Aug. 3(t, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



553 • 



i 



^ The Afterthought. « l 



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

 By E. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



A NOSEV BRIDGE. 



Notwithstanding the woe pronounced upon those "who 

 do their trades forsake," I'm going to go into a new trade, 

 to-wit, bridge-building. Think I can 'profitably construct a 

 bridge out of the rtosfs of those who wrote in Nos. 28 and 

 29. These sage lucubrations are too far after date ; and the 

 above seems to be the most practical way to catch up a 

 little. 



CRIMSON CLOVER AS A HOXEY-PLANT. 



That crimson clover that opens No. 30 looks familiar — 

 and it's sad to part with so good a friend. The last two 

 winters at this point have been bad about killing things, 

 crimson clover included ; and I sadly fear our farmers have 

 been frightened out of sowing it — quite a calamity. Twenty 

 bees to the square foot is almost amazing. Mr. Greiner is 

 reliable, I believe ; and no such crowd of bees would come 

 unless there was considerable honej'. Say, some of the 

 boys where the crimson is plenty try a little rivalry with 

 Notre Dame, and do some May extracting. 



OUADRUPI.E HIVES— OUT-APIARIES. 



The picture on page 467 tells a plain storv about the 

 PVance quadruple hive. It seems rather a wonder that this 

 hive, described long ago, has been adopted hy so few. Some 

 of its points look quite attractive. 



Have your out-apiary on a slope so one man can pull in 

 the empty wagon from above, and the crew can run out the 

 loaded wagon below, without bringing any horses in dan- 

 gerous proximity to bees. (Better than ku-klux robes on 

 the horses.) 7>;«/>o;'i7ri' extracting-house of cheese-cloth, 

 made up with strips of leather i:: at the proper places. 

 Permanent posts and margin strips. To put up house, just 

 drive (half way) a few wire nails thru the leathers ; and pull 

 the nails out when you fold up a la Arabs. 



UNFINISHT SECTIONS. 



Deacon reminds us once more that apiculture is a busi- 

 ness of details. Yes, that's so, details with a spice of sharp 

 tails sprinkled on now and then — and a few dull tales taken 

 betimes medically. Two thousandunfinisht sections in one 

 season ! And their owner almost thinking of suicide ! A 

 familiar experience to many of the boys ; but some remedy 

 ought to have arrived before this. My system requires 200 

 to start out with next season (can do with 100), and I almost 

 always wish I had more. Like the oculist who takes your 

 eye out. and fixes it, and puts it back again, Mr. D. (having 

 postponed suicide till another year) cuts the comb out, reno- 

 vates both comb and section, and then marries the twain 

 again with a hot case-knife. I suspect that his style of 

 setting empty combs in a section is worth remembering and 

 trying. Hold the comb gently against the wood, and fiddle 

 between with a hot knife, and suddenly, all at once, the 

 comb is fast. Page 467. 



AGAINST EXTRA-CLOSE FRAME-SPACING. 



Doolittle sits hard (but none too hard, I think) on extra- 

 close spacing for frames. More fuss for yourself, less heat 

 for the early brood, bother in exchanging frames, more 

 danger in out-door wintering — and advantage, nobodv 

 knows what. And Mr. D. thinks that the delay necessi- 

 tated by the Heddon method of transferring puts it entirely 

 out as an early spring method. When there is no more 

 hope of a crop from that hive, Heddon method O. K. then. 

 Page 468. 



KEEPING UNCOOKT FRUIT IN HONEY. 



Mrs. Axtell years ago won her recognition as a reliable 

 writer, and if she finds all her efforts to keep uncookt fruit 

 in honey to be failures (others finding the same), probably 

 we would better set that down as only practical under ex- 

 ceptional conditions. Page 477. 



VARIOUS KINDS OF DISEASED BROOD, 



Page 471 gets at distiijctions which are urgently needed 

 in pretty nearly the right way — differentiation. Without 

 this a description of diseases and things is pretty sure to 



mix us up in our mi])ds. Foul brood, smell of glue ; black 

 brood, sour smell ; pickled brood, no very pronounced smell 

 (I take it). Foul brood, curiously elastic consistence ; black 

 brood, jelly-like consistence; jiickled brood, neither rope 

 nor jelly, but a watery willingness to squeeze out. But 

 pickled brood often turns black by reason of a black fungus 

 that attacks it. And is black brood black looking at all 

 stages? I've forgotten, if any one ever told. 



CATNIP VS. SWKKT CLOVER. 



Four times as much honey in catnip as in sweet clover, 

 is the way J. L. Gandy puts it. Yum, yum ! Page 474. 



" AGIN " THE COTTON-WASTK SMOKER-FUEL. 



How about the new smoker-fuel, page 473? Well, I 

 think we alreadj- have propolis on our hands (both figura- 

 tively and literally), and some other dirtinesses unavoidable, 

 and I decidedly object to importing wheel-greise from the 

 railroads. No need of it. 



IS IT A " FREE MASON " APIARY. 



Wonder if I see the White apiary correctly. Do I faintly 

 see the front of the hives markt with Free Mason signs — 

 diamond, cross, clover leaf, double column, straddle bug, 

 etc.?" If it's on the " square," and within the " compass " 

 of sweet reasonableness, he might tell us about it. Page 481. 



BEESWAX— CORRECTING THE CORRECTERS. 



The Chicago Record's article on beeswax was pretty 

 full of errors ; but I fear the correcters corrected too much. 

 Locality does come in to a limited extent on beeswax. 

 African wax is not like American, if I am right ; and wax 

 imported from Jamaica has a fine red tint, and a peculiar 

 fragrance never found in northern samples. Dr. Miller 

 may be right that fresh wax-scales direct from the bee are 

 always the same tint ; but my idcn of the matter has been 

 that some are nearly white, and some quite a bit more yel- 

 low, the exact tint depending upon how recently that indi- 

 vidual bee has been digesting pollen to feed larva?. How is 

 that, ye experimenters ? It is quite desirable that when ex- 

 perts correct the great journals they should cor.-ect cor- 

 rectly. Page 483. 



"HOW TO GET THB MOST OUT OF YOURSELF." 



This is so important a topic that I should like to see 

 every able writer in beedom essay it — not all at once per- 

 haps, but anon and anon. How vot to do it is a science 

 sadly in vogue. Old Grimes does well on it, page 484 — one 

 of the best articles he has given us. Get clear in soul. 

 Translate "Quit your meanness " into the terms of bodily 

 health. (But there's lots of room for others in the details 

 of the clarification and translation.) Then feed your mind 

 liberally, and go ahead. Especially good is the counsel to 

 teach little children never to get into debt — then one mort- 

 gage upon the mind and leaden weight upon the soul will 

 never hinder them. 



MAN.\GING LATE SWARMS. 



Not over 18 hours afterward, Doolittle says (and I guess 

 that's an important item), give to the colony that has 

 swarmed and been moved to a new location a virgin queen 

 or ripe cell. The poverty of soul that accepts anything you 

 give them will not last but a little while, and it is essential 

 to use it before it gives place to a bumptious esprit du corps. 

 Wonder if 18 hours is not a slip for 28 hours. Otherwise it 

 would run out, and not cover the " any time during the 

 forenoon of the next day," of which we read. Page 485. 



SWARMING "A-FOOT." 



The swarm of bees traveling on foot, reported on page 

 486, is of decided interest. I never had exactly that ; but 

 I once had a swarm that might have proceeded similarly 

 had the ground been smooth and hard, and had I let them 

 alone. A swarm in an apple-tree, with grass underneath, 

 left for the woods. After some 20 minutes, perhaps more, 

 they came back and alighted on the ground. It seems the 

 queen, unknown to me. had fallen there. 



RAINBOW OR CALICO-COLORED CUBAN SOIL. 



No previous writer on Cuba has told us about its calico- 

 colored soil, as I remember. To see on one acre of hillside 

 soil white, black, brown, yellow, blue and red is quite unique. 

 But as the Cuban bogey-man is not going to spoil our 

 markets with floods of untarift honey, we can afford to let 

 them have all the rainbow they want in their soil. T. B. 

 Drury, page 491. 



