February, 1f1- 



4? 



American "Bee Journal 



ect the disease by an odor at the en- 

 trance, but not even if the diseased 

 comb be held close to the nose. Yet 

 when two such men as Mr. Pettit and 

 Mr. Harris make statements it will 

 hardly do to set them aside with a wave 

 of the hand. It is greatly to be desired 

 that the matter should be thoroughly 

 thrashed out by competent hands, and 

 satisfactory explanation given for such 

 widely divergent views. 



Bee-Diseases iu England 



England has not, as yet, any law 

 concerning bee-diseases. In the British 

 Bee Journal of Nov. 28, a correspond- 

 ent opposes the proposed legislation. 

 The ability of this man can be judged 

 by the fact that he holds that bee- 

 keeping in fixed comb hives, or in 

 skeps, is "the most reasonable and the 

 most profitable form of bee-keeping." 

 However, we must acknowledge that 

 he strikes the right spot when he says 

 of expert inspectors: "Unless these 

 men have had the practical experience 

 of managing numbers of colonies suc- 

 cessfully, they are surely not fit to be 

 sent out to exercise compulsory pow- 

 ers over those of their neighbors ; but 

 if tliey have had such experience, they 

 must be worth a great deal more than 

 they get." 



This is the most important point in 

 making and enforcing laws on any 

 question. The man who is intrusted 

 with the execution of the law must be 

 a practical man with plenty of experi- 

 ence in the line in which he is to work, 

 and if he is such a man, he should re- 

 ceive ample pay for his work. 



There is no doubt that laws are 

 needed, and that where they are prop- 

 erly enforced by competent men, they 

 do a great deal of good, so it is out of 

 the question to agree with the above 

 named writer about the inexpediency 

 of laws on bee-diseases, just because 

 their enforcement may be intrusted to 

 incompetent men. This applies as well 

 to laws on any subject where questions 

 of health are involved. The improper 

 enforcing of a law does not make that 

 law improper. 



lot of gain to be made by it. I do know 

 that I made a very material gain. 

 Within two years I have had stock 

 from others, but nothing that would 

 get within sight of my old hornets. If 

 only they were not so liornctyl" 



formed of our needs and of the reme- 

 dies. As once wrote Montesquieu: 

 " In a country where the people is 

 sovereign, the education of the least 

 citizen is as important as that of the 

 heir to the throne in a monarchy." 



Improvement of Bees 



The Editor asked Dr. Miller whether, 

 in his opinion, we had best continue 

 much longer the discussion of the non- 

 improvement question, which seems to 

 him rather a loss of time. We ask the 

 Doctor's pardon for printing his private 

 reply. It is short and to the point : 



"Of course it vvon't do to overdo the 

 non-improvement discussion, and you 

 can choke it off at any point you like. 

 The thing that I have felt important 

 was for every one of the rank and file 

 to breed from his best stock, with a 



The Parcels Post 



The discussion of a question of gen- 

 eral interest like the parcels post is 

 hardly of the province of a bee journal. 

 Yet it is of such vital importance to our 

 bee-keepers that we may be forgiven 

 for giving it additional notice. We 

 have much to learn from our European 

 friends on this subject, from their fail- 

 ures as well as from their successes. 



The British Bee Journal for Dec. 12 

 contains a short mention of a package 

 of honey in tin having been sent by 

 parcels post and damaged along the 

 way so that half of the honey was gone ; 

 very probably with great damage to 

 the mail. The accident is ascribed to 

 the policy of abolishing hampers and 

 replacing them with sacks. In the 

 number of Dec. 26, page 513, a reply is 

 made, stating that the hampers are 

 "coming back again." 



In this country of haste and hurry, 

 where one baggage-man does the work 

 of three or four, and where laws had to 

 be made punishing with heavy fines 

 the " baggage smashers ;" where a 

 trunk, in one day's journey, gets worse 

 worn than in a year's travel in Europe, 

 we are accustomed to the swinging of 

 the mail-sacks as if they were base- 

 balls or foot-balls. It seems quite the 

 thing for a man as practical as Doo- 

 little to say as he did, in the November 

 number, page 388: "Of course comb 

 honey will never be handled by mail 

 very much on account of the liability 



of breakage " So we are stupcfu-d 



to see the parcels post preparing to 

 handle eggs. But, why not ? And why 

 not comb honey ? Why cannot Uncle 

 Sam do our shipping better than those 

 Express companies which have been 

 robbing us so many years .'' Why could 

 we not get better treatment from our 

 own men than from the management 

 of corporations ? 



The new parcels post is a very 

 " clumsy, inadequate affair." True, but 

 it is an entering wedge. Let us use it 

 and take patience. Sooner or later we 

 will have a uniform rate for all things, 

 except a few unmailable articles, and 

 we will be able to learn all the regula- 

 tions without having to read a whole 

 book of more or less rational excep- 

 tions. 



The parcels post is our creation, and 

 we, the people, ought to be able to im- 

 prove it as we go. It is true that most 

 of us need to be more thoroughly in- 



Sawflust Versus finders 



In our correspondence this month is 

 a letter from a bee-keeper who has 

 tried sawdust to keep the grass down 

 in front of his hives. It proved a fail- 

 ure. There is one great objection to 

 sawdust. In very dry weather a spark 

 from the smoker may set it afire. Cin- 

 ders are surer and safer. 



Marlsetinff Honey 



An excellent article on this subject, 

 written by J. C. Frohliger, of Califor- 

 nia, was read before the Stanislaus Bee- 

 Keepers' Association and reproduced 

 in the California Cultivator of Dec. 12. 

 Contributions of this kind should 

 be more general, for they enhance the 

 value and the demand of honey by 

 calling attention to it. When so much 

 money is spent upon more or less in- 

 jurious products like tobacco, whiskey, 

 and cheap candies, ii ought not to be 

 difficult to increase the sales of "the 

 sweetest of all sweets." 



Feeding Bees in Cellar 



Our readers will appreciate the ex- 

 cellent article by Mr. Miles on the use 

 of smoke and the feeding of bees in 

 cellar wintering. We have neverneeded 

 smoke in putting the bees in the cellar, 

 because we have always done the work 

 on a cold day, and have cooled the 

 cellar beforehand, as Mr. Miles aptly 

 suggests. But when taking them out 

 we have often found it necessary to 

 use smoke in exactly the way that he 

 recommends. 



At the Ohio meeting a few days ago, 

 we heard Editor Root, of Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture, recommend the use of 

 snow, thrown upon the entrance, to 

 keep the bees from trying to emerge 

 while the hives are being carrried in, 

 in cold weather. He explains that the 

 snow melts away after the hives are in 

 the cellar, and does not cause any in- 

 convenience. However, there are 

 many instances when snow is not to be 

 had, in our latitude, even in cold 

 weather. Its use would also be impos- 

 sible if we remove the bottom-boards, 

 which we consider a good practice un- 

 less, like Dr. Miller, we have a deep 

 space between the bottom-bar of the 

 frames and the floor of the hive. In 

 his case, it would take too much snow 

 to fill the depth of the entrance. 



As to feeding in cellar, we can an- 



