372 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Caucasian Bees receive some words 

 c f commendation, through the American 

 Bee Journal, from the pen of J. J. 

 Wilder of Georgia. Among other things, 

 he says they are gentle and excellent 

 workers, in fact the best workers he 

 has. They are great gatherers of both 

 propolis and pollen, good home defend- 

 ers, great cell builders, and not much 

 given to robbing. Crossed with the 

 Italians their temper is spirited — with 

 the blacks it remains about the same. 

 It is difficult to distinguish them from 

 the blacks. 



'mf^'^'-M**'^^ 



The Rural Bee-Keeper has "quit," 

 and turned over to the American Bee- 

 Keeper its unexpired subscriptions. 

 The Rural was one of the neatest and 

 best of the lately started journals. 

 Many new journals "fall down" typo- 

 graphically, but the Rural, in this 

 respect, was the equal of any bee 

 journal, while much of its contents 

 were pretty fair, but it cost more 

 money than it brought in. 



The plain fact is that the field of 

 apicultural journalism is now pretty 

 well covered, and a new journal, to 

 succeed, should need to be different Uom 

 the others, have an editor of most de- 

 cided ability, and "barrels" of money. 

 It is true I started the Review 20 years 

 ago, with neither the money nor the 

 experience, and made a success of it, 

 but there were a number of peculiar 

 factors in the case that I won't take 

 space to discuss; I'll say this, however, 

 if I should sell the Review now for 

 $5,000, I would not, with that amount 

 of capital, and my 20 years of experi- 

 ence, think of such a thing as starting 

 another journal. Don't think that I 

 am not making any money publishing 

 the Review. I am; but the same 

 amount of money, time and energy, 

 put into straight honey production, 

 would bring a much larger profit. 

 Why do I keep on publishing the 

 Review ? Because my heart is bound 



up in the work. I love it. Another 

 thing : It is becoming more and more 

 profitable as the years roll by, bring- 

 ing a larger subscription list. But 

 making a success of a journal already 

 on a paj'ing basis, and starting a new 

 journal aad making of it a financial 

 success, are two different proposi- 

 tions. 



it»'ii»1iFu»<«jr^ 



A Hive Cover is a very important part 

 of a bee-keeping ontfit. During nearly' 

 all of my bee-keeping years I have used 

 a flat cover — just a plain board with 

 cleats on the end to keep it from warp- 

 ing. I know of no better cover, and 

 doubt if anybody else does. Sometimes 

 the cleats are simply nailed on the 

 ends of the board, and sometimes there 

 are grooves cut in the cleats into which 

 the ends of the board can be slid be- 

 fore the nailing is done. Another plan 

 is that of nailing the cleats on top of 

 the cover, flush with its ends. The 

 only disadvantage of the latter plan is 

 that the cover can't be reversed. 

 Sometimes a cover warps just a little 

 bit, turns up at the edges, by turning 

 it over it seems to fit better, and may 

 be brought back straight. Aside from 

 this, the advantages are with the plan 

 of putting the cleats on top of the cover. 

 First, the cover can be made a trifle 

 shorter — takes less lumber. Then it 

 can be twisted around cornerwise, to 

 loosen it when there is a surplus of 

 burr combs, without any danger of the 

 cleats striking the hives, as is some- 

 the case with cleats nailed on the ends 

 of the cover — if the cover is not long 

 enough. And last, but not least, if it 

 is desirable to cover, or protect, the 

 hive in the spring by folding around it 

 tarred felt, the shorter the cover, and 

 the flatter, or lower, the cleats, the 

 better can the hive be enveloped in the 

 paper, and the less material will be 

 required. So far as keeping the cover 

 from warping is concerned, either 

 style of cleat seems equallj' effective. 



