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_ • DEIVoTEJS 



•andHoNEY- 

 «MD HOME, 





Vol. XXI. 



JAN. 1, 1893. 



No. 1. 



Stra/ Straws 



FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Now IS THE TUiK to mplt Up your old combs, 

 when they are brittle and you can break them 

 up tine. But be sure to soak them full of water 

 before melting. 



" BucKELBKUT ■' is the name given by the 

 Germans to drone brood in worker-cells. Be- 

 ing of an economical turn they use one word 

 instead of our Hve. 



Do YOU LIKE MILK that tastes rich? I'll tell 

 you what to try. Put a pan of milk on an 

 augite stove-mat on the stove, and let it boil for 

 an hour. There's richness for you. 



That bee- escape of friend Hewes may 

 prove to be a ''dark horse.'" How would it do 

 to punch the holes with a fluted punch, abrupt- 

 ly tapering instead of gradually tapering? 



The sugar-honev discussion has at least 

 shown one thing, and that is. that bee-keepers 

 can discuss matters about which they feel deep- 

 ly and differ widely, without losing temper. 



Buckwheat is a very uncertain crop for 

 honey, according to replies in A. B. J. Doolittle 

 says he had a good yield this year, being the 

 first pound of buckwheat honey in 15 years. 



While standard sections are being some- 

 what discussed in this country, British bee- 

 keepers are quite stirred up over the matter of 

 a standard honey-bottle (honey-jar we would 

 call it). 



Please. Mr. Editor, don't let York's old 

 man monkey with that gun so near my stray 

 straws. He looks kind o" careless: and if the 

 gun should go off he might burn irp my whole 

 strawstack. 



Thirty-six States, if I a rightly informed. 

 now have laws against selling tobacco to those 

 under 16, and in some States 18, years of age. 

 Wouldn't it be an improvement to raise the age 

 from 16 to()0? 



Crimson clover, or scarlet clover, has been 

 highly praised as a forage and honey plant. J. 

 Fremont Hickman, of Ohio Experiment Station, 

 says in Stockinrin that it does not succeed as 

 far north as Ohio. 



Some people are opposed to alcoholic drinks. 

 but think lager beer all right because it isn't an 

 alcoholic drink. The other night I saw a half- 

 ounce of fourth-proof alcohol distilled from an 

 average glass of lager beer! And people drink 

 it for the hops in it! 



"A larva 5 DAYS old." Does that mean 

 that the egg was laid .5 days ago, or does it 



mean that the larva hatched from the egg 5 

 days ago? Some use it one way and some the 

 other, hence confusion arises. Suppose you tell 

 us which is the better way. Mr. Editor, and 

 then we'll all try to use it the same way. 



R. C. AiKiN at the Colorado State convention 

 figured out that, wiih 100 colonies, a bee-keeper 

 might average 12.53.50 for his year's labor, and 

 $462.50 with 200 colonies. " But," he says. •' the 

 average apiarist does not. will not. and' can not 

 doit. . . . None but the expert apiarist will 

 make money out of bees." 



The Apiciilturist says, "Honey and sugar 

 mixed, say two pounds of sugar to one of honey, 

 is superior in flavor and quality to clear, pure 

 honey." For those who like sugar better than 

 honey, wouldn't it be a still further improve- 

 ment to replace that one pound of honey with 

 another of sugar? 



In blanketing horses, a writer in the Stock- 

 man thinks, it is a bad plan to throw a blanket 

 on a horse immediately on stopping, while he is 

 wet with perspii'ation, for then the blanket 

 becomes wet. and he has an icy covering; but 

 he says, let him dry off a little before blanket- 

 ing. Worth thinking about. 



The MANAGE>rENT of the North American 

 showed their good sense in having less than the 

 usual number of topics on the Washington pro- 

 gram. If you get the bee-keepers together 

 there will be no trouble about topics to discuss. 

 When two bee-keepers meet it doesn't take 

 them two minutes to strike a '" live topic." 



M. Bertrand. a prominent French authori- 

 ty, and the able editor of the Revue Inter- 

 natlojKile. thinks that there is a kind of heredi- 

 ty from the nurse-bees, owing to the food given 

 to the larVcB, and on this account he thinks the 

 raising of royal larv;c ought to be entrusted 

 only to those colonies whose workers possess 

 desirable traits. 



The French horticultural monthly, "ie 

 Cklre ct Ic Poire." has an article from Paul 

 Noel, in which he says, "The place where bees 

 become useful in the highest degree is in the 

 orchard. Experiments which have been made 

 in this regard are so conclusive, that hives of 

 bees have become the indispensable adjunct of 

 a well-kept orchard." 



Here's a postal from Hasty: "Brother 

 Milhn', you didn't stick that straw through me 

 in the right direction. I didn't say, 'their 

 stores bciow them," but 'their stores behind 

 them.' You are awan^ that, with long and 

 shallow frames, bees incline to store the honey 

 at the rear of the hive, and form the first win- 

 ter cluster at the front of the hive. "" Glad to 

 correct. I was thinking of their climbing up, 

 and whatever they left behind was below. 



