210 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIE* 



remove the quilt or cloth and for a moment 

 rush the bees down with smoke ; now is your 

 opportunity, lift the combs out quickly and 

 shake off what b'^es you can quickly and 

 lean the combs against the back part of the 

 hive or any other convenient thing, or place 

 them in a light box for the purpose. Now, 

 keep on a hustle and as soon as the last card 

 is out. drop in and adjust your empty combs 

 and close up the hive. Now, see, all this 

 must be done before the reaction or return 

 of the bees sets in and your bees are still in 

 good humo and their zeal for gathering 

 honey is not decreased by the presence of 

 those empty combs and everything is lovely. 



The process of brushing the remaining 

 bees from the combs will be found pleasant 

 and easy for by this time they feel lost and 

 lonely and they are in no mood for self de- 

 fence. I had rather remove the filled combs 

 and replace them with empty ones than ad- 

 just and remove a bee escape. And then, I 

 fancy that the bees being crowded into the 

 brood chamber and the consequent excite- 

 ment caused by < he bee escape would work 

 up swarming fever. 



I go right on with this work in the robbing 

 season. I place a robber cloth over the 

 comb box and just when commencing oper- 

 ations! fill said box with smoke, this keeps 

 the robbers at hay. At such seasons I have 

 an assi^itant to keep the air over and about 

 the hive pretty full of smoke." 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



rn HIS time the View shall be all Round-up, 

 "x without any subdivision at all, and the 

 ponies of the Review shall be rounded up 

 first. 



Enthusiastic's frame, 20 inches long and 

 3I4 deep is rather a queer one ; but the fact 

 that the bees wintered well on such extreme- 

 ly shallow frames may be one of the impor- 

 tant facts that may work in somewhere and 

 some time to our profit. Review. 131. 



Friend Thompson is doing a good work 

 among the foreign bee journals : and the 

 facts and experiments gleaned on page 127 

 deserve more than a passing notice. Water 

 condensed on the inside of hives poisons 

 dogs and rabbits. This explains what many 

 of us no doubt have wondered at. Bees on 

 a wet morning will wade through water up 

 to their little ankles and fly away, at some 

 personal risk, to their watering place for 

 water. Why not, with no risk or trouble, 

 take the freshly fallen rain right at their 

 feet ? Apparently it is because all water 

 dripping about the premises is regarded as 

 poison, and shunned on general principles. 



And then when we come to consider that 

 some of the exhaled water will get into the 

 unsealed honey (a large dose of it, too, the 

 article shows) the importance of a supply of 

 cool damp air from the outside suggests it- 

 self. I suppose that this is the weak point 

 of the enameled cloth covering, as compared 

 with burlap. The damp air from the cluster 

 of bees should percolate away, while the 

 damp air to thin down the honey should 

 come in the entrance. That perfect winter- 

 ing I spoke of last month — much more than 

 to bring the colony through in working or- 

 der — may require us to do a great deal on 

 this line of getting rid of poisonous exhala- 

 tions. This is to the intent that we may 

 have in spring a steady, strong, healthy col- 

 ony in no feverish haste about either breed- 

 ing or swarming. 



Anent the quotation given below, I can't 

 win the suit for the plaintiff, but I just won't 

 try to win it for the defendent. Let him 

 see to the matter himself ; the charge don't 



hit me. 



" The person that can enjoj' the milk from his 

 gf ntle pet cow during her useful life, and then 

 with bloody liands take lier life and enjoy her 

 meat, can do so only because he is yet a savage." 

 B. Taylor, in Review, 124. 



Friend Taylor's assumption in the same 

 article that the colony that swarms first is 

 the best one in the apiary I suspect is a lit- 

 tle off. Strongly inclined to think that the 

 very best one in the apiary frequently does 

 not swarm at all. General requeening with 

 the cells of the first colonies to swarm would 

 get rid of the very poor and worthless stock 

 — big improvement in some ajiiaries — but I 

 should fear that my colonies that refrain 

 from swarming and fill some sections, while 

 the rest swarm and yield little or no surplus, 

 would grow fewer and fewer under such a 

 system. 



About the cheese-cloth queen cage of 

 friend Aspinvvall'son page 1J")9, I don't know 

 what I think. Should have to try it some 

 time when bees are contrary and cantanker- 

 ous to have a definite opinion. Have my 

 doubts about five hours really being the 

 minimum time they would take to get in. 

 If it don't work with a newly made artificial 

 colony that fact is a trifle suspicious. But 

 all the same we can thank him for a cage 

 that is out of the ordinary rut sufficiently to 

 provoke study and experiment. 



It is quite refreshing to hear friend 

 Thompson remark that the figures on Ger- 

 man consumption, production and import 

 of honey have discrepancies. Most of our 



