THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



43 



instead of ou live, would they have lived auy 

 lonyer ? Perhaps, but 1 am not sure. The 

 modern doctrine is that a comb is just as 

 good as a division-board ; and therefore it 

 don't make any difference how many combs 

 there are in the wintering chamber. Perhaps 

 this is sound doctrine, but I am suspicious 

 of it. 



For a tent to stop robbing no more is 

 needed than a square of cheap muslin some- 

 what larger than a bed sheet. Lay it on the 

 top of the hive in such a way that the edge 

 where it rests on the ground in front of the 

 hive will be two feet or more from the en- 

 trance. Wait till the robbers inside have 

 had plenty of time to load up, and you will 

 iind them on the under side of the cloth : 

 then quickly turn the cloth the other side up. 

 A little dirt can be heaped upon the edges if 

 there is any tendency to iind a passage-way. 



" Feb. 28th. Hot and sultry, llapidly i,'rovviiig 

 cold at night, freezing and blowing a furious; 

 gale. Ten hives unroofed, but apparently not 

 harmed. Bee clovers badly frozen and whipped." 



One excellent minor quality in a hive is to 

 remain tight and protect the bees after the 

 roof has gone on the breezes. I have often 

 had similar experiences since. 



I had already begun my effort to shorten 

 the tubes of red clover. This record shows 

 that some of my experimental clovers had 

 grown up rank and tender, winter though it 

 was, just right to be sadly demoralized when 

 "the wind of the winter night" broke in 

 upon their Florida. 



Richards, Ohio, Feb. 4th, ISD'J. 



An Absolutely Perfect Grade Not Needed for 

 Honey.— Kind Words for the Review. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



iru S I was one of 

 f\ the committee 

 that formulated 

 the rules for grad- 

 ing honey, as ad- 

 opted by the Al- 

 bany Convention, 

 perhaps the editor 

 will allow me a 

 few words in reply 

 to his " leader" on 

 that subject. As 

 I remember it, the 

 reason that the Albany committee could 

 not recommend the rules adopted at the 

 Chicago meeting, was that their first grade 





demanded something that was nearly if not 

 quite an impossibility. Had the 1st grade 

 called for " Sections to be well-filled, combs 

 straight, of even thickness and firmly at- 

 tached to all four sides, the honey of uni- 

 form color and the cells all sealed except 

 perhaps a few along the line touching the 

 wood," there would have been no trouble in 

 our adopting it ; but when we came to "both 

 wood and comb unsoiled by travel-stain or 

 otherwise, and all of the cells sealed," it 

 seemed that we could not tolerate a rule 

 that would not allow more than one section 

 in a thousand to enter the grade. 



I imagine I see many hoMing up their 

 hands in " holy horror " at this, and I fancy 

 the editor again expi-essing himself as he 

 does in the leader, " I have certainly seen 

 honey that could be classed as first grade 

 according to the Chicago rules," but not- 

 withstanding these expostulations I wish to 

 reiterate, that if the full import of " both 

 wood and comb unsoiled by travel-stain or 

 otherwise, and all of the cells sealed" is 

 taken in, not one section in one thousand 

 will be found that will answer that descrip- 

 tion, taking our years as they average. 



In that extra year, 1877, when honey came 

 in as if by magic, so that I secured over 

 11,000 pounds of comb honey from sixty- 

 nine colonies, spring count, I found that 

 when I came to try for perfect sections, ac- 

 cording to the above, nine was the full num- 

 ber that could be picked out of that 11,000 

 pounds. The little cherry crate, to which 

 the Thurber gold medal was awarded, at 

 that time, contained twelve sections picked 

 from that 11,000 pounds, and as three of the 

 sections could go in the crate so they were 

 hid from view, the nine perfect ones, as 

 above, answered, but had I been obliged to 

 have had twelve perfect sections, according 

 to the Chicago rules, I should have never 

 received the gold medal. 



No wonder Byroii Walker oftered twenty- 

 five cents a pound for such honey. 1 said 

 when I saw the offer, "He is safe enough." 



We have two women near here that con- 

 sider themselves good housekeepers. One 

 of these spends all her time in hunting for 

 specks of dust or dirt about the house, and 

 is so particular that if a neighbor steps in, 

 his boots are eyed to see if there is any dirt 

 on them, and the family and all who come 

 inside the house are made miserable, by the 

 exacting nicety of this housekeeper. The 

 other keeps her house perfect according to 



