Feb. 19, 1903. 



THE AMERICiSN BEE JOURNAL. 



121 



a small business with bees; it is not for those who have i 

 large bee-business ; they know all about it. 



jThe gentleman who thinks a woman can't drive a nail 

 is very much mistaken. I have made all my hives ever 

 since I have had bees. I made them out of dry goods boxes, 

 at that, for they were much cheaper than other lumber, and 

 my means are limited. 



Now as to the one who is stopping the paper in the win- 

 ter. I think she will miss it, for that is the time when bei- 

 keepers will have more time to give their experiences. I 

 could not think of doing without it, especially since the 

 sisters have a department. I look for that the first thing, 

 and must see all the headings. Some time I will tell the 

 sisters how I dressed at first, and how I dress now, and how 

 I water the bees early in the spring to keep them from get- 

 ting chilled. 



I suppose I am about as old as any of the sisters, as I 

 am in my 79th year. Mrs. S.\rah J. Griffith. 



Cumberland Co., N. J., Jan. 30. 



Seventy-nine years old, and makes all her own hives 

 out of drj- goods boxes ! Mrs. Griffith must be able to use 

 a saw as well as a hammer. Who can beat that record ? 

 We shall look with interest for her further communications. 

 It is pleasant to know that a practical bee-keeper of her age 

 enjoys the new department. 



Fop Chapped Hands. 



To make a salve for chapped hands take an ounce of 

 yellow beeswax and olive oil and melt them together slowly 

 on the stove or in the oven. Pour into a couple of egg- 

 cups which have previously been wet with cold water. 

 When the salve is cold turn it out and it will be ready for 

 use. — "Health and Beauty " Department, Daily News. 



Tbe "Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Qlasaes. 

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



EXPERIMEXTIXG WITH CATNIP. 



Tlianks to Mr. J. E. Johnson for putting an acre in catnip. 

 Of course he must tell us how it pans out. Hardly do to 

 assume, as he does, that catnip is proven to be an abundant 

 yielder at all times by the mere fact that bees nearly always 

 seem to be on it. In time of dearth bees ^viIl work for a 

 small fraction of a yield. Mr. J. will be of decided interest 

 and value to us, if he lives up to his program, even in a nor- 

 mal location. What is wanted is a ten-acre island five miles 

 out from a pleasant coast — apiary on the main — and a single 

 good hive taken out just when something experimental prom- 

 ises a yield. Page 23. 



FEW OE MANY BEES EEAKIXG A QUEEN. 



We grant it, Mr. Alley, that bees that earnestly want a 

 queen will do the best they can, whether they be few or many ; 

 and that bees half undecided in mind whether to finish rearinir 

 the brat or to pull her out, and eat what the cell contains. 

 they maj- not do the best they can. The result in the latter 

 case is not likely to be an article to go in the first class. I 

 think, however, that the question of outside temperature 

 nights and odd times jumps to very great importance when- 

 ever the bees are very few. (See also Adrian Getaz. page 55, 

 on this point. ) Mr. Alley may be pretty nearly right in the 

 rare case of ten days of unbroken higli temperature, and plenty 

 of all kinds of food at hand in the hive. Page 24. 



THE SLLGGAItD'S BEE-E.SCAPE. 



Lazj- man's bee-escape (not knocking J. M. Young, pagi- 

 29) : wait till cold weather and pull the top all o(T at niglit. 



CHARM AND nESPAIR OF !!EE-KEEPIXG. 



You can't solve it like a mathematical problem and hav(' 

 it forever done with. If you assume that you have done so, 

 you'll get left some time, sure. This was inspired by the fol 

 lowing good sentence of yours, dear Boss: "Therein lies thir 

 charm, and at the same time the despair, of bee-keeping. " 

 Page 35. 



Yes, spare the kingbirds because they chase hawks — and 

 spare the hawks because they eat mice — and spare the mice 

 because they eat the worms in our combs — and spare the 

 worms '(MU.se if the bees didn't ha\e 'em to contend with they 

 would get shiftless, and lose their vim and go. At last ac- 

 counts mosquitoes may yet be killed. Page 35. 



HIVES WITH PORTICO AND SLIDING SCREEN. 



Nice — the way Mr. Iloltermann has things, page 38 — 

 every hive with a portico and every portico with a sliding 

 screen. When nothing honest is doing, and you want to open 

 hives, ever}' colony not under manipulation can be shut in. 

 This can sometimes b<' done witliout their knowing it, and 

 with the minimum of worry on their part when they do know 

 it. Some would decide that the extra cost an<l work of making 

 such hives and the care of keeping them ready to spring at any 

 time would be too much. That is, too much for the few cases 

 they would actually use the device, in their style of doing 

 things. Law unto himself, each bee man must be, in such 

 decisions. 



WHAT AND HOW TO READ. 



Mr. Doolittle, on page 39, was just right in telling us 

 not to waste our time and' addle our minds (and .souls, too,) 

 as some incline to do when business is slack. He was right 

 also to urge the reading of bee books and papers in a more 

 deliberate and systematic way than possible in busy times — 

 the re-reading and comparison of them. Still, let me lead on 

 a little further. Can't you chop off a magazine or two, which 

 are merely pretty, and «adly near to being nothing else, and 

 give some earnest hours to reading real and up-to-date infor- 

 mation? Take one of those magazines which scan the whole 

 field of human research and human life and give a succinct of 

 it weekly. So far as I know there are but two (both New 

 Y'ork ) , The Literary Digest, and Public Opinion. If you get 

 a sample of each you will see which one it is you want. 

 "Knowledge for its own sake'' is a drum I incline to beat on 

 pretty loudly. If you have considerable acquisitions outside 

 of bee-lore you'll be wiser in bee-lore too. Each kind of truth 

 heljis each other kind — helps it to expand the mind and make 

 a broad, mellow, ripe man. Ah, me! but oft it tears things up 

 fearfully in the process. 



"A HUNDRED YEARS AMONG THE BEES." 



So Dr. Gallup knew queens, and presumably beans, as 

 long ago as 1835. If he holds on a bit he'll be able to write 

 "A Hundred Y'ears Amonsr the Bees.'' Page 40. 



is,ja,ja,ja,.js,jaM 



CONDUCTED BY 



r>R. O. O. MILLEIt, Afareng-o, ni. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor. 1 



Queen Died on the Alighting-Board. 



This (February 2) has been the best day for flight that 

 our bees have had since before Thanksgiving, and they have 

 taken full advantage of the opportunity. I have one colony of 

 beautiful Italians, and to' my grief I found the handsome 

 queen lying struggling in death on the alighting-board. She 

 lived possibly fifteen minutes after I discovered her. 'What 

 was the probable cause of this? Tlie colony has always been 

 healthy and has done fine work for two seasons. The queen is 

 two years old. It is possible that a younger queen is still in 

 the hive? How early should I give them brood, or introduce 

 a new queen? "Wrexam." 



Answer. — It is hard to tell why the queen was killed. 

 It is, of course, possible that there is a young queen in the 

 liive, but I'm afraid not. Let tliem alone till bees begin to 

 fly nearly every da}', and then give a frame of brood, unless 

 you find brood already present. If they start queen-cells, you 

 may be pretty sure there is no queen pr,?sent, and then the 

 sooner they have a queen the Ix-tter ; perhaps the best way 

 being to unite them with a weak colony having a laying 

 queen. 



