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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 





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KEEPING PACE WITH THE ^WORLD. 



BY AV. P. FAYLOR. 



Bee-keepers, as a rule, are an intelligent and progressive class of men and 

 women. Though like every other occupation and profession, we have the careless and 

 indifferent. Those who continue to keep bees after the old slip-shod-box-gum-non- 

 frame-hive-method are gradually growing less, and at present are becoming subjects 

 of ridicule. In no pursuit or business profession of life can a wider field for study 

 and progress be found than right in our little-big profession of bee-keeping. No 

 domestic creature is so little understood by the general public as the useful honey- 

 bee. A man pointed out to the writer recently a hive of bees out of which log-hive 

 had gone some ten or twelve swarms ; and yet he supposed that the original queen 

 was still in the old hive ! One thing puzzled him, however — that was to know why 

 the old queen was putting forth black bees now, where she had formerly given the 

 yellow type ! 



First, the invention of the movable frame became a necessity, and has led to 

 still more advanced steps in the production of honey. The comb-foundation mill, 

 the honey extractor, and nice one-pound sections, are all in keeping with the prog- 

 ress of the day. The bee-smoker has proved a great comfort to the apicultural 

 fraternity, as also have many other small inventions. 



Pulling a cage of bees and queen-bee out of my pocket in the presence of some 

 elderly people, excited one old lady to her feet exclaiming, "What is it that man 

 won't do ?" Well, to tell the truth, there are some things that men won't do, nor 

 women either : They won't always do right ; but even children well-informed can 

 cage a queen and attendants, and send them through the mails. You see we differ 

 like other professionists. Some, and a majority, claim that the queen-bee is never 

 injured in the mails. Sometimes we grab the cage from the postmaster to find the 

 queen dead, or just breathing her last. Then, what injured in transit, not accord- 

 ing to the majority, but according to Doolittle and others, if a queen arrives dead, 

 she is considered as having been injured ; by the majority, not injured, only dead, 

 that's all. 



The other day I received a queen from Massachusetts. The queen and every 

 attendant were alive, but one bee tumbled out and died in a short time in front of 

 the hive of young hatching bees. The queen is now laying, and I must say I am 

 thankful for the success of the mailing queen-business. 



I see Dr. Miller and Rev. S. Roese are about to dispute about the kind of comb 

 the queen likes beat. I am having some experience along that line just now. I 

 have one colony building one new comb, and the queen seems to move down as fast 

 as the bees build the comb, and deposits eggs in cells that are not fully drawn out. 



