746 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 21, 1901 



liouse inquires. " Is it acU'isable to pass elevpii laws for ten 

 men?" Page t)31. 



PACKAGES FOR RETAII.ING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



It is not so much by shouting our conclusions at one ;iu- 

 <ither that we shall conjure up the ultimate truth from the 

 bottom of the well, as it is by candidly laying our real experi- 

 ences side and side. Mr. Davenport finds his customers don't 

 return packages worth a cent. 1 find mine, pretty mucli all 

 of thorn, so carefully conscientious in the matter that keeping 

 ;i memorandum book, to show where the out pails are, seems 

 rather a waste' of time. Are my customers so much hifrher in 

 their moral level than his? Improbable. What then? The 

 full answer to that question is not likely to be reached except 

 by a o-ood deal of crrubbing — perchance by a good many grub- 

 bers, ril only just begin a little at one corner of the subject. 

 Folks of low-average honesty, if they think (rightly or 

 wrongly) that they have paid too much for the contents of a 

 package, will gobble the package itself — as reprisal in part. 

 1 have several times tried to sell in the city by means of an 

 intermediary, he to fix his own prices, and the result is a 

 heavy loss of pails. Page 631. 



THE LEAKY HOMEY-BARRFL. 



Davenport's experience with barrels should be noted. All 

 leaked; botli soft wood and hard wood, although dried for two 

 years. Wax and warrant both failed. The wax cracked: and 

 as for the warrant, honey doesn't seem to understand the 

 meaning of a warrant at all. Page 631. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BV 



DR. O. O. MILLER, afareng-o, ni. 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Packing Bees for Winter— Other Questions- 



1 .11 purchased 40 colonies of black bees, 20 in Falcon 

 chaff hives and the rest in box-hives. TJie entrances of the 

 chaff hives arc^ only % by 12 inches. Do you think that large 

 enough for winter and summer? 



'z. Would you advise me to take the inner cover off of the 

 brood-chamber and put burlap over the frames, and pack with 

 forest leaves? 



LT- 3. Would it he all right to raise the brood-chamber say )4 

 inch in the summer, or would it caus(> the bees to loaf between 

 the bottom-board and brood-chamber? 



4. The frames have never been manipulated in these 

 hives, and are badly braced and burr-combed. Would you 

 advise transferring the bees and using full sheets of foun- 

 dation? 



5. The hives are painted red. Do you think it advisable 

 to paint them white? 



6. Would it be well to leave the packing around the 

 brood-chamber all summer? 



7. Is there any danger of using too much bi-sulphide of 



no trouble except 

 waste to transfer. 



DR. MILLER *' TOUCHING 



carbon in fumigating the honey? Doi-s it taint the honey? 

 About how much should one use to fumigate 100 pounds? 

 Does it matter in regard to quality? 



8. I wish to prevent increase. What method would you 

 recommend? New York. 



Answers — 1. For out-door wintering such an entrance is 

 large enough. For hot weather, and for wintering in the 

 cellar, I should prefer it much largi-r. 



2. That's a good plan. 



3. It would be all right. 



4. If combs are straight and there 

 the brace and burr combs, it would be 

 Just cut away all the superfluous burrs and braces. 



5. White is generally prefeiTed, but if hives are in the 

 shade it makes little difference. 



6. Most bee-keepers prefer to remove the packing for 

 summer. 



7. An excess is not likely to do any harm, as it evapo- 

 rates rapidly. Two tablespoonfuls would be enough, or more 

 than enough, for 100 lb of honey if placed over the honey 

 and closed up tight. I think you need pay little attention to 

 quality. See interesting discussion in the report of the Buf- 

 falo convention, jiage .5it'.i. 



8. I hardly know; there are so many ways. One way is 

 to double up in the fall to nearly the number you want, and, 

 if none of them die in winter, to do some more doubling-up in 

 spring. Another way is to remove the old queen when a 

 prime swarm issues (if your queens are clipped they will be 

 destroyed if you let them entirely alone), and then as soon as 

 the first of the young queens issues — which you may know by 

 liearing the young queen pipe in the evening — destroy all re- 

 maining cells; or, return the swarm as often as it issues with 

 the young queen. 



The Home Circle. ^ 



Conducted bu Prof. f\. J. Cook, Claremont, Calif. 



OUR COUNTRY. 



If there is any one thing that should make our hearts 

 well up in gratitude more than any other thing, it is the 

 thought of our incomparable country. True, the home 

 comes nearest to us, and touches our hearts and lives with 

 the best gifts. But our American homes could not exist 

 outside of America. Britain is the only other country that 

 comes within telephone call of us in matter of homey 

 homes. And Britania pales, as poverty crowds comfort, 

 health, and even life, from so many of Britain's house- 

 holds. Think I any boy — the poorest — can safely aspire to 

 his own beautiful home in this grand American country. 

 Industry and economy are sure to win thrift ; and the 

 American who does not reach competency, and a cosy, com- 

 fortable home, hardly deserves either. 



I believe the best gift or possession that any boy or girl 

 may fall heir to, is a good education. It can not be too 

 broad or liberal. Even the day-laborer would be vastly 

 better off with a good education. Were I to train a boy for 

 the farm, I would have him pursue a course as thorough as 

 that coveted by the would-be lawyer or physician. I would 

 urge that he get all he could in the college ; that he go then 

 to the university for graduate work ; and then it would do 

 him no harm should he study abroad for a year or two. Do 

 you say that this would illy fit him for agiculture? I know 

 it need not, for I have the proof. Isn't it the glory of our 

 magnificent country that any boy of will, energy and deter- 

 mination can. all unaided, secure all of this, if he is only so 

 fortunate as to be an American ? I know he can, for here 

 again I have the proofs. 



I have just been rejoicing in some statistics that fill my 

 heart with gratitude as an American citizen. Our total 

 debt now is SI, 100,000,000. It was three times that at the 

 close of the war. Yet this in the face of the fact that the 

 war cost our Government more than $6,000,000,000, if we 

 take direct and indirect expenses, such as pensions, etc., into 

 account. In 1.S60, when our credit was at the worst, we 

 could not borrow money for less than 12 percent. Now our 

 2 percent bonds are at 8 percent premium. Our present 

 debt is S14 per capita, Russia's is $24, with a great army of 

 people who are wholly impecunious. Even England's debt 

 is $75 per capita ; and that of France reaches the alarming 



