1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



421 



practically rotten, leaking bees badly. 

 I bought the bees for $1.25 per hive, 

 and after looking them over for mov- 

 ing, concluded that I had made a bad 

 bargain, yet since I lost over 700 

 stands of bees during the year and 

 winter of 1917, due directly to the 

 drought here, I was glad to get the 

 bees and make an eflort to move 

 them. I loaded them just at night- 

 fall and took them home at night so 

 that if the hives leaked I would not 

 lose any of the bees, for they were 

 very weak, having not more than 

 three frames of bees to the hive. It 

 was 18 miles to my home. I loaded 

 them into my trailer and started 

 home at dark. Two hours later I was 

 at home. Bees were crawling over 

 the hives and wagon. I ran the 

 wagon into my back yard and left 

 them there till morning. Just a little 

 after sun up next morning I placed 

 them and opened them. They imme- 

 diately came out and began to fly 

 around the front of the hives. Ninety 

 minutes later, to my great amaze- 

 ment , these bees were working like 

 veterans, having thoroughly located 

 themselves, from all appearances, 

 and were actually carrying in pollen 

 at the rate of sixty bees to the 

 minute. I have moved bees many 

 times but never saw such quick loca- 

 tion in my life, and I have kept bees 

 a long time. 



These bees have done remarkably 

 well since I moved them. They are 

 very strong in numbers and gather- 

 ing very much honey. I am sure that 

 they will winter well, for they are 

 now in wintering condition; yet, 

 when I bought them, they would not 

 average ten pounds of honey to the 

 hive, due to their bad location. I will 

 make them rear queen-cells next 

 spring, and after raising a batch of 

 cells they will get a first-class Italian 

 .queen and will soon change their 

 color from mourning to khaki. 



T. P. ROBINSON. 



Bartlett, Tex. 



"Honeybee" Vs. "Mother Bee" 



Nomenclature 

 I have read with interest article on 

 page 301 of your September issue, by 

 Robert Sparks Walker, editor of the 

 Southern Fruit Grower, and some 

 very apt comments of your own. 



Brother Walker seems to fear the 

 bogie of monarchy in the name of 

 "Queen." While I agree with him in 

 the relative merits of the two forms 

 of government, I am not able to get 

 his point of view that, because one is 

 less desirable, all words used in con- 

 nection with it are necessarily so, 

 and should be eliminated. 



To carry his thought to a logical 

 conclusion, a whole lot of Holy Writ 

 would have to be re-written ; he 

 would refuse to play "king-pins"; and 

 goodness knows what he would call 

 a "kingfisher." The "kingbird," I 

 agree, is in bad repute with beekeep- 

 ers. 



The following quotation of Shakes- 

 peare (born 1564, died 1616) is of in- 

 terest. It is from "King Henry V." 

 and was probably written about the 

 time that "Butler, the English nat- 

 uralist, discovered that 'she' was 

 really a female": 



"For so work the honeybees; 

 Creatures that, by a rule in nature, 



teach 

 The act of order to a peopled king- 

 dom. 

 They have a King, and officers of 



sorts ; 

 Where some, like magistrates, cor- 

 rect at home. 

 Others, like merchants, venture trade 



abroad ; 

 Others, like soldiers, armed in their 



stings, 

 Make boot upon the summer's velvet 



buds ; 

 Which pillage they with merry march 



bring home 

 To the tent-royal of their emperor. 

 Who. busied in His majesty, surveys 

 The busy masons building roofs of 

 gold; 



The civil citizens kneading up the 



honey; 



The poor mechanic porters crowding 



in 

 Their heavy burdens at his narrow 



gate; 

 The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly 



hum, 

 Deliv'ring o'er to executors pale 

 The lazv, yawning drone." 



A. A. GARDINER. 

 Quebec. 



Double Covers Dipped in Tar 



Our picture shows a double cover 

 made by J. A. Simmons, of Sabinal, 

 Texas. To protect these covers from 

 the weather, Mr. Simmons dips them 

 in a mixture of coal tar and pitch. 

 There is a very general idea that 

 hives should be painted white to 

 avoid overheating in summer. Sa- 

 binal is located in the semi-arid sec- 

 tion of west Texas, where the 

 weather gets extremely hot, yet Air. 

 Simmons does not find any objection 

 to the black covers on this account. 

 In the Fifth Annual Report of The 

 Iowa Bee Inspector, Allen Latham, 

 of Connecticut, has a paper on the 

 subject of black as a color for hives. 

 He contends that black is a better 

 color than white for this purpose. 



J. A. Simmons of Sabinal and his double cove 



Beekeeping in Santo Domingo 



Another letter from H. Brenner. 



At the end of June, I made a trip 

 to our apiaries on the north coast, in 

 Mantanzas and Cabreras. The first 

 apiary is too far from the mountains 

 and the bees did not do well, because 

 they have no protection from the sea 

 breezes, when they come home 

 loaded with nectar. In this apiary 1 

 have to be contented with honey 

 coming from the bushes and trees 

 along the coast. The flow lasts from 

 February till the end of April. 



In Cabreras, the hills are near the 

 sea and the honey-flow is continuous. 

 In this apiary the bees filled every- 

 thing with honej' and brood, even to 

 the space below the frames, and 

 every colony swarmed except those 

 that had supers or young queens. 

 This apiary in Cabreras is on Dr. 

 Maldonado's estate named "Dia- 

 mante." It is an ideal location. The 

 bees get their honey from the hills 

 and the sea shore, but they are pro- 

 tected from the strong breezes by 

 numerous trees and bushes that form 

 a windbreak. But we are unable to 

 extract from these apiaries because 

 we have no outfit nor bee-houses. 



We are making increase and hope 

 that the war will soon end so we may 

 get material from the States. At 

 Sanchez we have 165 colonies, 100 

 with supers of worked-out founda- 

 tion. More supers are needed. I 

 extracted last week iy 2 barrels of 

 honey. But, brother beekeepers, you 

 have no idea of the difficulties we 

 have to meet. The barrels leaked. 

 We had to remove the honey twice 

 from one of them. Imagine how I 

 felt when I opened the door of the 

 honey room in the morning and saw 

 the floor covered with honey. The 

 helpers we have are not used to 

 water. They do not think it neces- 

 sary to wash anything. They see no 

 use in washing an extractor or honey 



