1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



347 



I know nothing of Australian trade 

 customs, so I must admit that Major 

 Shallard is probably right as to the 

 way their nails are named. Yet I 

 cannot help wondering if he is not 

 mistaken in some respects. In the 

 United States the small wire nails so 

 much used by beekeepers, as well as 

 some of the "standard" sizes, are 

 listed both by length and diameter. 

 Thus I have nails that are 1)4x16 

 gauge. The nail that is probably most 

 used by beekeepers is 1x18 gauge. 

 You will find this on the package. 

 Some lists will say that it is made of 

 No. 18 wire. Sometimes it is called 

 simply a 1x18. This does not mean 

 that it is 1-18 of an inch in diameter, 

 but that it had been made of 18- 

 gauge wire. As a matter of fact, it 

 is about 1-20 of an inch in diameter. 



But when we come to talking about 

 wire gauges, we come to "confusion 

 worse confounded." The Americans 

 have one standard of wire gauges 

 and the English have another. In 

 fact, the English at one time had 

 two, and I am not sure that they are 

 not both still in use. 



Grand Junction, Colo. 



An Expensive Friend 



By Dr. J. H. Merrill 

 State Apiarist, Kansas State Agri- 

 cultural College 



DURING the last week of May 

 and the first two weeks in 

 June, the variegated cut- 

 worms appeared in Kansas in such 

 large numbers that they took upon 

 themselves the habits of the army 

 worm, in fact, they were commonly 

 called army worms. They devastated 

 a large acreage of corn and alfalfa 

 throughout the State, doing an enor- 

 mous amount of damage. The para- 

 sitic tachinid flies took advantage 

 of this sudden abundance of food 

 and proceeded to parasitize these 

 worms, very heavily. By so doing 

 they proved themselves to be a 

 friend to the farmer. But they be- 

 gan to emerge from the cut-worms 

 just as the white sweet clover was 

 coming into bloom. It was a very 



favorable spring, in Kansas, for the 

 production of nectar-yielding flow- 

 ers, and all of the beekeepers over 

 the State were looking forward to a 

 very successful season. 



After leaving the cut-worms, the 

 tachinid flies immediately proceeded 

 to take on the habits of bees, and 

 spent most of their time gathering 

 nectar. Counts were made of patches 

 of sweet clover, over various parts 

 of the State, i order to find out the 

 relative proportion of the tachinid 

 fly to bees in the sweet clover. These 

 counts show a range in proportion 

 from six flies to one bee up to as 

 high as forty flies to one bee, and 

 very often it would be noticed that 

 a bee -would come to a patch ot 

 sweet clover on which the flies were 

 busily at work, and then, on finding 

 the flies there, would leave almost 

 at once, having secured no nectar. 

 In several cases the length of time 

 that it took a bee to gather a load of 

 nectar was recorded, and it was 

 found that it required twenty-three 

 and one-half minutes for a bee to 

 secure enough nectar to start back 

 to its hive. The number of heads of 

 white clover which each bee would 

 visit before it had gathered a suffi- 

 cient amount varied, but in some in- 

 stances they visited as high as 110 

 blossoms before completing their 

 load. The result of this has been 

 that, even though the beekeepers had 

 strong colonies, the presence of the 

 fly so reduced the supply of nectar 

 that the most the bees could do was 

 to secure enough to continue brood- 

 rearing. Practically no honey, 

 though, was stored in the supers. 

 The bees were very reluctant to draw 

 out the combs. Early in July the 

 drones were driven from the hives, 

 seriously interfering with queen- 

 rearing. When the flies were caught 

 and examined, their stomachs were 

 found to be filled with nectar. 



While this fly has proved to me a 

 great blessing in ridding the fields 

 of the cut-worms, it has very seri- 

 ously affected the amount of honey 

 that would be stored from the sum- 

 mer plants in Kansas. 



Manhattan, Kans. 



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Stretched cells filled with drone brood as a result of sagging combs. This emphasi: 

 ance of careful wiring of frames when putting in foundation. 



Hares and Bees 



By A. F. Bonney 



WHILE in Fort Dodge recently, 

 after attending a meeting of 

 beekeepers in Ames, I called 

 on an old-time friend. Mr. E. E. 

 Townsend, who, as most Iowans 

 know, is a progressive and enthusi- 

 astic beekeeper, and I found him 

 with the Belgian hare fever well de- 

 veloped, and he did not do a thing 

 but inoculate me. 



Seeing him at his home in the 

 suburbs of Fort Dodge with his rab- 

 bits, chickens and bees gave me an 

 insight into- what an energetic man 

 can accomplish, if his heart is in 

 his work. Mr. Townsend has, f 

 think, between 200 and 300 colonies 

 of bees, great numbers of prize-win- 

 ning Plymouth Rock Chickens, and 

 now the hares. Incidentally, he has 

 one of the nicest wives a man ever 

 raised and seems to appreciate the 

 fact. These good people are in their 

 early old age, and filled with ambi- 

 tion and vigor. 



But about hares: What Mr. Town- 

 send showed me set my alleged brain 

 to working, namely a big brooder- 

 house of baby Plymouth Rocks 

 which would average about 12 ounces 

 in weight. Next some fine Belgian 

 hares which weighed a matter of 4 

 pounds each. The chicks were 

 hatched the same day the hares were 

 born, but it had cost a cent an ounce 

 10 raise the chickens, and about a 

 cent a pound to raise the hares. A 

 ratio of 16 to 1, "without asking the 

 consent of any other nation on 

 earth." 



Mrs. Townsend, when she learned 

 that I know how to cook, said: 



"It is largely in the cooking, Doc- 

 tor," meaning the palatability of the 

 hare meat. "I," she went on, "soak 

 the meat over night in salty water, 

 then put it on to cook in water con- 

 taining a piece of salt pork; let this 

 water boil away, and finish by frying 

 in the pork grease." I ate a meal 

 with my friends and can testify that 

 Mrs. Townsend also knows how to 

 cook. 



I intend to begin this summer with 

 hares, as Mr. Townsend has offered 

 to let me have a pair of registered 

 animals at a fair price, and I am 

 only waiting until he has them ready 

 to ship, and as others besides myself 

 may want to commence with them, I 

 will state that in my opinion they 

 will go well with bees. They do not 

 require 5 per cent of the time chick- 

 ens do, take vastly less room, do not 

 scratch up the garden, are cleanly 

 and prolific and the meat, if prop- 

 erly cooked, is as good as that of 

 chickens. There is a good demand 

 for them, which can be increased by 

 advertising, and this can be done on 

 the same slip your honey is told 

 about. As to feed, a bale of hay and 

 a bushel of oats, with now and then 

 a carrot or some cabbage leaves will 

 keep a hare all winter, while in the 

 summer one can cut grass and clover 

 for them. Compare this with feed- 

 ing a chicken. 



Year-old chickens are worth now, 

 at retail, 25 to 40 cents a pound. A 

 person could sell hares at 10 cents 



