118 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 22, 1900. 



with a very little water sprinkled on the froth itself, heat- 

 ing- and straining- thru cheese-cloth. The water dissolves 

 the air-bubbles, and the result is just as salable honey as 

 any. The honey this year was no thicker than usual. 

 H. Rauchfuss — The late honey was thin this year. 

 [Continued next week.] 





The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



MR. WHITNEY'S APIARY AND PLANS. 



The year opens with a very pretty apiary picture ; and 

 we won't blame Comrade Whitney if he feels a trifle proud 

 of it. Those slender and tall young- elms to shade every 

 hive part of the time, and no hive all the time, realize a 

 definite plan of shading-, whether the plan is entirely sound 

 or not. The big- hives and close spacing^, and especially the 

 diagotial placing, give the apiary a decided individualitj'. 

 That's what we like (in pictures), notwithstanding the fact 

 that the dead-earnest sort of bee-beginners might want to 

 know which waj' is the best way, and then to have all the 

 apiaries thus. And he gave his bees hand-sled rides in the 

 summertime— my, my ! I hardly expect that kink to prove 

 very catching, altho quite likely he's right that on a smooth 

 lawn the hand-sled is otie of the gentlest of vehicles. Most 

 of the brethren would prefer the raade-a-purpose barrow, 

 that both pi(;ks the hive up and gently wheels it where it 

 wants to go. And quite a good few of the brethren are 

 blest, like myself, with hives that manifest a quiet and non- 

 perambulating disposition. 



KEEPING BEES ON THE ROOF. 



Mr. Weber's apiary on the roof, page 17, shows one lit- 

 tle invention which is important. Of course, such apiaries 

 are crowded, and boards between adjacent hives to keep 

 bees from mixing are a natural resource — here we see two 

 boards for each narrow space, which very greatly increases 

 the efficiency. If the keeper is careful and prompt enough 

 to insure every parent colony a queen at swarming (even if 

 he has to buy a queen), there is no other peremptory neces- 

 sity for more space than can be had on the roof of a large 

 building. Of course, there are many minor bothers, as well 

 as some minor benefits, in such a position. For instance, 

 bees are not attacking passers-by as they would be if down 

 on the ground ; and, per contra (out of sight out or mind), 

 passers-bj' are not attacking the apiarist for keeping bees 

 where he ought not. 



MR. REHN'S APIARY AND MANAGEMENT. 



Plenty of individualities to ask questions about in the 

 apiary of Frank L. Rehn, page 33. He sets his hives high, 

 and I wonder how the underneath blocks are managed to 

 keep the whole edifice from being badly a-wabble. And 

 why does he use such a promising growth of painted posts 

 all scattered round ? I ^''I'ess he's got a whopping big sun- 

 shade to mount on a post and shade the operator, and move 

 to the next post when he moves ; if so, I glory in his — lack 

 of spunk. (He's a freshman and must be hazed a little. 

 Hazing becometh not an editor; but it's not yet abolisht 

 on the staff— is it Dr. Miller?) Prom 6 to 26 colonies is a 

 good record for a beginner's first year. I feel specially in- 

 terested in seeing his success in keeping- nuclei shut up five 

 days. He doesn't say anything about filling part of one 

 comb with water, which I 'should think important in such 

 long imprisonment. 



SOME OF OLD GRIMES' IDEAS. 



And so Old Grimes' old blue coat of a 4 14x4 '4' section is 

 bound to be a new and taking fashion if he only wears it 

 long- enough. I think there are several of us that will spoil 

 his game by walking right on in the procession ourselves. 

 But as to the Grimes plan of booming for big and early 

 swarms, and harvesting all the comb honey from them, and 

 all the extracted from the consolidated remnants, I'll wait 

 till the procession gets kind o" long, and then quietly drop 

 in behind-half a dozen suspicions and counter prejudices 

 in th? way of joining rigfht in pow. Page 3. 



TWO QUEENS IN SAME BROOD-CHAMBER. 



That is an eccentric item which R. R. Stokesberry con- 

 tributes on page 14. A queen being superseded in a 14- 

 fravie hive, two young queens became fertile and began life 

 on opposite sides of the unusually large chamber. A strain 

 of bees that would always do this (and stay so) our English 

 friends would pay a big price for — save them lots of hive 

 " carpenteering." 



FACING COLONIES TWO WAYS. 



That Canadian item, page 10, is correct. A few colo- 

 nies facing west in an apiary generally faced east will gain 

 bees largely during winter flights at the expense of the 

 east-looking colonies. 



PERHAPS A " HASTY " CONCLUSION. 



I e'enymost blush for my country that Mr. Secor should 

 not be sharp enough to see thru that can of Hymettus 

 honey, page 6. Not quite the identical thing as the horse- 

 mint honey nicely canned for the mining regions, and 

 labeled " California Sage Honey," but very like, I suspect. 



THE APICULTURAL "TEN COMMANDMENTS." 



Ten bee-keeping sins are held up to our view on page 

 42 ; and of course the apicultural ten commandments would 

 be the "thou shalt nots " of these ten. This critic kicks — 

 won't accept them short of opening the Ark and seeing- 

 them on the stone tables. Number 4 is not a sin ; and 7, 8 

 and 9 are quite debatable. He moves the following sub- 

 stitute : 



1. Thou shalt have no other craft before bees. 



2. Thou shalt not bow down to other crafts, by calling 

 thine own craft, ^' Fussing v}\Wi bees." 



3. Thou shalt not say naughty words when thy bees 

 salute thee, neither when they cross thine expectations, 

 neither when they clean out thy nuclei. 



4. Remember and have a Sabbath corner in thy soul for 

 so)iie other things besides bees. Thou maj'est have bees on 

 the brain, but not on the whole of thy brain. 



5. Honor the bee-book, which is as thy father, and the 

 bee-paper, which is as thy mother. Whoso curseth father and 

 mother let him die the death. 



6. Thou shalt not kill — neither thyself by overmuch 

 worriment, neither thy bees by overmuch neglect in the 

 fall, neither thy Gentile neighbor by overmuch bee-talk. 



7. Thou shalt not commit adulteration — neither at the 

 glucose-barrel ; neither shalt thou accomplish a similar 

 thing by extracting thine honey too soon. 



8. Thou shalt not steal thy neighbor's cash by selling 

 him poor honey. Thy honey shall be pure, and clean, and 

 ripe, 



9. Thou shalt not bear false witness in favor of thine 

 hobby — for the same is false witness against thy neighbor. 

 Behold he will try to ride thine hobby, and fall bleeding by 

 the wayside. 



10. Thou shalt not covet for an out-apiary thy neigh- 

 bor's range ; neither shalt thine eye be evil toward thy Gen- 

 tile neighbor's few hives ; neither shalt thou cove' the 

 honey thy bees need for food. Thine heart shalt be iarge 

 toward every creature ; for, behold, the same God which 

 made the insect and the angel, made thee. 



DOOLITTLK'S BURR-COMBS. 



As to the problem on page 37, I rather gtxess Mr. Doo- 

 little did make his burr-combs count him in $1.20 per col- 

 ony ; but I doubt whether different bees on a different occa- 

 sion would alwaj's show the same result. It's " sartin sure" 

 that the burr-combs didn't ^3//;t';' an ounce of the honey; 

 and sometimes bees will "get there," and put there all the 

 honey they have to spare, without any ladders to climb on. 



DOOLITTLB'S DOZEN "LITTLE PEWS." 



Twelve little pews, with 12 little Methodist " classes " 

 of new ideas on section slips, to be called out for "love 

 feast " one each month \ That's the way Doolittle " doos " 

 it. How many " doo " want to be Doolittles enough to " doo " 

 that )««(■//.*' Page 35. 



WINTERING BEES IN A LOW TEMPERATURE. 



An interesting fact (but a dangerous one to run at large) 

 is S. N. Black's success in wintering 80 colonies at 28 de- 

 grees, Fahr. If stores were always the very best, and bees 

 always the very healthiest, it might perhaps be done right 

 straight along. Page 36. 



SHOOTING THE CANDIED-HONEY IDEA. 



And so Mr. Aikin helps the public idea to shoot toward 

 Catidied honey by not letting it have any chance to'shoot 



