1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



567 



I haven't seen one for some time. A sharp edge of wood 

 worked on the under side of the top-bar, or a thin strip nailed 

 on the under side, running lengthwise at the center is the 

 usual thing for a comb-guide. You can make them if you 

 want, but I wouldn't have one in the way. If foundation is 

 not to be had, then they might be of some use. 



5. I think not generally. 



6. Like many others, I never use starters, but always full 

 sheets in brood-frames, but those who use only starters have 

 them only attached to the top-bar. Some fasten them with 

 melted wax, and some by pressure. I thiuk if I were using 

 starters I would fasten them to the top-bar the same as I do 

 full sheets. Have a saw-kerf on the under side of the top- 

 bar 5/32 of an inch wide and % inch deep, and slide the 

 starter into this kerf. If there is any danger of its dropping 

 out before the bees fasten it, make it secure by dropping a few 

 drops of melted wax so that the drops shall hold both the 

 starter and the wood. [A good bee-book would be a grand 

 thing for W. L. S. It would help him wonderfully. In fact, 

 no one should think of beginning to keep bees without one or 

 more of the best books on the subject. — Editor.1 



PERSONAL MENTION. 



Mr. W. C. Frazier, of Atlantic, Iowa, writes: "You 

 can count me in at the convention at Lincoln." All right, sir. 

 We'll "count you in." 



Mr. N. E. France, of Platteville, Wis., the Committee on 

 Foul Brood, appoiuted by the Wisconsin State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, received 80 replies to the notice published in the 

 American Bee Journal some time ago, reporting 6,050 colo- 

 nies of bees, and 350,000 pounds of honey ; with foul brood 

 in 9 counties. Mr. France says he has 80 promises of attend- 

 ance at the meeting of th<! Southwestern Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Association to be held at Wauzeka, Oct. 7 and 8. 



Mrs. Sallie E. Sherman finishes in this number her 

 series of practical articles on " Fifteen Years' Experience in 

 Bee-Keeping." They certainly should be an encouragement 

 to the " sistering '■ to " go and do likewise." Shouldn't won- 

 der if it would be a good thing if Mrs. Sherman would issue 

 those ten articles in pamphlet form, including also her poul- 

 try experience. Might be the very means of helping many a 

 struggling woman from dependence Into independence, and 

 also good health besides. 



Mb. Geo. McCullough, of Iowa, wrote us as follows, 

 Aug. 18: 



" I greatly enjoy reading every number of the American 

 Bee Journal. I have last year's volume neatly bound in one 

 of your excellent Emerson binders, and this year's volume up 

 to July 1 in another. The American Bee Journal, when 

 bound, makes a very convenient volume for reference to any 

 subject In bee-culture treated on, by turning to its niagniflceut 

 index in the last pages of the last number in December.'" 



lives — and yet. In this same last number of the American Bee 

 Journal, he is guilty of the same carelessness no less than 

 four times in a single article. He talks about " finished sec- 

 tions " and "unfinished sections," and will be understood as 

 referring to 640 acres of land when he really means sections 

 filled with honey. 



You say, Mr. Editor, that any one with money can get 

 finished sections any time. I suppose you mean "section 

 honey-boxes," but wouldn't it be better to say so? Then you 

 wouldn't be misunderstood. 



I can't quite come up to your wish to report 10,000 fin- 

 ished sections of honey, or rather, sections filled with honey, 

 but at this date (Aug. 21) the number has reached 9,072, and 

 not much more to be heard from. C. C. Miller. 



P. S. — On the page opposite to the one on which you 

 straighten me out, you say. "let the sections next to the glass 

 front be fair samples of those further back." I presume you 

 mean " sections filled with honey," and should think you 

 would feel like telling the whole thing, and not leave your 

 readers to infer so much. C. C. M. 



Doctor, let's change the subject. We really didn't say 

 anything at all. But now we'd like to congratulate you on 

 those 9,072 "finished sections." 



Mr. E. Tipper, editor of the Australian Bee-Bulletin, of 

 West Maitland, N. S. W., wrote a fraternal letter to the editor 

 of Gleanings, on May 15, in which he says that the previous 

 year had been a bad one for bees in that country, on account 

 of drouths and cold, westerly winds, with resultant bush-fires. 

 Besides the honey-crop failure, there have been such losses of 

 bees that, should there be a good flow the present year, there 

 will not be a third of the bees to gather it. A good white clo- 

 ver flow was expected, as the continued drouth was being 

 broken by a mild rain at the time Mr. Tipper wrote. Wo 

 trust our far-away Australian friends may soon be having an- 

 other good honey season. 



Dr. Miller, In reply to our criticism on page 537, writes 

 thus clearly : 



Mr. Editor : — I thank you for supplying the needed in- 

 formation on page 537. Of course I meant " sections filled 

 with honey," and it was very careless in me not to say so. 

 The only wonder is that you should have so much discern- 

 ment to know at first guess just what I meant. Without 

 doubt others thought I meant sections of pie or something 

 else. 



Wonderful what an amount of carelessness there is in 

 this respect. Now there's my good friend, Hon. Geo E. 

 Hilton — a man who stands high in the community where he 



Mr. Jos, E. Pond, of Massachusetts, has kindly sent us 

 an excellent photograph of himself for our apiarian album. 

 In the letter accompanying it, Mr. Pond says: 



" We old fellows are fast going on to our last home, and 

 our places are being filled by those who, while they cannot do 

 more than we trieA to do, may, with the better light they 

 have, he able to do more than we have done. .. .1 send it to 

 you not for any particular value it may have, but as an assur- 

 ance that I am pleased with your work In the American Bee 

 Journal, and to assure you further, that I am in sympathy 

 therewith." 



Thank you, Mr. Pond, both for the picture and for the 

 assurances — all of which we duly appreciate. 



Skylark and Somnambulist ought to "amalgamate," 

 If there's no real impediment further than appears on the 

 surface. Do you ask why we think so? Well, the former 

 has been dreanUna that he lived in the year A. D. 3,000, and 

 tells in Gleanings about wingless and stingless bees and 

 queens — both wings and stings having been bred entirely off 

 in the 1,100 years beyond this. Now if such a fantastic 

 dreamer isn't a proper person to amalgamate with such a 

 skillful sleep-walker as Sommy, we don't know anything 

 about the eternal fitness of things. As there could be no 

 objections on " international " grounds, we think perhaps the 

 California folks would be willing that tliis amalgamation 

 should proceed. But if there are any objections to it, speak 

 out now, or "forever after hold your peace." 



Mr. Henry Alley, of Massachusetts, who is one of our 

 regular advertisers, and who for some years published the 

 American Apiculturist, wrote us as follows on Aug. 17 : 



Friend York :— Do all bee-keepers take the American 

 Bee Journal ? It seems to me a great majority do, as nearly 

 every one who orders queens and calls for a circular says : " I 

 saw your advertisement In the American Bee Journal." 



My bees have had about 10 days of honey-gathering, and 

 all during the hot days. The beat was terrible hereabouts. 

 The Boston Ice Co. lost 60 horses in 10 days, all owing to the 

 heat. Henry Alley'. 



No, Mr. Alley, we regret to say that we fear not nearly 

 all the bee-keepers take the American Bee Journal, but we 

 sometimes thiuk they all ought to take it. We believe they 

 would be the gainers by so doing. It would seem that almost 

 any live bee-keeper could save, or make, at least ten dollars a 

 year by investing one dollar in any one of the best bee-papers. 



A New Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends us 15 cents. It is called "The Wood 

 Binder," is patented, and Is an entirely new and very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are Invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 

 get It yearly. 



