AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. * 369 



and about four times out of five I find her royal highness on that new comb. In 

 another hive I have placed a new comb made from foundation, and the queen has 

 been laying eggs in combs on both sides of the new comb, that are two or three 

 years old, and passes right by the new for the old. Now, Doctor, if you ask me 

 what kind of comb the queen prefers, I think t might tell the truth by saying, "I 

 don't know." Queens act a little like bee-keepers, anyhow — each seems to have a 

 notion of its own. 



2nd. In discussion we are keeping pace with the age in which we live. 



3rd. To keep up with the times in any department of life the progressive mind 

 must keep posted. No bee-keeper can expect to keep up with the advance of the 

 age without reading bee-papers and bee-books. A politician would not be a very 

 strong Democrat, Republican, Prohibitionist or Populist, if he did not read some 

 periodical advocating his political faith. "Read and you will know." 



4th. We are up with the world in another particular. We now have a honey 

 prophet telling in advance where there will be a honey-flow. Show up the agricul- 

 turist who can tell a crop of corn a year in advance ! Behold the ships pulling into 

 harbor in expectation of Higgins' prophetic storm, and then the storm not come ! 

 Aye, what think you ? 



5th. Another advance step in our profession is the fact that bee-keepers can 

 mate their queens with the very kind of drones desired, right in a country or neigh- 

 borhood surrounded with black bees. This has long been desirable. 



6th. But the last and greatest discovery in the realms of bee-keeping is the 

 recently discovered method of increasing the size of the honey-bee. That fellow 

 down in Florida ought to receive a gold medal from somebody for this great dis- 

 covery. Improving the color of bees has attracted the attention of many, now let us 

 turn our attention to the size of the bee for awhile. May be we can yet produce 

 Apis dorsata in our own country. What do you say ? Updegraflf, Iowa. 



* 



VARIOUS I>«OXES AND COMMENXS. 



BY DK. C. C. MILLER. 



A " WoKiiy " Fight. — I see no other way but I must go down to Texas to have 

 that fight out with Mrs. Atchley, to determine whether moth or worm is the right 

 name for the thing that chews up our combs, and eats wood or almost anything 

 down in Texas. Look here, Mrs. Atchley, suppose we have Prof. Cook settle it 

 for us. 



Professor, here's one of those dirty white things that gnaw holes in our combs, 

 and Mrs. Atchley insists on calling it a moth. It's a worm, isn't it ? 



Then the Professor, always a peacemaker, says, "Tut, tut, children; don't 

 quarrel over a thing like that ; it isn't a moth, for it hasn't any wings, and it isn't a 

 worm ; it's a caterpillar." 



Say, Jennie, let's quit quarreling about the wor— no, the moth— no, I mean the 

 caterpillar, and fight about something else. 



Dr. Peiro wants /ottr sections of my best white honey in return for professional 

 services. All right, Doctor, you come out here and I'll give you all the first-class 

 honey I took this year. 



New Things— Non-Swarming.— John M'Arthur is a little hard on some of us 

 that are always trying new things (page o04), but he makes some good points and 

 stirs up thought. He's with the Dadants in advocating a big hive, just about 50 

 per cent, larger than the 8-frarae hive, and they say they don't have any swarming; 



