miller gave a good talk on " Running an api- 

 ary for comb honey," after he had plenty of fun with the 

 secretary about the article supposed to be lost in the mails, 

 but which as a fact had been neither written nor mailed 1 



Mrs. N. L. Stow, of Evanston. the most experienced 

 lady apiarist in our county, then read the following paper 

 on the same subject : 



Running an Apiary for Comb Honey. 



I know that you do not expect any great amount of in- 

 formation, but only ask that I open the subject so that 

 others may be induced to give their opinions. I shall not 

 pretend to know just how an apiary should be run for comb 

 honey, but would probably refer you to our bee-periodicals as 

 an excellent source of information. With such good bee- 

 literature as we have there is no excuse for ignorance ; all 

 that I know about bees has been learned by experience. 



It is said that there is always something new to be 

 learned about bee-keeping, so if I vrere to write an up-to- 

 the-times essay I might tell you of many things that do not 

 come in my experience : as my hives and fixtures were 

 bought 15 years ago, the 10-frame hive made and sold by 

 Mr. Thomas G. Newman at that time, you would probably 

 call them out of date, but rather than to make kindling 

 wood of them and give my good husband the further ex- 

 pense of buying more, I still use them. 



In order tliaj I may not take too much time, I will only 

 touch upon the important points, as you follow, if j'ou will 

 make a mental note of such things as interest you, or that 

 you can give or get information on, we can discuss them 

 later. 



Let us look at the subject and see what is involved in 

 the question. There might be comparison, but I have no 

 way of comparing, as I have never produced any other than 

 comb honey. I judge it must mean more work, and at least 

 closer attention than producing' extracted honey, because I 

 knew one who did all the work for his bees in the morning 

 or evening, with an occasional holiday and perhaps Sunday ; 

 while I never dare be long away from home between the 

 hours of 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., from the middle of May to the 

 middle of July. 



Winteri:ig is a very important part of the subject, but 

 that is a problem of itself, and properly comes under its 

 own head. Locality is the same, but few of us can change 

 our locality. Kinds of bees are more simple and easily con- 

 trolled by the bee-keeper. Spring management is another 

 part of the question, and also swarming, and hives, sections 

 and section-cases, and last of all. selling ; this part I like 

 least of all, and gladly leave it to others. 



