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 ^ -INTERESTS 



bhshedy theA ll^ooY Co. 



PtR\tAR^^@"^EDINA•0H10• 



Vol. XXIX. 



SEPT. I, 1901. 



No. 17 



I UNDERSTAND beekeepers are to have a 

 pow-wow at Buffalo, Sept 10. Who goes from 

 Medina ? [A. I. P.. aud E. R. R. expect to go.] 



I don't use the scraper of the Mutnch hive- 

 tool, but take it t ff. I prefer a garden hoe as 

 a scraper, for a wholesale job on top of frames, 

 and for the smaller jobs the circular end of 

 the Muench tool is ahead of a putty-knife. 

 But scraping is n> 't the chief use of a hive- 

 tool. For starting frames, supers, and covers, 

 the Muench is 'way, 'way ahead. 



" We wili, hazard the prediction that the 

 highest standard of excellence is to be secured 

 through careful selection, rather than through 

 intensification by in-and in breeding," says 

 the editor of American Bee Keeper. I'm too 

 much of a coward to say I agree entirely with 

 that, but I'll risk saying that in-and-in breed- 

 ing is a pretty safe thing for us common bee- 

 keepers to let entirely alone. 



Robber-bees that take stores by force, bee- 

 keepers are familiar with. W. W. McNeal, in 

 Atnerican Bee Keeper, calls attention to an- 

 other criminal class, thieves. They take 

 stores by s'ealth, and there is no apparent 

 remedy against them. The best-storing colo- 

 nies are the most likely to be their victims, 

 and Mr. McNeal thinks we should be on the 

 lookout lest these thieves make us err in judg- 

 ment when deciding upon the best storers to 

 breed from. [There may be something in 

 this ; but how is any one to prove that a cer- 

 tain colony produces large averages by dishon- 

 esty rather than by hard honest toil ? — Ed.] 



A. C. Miller, in AmericaJi Bee-Keeper, 

 prefers the Alley plan for rearing queens, and 

 says that by the cell-cup plan " in the hands 

 of any person but those of an expert, there 

 are many chances of producing inferior 

 queens." I don't understand why. With 

 the Alley plan a careless person may have 

 queens reared from too old larvae, a danger 

 not met in the cell-cup plan. But the Alley 

 plan is less troublesome, and takes less time. 



With proper care the best of queens can be 

 reared by either plan. [Our Mr. Wardell, 

 after having tried all plans, prefers a modified 

 Alley plan ; that is to say, he uses the Alley 

 method ; but instead of worker he uses drone 

 cells, and, all things considered, he says he 

 prefers them. — Ed] 



If it is true that bisulphide of carbon will 

 kill moth eggs as well as larvae, why is it not 

 a long way ahead of sulphur for those who 

 fumigate their sections? Bisulphide can be 

 used once for all when sections are taken off, 

 or within two weeks, and save the repetition 

 of the fumigation that sulphur requires, also 

 saving the danger of making the sections 

 green with sulphur. [If the reports are true, 

 the man who persists in using sulphur in place 

 of bisulphide of carbon is far behind the times. 

 The bisulphi('e is more thorough, and much 

 less trouble to use. While it is subject to 

 more or less danger from explosion, the burn- 

 ing of sulphur, even in an iron kettle, also 

 has its danger. — Ed.] 



You DO NOT remember, Mr. Editor, to have 

 seen the terms preconstructed and postcon- 

 slruded used by others. Turn to p. 54, Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, 1861, and you will find 

 them used by as good authority as Samuel 

 Wagner, who says that's what the Germans 

 call them. Emergency is a better term than 

 postconstructed. But it seems very inappro- 

 priate to call a cell a swarming cell which is 

 not intended for swarming. [Page 54 of the 

 American Bee Journal for 1861 is away back 

 of my time, for I was born in 1862. Say, look 

 here, doctor, can't you trot out a reference 

 that is not quite so ancient? Well, now, 

 emergency cell is all right. We are agreed 

 on that. If a swarming cell and a superse- 

 dure cell are alike, why not use one term to 

 designate both ? — Ed.] 



When cell-cups are used for queen-rear- 

 ing, no matter how much royal food is given 

 at the time, says W. W. McNeal in American 

 Bee-Keeper, the bees always remove it, and in 

 a few hours the larva is left dry. He thinks 

 this is against rearing the best queens, so in 

 about 24 hours he removes the larva and sub- 

 stitutes another, which will never be limited 

 in its food. Would it not be cheaper to use 



