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'PuBlliHED BY^-l-rXOOl' 



Vol. XXI. 



MAR. 15, 1893. 



No. 6. 



Stray Straws 



FROM DR. C- C. MILLER. 



A THIRD CASE lias bi^eii reported in Central- 

 hlatt, of a queen having been fecundated in the 

 hive. 



A FIRM IN Germany consumes yearly about 

 40,000 lbs. of ceresin for foundation. — Central- 

 hlatt. 



More deaths occur in a day now than in a 

 week at the beginning of winter. I mean in 

 the hives. 



The Hayck sectional hive is described in A. 

 B. J. by W. J. Cullinan. with straw walls P._. 

 inches thick. 



" Pauper swarms " is what they call " hun- 

 ger swarms" in the South, — thos<' which swarm 

 out for want of stores. 



If those caramels made by Muth & Son 

 get to be well known, there will be a bigger 

 market for honey in Cincinnati. 



Frank McNay's report, p. 17.3. would seem a 

 little tishyif I knew nothing about the man. 

 But Frank isn't a fishy sort of man. 



My rees do just as W. Halley says on p. 173. 

 If it"s cold enough they'll stay above the bee- 

 escape. In that respect the Larrabee escape 

 has an advantage. 



"Winter Lixf^ERs in the lap of Spring" 

 sometimes. This time Winter seems to have 

 pushed Spring off on to the fioor, and sat down 

 in the chair himself. 



My. oh: but doesn't Hasty just come down 

 savage on the Washington system of gradingi 

 If I had backbone enough I think I'd stand up 

 in a straight row beside him. 



Isn't there danger some one will choke 

 trying to swallow that story on p. 178 ? I mean 

 where tlic bees "sot" the fruit in one corner of 

 a gard mi and failed in t'other. 



■' In sunny soiithi-and " is the happy title 

 of Mrs. Jennie Atcliiey's Southern department 

 in ..4. B. J., in which she is now giving some 

 sound instruction to an A B C class. 



Didn't you make a mistake on page 19:.'. and 

 get the wrong picture? That looks just like 

 the original Miller feeder, only it has wire cloth 

 on it, and Manum's name under it. 



The gener.al teaching— and I suppose it's 

 right — is to see that a good share of young bees 

 arc in a newly formed colony. Yet the largest 

 surplus of extracted I ever got was from a col- 

 ony started with no young Ijees. I merely set a 

 hive of empty combs, no bees, in place of a re- 

 moved colony, and put in a queen. 



Keep cellars cold enough and you'll not be 

 troubled with dead bees on the floor. They'll 

 just die in the hive, queen and all, and stay 

 there, leaving the cellar bottom clean and nice. 

 That plan to get rid of laying workers, on 

 p. 178, is a long way behind the plan I use, if 

 ray plan works as well with others as with me. 

 Just drop in the hive a " pulled " queen. That's 

 all. 



O Rambler! you old bach. 



With quail on toast galore; 

 I'd greatly joy to snatch 

 A few from out your store. 



But then. I'm not a hog. 



To eat them all alone: 

 Nor yet a snarling dog, 



A gnawing at a bone. 



But rather would I live 

 With some sweet '' surup " neat. 



Who dainty touch could give, 

 And then could help me eat. 



When I read some of the stuff that is 

 printed in papers that are not bee-papers, under 

 the head of apicultural literature, I feel ex- 

 ceedingly thankful to the editors of our bee 

 journals for what they don't print. 



Sealed covers get a black eye from Geo. S. 

 Wheeler, in A. B. J. Colonies under them in 

 bad condiiion. with several dead, while those 

 with cushions are all right. Ought there not to 

 be cushions over the sealed covers? 



H. REEPEN.in the German Centra fb/zttt, gives 

 the fullest rci^iimc that I know about, of the 

 noticeable items of bee literature in both home 

 and foreign journals. He mixes in with it 

 enough Reepen to make it very readable. 



A HONEY -KEE CONCERT is recommended by 

 F. A. Gemmell. in C. B. J., consisting of music, 

 interspersed with short lectures on bees, honey, 

 etc. He thinks such a scheme, in connection 

 with conventions, would help the honey-mar- 

 ket. 



Bees are cheaper than I supposed. Aver- 

 aging replies of veterans in A. B. J., a colony 

 in box hive is worth ftJ.Ut in fall, and ^:i.:il in 

 spi-ing. Highest price given is in Nebraska, 1.5 

 to S'S in spring; lowest in Massachusetts, $0.00 

 in fall. 



Bee-lice, for "some reason, don't seem to 

 thrive in this country. El.sewhere they seem 

 troublesome, if not dangerous, one German bee- 

 keeper reporting that, on one day, he removed 

 more than 40 lice from a queen, and the next 

 day more than .30. 



J. E. Pond reports in ^4.. B. J"., that, in his 

 locality, bees are worth "' nothing in the fall, 

 and .$3.00 in spring." Wouldn't it be a good 

 scheme to buy up 1000 colonies at the regular 



