HlL BEE-REEPERU' RKVIEW. 



241 



lifter the iiiioen's deatli. Tlie drones take 

 care of tlie yonug, and tlierefore they are 

 not allowed to leave the iiive till about two 

 o'clock, wlieu the worker bees relieve them 

 and take the babies, while they go out for a 

 brief period of recreation. 



V. H. Thies, A. B. K., ic:., thinks that the 

 yuuLg bee keepers that from time to time 

 fall iuto the ranks and subscribe for a bee 

 paper, should be given the same attention 

 we had when we tirst begun. He remarks 

 also that in moving bees by the little-at-a- 

 time method they soon catch on to the idea, 

 so that they can be moved much further at a 

 time after the tlrst three or four moves. 

 Also, on page V^2, he speaks of changing his 

 opinion of spring feeding from affirmative 

 to negative. 



Editorially .\. B. K., on page 14:5, calls at- 

 tention to a serious objection to using 

 starters only in the sections. Most of the 

 comb building will be with drone comb, and 

 the evil of brood in the sections is much 

 worse than with full-sheeted sections. Very 

 true, very true indeed. Vet some people 

 are so uureasuuable as to prefer meeting this 

 difficulty by letting the bees have a pretty 

 good supply of drone comb below — and 

 that's me. 



Lowell, Mass, must be inferior bee range 

 according to a letter in A. B. K., 188. Bees 

 " never did anything in Lowell." He pays 

 three to five dollars yearly for queens with 

 no good results. Tried Holy Land bees, and 

 they were so holy they always swarmed on 

 Sunday. Lost one colony out of ten last 

 winter and wishes he had lost them all. 

 They won't even carry in syrup when he sets 

 it out in pans, but shiftlessly abstain and 

 starve. And are there not many of us who 

 have "been there'":* Not in Lowell, Mass, 

 but in the precise mental and moral location 

 of our friend. 



A lady correspondent, on page i:>7, prac- 

 tices hiving by removing most of the brood 

 combs and returning the swarm to the old 

 stand (not a l)ad way) and very naturally 

 she was led to think, "Why wait for uncer- 

 tain swarming wlie I know they already 

 have queen cells well advanced?" She acted 

 on this query, and cin't see any difference 

 between the unswarnicd swarms and the 

 swarmed ones. 



Ed. JoUey, A. H. K . VM, feels that ho 

 hasn't a bee to sp.irc for toad feed, and 

 paddles his toads. No faith in a toad once 

 habituated to getting an easy living at a bee 



hive amouuting to anything as a legitimate 

 fly catcher. 



The assistant editor of A. B. K., page ]:?.'), 

 confesses to being belated in experience 

 with the five-banded bees, but having re- 

 cently had lots of experience he wants his 

 say even now. Nowhere near equal to the 

 commonest scrub stock. Spent about $100 

 in queens, and would sell the lot at ten cents 

 a dozen, did not conscience forbid such an 

 in.iury to unwary beginners. Dreadful rob- 

 ber-: queens short lived; only a small per 

 cent, of them even capable of building up 

 from a good nucleus to a full colo y without 

 outside help. 



The General round-Up 



(ileaning's report of trials of the new 

 drawn foundation, page <i04, seems very fair 

 and free from any appearance of desire to 

 force the decision. I judge that the gen- 

 eral prospect is that the new product will be 

 accepted by the bee keeping public. One of 

 the most interesting tests is by Dr. Mason, 

 or rather by a dinner party at his house. 

 None decided that the natural comb honey 

 was any more desirable as to flavor, tender- 

 ness or amount of wax left in the mouth on 

 chewing, and some thought the difference 

 was the other way. The Doctor's own ver- 

 dict is no difference at all, except that the 

 natural had heavier wax work around the 

 edges. 



One of those little details of bee affairs 

 which are sometimes of immense importance 

 and also late in coming to light, is brought 

 out by Ernest on paiie .''>8fi of Gleanings. 

 Bees can, and often do, work profitably a 

 long ways from home, but often when they 

 niii/ht they don't, jnst because something 

 near by is yielding a little honey, and that 

 little keeps them from striking out for 

 sometiiing better. Cases where apiaries a 

 mile or less apart vary greatly as to the crop 

 seem to require some such theory. Sti'l a 

 half-mile slice of territory on the extreme 

 far side of the successful apiary inai/ have 

 been the source of the honey. 



The Aikin inveniion of adding a good, h-'g 

 trap box above the old style of bee escape 

 window probably deserves more praise and 

 more practice than it has yet received. See 

 (ileanintrs. .^(!:5. To get comb honey torn 

 full of little holes a^ you are taking it off 

 (according lo friend Aikin ) alarm the bees 

 with smoke, and then fool around and wa^^te 

 time or have a good talk with somebody be- 



