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Fi;a:s oi Xliistles. 



Oh, ye, with hurried steps and ciireless, 

 Who crush the lair, sweet flowers of spring, 



Think you. in autumn, cold and cheerless. 

 They'll sweetest perfume round you tiing ? 



Think you the harsh words rudely spoken, 

 And thought as " trifles light as air." 



Will heal your wounded heart, when broken 

 And crushed hy woes you cannot bear ? 



Think you, the early friends of childhood. 



Who sprinjz about our path like flowers. 

 As sweet and pure as from the wildwood. 



And nourished by soft April showers- 

 Will love us when the shades of evening 



Are falling fast round heart and brain. 

 If in our youth we, thoughtless, leave them. 



Nor seek their friendship to retain ? 



O. ye who pluck the apple-blossom, 



Its subtle fragrance to inhale. 

 Think not pure, spotless fruit to gather 



From withered blossoms cold and pale. 



—PATSY SHAMBUKGER. 



mms % Replies, 



Extracting; from SliaMow Combs 

 BiiiU from Starters. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 713. — If bees are allowed to build 

 comb in frames -i'^ inches deep, with only 

 a 1 -inch strip of foundation for a starter, 

 can the same be extracted without breaking 

 the combs? — New York. 



Yes. — M. Mahin. 



Yes. — R. L. Tatlok. 



Yes.— J. P. H. Brown. 



Yes. — G. M. DooLiTTLE. 



Yes. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Yes. — Dadant & Son. 



Certainly. — A. B. Mason. 



I think so. — C. C. Miller. 



Yes. The bees will fasten the whole to 

 the sides. — A. J. Cook. 



Yes, except when the combs are new and 

 tender. — Eugene Secor. 



With ordinary care, you will not break a 

 comb. — H. D. Cutting. 



Yes, if firmly fastened along the entire 

 bottom. — Will M. Barnum. 



Certainly, if ordinary care is used in 

 running the extractor. — C. H. Dibbern. 



That is owing to how well the bees have 

 filled the frame, and how hot the weather 

 is when you handle them. It is dangerous. 

 — J. M. Hambaugh. 



Yes; and it can be safely done with a 

 deeper frame, if the wood composing the 

 frame is not over one inch wide all the way 

 around. All closed-end brood-frames should 

 be wired, but a plain Langstroth brood- 

 frame not over 7 inches deep, needs no 

 wire. — G. L. Tinker. 



Yes, if care is used. I have now some 

 frames of comb that were built before 

 foundation was thought of, that can be 

 used to extract from, and I find no difficulty 

 in using them, although U inches deep. — J. 

 E. Pond. 



O, yes, without the slightest difficulty. I 

 have hundreds of combs built in the way 

 you mention. Were it not for the ten- 

 dency of bees to build drone-comb in these 

 shallow frames above the brood-nest, I 

 would have hundreds more of them built 



from starters ; but as I prefer all-worker 

 combs, I use full sheets of foundation.— G. 

 W. Demaree. 



Yes, sir, and that, too, without ever in- 

 verting the frames in the hives. On the 

 other hand, if the frames are inverted, the 

 bees will build tliem solid full of comb, and 

 be so strong that you can throw them 

 around the apiary as you woula pitch 

 quoits, to say nothing about extracting 

 honey from them ; but you can extract 

 from them safely without their ever having 

 been reversed. — James Heddon. 



Certainly. The bees will fasten it and 

 make it secure, if they have a good chance 

 at it. — The Eihtck. 



SPACING COMBS. 



How Combs are Spaced in Box- 

 Hives, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY S. A. SHUCK. 



On page 365. Di-. C. C. Milk-r sajs : 

 " I think that it would be a favor to 

 the fraternity, if a number would re- 

 port in the American Bee Journal 

 as to the distance from center to cen- 

 ter of the central combs in a box-hive." 



It has been several years since I 

 measured the distance of combs in box- 

 hives ; but the facts concerning the 

 matter are as important, perhaps, as if 

 the measurements had just been made. 



As the combs iu box-hives are veiy 

 seldom built exactly straight, it is 

 natural to expect them to vary in dis- 

 tance from center to center. My ob- 

 servations have shown, too, that there 

 are considerable variations of this dis- 

 tance ; even at different points of the 

 attachment between any two combs, 

 this variation is found. 



In computing the entire space by 

 the number of combs it contains, it is 

 shown in the aggregate that \h inches 

 is the rule, and almost without excep- 

 tion. This includes drone and store 

 comb, which, in many instances, is 

 considerably over \l inches. This 

 shows that the worker-combs do not 

 average IJ inches. 



For the past ten years I have used 

 10 frames in hives 14^ inches wide. 

 Allowing \ of an inch for the extra 

 space on one side, this gives one and 

 two-fifth inches from center to center. 

 However, during the time in spring 

 when I want all the brood I can get, I 

 space the combs so as to give i inch or 

 more space on the outside of the side 

 combs. 



Both wide and narrow spacing can 

 be made profitable at times, by a little 

 judicious management. In this locality, 

 it is not an uncommon thing to have 

 pleasant weather in February. If the 

 the bees have an abundance of honey, 



brood-rearing is pushed along at a 

 lively rate, and, if allowed their own 

 waj' about things, the hives are over- 

 flowing witli bees by May 1, and, as a 

 rule, no lioncy until .June. 



If, however, when this fine weather 

 occurs so early, one comb is removed 

 from each strong colonj', and the re- 

 maining nine combs are spaced so as 

 to fill the hive, the bees have more 

 room to clu.stcr, and occupy less comb, 

 and consequently brf)od-rearing is not 

 pushed along so rapidly, and the stores 

 are not consumed so quickl}". The 

 bee-keeper who has never tried this 

 (and then, when the time comes for 

 encouraging brood-rearing, he read- 

 justs the combs, spacing them as 

 closelj- as possible, and replacing the 

 comb previously removed), will be 

 very agreeably surprised, not only at 

 the apparent sudden increase of bees 

 in his hives, but the very rapid in- 

 crease of brood also. 



The eiiect of "spacing" on the 

 swarming disposition, is very slight. 

 Observation inclines me to believe that 

 wide spacing tends more to encourage 

 swarming than does narrow spacing, 

 where surplus room is given at the 

 right time. 



Close spacing tends to force the 

 bees into the surplus, if for no other 

 reason than to give room for the neces- 

 saiy operations of the nurse-bees in 

 caring for the brood ; while wide 

 spacing gives ample room for a large 

 number of bees between the combs, 

 and in cool w-eather their presence is 

 actually required to keep a proper 

 temperature, and large numbers of 

 bees in the brood department are a 

 great incentive to the swarming im- 

 pulse. However, swarming is Na- 

 ture's onlj' method of increase, and 

 the non-swarming or excessive swarm- 

 ing tendencies are freaks of individ- 

 uality, and can be greatly increased 

 or diminished by careful selection and 

 breeding. 



Liverpool, Ills. 



GOLDEN-ROD. 



Does it Yield Honey i — ^Methods 

 of Queen Introduction. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BV JACOB T. TIMPE. 



I have carefully read the articles 

 2)ro and con, as to the value of golden- 

 rod as a honey-producing plant. The 

 veiy same subject was brought up at 

 the last meeting of the Central Michi- 

 gan Bee-Keepers' Convention, which 

 caused a livelj' "discussion. The ma- 

 jority most emphatically declared that 

 it did yield honey plentifully, at least 

 in the most of the seasons. I have yet 

 to see, in 14 years, but what the bees 



