AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



177 



worth of their money. In this respect 

 they out-Yankee the Yankees. 



BEES IN A CHURCH— DR. PEIRO. 



Look here, isn't that yarn on page 

 105 just a little steep ? Three colonies 

 of bees in three walls of a church, '• fre- 

 quently" the honey begins to run with 

 the heat, "stands in pools about the 

 foundation," and '• is readily caught in 

 pans." Whew ! 



Dr. Peiro talks excellent sense in a 

 very happy manner. The women-folks 

 seem to take very kindly to his depart- 

 ment. 



BEE-MOTHS — ITALIAN BEE HISTORY. 



Does Mrs. Atchley. in her interesting 

 talks, mean to say that they have a bee- 

 moth peculiar to her locality '? I have 

 seen worms act as she tells about, but I 

 always supposed they were the common 

 galleria cereana. And what does she 

 mean at all when she says, " The worm 

 itself is properly named moth '?" Or was 

 the intelligent compositor* venting his 

 spite at her by making her words mean 

 nonsense? 



That tussle between Robinson and 

 Baldridge is rather tedious, but since 

 the thing is commenced, it may as well 

 be settled "for keeps." 



KEEPING- SECTION HONEY. 



John F. Gates makes inquiry whether 

 it was D. A. Jones that told about keep- 

 ing section honey. I think instead of 

 the Jones family it was one of the 

 Miller family. His testimony was ex- 

 actly in harmony wiih that of Mr. Gates. 

 Sections kept in attic or garret with no 

 special care. Wasn't it in the same way 

 that Hon. Eugene Secor kept some eight 

 years? 



OLD vs. NEW COMBS. 



Rev. S. Roese warns against using old, 

 black combs. I wonder just how much 

 there is in that. It would seem that 

 with the accumulation of so many co- 

 coons the walls ought to become thick, 

 but when you actually examine them 

 they appear thin, only the septum be- 

 coming thick, and that has nothing to 

 do with the capacity of the cell. He ob- 

 jects to the cells being rounding instead 

 of six-cornered. But isn't it just as 

 easy for the bees to keep it in the proper 

 shape, and if it were best wouldn't they 

 keep it six-cornered ? Moreover, Grav- 

 enhorst, a distinguished countryman of 

 of Mr. Roese, objects to the way foun- 

 dation is made— sharply six-cornered — 

 and not rounding as the bees viuke it. 



Mr. Roese says every intelligent bee- 



keeper knows too well that every queen 

 prefers bright combs to dark ones. I 

 always supposed it was just the oppo- 

 site. I'm sure it has been in many cases 

 that I have noticed. If Mr. Roese will 

 put in the middle of a colony a comb of 

 brood, and then fill out on one side with 

 old, black combs, and on the other with 

 foundation or new combs, he will find 

 the brood-nest extended on the side of 

 the old combs every time, unless his bees 

 are different from mine. 



He is right in thinking that bees pre- 

 fer old combs for storing, but 7iot for the 

 sake of leaving the newer cooobs for the 

 queen. More than once I have put 

 foundation in the brood-nest, and I 

 never knew it to be filled with eggs while 

 the bees put honey in the black combs 

 beside it, but often I have known them 

 to fill the frames of foundation with 

 honey, leaving the black combs for the 

 queen. 



Marengo, 111. 



[*Doctor, our " intelligent compositor " 

 is a lady, so she couldn't vent " his 

 spite" on anybody. No, she (the com- 

 positor) " set it up" in type just as she 

 (Mrs. Atchley) wrote it. Probably Mrs. 

 A. can help you out, Doctor ! — Editor.] 



AwarJs at ttie Midwinter Fair. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



The awards on honey at the Midwinter 

 Fair, held in San Francisco, have been 

 made public, and I here give all those I 

 am able to find mentioned in the San 

 Francisco Examiner, of the 11th of 

 July. As there seems to be no system 

 followed in making or arranging the list 

 of premiums, I had to hunt among the 

 big beets, squash, apples, oranges, hay, 

 grain, peanuts, etc., all of which are In- 

 cluded in the department of horticul- 

 ture, and in which honey is included. It 

 is really a queer arrangement, and I 

 suppose it will be revised, as must nearly 

 all work done by the management of the 

 Fair. 



Mr. J. F. Mclntyre, of Fillmore, is 

 given 1st premium on extracted honey. 



A. G. Edmondson, of Ventura, 2nd 

 premium on extracted honey. 



M. H. Mendleson, of Ventura, is the 

 recipient of a special award (the highest 

 given in any department) on comb and 

 extracted honey. 



