THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



205 



Swarming is usually prevented by placing 

 under the hive a shallow box tilled with 

 frames having foundation half-depth in the 

 frames, so writes W. McNally to the British 

 Bee Journal. This is really the Simmins 

 plan which has not proven to be a success in 

 this country. 



Rearing Queens by " good old methods " 

 is what the Roots have gone back to doing, 

 having discarded artificial queen cups, and 

 the securing of cells built in a story separa- 

 ted by perforated zinc, and the like. The 

 expense and uncertainty of these plans are 

 the objections. Like myself, they have 

 found nothing better for securing queen 

 cells than a good strong colony of queenless 

 bees. 



Section Holders vs. T Supers is the 

 heading of considerable discussion in some 

 of the journals. Dr. Miller defends the lat- 

 ter while the editors uphold the excellencies 

 of the former. I have never used either but 

 am prejudiced (I wonder if that is exactly 

 the right word) in favor of the T super. The 

 section holder always seemed to me a very 

 weak, unfinished, incomplete, unhandy af- 

 fair, but actual use in the right way might 

 remove the prejudice. 



NoMS DE Plume, and the propriety of 

 writing under them are being discussed. 

 What is said is much more important than 

 the 7iame used. Personally, however, I do 

 not like them in such literature as our bee 

 journals, where sharp personal discussion is 

 likely to arise. Protected by a noni de 

 plume, one will be less guarded in utterance. 

 Writing under a no7n de plume is too much 

 like talking about a person who is absent. 

 Things are said that would not be said if he 

 were present. There is also an added pleas- 

 ure in knowing who is doing the talking. 



Apifuge is an English preparation to rub 

 on the hands and face to prevent the bees 

 from stinging. It meets with no favor in 

 this country ; perhaps because we don't care 

 enough about it to try it. I presume it 

 works upon the same principle as rubbing 

 the hands on a hog's back, that some of the 

 journals are talking about. Most bee-keep- 

 ers would prefer being stung occasionally to 

 going around with their hands smelling of 

 the hog-pen. Who could have conceived 

 such a repulsive idea 1 



The Honey Crop of Michigan will be very 

 light this year. So far I have not learned 

 of any one who is getting any honey. If 

 there is a subscriber to the Review in Mich- 

 igan who is getting any comb honey this 

 year, will he have the kindness to drop me a 

 card and let me know it ? 



••»»-*ii^iL»'fc»fc» 



While it would be a pleasure to write 

 personal letters of thanks to the editors who 

 have so kindly noticed those articles of 

 mine in the Cosmopolitan, and to the friends 

 who have sent me congratulatory letters, 

 lack of time and strength compels me to ex- 

 press my thanks in this wholesale way, but 

 they are none the less sincere. 



«^«.ir^rf^«'»«'^jr». 



*' The Mutual Admiration Society " af- 

 fair still receives attention in some of the 

 journals. I don't believe it worth while 

 talking about it any more, as the men who 

 have condemned it the most severely have 

 said some of the kindest, most congratula- 

 tory things that have ever been said. I don't 

 think they were said with intent to flatter, 

 any more than I believe that all of the kind 

 things that creep into the journals are flat- 

 teries. The worst that can be said is that 

 perhaps some of us have been indulging in 

 the common fault of seeing the virtues of 

 our friends and the faults of our enemies. 



«^jr«^«jr«*^>i^ 



Sections, from being kept in a dry place 

 become so brittle that many of them break 

 in folding. The best remedy is to put them 

 in a damp cellar a few days before folding 

 them. If there is not time for this the usual 

 practice is to wet the grooves. S. E. Miller, 

 in the Progressive condemns this plan as it 

 causes the sides of the grooves to swell thus 

 increasing the strain on the part that bends. 

 He recommends the laying of a dozen or 

 more sections on a table, the grooves being 

 turned down, then with clear water and a 

 small brush wet them just back of the 

 grooves. The sections can then be piled up 

 and another lot laid down and wet. My 

 remedy would be to use four-piece sections. 



WU«^^*^^'>t» 



" Eight Frames are not enough for some 

 queens," and similar expressions are still 

 found in the pages of some of the bee jour- 

 nals. I cannot help wondering how long this 

 fallacy will last. For what are we keeping 

 bees ? Is it simply to allow queen bees to 

 show what they can do in the egg-laying 



