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Vol. XXI. 



OCT. 15, 1893. 



No. 20 



Stray Straws 



FROM DR. C. C. MIUUER. 



Kanucks have reason to be proud of editor 

 Holtermann. He's making the C B. J. shine. 



The panic has come and gone — at least it is 

 going— and it seems to have troubled bee-keep- 

 ers about as little as any other class. 



Ye'.aks ago we got big prices for honey; but a 

 pound of honey then would buy no more calico 

 or sugar than it will now, so where's the differ- 

 ence ? 



" Let NO ONE fear that apicultural experi- 

 ment stations may be either too numerous or 

 too well equipped."— -Ba:;pcrime7iter Taylor, in 

 Review. 



Wasps are talked about sometimes in Eng- 

 land as something very destructive to bees. I 

 never heard of their being troublesome in this 

 country. 



The honey show at the World's Fair has 

 been brought to a high state of perfection, but 

 the exhibitors are putting on finishing touches 

 every day. 



Bees in this part of the country will have 

 little to do but to sleep for the next five or six 

 months. Some of their owners would like to do 

 the same. 



Hutchinson thinks I ought to have mention- 

 ed that, when he takes bees out of cellar as 

 soon as they can fly, he gives them protection. 

 I think so too. 



Heavy rains have brought green again to 

 the pastures that looked entirely dead two 

 weeks ago, so we will hope that some of the 

 white clover will be left alive for next year. 



Phrenology, as applied to bees by Dr. J. D. 

 Gehring, appears in A. B. J. Dr. G. has been 

 examining the heads of drones, and finds they 

 have bumps indicative of their usual charac- 

 ter. 



Strikes have taken place among all classes of 

 laborers, skilled and unskilled, except among 

 the laborers of the bee-keeper. His laborers, 

 skilled laborers of the highest class, never 

 strike. 



Early granulation of honey, both comb 

 and extracted, is making trouble in England 

 this year. One man complains in B. B. J. that, 

 early in July, honey was granulated solid while 

 in the hives. 



Queer thing, how one country is all taken 

 up with one thing, while something entirely 



dififerent is all the go In another. In this 

 country it'snon-swarmers and self-hivers, while 

 in England it's the Wells system of running 

 two colonies under one set of supers. 



Make youk plans now, to keep rats and mice 

 away from your bees in winter. If you can't 

 fasten them out of the cellar, you can fasten 

 them out of the hives, with wire cloth three 

 meshes to the inch. 



I didn't think it. I didn't believe Rambler 

 was so hard-hearted as to deliberately tie a 

 strap to a donkey to hold on by while he kicked 

 the poor beast, as shown on p. 737. I wouldn't 

 have believed it if I hadn't seen it. 



Drones are free and easy in their manners, 

 entering other hives than their own with safe- 

 ty. Hasty thinks this may extend to their 

 going to other apiaries, and thus a drone may 

 by successive stages get 30 miles from home. 



The Louisiana Hotel is the place which 

 will seem like home to a good many bee-keep- 

 ers. I spent the last week in September at the 

 big show, and stopped at the Louisiana so as to 

 get used to it before the convention. It's a 

 good place. 



Hasty, in Revieu\ mentions my obituary in 

 Api, and then forebodingly adds : — And as for 

 the rest of us, we can fairly hear the grim edi- 

 tor humming softly to himself — 



" Ye living men, come view the ground 

 Where you must shortly lie." 



Friend Root, on page 754, tells how to make 

 a dinner of mushrooms when you are out in the 

 woods, by building a fire in a safe place. I know 

 a heap easier and safer plan. Eat 'em raw. 

 I've done it lots of times. But they'i-e better 

 fried in butter. Yum ! yum I 



Foundation from bleached wax. says the 

 B. B. J., has become a chronic cause of com- 

 plaint in England for the last few years. Bees 

 refuse to use it, and, if forced to use space 

 where it is, often make crooked combs beside it. 

 Light yellow foundation is good enough. 



Now comes the time to put up stoves for 

 winter. Before commencing the job, make a 

 bandage of seventeen thicknesses of cheese- 

 cloth, and tie it over your mouth. It will strain 

 out the cross words before they reach your 

 wife's ear. Wash out the bandage when you 

 are through. 



The honey crop in Central Europe, accord- 

 ing to the Revue, has been more than average, 

 but much darker than usual. The darkness is 

 attributed to the dry season developing more 

 than the usual amount of honey-dew. But as 

 they get about 10 cents a pound' for extracted 

 they hardly ought to complain. 



