264 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



August 



^^MSRICAl^r 



PUBLISHED MONTH! 



First Nat'l Bank Bldg., Hamilton, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter at the 

 Hamilton, Illinois, Postoffice. 



C. P. Dadant, Editor. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Associate Editor. 



Frank C. Pellett, Staff Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this Jour- 

 nal is $1.00 per year in the United States of 

 America and Mexico; 3 years, $2.50; 5 years, 

 $4.00; in Canada. 15c extra, and in all other 

 countries in the Postal Union, 25 cents a year 

 extra for postage. Sample copy free. 



THE WRAPPER LABEL DATE indicates 

 the end of the month to which subscription is 

 paid. For instance, "decl8" on your label 

 shows that it is paid to the end of December, 

 1918. 



SUBSCRIPTION RECEIPTS— We do not 

 send a receipt for money sent us to pay sub- 

 scription, but change the date on your ad- 

 dress, which shows that the money has been 

 received and credited. In case of errors, please 



(Copyright: 1917, by C P. Dadant.) 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Bees in Packages by Mail 



At last we have a ruling whereby 

 bees in packages, as well as queens 

 and attendants may be sent through 

 the mails. 



It is now up to the shippers of bees 

 to make their containers for bees so 

 strong and unbreakable, as well as 

 unleakable, that there will not be 

 any question of this ruling being re- 

 viewed for the good of the service. 



Following is an extract of the rul- 

 ing: 



Office of Postmaster General, 

 Washington, June 18, 1918. 

 Order No. 1577. 



Amend Paragraph 1, Section 476, 

 Postal Laws and Regulations of 1913, 

 by adding thereto the following as 

 sub-paragraph (a). 



(a). Honeybees in quantities may 

 be sent in the mails, without insur- 

 ance or C. O. D. privileges, under the 

 same conditions as are prescribed for 

 queen bees and their attendant bees 

 when delivery can be made to the ad- 

 dresses within a period of five days. 

 If the cages are wooden the material 

 of which they are constructed shall 

 not be less than three-eighths of an 

 inch thick and the saw cuts therein 

 or space between slats shall not be 

 over one-eighth of an inch wide; if 

 wire screen is used for the sides of 

 the cages there shall be two thick- 

 nesses of screen separated by slats at 

 least three-eighths of an inch in 

 thickness. The container shall be 

 provided with a suitable handle and 

 no water or liquid food shall be 

 placed therein. Such parcels shall be 

 transported outside of mail bags. 

 A. S. BURLESON, 

 Postmaster General. 



Transferring Bees 



by Temporary Anesthesia 



In " L'Apicoltura Italiana" Engi- 

 \. Capponi, of San Refno, gives 

 his method of transferring and unit- 

 ing colonies by putting the bees to 

 sleep with a dose of about 10 gramms 

 of sulphuric ether. The hives or 



skeps to be transferred are taken 

 early in the morning, before they 

 have begun their flight, placed upon 

 a cloth and the edges of the cloth 

 raised up and tied around the box or 

 skep so the bees may not be able to 

 escape. They are then carried to the 

 house, bottom side up, when they be- 

 gin to roar from excitement. The 

 liquid is then applied with an atom- 

 izer, by cutting a small hole in the 

 cloth. In a minute the hum of the 

 bees lessens. A second and a third 

 hive are then operated upon and by 

 that time the first colony has be- 

 come completely still. The bees may 

 then be shaken into movable-frame 

 hives. In a little while, if the opera- 

 tion has been well conducted, they 

 come to life again. Bees from dif- 

 ferent hives may be united in this 

 way without the least fighting on 

 their part. 



The claims of Mr. Capponi con- 

 cerning this method are the follow- 

 ing: 



1. He kills or injures but a very 

 small number of bees. 



2. He avoids stings to himself or 

 others. 



3. The work is done in the shortest 

 possible time. 



4. He makes colonies of any 

 strength he chooses by mixing to- 

 gether the bees of as many colonies 

 as he desires. 



It is necessary to add that this 

 method is employed upon common 

 skeps, or "bugni," as they are called 

 in Italy, that are intended to be 

 killed for their honey by the ignor- 

 ant owner. Engineer Capponi, who 

 is a progressive beekeeper, saves a 

 large number of bees which are 

 gladly given him by their owners in 

 this way. He relates the astonish- 

 ment of the "contadini" when they 



see the bees revive, after a few min- 

 utes, in modern frame hives with 

 combs. It gives them an object les- 

 son and causes them to desire to fol- 

 low the modern ways. 



The temporary anesthesia of bees 

 is not without danger. It is quite 

 easy to give them an overdose from 

 which they would never recover. But 

 we live in a time when numerous op- 

 erations upon human beings would 

 not be possible without chloroform 

 or ether. So, if human beings maybe 

 put to sleep temporarily, for an op- 

 eration, why not bees? However, I 

 can see a number of our old veterans 

 shake their heads with disapproval. 

 They prefer taking the chances of 

 the stings, and so would I. 



This is not the first suggestion of 

 anesthesia in the handling of bees. 

 The "Cours D'Apiculture," of Hamet, 

 published some 60 years ago, con- 

 tains a chapter devoted to this sub- 

 ject. The ingredients recommended 

 by him were puffballs or lycoperdon 

 fungi, nitrate of potash (saltpeter), 

 chloroform, ether, etc. 



One of the greatest advantages 

 claimed by him for this anesthesia is 

 the ease with which bees may be 

 united or given strange queens. 



The Chicago Northwestern 



We call the attention of our read- 

 ers to the notice of the Chicago 

 Northwestern Association in another 

 column. Both this Association and 

 the Illinois State Association are use- 

 ful to Illinois beekeepers. Mr. James 

 A. Stone, of Farmingdale, 111., is Sec- 

 retary of the State Association, and 

 a remittance to either him or Mr. 

 Bull will secure membership in both. 



Observation Hives \ 



"I want to put bees in an 8-frame 

 observation hive. Is this the proper 

 time to do it, and what is the best 

 way? TEXAS." 



Similar questions are repeatedly 

 asked concerning observation hives. 

 Many people imagine that an ordi- 

 nary 8 or 10- frame hive with glass 

 on sides and ends is the proper kind 

 of observation hive, so much so that 

 dealers have found it necessary to 

 keep them for sale. But the only ob- 

 servation — or observing — hive "wor- 

 thy of the name is a hive containing 

 only one comb, with glass on both 

 sides, or several combs one above the 

 other, but all supplied with glass on 

 both sides, so that neither the queen 

 nor the bees can escape from obser- 

 vation. In an 8-frame hive the out- 

 side combs only, and perhaps the 



