April 7, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



265 



they will come out, for there are lots of dead bees thrown 

 out of the hives, but they fly fairly strong, and have a 

 great abundance of honey, but our neighbor's bees that 

 vrere packed in chafif — I should think many colonies would 

 be dead. Mks. L. C. Axtei,i.. 



Warren Co., 111. 



In former years Mrs. Axtell was noted for large crops 

 of honey, and it must have been somewhat trying to have a 

 series of years of failure. Her many friends will be glad to 

 know that the tide has again turned, and we may hope that 

 1904 will be with her, as with many others, a repetition of 

 1903. _ 



Honey for Chapped Skin. 



Honey is good for chaps in general, and in Praktischer 

 Wegweiser it is specially commended for chapped hands and 

 lips. A tablespoonful of honey in a quart of warm water, 

 applied to the afflicted surface, smoothes and softens the 

 skin very pleasantly. 



^ I — ■ 



Contracting" op Uniting" Colonies— Which ? 



Last fall I packed 35 colonies on the summer stands. 

 The last week in March we had good weather, so I gave my 

 bees a flight. With a trembling heart I watched to see how 

 mauy colonies were still living. {I have especially taken up 

 bees to earn something, since my husband lost his arm in 

 the manufactory.) To my great joy all my colonies were 

 living, not one lost. The weather was again fine the next 

 day, so that I could take away the bottom-boards and shove 

 others under; likewise renew the cushions that were too 

 damp. Thereby, however, I found that many colonies were 

 weak. 



Please advise me : Is it advisable to contract colonies 

 with bees covering two or three frames so that they may yet 

 prosper ? Or, is it better to unite two colonies, so that from 

 the 35 I may have perhaps 18 or 20 ? 



Cook Co., 111. Mrs. Anna Weckkrle. 



Don't be in too much of a hurry about uniting. Some- 

 times a colony with only enough bees in early spring to 

 cover two or three frames, yet having a good queen, will 

 pick up wonderfully as the weather becomes warmer. In 

 the fall it is well to unite weak colonies, but in the spring 

 nurse them up good and warm, and give them a chance to 

 see what they will do. 



Manicure Scissors for Clipping- Queens' Wing's 

 — Honey in Brown Bread. 



We often read articles in the Bee Journal and other bee- 

 papers about clipping queen's wings, and it seems to us 

 that people make hard work of it. 



We began with one colony 5 years ago, and now we 

 have 26. We have never lost a queen from clipping, and as 

 we do not touch our fingers to the queen, there is no odor 

 left on her to excite the bees to injure her. Perhaps others 

 would like to try our way, which is to use a pair of " mani- 

 cure scissors." It is usually easy to slip one blade under 

 the wings and quickly clip them as soon as the queen is seen 

 on a frame, but if she does get to running about, just watch 

 your chance, and be quick when she does stop for a moment. 



The long, slender, curved manicure scissors prevent any 

 possibility of the points touching the queen. 



Have any of the sisters ever tri-:d using honey instead 

 of molasses in making brown bread ? Just try it, and see 

 how good it is. Here is the recipe : 



HONEV BROWN BREAD. 



One cup corn-meal; one cup rye-meal; one cap sour- 

 milk ; '2 (or less) cup of honey ; a teaspoonful of salt, and 

 a ttaspoonful of soda. Steam 4 hours, then dry in the oven 

 15 minutes. 



From a sister who finds the bees fascinating to work 

 with. A. R. Jacobs. 



Worcester Co., Mass., March 20. 



Amerlkanlsche Bienenzucht, by Hans Buschbauer, is 

 a bee-keeper's handbook of 138 pages, which is just what 

 our German friends will want. It is fully illustrated, and 

 neatly bound in cloth. Price, postpaid, $1.00 ; or with the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both for $1.75. Address 

 all orders to this office. 



c 



Nasty's Afterthoughts 





The " Old Reliable "' seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. K. Hastt, Sta. B Rural, Toledo. Ohio. 



THICK OR THIN TOP-BARS. 



As to whether to use thick top-bars or not, about 17 ex- 

 perts wanted half an inch thick or thicker, to 11 who wanted 

 their bars less than a half inch. Few, if anv, seemed to 

 want the extra-thick bars of an inch or more. Page 132. 



SCRAPING AND GRADING SECTION HONEY. 



I think Frank Rauchfuss is sound where he finds it poor 

 tactics to scrape sections and case them at the same time. 

 First, get a good pile of each grade, then take a case and 

 devote your mind wholly to filling it just right. Doing it 

 the other way you are manifestly sure of not getting the 

 best casing possible, and somewhat liable to waste time by 

 driblets, until the one operation takes more time than the 

 two — leaving no advantage of any sort. Page 132. 



DRONES AND SWARMING. 



At the Northwestern, when the relation of drones to 

 swarming was up, Pres. York didn't ask, How many think 

 the presence of many drones decreases the swarming ten- 

 dency ? I think that is at least a proper question to ask. 

 If I'm right, colonies devoted to rearing quantities of fine 

 drones usually refrain from swarming. And I feel pretty 

 strongly that Mr. Longsdon is mistaken where he says that 

 you can make a disinclined colony swarm by putting in 

 drone-comb. Behold my brand-new quack-scheme ! To 

 prevent the swarming of a colony that has begun to con- 

 template it, introduce a large excess of drones to them ! 

 Whether they soon go to work and kill them off, or whether 

 they keep them in a disgusted sort of way, I quack it that 

 swarming will be given up for the time being. Page 137, 



MATING OF SUPERSEDURE OUEEN. 



Instead of saying, " Mating of a Superseded Queen" 

 (caption, page 137), say Mating of a Supersedure Queen. 

 That term can be taken as meaning the young queen, while 

 " superseded queen " must necessarily be the old one. By 

 fault of members, or reporter, or somebody, the language of 

 the paragraph is phenomenally slipshod. 



REPORTING THE HONBY-CROP. 



As to the long and lively discussion of the question, 

 whether we keep still about the facts when there's an extra- 

 big crop, I think Mr. Wilcox got in the most important idea. 

 Large dealers will know before they buy. Better for us, on 

 the whole, that they know honestly and squarely from head- 

 quarters than that they discover that we are determined not 

 to tell, and proceed to get at the facts in round-about ways. 



Mr. Starkey is right, that there is a diS'erence between 

 reporting to dealers, and filling the ears of the public. 

 General and miscellaneous cackling before the public — well, 

 even the higher order of well-regulated hen knows better 

 than to cackle by her own nest — silently scoots away to a 

 distant locality and does the cackling there. But this 

 Afterthinker believes that the public have some rights in 

 the matter also— perhaps a little hard to determine exactly 

 what they are. Pages 139-141. 



EXACT POUND SECTIONS OF HONEY. 



And so the innocent folks at the fair hadn't it in their 

 hearts to doubt that the sections had an exact pound — but 

 they really wanted to know how the bees knew when they 

 had got just a pound in. There's childlike faith for you. 

 Surely, we would do better to hold it than to dissipate it. 

 Page 145. 



"TALKING bees" ON CITY STREETS. 



Mr. Moore, at the Northwestern, told of a very pleasant 

 way of advertising bees and honey. Don't remember to 

 have read of exactly the same style before. Modify the 

 observatory hive into a closed grip with glass sides, and 

 holding two frames of brood and bees. Then go on the 

 street of a city with it and talk bees — like Socrates at 

 Athens talked religion. Mr. Moore found it very enjoyable 

 — and liable to block the street if he staid too long in one 

 place. Page 145. 



