• DELVOTE.1 



•-To -Bel ELS'- 

 •andHoNE.Y-'^ 



*7\HD home: 



•JNTE.FIEST6 



'ubhshedyTHEA ll^OoY Co 



$.i°°ptB\tAR '\§) "Medina- Ome^ 



Vol. XXIV. 



JUNE 15, 1896. 



No. 12. 



The blossoms uf tlie birawberrles is what 

 the bees worked on, Ernest. 



Amalgamation. "It is noticeable that a 

 real, valid, reasonable objection has not yet 

 appeared."— iJevieio. [See last Straw.— Ed.] 



Foe foul brood, F. L. Thomson believes in 

 feeding lysol outdoors, not as a cure, but as a 

 preventive. — Revieiv. 



Alfalfa. H. Rauchfuss "thinks 8 or 10 

 acres to the colony, instead of l}o, are necessa- 

 ry for their best work.'''— Review. 



One advantage in favor of bottom as well 

 as top starters, both in sections and brood- 

 frames, is that the shorter top starter will sag 

 less. 



"Comb foundation is only an amusing play- 

 thing, without any practical value." That's 

 what no less an authority than Berlepsch said 

 years ago. Many a good thing is at first con- 

 demned. 



I'll be glad to see the Union and the North 

 American boih knocked in the head if some 

 better thing takes tiieir place. But. please 

 don't do the knocking till sure you have the 

 better thing. 



Crimson clover, according to reports in 

 Gravenhorst's Bienenzeitung. is, in some places, 

 of value both as forage and as a honey-plant, 

 while in other places it is of little account for 

 either purpose. 



The first case you have of laying workers, 

 try giving them a "pulled queen," or a virgin 

 queen just emerged; may fail next trial, but 

 has succeeded so far with me. [We have, and 

 it is generally successful.— Ed.] 



Is it best to extract sections in any case? 

 Those half filled can be sold at a reduced price, 

 and the bees can extract those with less honey 

 in them. [Sections of drawn comb are good 

 capital, according to B. Taylor.— Ed.] 



Hasty, in Review, says I bear down pretty 

 hard in A. B J. on the idea of old bees playing, 

 and asks whether old bees don't play on a 

 warm day in February. Look again, my dear 

 brother. "During harvest time" is what I 

 said. 



Why is it that the Rietsche foundation-press 

 is so popular across the water, thousands of 

 presses being in use, whereas I have heard of 

 but one in this country, and that was condemn- 

 ed? — [They are too slow in operation for Amer- 

 icaus.— Ed.] 



Snake charmers in India and elsewhere 

 handle poisonous snakes with no harm. Prof. 

 T. L. Frazer explains that they become immune 

 against the poison by small and repeated doses, 

 just as a bee-keeper becomes immune against 

 bee-stings. 



Sections made green by too much sulphur, 

 C. Davenport remedies by soaking in water. If 

 that loosens the sections from the wood, he 

 gives them back to be fastened by the bees, 

 choosing a colony that has its brood-nest full 

 of honey. — A. B. J. 



Primted labels on white basswood are nice 

 for trees, and why wouldn't they be good for 

 numbering hives? [In time they would turn 

 dark— that is, the wood. I think the manilla 

 tagboard, soaked in linseed oil, would last fully 

 as long, and keep brighter.— Ed.] 



Do BEES GATHER propolls Only after seeing 

 some spot that needs it, or do they bring in a 

 load and then put it where it will do the most 

 good? The last idea is somewhat favored by 

 the fact that, in the fall, smooth surfaces are 

 varnished with propolis. 



The prospect. June 3. Cool and cloudy. 

 Lots and lots of clover bloom, lots of bees, but 

 no storing. Is there no nectar iu the flowers? 

 I'm hoping for a turn in the weather, and still 

 expecting a crop. [The turn has come here, 

 but our expectations are on the basswoods load- 

 ed with buds.— Ed.] 



Don't forget, Ernest, that, while a X top- 

 bar " may be a little more proof against burr- 

 combs" than a %, it is also "more proof" 



