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Vol. XXIV. 



SEPT. 15, 1896. 



No. 18. 



Are you going to Lincoln, Oct. 7 ? [Yes, A. 

 I. R. and your humble servant are planning to 

 go.— Ed.] 



Some new faces will be at Lincoln that I'm 

 anxious to see, and some old friends that I'm 

 anxious to greet. 



The pan of salt hasn't sweetened the cis- 

 tern very much, but I think^ it has a little. I 

 don't see any objection to carbonate of soda 

 except the expense. 



If all the cake and all the cooked sweets 

 were utterly banished from the table, and Na- 

 ture's own sweet, honey, substituted therefor, I 

 believe it would add greatly to the health, hap- 

 piness, and longevity of the nation. 



Sensible is Doolittle, p. 043, in thinking good 

 performance the thing to watch in selecting 

 stock to breed from, and I believe every bee- 

 keeper can do something toward improvement 

 in that line. I know one who might do more of 

 it than he does. 



Out of all the agitation that's taking 

 place, 1 hope we may yet see an organization of 

 bee-keepers strong in numbers and influence, 

 and it matters little whether it's made out of 

 old or new cloth. [Yes, indeed. See another 

 column.— Ed.] 



The only reason I desire the peculiar head 

 on the spacing-nail is simply so it shall easily 

 go just the right depth in driving. I've tried 

 the common wire nail, and, aside from the diffi- 

 culty of driving, I like it not only a "' little bit " 

 but very much. Theoretical objections that I 

 had against it have disappeared in actual prac- 

 tice. 



A. I. Root, you're altogether too modest. If 

 I were president of the convention to meet at 

 Lincoln, I'd blow about what a big time we 

 were going to have, to try to get everybody 

 to go. For the first time, all outside the one State 



are to be boarded and bedded free, and travel 

 is less price than usual. [You wait, doctor, till 

 we get a little nearer the time of the convention. 

 We do not want to waste all our powder at the 

 start. — Ed.] 



Like G. C. Greiner, I never before had so 

 much trouble with swarms in August— more 

 than in June, virgin queens coming out with 

 laying queens in some cases. Here's a case he 

 didn't have: A large swarm at an out-apiary 

 had hung two days on a tree. I cut off the 

 limb and carefully placed the swarm at the en- 

 trance of a hive. Swarm gently arose, and 

 sailed and sailed away east, leaving two bee- 

 keepers standing with mouths wide open. 



The much-lauded and much-condemned 

 Funics or Tunisians have proved themelves — at 

 least the half-breeds— to be excellent gatherers 

 —hardy, cross, and the champion gluers of the 

 world. No good for comb honey — make watery 

 combs; but for extracted honey they may be a 

 good thing. [Your experience seems to tally 

 very well with the bees we have had of this 

 race; but on account of their being champion 

 gluers, and so veiy cross, we were very glad to 

 get rid of them.— Ed.] 



I SEND herewith, attached to the manu- 

 script of this Straw, the best frame-spacer I 

 have ever tried. Do you think I could get it 

 patented? [The frame-spacer that Dr. Miller 

 sends is nothing more nor less than a stout 

 wire nail 134 inches long, and a scant ^ inch 

 in diameter. I have no doubt it would make a 

 very good spacer. But a nail-head is objection- 

 able on account of its liability to catch in the 

 wire cloth of the extractor. I have never tried 

 extracting from such frames, but others have, 

 and they say they do not like them. — Ed.] 



I'd really like to know whether I'm mis- 

 taken as to the general use of the word "sec- 

 tion " for the honey that's contained in a sec- 

 tion box. You use it that way yourself, Mr. 

 Editor, on p. 632, in the next sentence but one 

 after saying you never use it so. "We ate half 

 a section of honey " would pass for good Eng- 

 lish generally, I supposed. What would you 



