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ifl)»^,7,^l^;B^"' ?ublishE<)U-THE"A I'f^OOl' Co. 



Vol. XXIX. 



NOV. I, 1901, 



No. 21. 



Hearty thanks, Mr. Editor, for recog- 

 nizing the demand for a three-ply hive-cover 

 with dead-air space. Now we're good 

 friends again — for the present. 



" Ordinary queen-cells, " as the designa- 

 tion for those intended for swarming or su- 

 perseding, and "emergency" for the other 

 kind that are post-constructed, is the sug- 

 gestion of E. E. Hasty, in Amcr. Bee foiir- 

 iial. Good. [So say I. I am glad you 

 agree. — Ed.] 



Cure for corns. — After a warm foot- 

 bath, apply to the corn a plaster of bees- 

 wax, or, still better, of propolis, spread 

 upon paper or cloth, and leave undisturbed 

 lior three or four days. If the corn is not 

 then easily removed, repeat the process. — 

 Centralblatt. 



A GOOD DEAL of previous observation, and 

 closer observation this fall, lead me to be- 

 lieve that the rule is that queens continue 

 laying for a time after workers cease rear- 

 ing brood in the fall. At least it is a very 

 common thing to find eggs and sealed brood 

 present, but no unsealed brood. 



Mr. Editor, when you tell a story, why 

 do you leave us partly in the dark? You 

 tell us, p. 823, that when B. Franklin chas- 

 ed you you peddled with all j'our might; 

 but please tell us whether you peddled hon- 

 ey, bee supplies, or what. [That was a 

 typographical error. It should have been 

 pedaling. The " goak "' is on us. — Ed.] 



F. C. HoLBROOK relates in Amer. Bee 

 Journal that he lost many pear-trees from 

 pear-blight, among others a seedling that 

 never had a blossom. He wants to know 

 how the bees could be to blame in the latter 

 case. [Just what I thought when I saw 

 several thousand sprouts that had never 

 been in bloom in California, all struck down 

 by the blight.— Ed.] 



In moving BEES, I formerly used a wnre- 

 screen cage at the entrance. As said on p. 

 816, "It is surprising what relief such an 

 arrangement gives to the strongest hive;" 

 but unless the cage be securely fastened it 

 may come off, and then the whole hive will 

 come pouring out of the hive, especially if 

 a strong hive be in an old, rotten hive. 

 Much better, however, than such a cage, it 

 is to have a bottom-board two inches deep, 

 with an entrance the same depth. It is 

 more quickly and easily closed than with 

 the cage. AH that is needed is a single 

 piece of wire cloth with folded edges, just 

 large enough to close the entrance, with a 

 stick nailed to the hive across the upper 

 part of the wire cloth. 



Replying to your question, p. 813, Mr. 

 Editor, it would be a troublesome thing for 

 me to tell in all cases in September whether 

 a colony has a good queen. In some cases 

 there will be no eggs or unsealed brood 

 present, and it is unusually difficult to find 

 the queen. If I do find her, how can I 

 know she is a ,^ood queen? [What Doolittle 

 meant, I think, was that, if a colony had 

 an inferior queen, as judged by its past 

 record, or if a queen was past the prime of 

 life, that the month of September was a 

 good time to remove all such, and put in 

 their stead young, vigorous mothers; that is 

 to say, if the inferior queens have not been 

 reinoved up to that time, in order to save the 

 colony from succumbing to the rigors of 

 winter, a good queen should be substituted. 

 ~Ed.] 



What is said by A. C. Miller and the edi- 

 tor, p. 819, raises some questions. Is it cer- 

 tain that svidden cessation of laying hurts a 

 queen? Is there really any sudden cessa- 

 tion? Does not the queen keep right on 

 dropping her eggs when caged? Does not 

 all the harm come from mailing her while 

 still heavy? Perhaps the whole thing may 

 be something like this: Several men are 

 sent on a railroad train, each one to stand 

 in the middle of a car, having bound on his 

 back a heavy burden. One gets several 

 falls, and is badl}^ hurt; another goes 



