Jan. 17. 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



41 



are easy of access, and because if brood is closely bound 

 with honey some of that honey will be moved to get it out 

 of the way of the brood-nest, thus better feeding of queen 

 and brood results, that would not otherwise be obtained ex- 

 capt by a flow of nectar or by feeding. 



If the foregoing management be applied in an intelli- 

 gent and scientific manner there can be no doubt of good 

 results. And the more one expects to practice the let-alone 

 plan in the spring and early summer, the greater the neces- 

 sity of the better preparation and obtaining of the condi- 

 tions relating to stores and strength of colony for winter. 



Larimer Co.. Colo. 



The Afterthought. 



The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By B. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



FINDING A QUEBN BY FANNING BEES. 



Yes, sir, I guess McNeal has a bright, new idea for us. 

 It is according to the probabilities ; and if he has tested the 

 matter and found it correct it is worth while for us to test 

 it too. If Oueen Victoria was at your house, and you had a 

 movable mechanical arrangement for cooling off things in 

 sultry weather, the mechanism would be run right straight 

 to the room she was in. So first look at the fanning bees 

 outside the hive when j'ou go for a queen in fanning 

 weather. Page 792. 



PROPOLIS ON FLOORS AND BOOTS. 



That parasite, or incubus, or stick-tight-ibus,on the bee- 

 man's sole — who has not worried his brain more or less for 

 some scheme of relief ? Propolis scraped ofi' must needs fly 

 some place (inclines to fly every place) and when a body 

 steps he has annext a lot of it — annext it on constitution- 

 follows-the-flag principles, too. Mr. Wilcox, page 793, 

 seems to think that down in a cool cellar, which has moist 

 sand only for floor, he can tramp around on propolis scrap- 

 ings and not have them follow him off. Don't more than 

 half believe he can do it as a regular thing — may be he can. 

 Those of you who cati rub in a dram of enthusiasm and a 

 few scruples of faith-cure into the ointment may try it — 

 remedy worth something if you succeed. I scrape sitting, 

 hold feet still, keep a broom in reach, and sweep me a path 

 before rising. How is it, brethren ? Which way is ortho- 

 doxy, and which way is heterodoxy ? and who will come 

 with a better-o-doxy ? 



WIRE-RINGING THE QUEKX. 



As to capturing the queen, the wire ring to surround 

 her with suddenly, and lift her up with when she steps on 

 it, will be new to many of us. Quite a number of trials we 

 may need before fully deciding about the exact value of it ; 

 but it may be that we shall decide that it is a ve>y great 

 help in that line of work. The idea is capable of modifica- 

 tions ; and it may be that it will yet be improved quite a bit 

 from the way McNeal has it. Page 792. 



CRUDE PROPOLIS AS A MARKETABLE ARTICLE. 



I think I should look out for a trap, or a snap, or a rap 

 of some kind, if a man wanted to buy crude propolis of me 

 for 50 cents a pound. Price much above the cost of obtain- 

 ing it, and rather out of proportion to the cost of similar 

 articles — or should I post myself about the cost of varnish- 

 resins before saying that ? Anyhow, if a man came around 

 and wanted to buy the waste dish-water of your kitchen at 

 5 cents a gallon, you'd let him have it ; but if he proposed 

 to pay 25 cents a gallon you would postpone things until 

 you could form some opinion as to what the fellow was 

 really up to. It wouldn't be easy for any one apiary to fur- 

 nish great amounts of propolis ; but section scrapings, to 

 the amount of quite a few pounds, could be furmsh\. c he a per 

 llia/i not. Costs mOfe to waste it than it would to save it- 

 it has such a won't-be-peaceably-vs-asted disposition. Those 

 of us who use the w'^e frames to hold secretions can get a 

 good few pounds any oW time (not in the honey season) by 

 scraping our frames. Page /'O. 



TWO BAD SLIPS OI- THE PROOFREADER. 



Seems to me the proof-reader must have been making 

 New Year's calls shortly before he read the last After- 



thought. Butter is sold, not "said," and the anti-progress 

 monster was fought, not "bought." Nobody not already 

 in his claws would ever buy him. Page 11. 



A BEE AND FRUIT PAMPHLET NEEDED. 



A little pamphlet which is not yet in existence was evi- 

 dently what that legal man on page 803 needed — "The Hab- 

 its of Bees in Regard to Fruit Impartially Stated by Au- 

 thority." It should begotten out by some government ento- 

 mologist, and be reviewed and endorst by Uncle Sam's head 

 fruit-man. Then lawyers (and courts, too, to some extent) 

 would accept it. You see, we'uns are apt to state things 

 pretty strongly on our own side — and if we didn't we would 

 be suspected of doing so so sharply that our pamphlet 

 wouldn't count much. 



THE ITALIAN BEE "NOT THE WHOLE THING." 



In Mr. Dadant's letter, on page 806, I was particularly 

 interested to see that Swiss bee-keepers (as well as many of 

 the British) do not give the preference to the Italian bee. 

 By and by the whole actual fact about races of bees will get 

 to the surface ; and it is quite possible that the best bee for 

 one locality will not be the best bee for another locality. 

 Bees that could be depended upon always to crowd the queen 

 with honey, and check her laying in times of plenty, would 

 be very desirable where the harvest is all in one short flow ; 

 but where moderate flows are scattered all thru the season 

 such bees would get so weak as to be worthless. And the 

 Italian is the worst of a queen-crowder that we have, I be- 

 lieve. 



v: 



leCRAPtllGAt 



Mr. J. B. Hall, of Canada. 



The man whose portrait we are permitted to present on 

 the next page, is one of Canada's very brightest and 

 best bee-keepers. We had the great pleasure of meeting 

 Mr. Hall at the convention of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association held in Toronto, Ont., in September, 1895— the 

 last convention which Father Langstroth attended. 



Editor H. E. Hill, of the American Bee-Keeper, was at 

 one time an apiarian pupil of Mr. Hall, and to this day takes 

 much pride in that fact, as well he may. Recently Mr. 

 Hill had this to say of his former teacher, in his paper 

 which he so ably edits: 



We have pleasure in presenting in this number a most 

 excellent portrait of Mr. J. B. Hall, of Ontario, one of the 

 Dominion's acknowledged leaders in things apicultural. 



While Mr. Hall is a very earnest and popular associ- 

 ation worker, it is to be regretted that, for some years past, 

 all persuasion and force, in their oft-repeated applications, 

 have proven inadequate to the purpose of eliciting from his 

 pen contributions to the bee-keeping press. This is the 

 more to be deplored when we consider the fact that Mr. 

 Hall's pen productions have a style at once interesting and 

 instructive, peculiarly their own. A more methodical and 

 painstaking bee-master than Mr. Hall can not be found — 

 nor a more successful one. Too many futile eft'orts have 

 stealthily been made to remove the "bushel" in which so 

 much "light" is confined, to leave any hope for the future 

 in that direction ; but, were it not for the profound respect 

 which we feel for this esteemed instructor of our youth, we 

 should not hesitate to suggest the trial of a quicker method 

 of removing it. This might, however, prove equally inef- 

 fectual, and we shall neither try nor recommend the kick- 

 ing plan. 



Mr. Hall is a producer of honey, and, being such, he 

 says he has nothing but honey to sell. His favorite bee for 

 the production of comb-honey is an Italian-Carniolan cross, 

 of which he has an excellent strain. He is the originator 

 of the thick top-bar and of the wood-zinc excluder ; tho too 

 modest to assert his right to the honor. 



In the conduct of his business, Mr. Hall's operations 



