300 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



=3 Established by Samuel Wagner In 1861 C= 



The oldest Bee Journal in the English language. Consolidated with The 

 National Bee Journal in 1874. 



Published monthly at Hamilton, Illinois. 



Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice at Hamilton. Illinois. 



Subscription Rates — In the United States and THE STAFF 



Mexico, $1 per year; three years. $2.50; five r p n 



years, $4. Canadian postage 16 cents, and *" r - UAD ""T tditor 



other foreign countries 25 cents extra, per Frank C. Pellett Associate Editor 



year " . . . . _ C. C. Miller Questions Department 



All subscriptions are stopped at expiration. Date ,- t-. «... 



of expiration is printed on wrapper label. Maurice G Dadant Business Manager 



(Copyright 1919, by C. P. Dadant.) 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Translations 



Each nation considers itself the 

 greatest on earth. We have won the 

 war, even if the Italian, the English, 

 the French and the Belgian, severally 

 know positively that they have won it. 

 It is thus in every pursuit. Each na- 

 tion thinks itself just a little better 

 than the rest, even in beekeeping. 



But when we think of the past 

 progress, we are compelled to ac- 

 knowledge that, if we are the most 

 practical beekeepers, we owe a great 

 part of our success to the discoveries 

 of other nations. Parthenogenesis 

 was not discovered here, neither was 

 the invention of the honey extractor, 

 nor that of the comb-foundation. We 

 must acknowledge that we need 

 other countries and the information 

 that they can impart. So transla- 

 tions of interesting subjects are im- 

 perative. 



Some of our contemporaries pub- 

 lish clear translations of bee sub- 

 jects and make use of them by com- 

 paring them with other contributions 

 from different nations. In the pres- 

 ent number we see L'Apicoltore 

 bringing together statements from 

 the American Bee Journal and from 

 "'Die Bienen" on the same subject. 

 It makes interesting reading. 



We are always proud to see quota- 

 tions from our magazine in foreign 

 publications, and this happens often. 

 But some of our brother editors, in 

 foreign countries, are not sufficiently 

 strict in the selection of a transla- 

 tor. In our December, 1918, issue, 

 there is an editorial which begins 

 as follows: "We have been trying 

 for several months to secure satis- 

 factry information concerning the 

 to which the bees work on the 

 tobacco plant." A contemporary 

 magazine translated the article and 



the above sentence was so distorted 

 in the translation that, if we re- 

 translate it into English, it reads as 

 follows : "We have been criticized 

 by several monthly reviews, concern- 

 ing positive and satisfactory infor- 

 mation in regard to the extent to 

 which the bees work on the tobacco 

 plant." 



This is not the only instance in 

 which incorrect translations have 

 been made into foreign language 

 from the American Bee Journal, and 

 that is why we wish to call the at- 

 tention of our foreign brother ed- 

 itors to the matter. 



Off to Colorado 



Our Associate Editor is spending 

 some time with the beekeepers of 

 Colorado. With note-book and cam- 

 era he hopes to bring back some of 

 the best of Colorado beekeeping for 

 the pages of the Journal during the 

 fall and winter months. Some of 

 America's best beemen are to be 

 found in the Rocky Mountain region 

 and we believe they will have some- 

 thing worth while for him. 



A Quarantine Law in Florida 



The Florida Legislature has recent- 

 ly enacted a law placing the control 

 of bee diseases under the State Plant 

 Board in charge of Wilmon Newell. 

 An appropriation oi $10,000 has been 

 provided to enforce its regulations. 

 There is, as yet, but little foulbrood 

 in the State ol Florida, and an al 

 tempt will be made to prevent its 

 being introduced from othei 

 Stringent regulations against the im- 

 port of bei > "i equipment without a 

 inspection ha\ e be :n 

 tdopted Since the Plant Board has 

 a large numbei oi inspectors in all 

 parts oi Florida, il will be difficult 



for bees to enter that State by 

 freight, mail or express without 

 passing under the eye of one of these 

 inspectors. Beekeepers who intend 

 to ship bees to Florida should com- 

 municate with Mr. Newell at Gains- 

 ville to make sure they are able to 

 comply with the regulations. Other- 

 wise they may find themselves in se- 

 rious difficulty. Few States have 

 taken up the matter of disease con- 

 trol until it has become so widely 

 spread as to be impossible of eradi- 

 cation. Since Florida is still com- 

 paratively free from it, we hope they 

 will be successful in keeping it out. 

 Mr. Newell is a thoroughly compe- 

 tent man and can be expected to act 

 with the utmost good judgment. 



Daily Field Trips of a Worker 



The oldest Italian bee magazine. 

 L'Apicoltore, gives every month quo- 

 tations from bee literature. In its 

 June number, we find a translation 

 of our editorial on page 121, April, 

 in which we quoted Mr. Demuth on 

 the number of trips which a worker 

 bee makes to the field in a day. The 

 reader will remember that the aver- 

 age found by him was only 4 trips. 

 We were astounded at so small a 

 number and the Italian editor, in 

 quoting us, remarks : 



"The Signor Dadant had cause to 

 be astonished and we are glad to re- 

 port on this question the experience 

 of a beekeeper, mentioned in July, 

 1914, by 'Die Bienen und ihre Zucht.' 



"A beekeeper of Holstein made 

 notes on this matter that are worthy 

 of respect. He colored six workers 

 with different colors and sat by the 

 hive that contained them from 6 in 

 the morning until 7 p. m., with a note 

 book, a watch and a pencil. Each 

 marked bee, as it went in or out, was 

 made note of, in such fashion that by 

 evening the tablet looked like a rail- 

 road time-table. He remained there 

 the whole 1.5 hours, even taking his 

 meals near the hive. The observa- 

 tions were continued the following 

 day. The number and the duration 

 of the trips corresponded with those 

 of the firs' day 



As result of this experiment, the 

 persevering observer slated that he 

 now knows that bees make neither 

 4(1 trips, as reported by Zander, nor 

 25, according to Klaus, but only 

 about 10. In addition, he ascer- 

 tained that their tlight lasted from a 

 half hour to 2 hours, an average of 

 an hour, and that the bees at each 

 trip remained but a short time in 

 the hive, between 5 and 10 minutes." 



