330 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL. 



May 23, 1901. 



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The Afterthought. ^ 



The "Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Qlasseg. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



EARLY QUEENS FROM THE SOUTH. 



As per Dr. Miller, on page 219, queens may arrive from 

 the South when it's not altogether safe to introduce them. 

 General requeening with young queens is often urged ; and I 

 think that this particular danger is very seldom pointed out. 

 Usually a word to the wise is sufficient ; but if it is a printed 

 word he may not see it — so I think a little more "racket" on 

 the point would be well. Doubtless the Southern breeders 

 will be willing to assist in the racket — to moderate the push 

 for extra-early queens. 



QUEER KIND OF CHAFF HIVE. 



Mr. Ochsner, of the Wisconsins, seems to have a queer 

 kind of chaff hive. Pumps down heat so that melting occurs, 

 and frames and colony have to be put into single-walled hives 

 to stand the sun. That's not the kind of chaff hive which 

 prevails elsewhere on the footstool. Page 229. 



WEAK COLONIES IN THE SPRING. 



Why does a weak colony in spring survive when left 

 alone, but dwindle out and perish when united with several 

 others like itself 1 I had made an off-hand guess that 

 although not fighting when united they felt more like fighting 

 than they did like going to work — disgruntled at the mixed 

 company. Am quite willing to give up my guess in favor of 

 Mr. Doolittle's more thoughtful solution— too much activity, 

 too much brood started, and nearly all the bees dying off, in 

 regular course of nature, before any young bees emerge. 

 Page 231. 



SWARMS CLUSTERING WITH CLIPPED QUEENS. 



Prof. Cook gives us a good, hearty stake to tie to on page 



232. Has seen hundreds of swarms issue whose clipped 

 queens could not go with them ; and only a few in the lot 

 failed to cluster (either wholly or in part) before going back. 



HrMENOPTKRA — " MARRIED WINGS." 



I'm a little disgruntled at Prof. Cook's Greek on page 



233, where he translates Hymenoptera (the order to which 

 our bees belong) " membranous wings." Don't wish to deny 

 that the word will bear that translation, as meanings of 

 words go ; but what in Hymen is the matter now with the 

 straight-out translation " married wings ?" This is an allu- 

 sion to the fact that each wing is bound to its neighbor on 

 the same side by a series of little hooks. Has marriage 

 become a failure even among the wiiigs of bees ? 



DISCIPLE OF IZAAK WALTON. 



And, so, according to page 238, its fishing you're going to 

 set me at next. On the familiar principle, that a man can go 

 on the most freely on a subject when he draws it fresh out of 

 his own head (unpestered by facts and natural laws and 

 experiences and things), I ought to be able to write a two- 

 volume work on fishing. Tell Mr. Blunk it's 57 years this 

 spring since I cast my first hook in the waters for fish. But I 

 didn't catch any. Neither did I on any subsequent occasion. 

 Never in my life caught even a minnow the size of your little 

 finger. Send in your sub. for the volumes, if you want "em. 



WHY BEES BUILD A CERTAIN KIND OF COMB. 



It is something of a mystery — and a mystery that we 

 should very much like to solve— just why bees build 

 worker-comb when they build it, and drone-comb when they 

 build that. One rather feels that Mr. C. P. Dadant 

 is walking on the water instead of touching bottom in 

 that part of the subject, page 2-±6. The facts are as he 

 states them ; but the reasons— well, we must show some 

 respect to the reasons, too. till some one can offer better 

 ones. In fact, if we assume that (for some unknown 

 reason) bees prefer to build drone size, except when the 

 queen (by some unknown means) causes them to build 

 worker size, that will pretty nearly cover the ground, 

 perchance. If the queen caused them to do it we would not 

 need to assume that she intelligently caused it, nor yet that 

 they fully understood the effect of their owu work. Hut even 

 then we might have trouble to answer when asked : Why 

 then do they build any worker-comb in an upper tier of sec- 

 tions ? 



\ ^ The Home Circle. ^ ? 



Conducted by Prof. fl. J. Cook, Glaremont, Calif. 



Polish Up the Dark Side. 



Is life a fret and tanffle. and everything gone wrong ? 

 Are friends a bit disloyal, and enemies too strong ; 

 Is there no bright side showing ? Then — as a sage has said — 

 " Polish up the dark side, and look at that instead !" 



The darkest plank of oak will show sometimes the tinest grain, 

 The roughest rock will sometimes yield a gleaming golden vein ; 

 Don't rail at fate, declaring that no brightness shows ahead. 

 But " polish up the dark side, and look at that instead !" 



— Priscilla Leonard, in The Churchman. 



A LESSON FROM THE WAX=PRESS. 



I am sure we have all been interested in the new method 

 of extracting wax where the press is used, and where great 

 saving of time, and a much lareer quantity of excellent wax 

 are secured. What a valuable lesson Christ taught the world at 

 the time of the feeding of the multitude. It was a great 

 occasion, and any one less than Divinity would hardly have 

 thought of the fragments. Yet the blessed teacher of Naza- 

 reth asked that the fragments might be gathered up and noth- 

 ing be lost. Many a man to-day is in comfortable circum- 

 .stances because the fragments have been gathered up. Many 

 home circles all over our land rejoice to day in numerous home 

 comforts, not to say luxuries, because in early childhood the 

 builders of these homes were taught the little economies 

 which are not only helpful but really give pleasure in their 

 practice. It certainly can not be beneath any person's dig- 

 nity to form, or to teach, habits of econotny when the Divine 

 Master put the stamp of his approval upon this very habit. I 

 have always been thankful that my dear father and mother 

 taught me to make a thin paring as I peeled the apple, and to 

 reduce the core to the minimum before it was thrown aside. 

 So I am always glad when I see anything like these wax- 

 extractor improvements, and rejoice that our friend, Mr. 

 Hatch, and others, has given us the press that we may glean 

 more, and more easily. 



It is often the best of economy to save strength and 

 time. How short-sighted people were to declaim against 

 inventions. Whatever saves labor benefits our people, and 

 gives to us all more of the comforts and blessings of life. It 

 is not labor-saving machinery that brings inequality of condi- 

 tions, divides classes, and creates social unrest. It is rather 

 the abuse of these privileges, and the taking advantage of 

 circumstance. Were we all to follow the Great Master in all 

 his teachings, labor-saving inventions would bring only bless- 

 ings in their coming. 



I believe the world never had so many blessings as to-day. 

 I believe there was never a time when the poor boy or girl 

 who has energy and economy could reach forward so confidently 

 towards position, and even wealth. I was happy the other 

 day in telling ray students of a man who once drove horses on 

 a canal path, who had no father or mother to train him in 

 ways of thrift or' economy, and yet to-day occupies honored 

 positions in two of our great universities. His name is 

 known in every country where science is studied. Garfield 

 had a grandmother to help him to thrift and position. Our 

 friend found both with no help except his own inherent deter- 

 mination and power. I said to our students, " Haven't we a 

 grand country, and don't we live in a grand time ?" When- 

 ever I read of anything like the wax-press, I feel like prais- 

 ing God for another step forward. 



But there is another thing in connection with this wax- 

 press which is to me more beautiful than the economy, and it 

 is this that brought it into "The Home Circle" to-day. I 

 refer to the fact that it removes this work from the house, 

 and thus saves the wife and mother from much of labor and 

 annoyance. I believe there is nothing that will test the good- 

 nature and amiability of the housewife more than the pres- 

 ence of wax about the kitchen and the kitchen utensils, which 

 are a part of the special equipment which she has to use. It 

 was good to hear the men say in speaking of the wax- 

 extractor, "It takes all this dirt and annoyance from the 

 house." I believe this is the best part of the new invention, 



