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American Bee Journal

ANOTHER VIEW OF MR. SCHUNCHEL'S APIARY.
Notice the decoy hive in the tree to the right.

frozen, but is coming out well this

season.

The "wild buckwheat" is a species of Eriogonum. It grows in almost all localities, but in some, yields a much better grade of honey than in others. Near the coast its honey is apt to be dark and not of a good flavor, while back in the canons bordering on the desert it yields better, and is of good quality.

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The coffee berry" is a beautiful dark green shrub with dark glossy foliage. Its fruit which changes color from red to black, resembles the berries of the true coffee. It grows only in the cool damp canons, and gives a good flow of amber honey.

The "California holly" (which is not a holly at all, being a member of the rose family), yields very freely for but a short time. The honey is white. This is one of our most beauti'ul mountain shrubs. Its dark green leaves and heavy panicles of heavy white blossoms make it showy in summer, while its brilliant crimson berries in midwinter brighten the whole landscape. This furnishes the Christmas decorations for all California; hence the term holly" by which it is known.

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There is a gorgeous yellow pentstemon, shrubby in growth, distributed freely along many canons. Its flowers

CANADIAN

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resemble the snapdragon in shape, and are nectar yielding. The dark chamiso or chaparral," as it is also called, whose clusters of bloom now whiten the mountain sides, is a great favorite with bees, but chiefly for pollen. This is the chief use also of the gray artemisia, which lends much of the gray to the landscape. This plant furnishes abundant stores of winter pollen, but it has of late years spread to such an extent as to crowd out many a worthier plant.

The hoarhound was introduced here. It is a steady yiel ler, but the honey from it is very dark, and the plant itself is such a pest that most people, even bee-men, regret its introduction.

The wild lilac, a beautiful shrub whose sweet-scented,lilac-colored blossoms furnish much pollen, is noticeable on account of its blue pollen. I had a hurry call from a beginner not long ago who thought he had disease among his bees. On inspection it was the blue pollen that had caused the alarm. The bees were rather weak owing to local conditions, but perfectly healthy.

I have mentioned only the most important of the native plants. There are many others which give us nectar in varying quantities.

BEEDOM

Conducted by J. L. BYER, Mt. Joy, Ontario.

Crop Prospects, Outlook, Etc.

May 12, sugar maples and yellow willows are in bloom. But with weather cool and a drizzling east rain falling, the prospect is not pleasant for the beekeeper who would like to see the bees carrying great loads of pollen

from the maples, and an abundance of much-needed nectar from the willows. I say "needed nectar," for although there may be lots of old stores in the hives, nothing seems to be quite as good to cause a great boom in broodrearing as some nice fresh nectar in combination with the natural pollen

gathered at this time of the year. To date of writing the weather has been steadily cool with little precipitation; in fact, unless we soon get rain a short crop of hay is assured.

But bees wintered well, and judging from present appearances they are steadily building p, even if the days they can fly and bring in nectar and pollen are few and far between. The little clover we had last fall is now past the danger point, and in our section at least it has wintered well.

In another 10 days fruit bloom will be on, and if weather permits queen clipping and other work of the season will be in order. After the long time since active work with bees, we look forward with pleasure to being in the harness again. Only a few weeks at most until the harvest, great or small, will be a thing of the past, and the beekeeper can again take it easy if he wishes. This is one of the drawbacks of beekeeping, looking at it from one angle, for if the great amount of work that is often crowded into a few weeks could be divided up into that many months, it would make things easier all around. But no doubt it is much better than we could possibly arrange it for ourselves.

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Newspaper Advertising of Honey Too Expensive

Constantly we hear about the benefits. of advertising honey so as to increase the consumption of this useful and toothsome delicacy and food. Any kind of advertising is to be commended as long as it is truthful and not misrepresenting, and while each individual beekeeper can do much in his own neighborhood to increase the consumption of honey, the longer I study the question the more it seems to me that extensive newspaper advertising is impossible. Why? Because the cost of producing honey is too near the selling price to allow much money to be paid for advertising.

Take the various patent medicines, breakfast foods and drinks, different kinds of corn syrups, etc., the names so common to us all through seeing them in the papers that any child could give a list off hand. In almost, if not in all of these cases, the selling price is many times the cost of production, so it is easy to see why they can advertise so extensively. Then, again, each firm is advertising an article produced only by themselves, and they get the benefit of all the advertising done. In the case of honey, if my neighbor beekeeper across the road advertises the good qualities of honey, the chances are that if the advertisement does any good I will share equally, even when I am not paying a cent for advertising.

Newspaper advertising costs a tremendous amount of money if done at all extensively. This means that other forms of publicity will have to be employed if we ever expect to increase the consumption of honey by means of advertising. If I could truthfully advertise that my honey was better than anybody's else, it might pay me to advertise; but no matter how good a product we had, very few of us would make such a decided statement as that. I remember tasting a sample sent in

American Bee Journal

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3. Carl Hanneman. 4. E. S. Hildemann 5. 8. John Hearn. 9. A. C. Allen. 10. N. E France. II. Gus Dittmer. 12. Mrs. W. R. Harte. 13. Mrs. W. Habermann, 14. Mrs. C. M. Soelch. 15. Mrs. Frank Kittinger. 16. J. I. McGinty. 17. 18. Mr. Sayles, 19. Freman Johnson, 20. August Diehnelt. 21. W. H. Habermann. 22. H. H. Moe. 23. Harry Lathrop. 24. H. M. Rood. 25. Herman Gloege. 26. Francis Jager. 27. L. V. France. 28. Prof. Sanders. 29. Chas. Alberts. 30. John Wambold. 31. E. B. Rosa. 32. Lawrence Post. 33. N. K. Walsh, 34. Geo. Acker. 35. John Willgrub. 36. Fred Blunck. 37. A. A. Linn. 38. Wm. H. Wallace. 39. M. M. Rice. 40. Mrs, M. M. Rice. 41. G. M. Ranum. 42. Jacob Paulson. 43. Ogden Glaeden. 44. A. C. Woodbury. 45. E. Engels. 46. A. L. Kleeber. 47. 48. 51. Louis Post. 52. 53. H. C, Ahlers. 54. W. C. Smith. 55. Mr. Huffmann. 56, Frank Kittinger. 57. Geo. G. Harte. 58. Mr. Sykes. 59. F. E. Matzke. 60. L. W. Parman.

response to an advertisement stating that the honey had a taste of the woods, and was superior to all other honey, etc, When we found the sample infe

FAR WESTERN

rior, you all know what we thought of the advertiser. This is an extreme case, no doubt; it simply shows one difficulty in advertising honey.

The loss in bodily weight of the live bees was about 12 ounces, unless there was some loss in the weight of the dead bees, which would equal the loss in weight of the live ones. The great loss in weight is accounted for in this case by the lack of water. There was, however, only half as many dead bees in this package as in No. 2, which had plenty of water. But this cage, No. 3, was needing attention when it came, as the bees had their tongues out and were crying for water. Strange as it may seem the bees in this package were loath to leave it, and the last half of them finally had to be shaken out. They had consumed one-half of their honey.

BEE-KEEPING plenty of water.

Conducted by WESLEY FOSTER, Boulder. Colo.

Shipping Bees from Southern New Mexico

-Loss in Weight

May 4, five 2-pound packages of bees were shipped to me by express from southern New Mexico. They were shipped without queens. Leaving there at 10 a.m. of the 4th, they reached Boulder at 9:35 a.m. of the 7th. At 11:30 a.m. they were placed in empty supers over weak colonies of bees with which I wished to unite them. By 4:30 p.m. of the 7th, the bees were out of all the shipping-cages in which they came. Counting from the time they were put into the cages to the 4th, the bees were in them about 70 hours. The weight given, gross, for the five packages at the shipping point was 23 pounds. The gross weight when I received them was 191⁄2 pounds, showing a loss in weight of 31⁄2 ponnds. This was the amount of water and candy consumed and loss in bodily weight of the bees. There might be a slight variation in the scales, but mine are quite accurate, and I assume that those at the shipping point were accurate also.

The weather was almost ideal for springtime when the bees arrived, so that conditions could hardly have been better. The packages were numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Number 1 weighed 4 pounds and 8 ounces gross when put up, and 3 pounds and 12 ounces gross when received. The net weight of the live bees at time of packing was 2 pounds, and 1 pound and 10 ounces on arrival. There were less than 25 dead bees in the package. The bees ate about one-fourth of the candy provided, and the water can was about two-thirds full. Threeeighths of a pound must represent the loss in bodily weight, or probably more must be the amount of accurately honey the bees were loaded with before they were put in the cages.

Number 2 weighed 4 pounds and 12 ounces when put up, and 3 pounds and 12 ounces when received. The weight of the live bees was 11⁄2 pounds. There was about 4 pound of dead bees in the package. One-half of the candy had been consumed, and also about one-half of the water. The loss in bodily weight of the live bees was about 4 pound.

Number 3 weighed 4 pounds and 8 ounces when put up, and 3 pounds and 4 ounces when received. The light weight of this package is explained by the fact that the cover to the water can came off en route and the water was lost. There was 1% pounds of live bees and about % pound of dead bees.

Number 4 weighed 4 pounds and 12 ounces when put up, and 3%1⁄2 pounds when received. The weight of the live bees was 14 pounds, and there were over 4 pound of dead bees in the cage. This cage had the most dead bees in it. They had eaten half their candy, and the water can was still full, the little hole in the cover being too small apparently, and also clogged with a speck of dirt.

Number 5 weighed 4 pounds and 8 ounces when put up, and 4 pounds when received. There were less than 25 dead bees in the cage, and the weight of live bees was 1% pounds. This cage came through in the best condition of any. The candy had only been one-third consumed and little of the water used. The hole in the water can also seemed to be clogged, but the bees must have gotten some of the water, as they did not seem to be suffering.

The cages were tacked together with lath, and were spaced about 5 inches apart, so that there would be ample circulation between the clusters in the cages. The express was $1.64 on the 23 pounds weight. If the bees could have been sent by parcels post the cost would have been 98 cents.

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The Wisconsin State Beekeepers' Association met in convention in Madison Feb. 2. N. E. France was elected temporary president. The Assembly Room was well filled, over 80 beekeepers, including 8 ladies, being present.

Rev. Francis Jaeger, of the University of Minnesota, addressed the conven tion on "Present Needs of Wisconsin. and Minnesota Beekeepers." His argument was a comparison of old-time and present day methods, not only in beekeeping but in dairy work. He urged beekeepers to organize along the same lines as the various agricultural societies.

M. E. Eggers spoke on, "Should a young man specialize on beekeeping?" The report of A. C. Allen, delegate to the National, was substantially as published in the Beekeepers' Review. A committee on resolutions was appointed, consisting of E. B. Rosa, H. H. Moe, and Herman Gloege.

The convention adjourned until 1:30 p.m.

'

At 1:30 p.m. the meeting was called to order, and Rev. Francis Jaeger addressed the convention on "A separate department of beekeeping at the State Agricultural College.' Brother Jaeger showed the necessity of its being not only separate, but independent, as in

PROCEEDINGS

the Minnesota University. Here in Wisconsin it is a department of the Agricultural College. Under Prof. Sanders it is perfectly satisfactory to the Wisconsin State Beekeepers' Asso

ciation, but it might not be so under a possible successor.

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Prof. Sanders spoke on "The value of a single beekeeping course at the State Agricultural College.' He is held in high esteem by the beekeepers, and always commands close attention. L. V. France exhibited charts, showing distribution of different honeyplants, number of colonies, etc., in the different counties of the State. Mr. France stated that answers to his inquiries had not been as full as anticipated; however, he was voted the thanks of the convention with the request to continue the work.

After the supper a large number went to the Agricultural College, where they were entertained by an address by F. Wilcox, general survey of beekeeping, State and National; also a stereopticon entertainment by N. E. France, inspector of Wisconsin apiaries.

SECOND DAY-MORNING SESSION.

A good share of the morning was taken up by "five minute talks " on "One important thing I have learned this year.

The election of officers for ensuing year resulted as follows: President, N. E. France; vice-president, Frank Wilcox; secretary, Gus Dittmer; treasurer, Harry Lathrop.

It was decided by an almost unanimous vote not to send a delegate to the National.

The Committee on Resolutions reported the following:

WHEREAS, The Supreme Ruler of the universe, in His all-wise providence, has deemed fit to call from our association our beloved president, Jacob Huffman; therefore, be it

Resolved, That we, the Wisconsin State Beekeepers' Association in convention assembled Feb. 3, 1914, do hereby express our sorrow at the loss of our beloved President, that the beekeeping world has lost an able counselor who will be hard to replace; therefore, be it further

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon our minutes; that a copy be sent to the family, and that the chair be draped in mourning during the time of this convention. H. H, MOE. E. B. ROSA,

HERMAN L. GLOEGE,
Committee.

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American Bee Journal

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The resolutions were adopted by a unanimous rising vote.

A paper was read by Mr. Frank,F. France.

On motion, N. E. France was recommended for the appointment of State

NOTES FROM

Zermatt, Neuchatel

Inspector of Apiaries by the Governor. Mr. Frank Wilcox was recommended for the appointment of judge of the Apiarian Exhibit at the State Fair. Meeting then adjourned.

GUS DITTMER, Sec.

ABROAD

By C. P. DADANT.

The trip to Zermatt, from the head of Lake Geneva, is up the valley of the Rhone, then up the Visp until we reach the center of a cluster of snow-covered mountains, of which Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn are the highest. But the latter is the more conspicuous, owing to its sharp peak.

The Rhone river which we first saw at Lyon, then at Geneva, at its exit from the lake, is the feeder of that lake, through which it flows from east to west. As we ascend eastward towards its source, we pass through the Canton of Valais. We again see vineyards, on shelves one above another, meadows and small fields of grain and potatoes, looking like the patches of a quilt. Irrigation is practiced, for the climate is dry and the water from the peaks is plentiful. We see it run in every direction. It is diverted into the fields by side ditches, and a flat stone serves to turn it right or left as needed. To one accustomed to the majestic and quiet flow of the Mississippi, the waters of the Swiss mountains appear in a great hurry, for they tumble in their haste, in every direction, and we can go nowhere without hearing the murmur of the brooks. There are running fountains in every village. The houses seem odd, with their long eaves and brown walls. The roofs are often made of coarse flat stones, laid like shingles. But how they managed to build some of these houses is a mystery, for they look like eagles' nests on the mountain side.

We reached Zermatt on Aug. 9. It was cold, and we could see snow in every direction. To enjoy climbing, one must train. We took no time to do this. An inclined cog road took us clear up to Gornergrat, where an immense hotel has been built. There we stayed over night in company with a dozen other tourists. The hotel was supposed to be heated, but they had only pine wood to fire with, and when we complained of Our room being chilly, they excused themselves on the the bad quality of their fuel. It was at this hotel that, for the first time in our lives, we had to pay even for the water we drank. We went away the next day, disgusted with the accommodations, but delighted with what we had seen at sunset and sunrise. From the top of the Gornergrat, we had been shown, through a telescope, the ridge line forming the Italian and French frontiers, guard houses, flags, caravans, of alpinists walking on the snow, things

which, owing to the distance, did not make even a speck on the immaculate white of the snow, when sought with the naked eye. The setting or rising sun, shining on that immensity of white, shading it with pink and red, made an impression beyond description. Instead of 12 tourists, there should have been 1200. The thousands who come stay there only a part of the day, owing to the defective accommodations of that huge caravansary, which they call "Hotel Gornergrat." The crowds are found below at Zermatt.

Returning to Zermatt, we stayed there only long enough to visit the immediate surroundings, especially the Gorner Gorge. This, however great and frightful, is a diminutive wonder when compared with the gorges of the Aare at Meiringen, which we saw later in the month.

Back to cultivated lands and warmth, we landed at Brig on the 11th, where we proceeded to get rested and warmed up, in a very comfortable hotel. Brig is near the Swiss end of the Simplon tunnel. It rained and we stayed there two days, at the end of which we left for Interlaken, via the new railroad of the Lotschberg, a beautiful scenic line, just completed. Reached Spietz for dinner. It rained. Went on to Interlaken. It rained that afternoon and all the next forenoon. We then resolved to go back towards Lake Geneva, where we had left the fair

weather and where we had a friend to visit a relative of one of our neighbors in the United States-living in the city of Rolle. Passing through Bern, Fribourg and Lausanne, we reached Rolle in the evening. The rain caught up with us, but had spent its force and clear weather followed.

In these trips we heard more German spoken than any other tongue. But it would not do to speak secrets aloud, when using either French, English or Italian, for everybody seems to understand everybody else. Americans are so numerous that little attention is paid to them. However, an American family, in a touring-car with a colored chauffeur, attracted the curious at Brig. Evidently colored men are rare in Switzerland.

While in Rolle, the friend we were visiting accompanied us to a litte town up the sunny hills that beam upon the lake, to visit a school teacher, who is a beekeeper and an apiary inspector. He had called him on the telephone and announced that a foreign beekeeper wished to visit him. This apiarist had bee fever, the genuine disease, for he awaited us eagerly and could talk on but little else. He had some 60 colonies, all hybrids. The hybrids of Italian and Swiss bees are almost uniformly reared in French Switzerland, through the slow but steady importation of Italians across the Alps. I have given in the December number my explanation of why the pure Italians are not liked in Switzerland. It is useless to repeat it.

Here I heard for the first time in Europe, of European foulbrood. He had had it, and ha cured it in other apiaries as well as in his own. He had had combs containing honey from diseased colonies accidentally robbed by healthy colonies without bad results. So he readily understood that our method of cure by changing the queens would be likely to succeed. However, he practiced the starving method, removing all the combs. According to Dr. Carton, this ought to succeed in any case. He thought so himself.

He had seen the May disease, and I gave him the address of Prof. White,

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of Washington, D. C., asking him to forward samples to him, whenever he found it. He was sure that it was caused by the famous "nosema." Yet Prof. White has failed to discover this parasite in a number of samples sent him.

We walked up to his house, and sat down and I made note of his replies to my questions. He was intensely interested. In discussing foulbrood, I had occasion to ask him whether he had read what we wrote about it in the French edition of Langstroth Revised. Then it became apparent that he had misunderstood Our name when were introduced. He jumped up from his chair and insisted on shaking hands over again with both Mrs. D. and myself. He was so enthused that he would hardly let us depart when the time came for us to take leave. It was very amusing and interesting.

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Distances are not great in Switzerland, and one is soon transported from one part to another. The railroad accommodations are fine. The coaches have, like ours, a passage through a center aisle, but instead of being in only one or two compartments, each car has five or six sections. About two-thirds of them are smoking compartments, for smoking is very popular, whether pipe, cigar or cigaret. The women are accustomed to it. Once or twice we even saw some good-looking women smoking like the men. (Why should they not?) The smoking compartments, marked raucher, fumeurs, fumatori," in German, French and Italian, are always the most crowded.

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During the summer months the crowds are immense. When you reach a railroad station in any large tourist resort, you wonder how they can suc ceed in accommodating the thousands who are there. But the train comes in, unloads, reloads, and goes again, with everybody aboard in comfort.

In the afternoon of the 15th, we started for Boudry, near Neuchatel the home of Mr. Gubler, from whence I wrote the letter inserted in the October Bee Journal. In three hours w were there. A young man with a pring

wagon awaited us at the station and took us at once to the Orphans' Home managed by Mr. Gubler, located about a mile away, on the slope below the mountain, where pure air and open fields are enjoyed by some 50 boys between 8 and 16 years of age.

Mr. Gubler is not only the editor of the Bulletin D'Apiculture, which has taken the place of the Revue Internationale, formerly published by Mr. Bertrand, he is also president of the Société Romande D'Apiculture. The name "Romande represents. nothing connected with Rome, as might be understood by the uninformed. It represents simply that part of Switzerland in which the French or Romanic language is spoken, in contradistinction with the parts of the same country where German is used. It covers the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel' and a part of Valais, Fribourg and Bern. The association numbers about 2000 members, and is subdivided into some 20 different branches, which hold local meetings and send delegates to the central association.

The little magazine, which is their official organ, is furnished to members at 42 cents per annum, while outsiders

CONTRIBUTED

At

have to pay 62 cents. They have a mutual insurance against losses by foulbrood, and have also succeeded in getting from the several cantons regulations for the inspection of bees and the destruction of contagious diseases. Apiaries are small but numerous. the meeting of the Neuchatel section, which we attended on the Sunday following our arrival, about 80 members were present. We give a cut of this on our cover page. The meeting was hel in the basement of a house right by the apiary of Mr. Belperrin at Areuse. But the photograph had to be taken upon the hillside, in the vineyard, because the apiary is located under dwarf fruit trees in such a manner that a good picture of it could not be made. In the evening the beekeepers were congregated together at a banquet given in the neighboring village on the shore of the Lake of Neuchatel. As a trolley line joins Neuchatel with the vicinity, we were only 15 minutes from our lodgings. The lake is some 25 miles long, with pretty villas and villages all along.

A few details as to our quarters in the Boudry Home and the hospitable reception we enjoyed, will give a local coloring to our description. The guest chamber in the Home is a special room in the second story of the big barn. However queer this may appear to American readers, this chamber is kept in as fine a style as some of the best hotel rooms, with white walls, fine furniture, framed paintings on the walls, etc. Flowers fresh from the garden were daily brought in a vase, and every night we found an immense hot-water bottle in our bed. We protested against this, but it was of no avail, and we had to submit. The eveings were cool, and our hosts were unwilling to chance our catching cold. The private office of the manager, in the main building, was our writing room, and upon his desk we found a framed picture of Grandpa Dadant. It was there also that I first saw the magnificent work of Gaston Bonnier on the flora of France, Switzerland and Belgium.

While at Boudry, we had numerous invitations from local beekeepers. W accepted only a few, for our time was limited.

ARTICLES

Sense of Smell of the Honey is this sense in the lives of bees? Both

Bee

BY N. E. MC INDOO, PH. D., BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, WASHINGTON, D. C. (Extract from Journal Exp. Zool., Vol. 16, No. 3. April, 1014.)

VER since man has kept the honey bee, he has asked the following

questions in regard to its sense of smell: (1) How well can the honey bee smell? (2) Where are its olfactory organs located? (3) How important

scientists and beekeepers are now generally agreed that the honey bee has an acute sense of smell, and that its olfactory organs are located in the antennæ, but the critics have never been convinced that the antennæ carry the organs of smell, because all the antennal organs are covered with a hard membrane through which odors must pass in order to stimulate these organs.

During the past three years the writer has devoted his entire time to a study of the olfactory sense in the honey-bee

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