Jan. 22, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



57 



on the ground when a storm approaches, or there is dan^ji-T 

 of their blowing- away, then I think they will do exactly 

 what Mr. Hasty says they won't do — "play truant." 



A serious objection to shade-boards, aside from their 

 not shading the bee-keeper, is the fact that they have to be 

 taken down and put up again every time a colony is over- 

 hauled. That would take both time and strength. 



My ideal would be to have, if possible, living shade for 

 the bee-keeper, and where that can not be had the next best 

 thing is to have a movable shade. This I have greatly 

 enjoyed. 



So far as the bees are concerned, if they can not have 

 living shade, the right thing is a double cover of thin 

 matei'ial. Even if there is living shade, such a cover is a 

 desirable thing, for the dead-air space makes it cool for 

 summer and warm for winter. 



Remedy for Hoarseness. 



The juice of a lemon, half an ounce of glycerine, half 

 an ounce of honey, is an excellent remedy for hoarseness, 

 and is easilj' prepared. Take a teaspoonful every few hours. 



Wetting- Brittle Sections for Folding-. 



If you have sections that you have kept over from last 

 year without making up, and they have become dry and 

 brittle, breaking badly when bent, try pouring a little boil- 

 ing water in the V-grooves, but be careful not to get the 

 water on the dovetailed ends of the sections, else you may 

 have trouble in putting them together. The sections usually 

 come 500 in a crate, and you can wet the whole 500 at one 

 time. You would better take out a few of each layer, then 

 wedge them up tight before wetting. If you don't take any 

 out, thej' will swell after they are wet, and will be wedged 

 in so tightly that you will have trouble in getting them out. 



To take them out easily before wetting, turn the crate 

 on its side, then the ones that are left will not tumble when 

 some are taken out. 



If you take a funnel and put in a plug whittled down to 

 a sharp point at the lower edge, leaving room for only a 

 small stream of water to pass through, and hold the funnel 

 directly over the grooves, pour the hot water into the fun- 

 nel and move quickly along the line of grooves, you will 

 find it works well. A small tea-kettle about half full of 

 boiling water makes it easier to manipulate without spilling 

 the water where you don't want it to go. Be sure the water 

 passes clear through to the other side of the crate, so that 

 all the sections will be wet. 



Some advise putting sections in a damp cellar before 

 using, but I believe the hot water is better. 



You may think it a little early to talk about making up 

 sections, and perhaps it is, but it is better to be too early 

 than too late, and really they can be made up any time dur- 

 ing the winter whenever you find time for it. 



Husking--Bees. 



Miss Rural — And were you never in the country during 

 the season for husking-bees, Mr. Sappy ? 



Mr. Sapp)' — No. The idea I How do you husk a bee, 

 anyway ? — Philadelphia Press. 



The Buffalo Convention Report is issued in pamphlet 

 form, size 6x8'. inches, 80 pages and cover. Besides a full 

 report of the proceedings of the 32d convention of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Association, held in Buffalo, N. Y., 

 Sept. 10, 11 and 12, 1901, it contains fine half-tone portraits 

 of all the officers and directors of the Association ; also the 

 Constitution, a list of the membership up to the end of 

 1901, and the two latest bee-songs — " The Hum of the Bees 

 in the Apple-Tree Bloom " and " Buckwheat Cakes and 

 Honey." We believe it is the finest ever gotten out for the 

 Association. Of course, all members of the Association 

 receive a copy free, but there are thousands of our readers 

 who are not 3'et members, but who should have this valuable 

 Report. Better send for a copy, if you have not yet re- 

 ceived one. Price, postpaid, 25 cents, or with the American 

 Bee Journal one year — both for $1.10. Send all orders to 

 the office of the American Bee Journal. Better order soon, 

 before all are gone. 



.*-»-^ 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. L,ook at them. 



The "Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Qlajsea. 

 By B. E. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



JOINING "TUB GREAT MAJORITY." 



I am so got up, somehow or other, that I cannot see a 

 statement which involves a false idea without a certain 

 measure of distress. Am I unusual in that, or are there lots 

 of other folks affected that way ? And is it a good way to 

 be got up, or is it a misfortune ? On page 773 it is said that 

 the rest of us will soon be called to join " the great, major- 

 ity." This figure of speech is accepted by nearly every- 

 body. If we think of the whole world, and all time, the ex- 

 pression is in accord with facts; but we don't carry the 

 whole world in our thoughts. We are thinking about the 

 present races in our own country, that o«r dead are much 

 more numerous than our living. Believing this implicitly, 

 I once (for what reason I cannot imagine) started in at a 

 little study and figuring to answer the question, When did 

 our dead become a permanent majority ? The result aston- 

 ished me ; perhaps it will astonish those who read this — 

 they can easily verify the figures. Our living are 76,000,000 ; 

 our dead have not nearly attained that figure yet. The next 

 discovery was also surprising in its way. The dead never 

 wiU be a majority till the present rate of increase stops. 

 Take our total population at successive periods, not too far 

 apart, and (Be careful there, not to kill the same person 

 twice !) divide the great flocks into dead and living — the 

 earlier ones of course all dead. Or apply a reasonable 

 death-rate per thousand to the figures of each successive 

 census. 



PUTTING IN FOUNDATION WITH A SCREW-DRIVER. 



And so Mr. Abbott still puts in foundation with a 

 screw-driver. I don't know what we are going to do about 

 it. As long as the foundation goes in — goes in as well and 

 as rapidly as he cares to have it, 'spects we'll have to sub- 

 mit. Even if he picks cherries with his mouth instead of 

 his hands, he must be the boss. Page 773. 



THE BEST MANAGEMENT. 



" He who can so manage as to exchange all surplusbees 

 grown during the season, for honey, and come out with the 

 same number of colonies he started out with, has solved the 

 problem best."— F. Greiner, page 776. 



Just so. In religion folks oft think they have the 

 graces because they can tell about them in words ; but in 

 bee-culture I don't think many will make a similar mistake 

 about the above. Good to have the things in words, and to 

 repeat the words o'er and o'er ; but though we watch, 

 though we fight, possibly though we also pray, most of us 

 are going to fall short. Those words occur in a meaty arti- 

 cle. The experiences that shaken swarms sometimes abscond 

 even when brood is given them, and that once a shaken 

 swarm managed to come to nothing with an entrance-guard 

 on — these experiences are valuable, lest we run too much to 

 theory on current fads. 



BEAUTY AND GOODNESS A SPAN. 



I don't know but it's time to say once again the little 

 word that there is to be said on the other side — have heard 

 so very often the manifest truth that beauty in bees is not 

 what we want. Sure, and it is'nt — but jist listen : The 

 scrub cow has no beauty, and her milk is blue. The Jersey 

 ■ is delicately beautiful, and her milk is surprisingly rich. 

 Beauty is not what is wanted in this case ; but somehow the 

 beauty and rich milk are pretty sure to be found in span. 

 Same of the nice-looking Holstein. Her looks are an out- 

 ward and visible sign that she can lick the scrub out of her 

 boots in the number of gallons. 'Spect it's rather the rule 

 than the exception that a valuable quality has some look — 

 usually a nice Aw/-— that sticks closely to it. But this is no 

 excuse for the scandal of selling mere prettiness when no- 

 body knows or cares what the honey-qualities are. Page 

 776. 



THE " LAYING HABIT " OF QUEENS. 



And isn't W. J. Stahmann att/ajy o^in thinking that 

 limited laying for the first week or two is going to do any- 

 thing to make a young queen unprolific ? Reasonable that 

 laying habits running the whole first season might persist 



