698 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL^ 



Nov. 1, 1900. 



hyphenated words float out in both directions, into consoli- 

 dated words on one hand, and into independent words on 

 the other. Bee-culture did not become beeculture, but has 

 already mostly become bee culture — in diverse look from its 

 synonym apiculture. But we write jack-plane because that 

 is not universall3' familiar, while jack-knife long ag-o be- 

 came jackknife. And this state of things pleases me. My 

 personal rule (if I have any) is to omit most of the hyphens, 

 unless I feel that the omission would cause the reader to 

 lose my exact shade of meaning. 



As a finality I would vote for the very system that 

 makes the critics the maddest, a phonetic punctuation, in- 

 tended to represent, in the main, the exact way the writer 

 would like to have his words read. As the historic spelling 

 is doomed (Stenog would put in a big ? there, perhaps), so 

 let the punctuation founded solely on grammar be doomed — 

 not worth the trouble it makes — and no uniformity ever 

 reacht yet, or ever likely to be. Really, there is a plain 

 difference in sound between bee hive and beehive, while 

 bee-hive is intermediate in length, with a trifle of special 

 emphasis put in somewhere. With the hyphen (and the 

 other points also), why not write things as we speak them ? 



PASTKBO.^RD METHOD OF INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



As to pasteboard with pin holes in it for the bees to 

 tear away in being requeened, quite possibly less than one 

 percent of queens so introduced would be killed by the 

 bees; still I demur at calling it an absolutely sure way. 

 See '■ Indiana," page 601, for refusal to tear tbe pasteboard. 

 That tricksey — something or other — that loves to make our 

 sure plans go wrong will, in general practice, knock out 

 more than one percent, I fear — queen dying of neglect, and 

 pasteboard not torn at all. Page 595. 



SWARMING — COOK VS. GRBINER. 



Case of Cook vs. Greiner, page 598. Do bees nearly all 

 go with the swarm, or are there lots of them left ? I should 

 say sometimes, and sometimes. I have often thought it 

 depended largely upon the amount of up-stairs and behind- 

 dummy space the hive aft'orded. While bees are pouring 

 from the entrance other bees are marching everywhere in- 

 side, and forcing themselves into every cranny. With 

 small entrance and great amount of matching-space many 

 may satisfy their appetite for excitement without going 

 out at all. If it was desirable I suspect I could fix a set of 

 upper stories so as to retain in the hive say one-third of the 

 swarm — sometimes. Furthermore, bees much belated in 

 getting out may lose the location of a distant cluster, and 

 return to the hive after a short flight near by. Of course, 

 whatever bees happen to be at work in the fields return to 

 the old stand — sometimes ver3' few, and, sometimes, I 

 think, very many. I may be mistaken, but I think that 

 bees of a new swarm often feel disgruntled with their new 

 quarters, and return individually to the old stand during 

 the first 48 hours, sometimes in considerable numbers. 



QUEEN PLAYING SQUIRREL. 



I can't quite accept that, Mr. Getaz, that the queen is 

 not thinking of the operator, but only of the light, when 

 she plays squirrel behind a limb with me. She's too quick 

 and keen of purpose for that theory, I ween. Page 614. 



A MODEL OU'. -APIARY. 



That's the way to have your out-apiary (home apiary, 

 too,) the way Harry Lathrop has his on the first page of 

 No. 40. Have a good, high, tight board fence around it. 

 Then have some trees, not too big nor too many. Not ab- 

 solutely necessary to copy the honey-vinegar barrel repos- 

 ing under a tree — but it's all right if you do. 



CLIMATE AND SECTIONS IN BEE-KEEPING FRANCE. 



That the climate of bee-keeping France should be called 

 (and by a Frenchman, too,) northern Wisconsin, with an 

 earlier spring and a milder winter, is hardly what we should 

 expect. Probably northern Wisconsin is nicer than a stay- 

 at-home (Jhio man would picture it. Also, Mr. Dadant was 

 candid in telling us that sections in France are such as no 

 American would use at all — so rough and dark. Page 629. 



THAT SCHEME OF BEE-PASTURE-OWNERSHIP. 



The trouble with your scheme of pasturage ownership. 

 Dr. Miller, is with the details of it. It would be handy, as 

 well as just, to have some way quietly and legally to hold 

 off the predatory bee-man, who wants to flounce into an 

 occupied location with a big apiary, and crowd the occupant 

 out. But how to frame the legal bars so as to keep the bad 

 cow out and let the good cow in, that is a tough problem for 



he law-carpenters. We feel and confess the right of ordi- 

 ary farmers to have a few colonies of bees for their own 

 use if they want to. Any law taking this right away would 

 probably be unconstitutional, and therefore worthless. But 

 the farmers bee-corner, not worth calling an apiary, might 

 take a notion to grow — like Topsy — and change ownership. 

 A law adjusting number of colonies to acres would fearfully 

 overrate the whole region, else unconstitutionally wrong 

 the man who owned a rich bit of pasturage — and the up- 

 shot would be that we should all eventually have to pay for 

 rights which we now get gratis. The prevalent apathy on 

 the subject. Doctor, is largely a disinclination to bring 

 dead snakes to life. We can get along somehow with the 

 occasional snake already in life ; but we don't want the 

 brood which agitation of this subject would hatch out. 

 Page 616. 



Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. M.ILLER, Marengo, 171. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor. 1 



Chaf-fPacking for Winter-Cases. 



I have winter-cases 3 inches wider than the hive, and 

 high enough to take a super. What do you think is best to 

 do — put on a super with a Hill's device, and fill with chaff, 

 or leave the cover sealed to the hive and put chaff all over 

 it? I have winter-canvas to fit the cases. I would rather 

 have the supers in the house, but want to know what you 

 think is best. New York. 



Answer. — Your idea of putting on the super filled with 

 chaff agrees with that of experienced bee-keepers in gen- 

 eral. Of course, burlap or something of the sort will be 

 over the frames so the chaff can not sift down among the 

 bees. 



Preparing and Feeding for Winter. 



1. How would you prepare 5 colonies of bees or more for 

 winter in a dry-goods box, large enough for them out-of- 

 doors ? 



2. How shall I feed my bees for winter ? 



3. How can I make a bee-feeder ? 



4. How can I make a smoker ? Iowa. 

 Answers. — 1. The most troublesome thing in the case 



is to preserve a passage from the hive-entrance to the out- 

 side of the box. Make a sort of box open at both ends that 

 shall allow a constant passage with no possibility of being 

 closed up. Fill up around and over the hive with dead 

 leaves, planer-shavings, chaff, or something of the sort, and 

 then see that it is covered so that no drop of rain can work 

 thru. Of course, j'ou don't mean five or more colonies in 

 one box, but a box for each. 



2. Give them combs filled with sealed honey. If you 

 haven't these, it may not be too late to feed syrup made of 

 granulated sugar, or you can make candy, for either of 

 which you will find instruction in your bee-book. 



3. You can buy a good feeder cheaper than you can 

 make one, except the crock and-plate feeder, which answers 

 the purpose very well. Take a one-gallon stone crock or 

 other vessel, fill it as full as you desire with syrup, lay over 

 the crock a covering of thick woolen cloth or 5 thicknesses 

 of cheese-cloth, over this put a common dinner-plate upside 

 down. Now with one hand under the crock and the other 

 over the plate, quickly turn .the whole thing upside down. 

 Set this on the brood-frames of the colony to be fed, with 

 an empty hive-body around it well covered so that no bee 

 can get to it from the outside. 



4. You might learn to make a smoker, and so you might 

 learn to make a coat, but it is cheaper to buy. 



The American Fruit and Vegetable Journal is just 

 what its name indicates. Tells all about growing fruits 

 and vegetables. It is a fine monthly, at Su cents a year. 

 We can mail you a free sample copy of it, if you ask for it. 

 We club it with the American Bee Journal — both for $1.10. 



