568 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



every one buying supplies was forced to use these sagging, burr-comb provoking, 

 section-daubing frames, who did not have the " back-bone " to stand out about the 

 matter, till the apiary that does not now have, or has not had, such frames in it, is 

 the exception, and not the rule. 



In the above, Mr. Hill will find his " unaccountable reason " explained. 

 But, presto ! a change comes, and we go to the other extreme, now having a 

 frame put before us with a top-bar as much too heavy as the other was too light, 

 and all bee-keepers are called upon to fall " into line " once more, and some wonder 

 why it is that Doolittle insists on keeping on in the "even tenor of his ways," and 

 fears that his teachings will lead others astray. I wonder if it has never entered 

 the heads of supply dealers that these changes involve much expense to the bee- 

 keeping fraternity? Let me draw a picture: 



A man with a family consisting of wife and little ones, has been struggling on 

 as the apiary increased, to pay for the necessary hives, etc., and each year looking 

 toward the desired number of colonies he wishes to keep, all the surplus from the 

 bees which can be spared from the actual necessities of the family, is being put into 

 these fixtures for the apiary. The goal is in sight, and he comes in some morning 

 with a smiling face, and says to the " good wife:" " Next year we shall have all the 

 bees and fixtures we shall want, except sections and shipping-cases, and this ex- 

 pense for hives, etc., we have had heretofore will be stopped, when I shall be able 

 to get you a better dress, and the children better clothes, so they may be more 

 respectable for Sabbath-school, and, if Providence smiles upon us with a good honey 

 year, I may be able to have that luxury I have so long longed for— a small telescope 

 to study the works of my Father above in the starry heavens." 



The countenances of all are lighted up, as only such little comforts and luxuries 

 can lighten them, and a happy looking forward is the result. The next year burr- 

 combs, and daubing and killing of bees are much worse than usual, with the "reg- 

 ulation frames," while the supply dealers have found out that what they formerly 

 pushed are not just the thing, so a change is inaugurated, and in his vexation over 

 getting off his surplus, our bee-keeper resolves, that, come what will, he never will 

 stand this thing any longer, so instead of the nice things which had been planned, 

 the money from the surplus is all sent off again to get the thick top-bar frames, 

 which will overcome the difficulty, and the use of which requires a general over- 

 hauling of all the hives in the apiary, if new are not bought. 



Next, frames at fixed distances looms up, then a divisible brood-chamber hive, 

 to lessen the cost of production, and so on, until the bee-keeper is obliged to put off 

 his long-looked-for pleasures, year after year, and before realizing them Death 

 comes and calls him away. This is not an overdrawn picture by any means, for all 

 this has come under my notice as above described. 



In the interests of poor, struggling humanity, I plead for as few changes as 

 possible, and that none be made until after a trial of several years, to know whether 

 such change is of advantage or not. Borodino, N. Y. 



SEASON IN EAST XENNESSEE-BEE-PARAI.YSIS (?) 



BY H. K. COLEMAN. 



The honey season in East Tennessee is just now closing, ano in some respects 

 it has been a remarkable season. In March, as all will remember, we had two ex- 

 tremes as to weather. In the early art of the month it was warm and pleasant, and 

 the bees got into a rapid rate of brood-rearing, and then came a blizzard that not 

 only set the bees back, but killed the poplar and other buds, and Cowers that pro- 



