678 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Oct. 26, 1899. 



ditches to dig- — he's out of place at queen-rearing-. The re- 

 markable thing- about the system is that after 48 hours the 

 young queens are nurst by bees not queenless. I suppose 

 the proximity of lots of young brood is what is desired, 

 -while the broodlessness of the starting colony is depressing, 

 and damaging to the results if the queens stay there too 

 long. "What is home without a baby ?" 



RULING BBES TO SAVE THE FOOD. 



On page 579, Mr. Armstrong is right that the bee-busi- 

 ness abounds in surprisi'S. Killing part of a colony in the 

 fall to save the food they would otherwise eat, it will do to 

 mention as an eccentricitj', but not as a plan to be toler- 

 ated. Not only is the danger of losing the colony greatly 

 • increast, but even if they survive the gain is little or noth- 

 ing. The amount of honey 5,000 bees by themselves would 

 eat in getting thru is nearly the same as 10,000 would re- 

 quire. If the conditions were very favorable I am not sure 

 but the 10,000 would sometimes eat less than the 5,000. 



"FROM THE EGG TO THE PERFECT BEE." 



The article of H. W. Brice, page 579 — "From the Egg 

 to the Perfect Bee " — it would take a whole Afterthought to 

 talk of all its talkable points. We are sometimes told 

 minute particulars which do not verify when a body tries to 

 verify them. Hardly want to hint that this is an example, 

 but still it will do to " watch a little out." Have we not 

 somewhere photographs of the position of bee-eggs which 

 hardly tally with what Mr. Brice tells us ? Even granting 

 that w/iw/ of the items are correct, the paper is a valuable 

 one that should not be neglected. I feel surprised by the 

 statement that the young larva is certainly unfed for 12 

 hours. I had supposed that bees when feeling in a hurry 

 for brood, placed food around the eggs a little before they 

 hatcht. But then I never made minute personal observa- 

 tions. Not making them when I was young and keen- 

 sighted, they would be troublesome now — 'spects I must 

 leave it to the boys. Was also unaware of any distinct 

 "weaning period." when the change is made from jelly- 

 like food to the coarser kind. May it not be that the food 

 for the little fellows and the food for the half-grown ones 

 is prepared by two different sets of nurses (we would incline 

 to say it iHust be so), and that occasional failure to connect, 

 rather than any deliberate weaning, is the real state of the 

 case ? As to the 12-hour initial fast, that seems a little 

 more reasonable when we remember that chickens need no 

 food for a long time after hatching. Accepting this author, 

 there are three distinct kinds of larval food : 1st, a trans- 

 parent fluid ; 2nd, a milky semi fluid ; and 3rd, a food con- 

 taining comminuted pollen-shells or residual matter. 



EXTRACTING FROM THE UPPER STORY ONLY. 



Yes, Mr. Snell (page 580), two stories of extracting- 

 combs, extracting from the upper, but never from the un- 

 der — putting the under up above instead — that's the way to 

 have a prime article. But what are we poor wretches to do 

 who never have a flow strong enough to justify so big an 

 outfit ? The Pettit system, given on page 594, answers this 

 last question quite well. 



THICK -WALLS FOR THE STRONG — THIN FOR THE -WEAK. 



Thick-walled hives to winter strong colonies, and thin- 

 walled hives for weak colonies. May be, Mr. McNeal, you 

 are right for the Ohio River ; but I doubt the latter part of 

 it for the Ohio north line. Page 580. 



SINGLE TIER OF HIVES IN A HOUSE-APIARY. 



Quite likely A. H. Duflf is right' in moving for the total 

 abolition of the upper range of hives in house-apiaries. 

 Manifestly an annovance when manipulating the lower 

 range. The onlj- object seems to be to save half the con- 

 struction expense. Make the saving by a cheap style of 

 construction. Doubling the expense to have the house 

 " scrumptious," and then halving it again by crowding a 

 grand nuisance inside, is hardl3' sensible, that's a fact. He 

 says a convenient painted house can be made for one dollar 

 a hive with onlj' one range. Page 581. 



NOT A MAKE-BELIEVE PHILOSOPHER. 



That little boy, page 585, who made believe a bee was 

 sting-ing him, to keep himself from over-estihiating the 

 pain he was required to bear during an operation, was a 

 philosopher of the first water. 



LATE FERTILIZATION OF QUEEN. 



The evidence offered by Bernard W. Hayek, page 589, 

 that a queen was fertilized at seven weeks old, seems to be 



very nearly absolute. Valuable bit of experience. Quite 

 possibly in manj' cases of aged virgins inborn worthless- 

 ness and not age is the real trouble. I believe it has been 

 i«i/>t'(Vt'a' sometimes that queens emerging late in autumn 

 became fertile in the spring ; but I do not remember any 

 positive case which came near to this one. 



PUT HIM "IN PICKLE." 



He'd know the location of pickled brood. 



That " Colo "' man, that " Colo " man. 

 "Who can sate his inquiring- mood ? 



No one can, no one can 

 Send him down where all pickles are, 



To the pickle-jar, to the pickle-jar. 



DUTY ON CUBAN HONEY — MODER.ATE SWARMING. 



Ninety percent of the bees of Cuba extinguisht by the 

 war ! But peace could very quickly restore them — we 

 needn't stop crying "wolf" on that account. But it is 

 coming to look rather doubtful whether the duty on Cuban 

 honey will ever be taken off — even if Cuba stays American. 

 Interesting to hear that (contrary to what one would ex- 

 pect) swarming is quite moderate in Cuba — not nearly the 

 trial that it is here. Pag-e 596. 



WINTERING AND HONEY-STORING — BULGED SECTIONS. 



It's a little disquieting to learn that the colonies which 

 winter best will not give one so much surplus as those less 

 fortunate. It would be a relief to say, " Don't believe a 

 word of it;" but it's Dooliitls that says it (page 594), and 

 it's not healthy to"conspute" him. I'll just say it's be- 

 cause he keeps pure Italians and I keep well-bred hybrids. 

 I think my kind seldom crowd their queens with honey. Put 

 honey in the brood-chamber often enough, but willing to 

 take it out again when she wants them to. 



Mr. D. shows excellent knowledge of human nature 

 when he multiplies by ten the "feiv " bulged sections that 

 the anti-separator folks admit they have. 



jOEsrro]^ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. C. MILLER. ATareng-o, 111, 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor.] 



Black Drops from the Bee-Smoker. 



Not long ago in reply to a question in this department, 

 I said the remedy for a smoker that let fall inky drops was 

 to clean the smoker. F. L. Thompson mentioned this in 

 the Progressive Bee-Keeper, and said he had just tried his 

 smoker after a fresh cleaning, and it was more vicious than 

 ever before in dropping- the black stufl:" ; but he gave no 

 remedy. 



There may be a difference in cleaning smokers. If you 

 clean out the nozzle of the smoker, it will drop worse than 

 ever. Clean tin is a g-ood non-conductor, so the moisture in 

 the hot air conden.ses on the tin surface and runs down in 

 black drops. When the inside of the nozzle is coated well, 

 that serves as a non-conductor, and the dropping is not so 

 bad. The cleaning put, however, to which I referred, was 

 that lower part under the fire that in most smokers admits 

 the air to the fire. The little holes there sometimes become 

 clogged, and when you clear them out so as to make the fire 

 have a better draft, I think you will find less trouble with 

 the dropping. It ma)' not make as much difference as I 

 think, but certainly I do not think cleaning out the nozzle 

 will help. 



Critic Taylor comes to the rescue in the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review, and says the remedy is dry fuel. Of course, the 

 less moisture there is, the less can condense and drop. Why 

 didn't I saj' so before? Just because I didn't know any 

 better. My igfnorance is less excusable because during the 

 past summer I have used very dry chips from the chip yard 

 and have had no dropping. But it never occurred to me 



