1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



717 



the years no convention was held, six different years passing 

 without any, but since the year 1873 there has been no omis- 

 sion. In no place has a convention been held the second time, 

 with the single exception that one was held in Vienna in 

 1853, and a second one in the same city in 1894. A fine 

 portrait of the greatly revered Dzierzon faces the title-page. 



To all bee-keeping readers of the German language, this 

 is a worlf of great interest and value. To Americans it sug- 

 gests that with all our boasted advancement we are much be- 

 hind our German brethren in the way of organization. A 

 membership of a very few hundred can hardly be reached on 

 this side the water, while they number many thousands. We 

 may as well follow their example, and spend our energies not 

 so much in trying to get attendance as membership. Plan so 

 that a man will be a member whether he attends or not, and 

 then the attendance will be greater. A great deal has been 

 unwisely said about the great distances in our country, but 

 that has nothing in the world to do with the matter here any 

 more than it has in Germany. 



■*-—*■ 



Mr. James A. Green, of Ottawa, III., was married 

 yesterday (Nov. 6) to Miss Alice Olds, the daughter of a 

 prominent organ manufacturer at Ottawa. Mr. Green is one 

 of the experts who reply to the queries in the Question-Box 

 department of the Bee Journal. Heartiest congratulations 

 and long life to the happy pair ! 



« • » 



"What Have You Learned in the apiary the 

 past season? Anything new? Or have you verified any 

 former discoveries ? If so, why not tell us all about them ? 

 Others have helped you by telling their experiences — why not 

 you help them in return by describing yours ? 



A Sweet Locality is that In Utah, where, I learn, 

 they have 100,000 pounds of extracted honey all ready to 

 move to market. That amount of honey would sweeten quite 

 a lot of pancakes. Alfalfa honey and good pancakes — num ! 

 num ! 



^n)or)^ tlpe Bee-Papers 



SEASON OF 1895 IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



Mr. S. F. Mclntyre, of Ventura Co., Calif., secured in the 

 Sespe Canyon over 35 tons of honey the past season. This is 

 about 150 pounds per colony, and is a wonderful showing, 

 when we consider the large size of his apiaries — hundreds of 

 colonies in a place. He gave a very able essay at the Ventura 

 county Institute on the California bee-keeping industry. He 

 showed that the average for 20 years had been from 60 to 70 

 pounds per colony ; though one season in three had been an 

 entire failure. Except that people, through neglect, permit 

 starvation in years of failure, the product would be still great- 

 er.— Prop. Cook, in Rural Californian. 



CROSS-EYED BEES — FOUNDATION REJECTED BY BEES. 



I have for many years enjoyed the reputation of being the 

 boss idiot of Southern California. No man so far has ques- 

 tioned my title or contended for the championship. But the 

 bees this year have stripped me of my honors, and I have 

 yielded up to them the belt so long and honorably worn. This 

 is how they went about to do it : 



When the time came, in the spring, for putting on sections, 

 I found I had more than enough, with foundation already in 

 them, to cover my whole apiary. This foundation had been 

 put in these sections more than a year before ; and on our 

 failure to get honey in 1894 the sections were stored away. 

 X thought I was fortunate in being all ready for the honey 

 crop, and piled on the sections liberally. Ten days afterward 

 I looked over them to see how they were building. Epcnj col- 

 ony that had gone into the upper story was building cruulxd I 

 Their favorite way of building was crosswise the sections, as if 



they wished to bind them together with iron bands. Cross- 

 wise, cat-a-cornered, around the corner and back again they 

 came. But the foundation, they would not touch. It was 

 pure wax, made in this apiary, and run out by mysiilf. What 

 could be the matter ? I sat down on a hive to meditate. 



"Here," said I, "is a whole apiary gone mad crosswise! 

 I will get at the true secret of this state of affairs, even if it 

 takes me all summer." 



I got my microscope and examined the bees, and, lo ! the 

 secret was out. The whole apiary was cross-eyed. I stood 

 aghast with astonishment and consternation. Could it be pos- 

 sible ? Oh for a carload of " them fellers " from the East who 

 know it all, to tell me how to breed back again to straight- 

 eyed bees 1 I could see through the crooked part of It very 

 plainly. When a bee got onto a piece of foundation to draw it 

 out, being cross-eyed, she was actually not there at all, but 

 around the corner, building a cross-section between the two 

 sheets of foundation. Don't you see it plainly ? 



But to make assurance doubly sure, I tested my microscope 

 by a first-class Instrument, and found that It was my glnss that 

 was cross-eyed Instead of the bees. So I had to seek a solution 

 of this extraordinary freak In another direction. This foun- 

 dation has been suspended in the sections for more than a year. 

 Might it not, in that time — being In single sheets — lose someot 

 its essential oils, and be unfit for the bees — too hard and flinty ? 

 I had more of this same foundation ( in bulk ) which I believed 

 to be good. So I took the sections off the whole apiary, and 

 replaced the foundation with that which was kept in bulk (but 

 of the same lot ) and the bees went at it and built as straight 

 and beautiful combs as ever. 



Now, to me this proves two things: 1. Foundation sus- 

 pended in sections will not keep a long time without losing 

 some of its "internal arrangements " which are necessay for 

 the bees. 2. Foundation in bulk will keep a long time, re- 

 taining all its elements intact which are required for its suc- 

 cessful working Into comb. So you can notify that " carload 

 of fellers" not to come all at once, but three or four abreast. 

 — J. P. Israel, in Gleanings. 



My observations lead me to a little different conclusion. 

 I've had bees work all right on foundation that had been in 

 sections much longer than Mr. Israel mentions, but it was not 

 left long on the hive. When left on the hive when there was 

 no storing, I've had the bees glaze it over so they wouldn't 

 touch it the next year. 



some stray straws from gleanings. 



About this time we begin to whistle up our courage by 

 telling how bright the prospect is for next year. 



The Hungarian government in 10 years has appropriated 

 nearly y40,d00 for the advancement of bee-culture. In 

 seveu years the products have doubled. 



A drone, we have always been taught, takes 24 days to 

 develop from the egg; but H. W. Brice says, in British Bee 

 Journal, that, after much and careful observation, he is sure 

 it requires 25 days. 



The foul brood bacillus, under favorable circumstances, 

 increases by division about once every half hour, so that in 10 

 hours a single bacillus Increases to a million ! If you doubt 

 that, figure it up for yourself. 



The standard frame of Germany is about a sixth smaller 

 than the Langstroth. Lehzen, editor of the excellent Central- 

 blatt, thinks there should be two standards — the larger for 

 regions with spring and summer flow, and the smaller for 

 regions with fall flow. 



The bee-louse. Dr. Balint says, is not a parasite, as here- 

 tofore supposed, but a commensal or table companion, merely 

 sharing with the bee the food taken by the latter. — Bienen- 

 pflege. [I believe this is right. I never have seen a case, 

 and I've seen a good many, where the queen or bee showed 

 evidence of harm from the so-called louse. — Editor.] 



queens laying in two stories. 



When running for extracted honey I have had no trouble 

 in getting the queen to occupy the second story, because, 

 when she was crowded for room in the lower set, I simply 

 took therefrom two or more frames and put them above, filling 

 the space naw made below with empty combs or frames of 

 foundation. With the brood above, the queen, after filling 

 the combs put in below, would go above. I have had as many 

 as 14 frames, more or less, filled with brood, and It was quite 

 a common thing to have a dozen. When I had 14 such frames 

 I generally added a third story ; and in this as well as in the 



