1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



541 



sun Id sunitner, the building is kept cool, while in winter the 

 hot ascendinR air is retained, keeping the building warm. By 

 deadening sound all communications and noises between offices 

 are avoided. 



As an inorganic substance, it does not decay or breed and 

 harbor Insects or vermin, as do earth, mortar, felt and sheath- 

 ing papers when used as linings, a good property from a sani- 

 tary standpoint. It is especially adapted to cold storage and 

 refrigerating houses, and has al-so been applied as a cover for 

 water-pipes to prevent them from freezing. A more extended 

 use of mineral wool seems very probable. 



It might pay to test it more extensively for packing bees 

 in winter. Possibly it could be used in place of straw by 

 those who make straw hives. 



The Nectar in F'lO'wers, says W. W. Stoddard, 

 of England, is simply a solution of cane-sugar formed and 

 provided for the nutrition of the stamens and pistils. That 

 may be only his "say so." 



- ^ ^ * * * ■ 



^rr)or}^ \\)^ Bee-Papers 



Gleaned lyy Or, Miller. 



WEIGHT OF BEES. 



According to figures in Gleaninss, it seems pretty well e.c- 

 tablished that when well filled, as when leaving with a swarm, 

 bees weigh about 3,000 to the pound, and when emptied of 

 honey about 5,000 to the pound. That shows that a bee can 

 carry a load of honey equal to about two-thirds its own weight. 



KEEPING SHARP THE UNCAPPING-KNIFB. 



Here's how E. H. Schaeffle does it, as reported in Glean- 

 ings : 



"He uses hot water, as many others do, into which to dip 

 his knife. The yater is used in a two-gallon stone crock. If 

 the water is put in boiling hot, the crock will hold the heat 

 for a long time. Select a crock upon the edges of which thfire 

 is no enamel. If there is, file it off. Now, when the knife is 

 removed from the crock, draw it across the edge of the crock 

 as you would across a whet-stone, and the edge of the knife is 

 kept as keen as a razor, which is no small item in uncapping." 



ITALIANIZING AN APIARY. 



Doollttle, after trying other plans, thinks that for the 

 practical bee-keeper " the best plan is to give all the colonies 

 which have good Italian queens, one or two frames of drone- 

 comb, 80 that large numbers of drones will be reared in your 

 own apiary, which will be very likely to secure the pure mat- 

 ing of one-half or more of your queens ; and when one is 

 found that is impurely mated, kill her and give the colony a 

 queen-cell from your pure breeder, and try again. As your 

 colonies increase, your drones will increase also ; and the 

 more drones reared in your Italian colonies, the better will be 

 your chances of having all purely mated." 



AMAI.GAMATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN AND THE UNION. 



The editor of Gleanings says : 



"I must say, that, after looking over the whole situation, 

 and studying it in all its bearings, I am in for supporting tlie 

 amalgamation. I can't see how the workings of the Union 

 would be hampered by being a part of the N. A. B. K. A., and 

 the two organizations in one could be run much more econom- 

 ically. 



"The truth of the the matter, it seems to me, lies right 

 here: Bee-keepers cannot really affnrd two such organiza- 

 tions. Let the Union swallow up the North American, if need 

 be; but let us boil them down into one ; then let us have 

 smaller initiation fees, conduct the one more economically, 

 and run the membership up into the several hundreds. 



"If I am not very much out of the way, the increased 

 membership of the Union very recently was due to the fact 

 thai bee-keepers thought, after the Constitution was changed 



to take cognizance of adulteration and other matters, the 

 Union would do something with this great problem of adulter- 

 ation, and hence the new members. I do not quite agree that 

 all the funds of the Union were raised for defense. The 

 recent addition to membership brought with it an addition to 

 the funds, and this was not so much for defense as for other 

 matters. 



'■If we expect large membership, and a power for 

 good, so that, as Bro. York says, we may appeal to legisla- 

 tures that will hear, it is my humble opinion that the Union 

 should hrajic/i oMt in its line of worlc. The field of protection 

 against unjust legislation is too wirrow. The Union ought to 

 take hold and investiii<ite every case of alleged adulteration. 

 It has seemed disinclined to take any such action. Again, It 

 should, I think, keep a careful watch of the markets and of 

 commission men. It should also have a watch-dog eye on 

 swindlers who do occasionally creep into our ranks, and have 

 In the past succeeded in carrying off hard-earned dollars from 

 bee-keepers. I am not referring to adulterators, but to un- 

 scrupulous queen-breeders and supply-dealers — more espe- 

 cially the former, who have taken in large orders and then 

 poclseted the money. 



" Last, but by no means least, it should and could fill the 

 mission of the North American, in getting together the lead- 

 ing bee-keepers of the land for face-to-face and hand-to-hand 

 conferences. It should grapple the great questions, and then 

 with a large membership and a financial backing, be in a posi- 

 tion to act and do something. The North American is not, 

 and has not been, what it should be. The Union has had a 

 brilliant past in the line of protection against unjust legisla- 

 tion. The need of such work is largely gone by, but there are 

 newer and larger fields for action, and why not combine our 

 two forces into one powerful one ? Gleanings is for amalga- 

 mation, and, with the Review, it doesn't care whether the N. 

 A. B. K. A. swallows the Union, or whether the swallowing is 

 the other way. Let's combine our forces." 



WHEN TO PUT ON THE ESCAPE. 



C. B. Coe says in Gleanings that instead of putting on the 

 escape at night, the proper time Is early in the morning of the 

 day the extracting is to be done. This gives the bees a chance 

 to evaporate through the previous night the thin nectar pres- 

 ent. 



REARING QUEEN-CELLS THE OLD WAY. 



For the first time in several years we have been enabled 

 to till almost all our orders for queens, from our own apiary. 

 Our trade has not been less ; but now that we have gone back 

 to the good old-fashioned method of rearing queens, it is an 

 actual fact that we c:in rear more queens than we could by 

 fussing with the new-fangled plans. — Gleanings. 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



A. I. Root says they are now selling crimson clover seed 

 at the rate of a bushel or more a day. He further says : 



There has been sufficient success, not only in Ohio, but 

 even as far north as Michigan and York State, to warrant us 

 in taking considerable pains to learn how to handle it. If It 

 succeeds, you have a great lot of feed very early in the spring; 

 and If you wish to enrich the ground for some future crop you 

 have a great growth of clover to turn under. When it suc- 

 ceeds, this latter plan is probably the cheapest way of manur- 

 ing your ground that has ever been devised. I say manuring, 

 for a heavy growth of this clover, or, in fact, any clover, 

 turned under just before planting your crop, is equivalent to 

 a great many loads of the very best stable manure. Another 

 thing, you do not get a great lot of weed seeds as where your 

 manure is purchased. 



Xtae Palmer House, located at the corner of King 

 and York streets, Toronto, will be the headquarters of the 

 North American convention Sept. 4, 5 and 6. Mr. J. 0. Palmer, 

 the proprietor, writes me that he has made arrangements to 

 accommodate 200 delegates. So you see there will be ample 

 room for all. Where members "double up" — two In a bed- 

 only $1.50 a day will be charged; $1.75 if you prefer to 

 " bunk " alone. 



Just across the street from the Palmer, is the Kensington, 

 another hotel owned by Mr. Palmer. Here the rate Is 50 

 cents and up for rooms, and meals are furnished on the Euro- 

 pean plan — pay for what you order. 



