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rabbets. The lices are cross, and 

 sting, but there is no help for it. If 

 he had thick top-bars it would obviate 

 this trouble. Yes, he could obviate it 

 with a lionej'-board ; but the honey- 

 board at the close of the season will 

 be stuck down to the brood-frames ; 

 and when he goes to remove it in the 

 fall, those same brood-frames, if the.y 

 hang on tin rabbets, will come up with 

 the honey-board, and down they will 

 go with a bang. 



Every .spring, Jones, who uses the 

 narrow and thin top-bars, is obliged to 

 clip off the brace-combs. Bees Lniild 

 them up so high that he cannot adjust 

 the cover unless he does, without kill- 

 ing the bees. Aside from that, he 

 considers it a waste of time for bees to 

 deposit wax above, and a waste of 

 time on his own part in removing 

 them. He thinks that if top-bars will ob- 

 viate his trouble, he will use them at once. 



Two objections have been urged 

 against heavy bars. The first is, that 

 they will cost more. This is a mis- 

 take. They can be sold without comb- 

 guides at the same price as the old 

 frames. The second objection is made, 

 that they remove the brood-nest too 

 far away from the surplus apartment. 

 This, likewise, has been stated to be a 

 mistake. Two prominent bee-keepers 

 declare that they have used thin and 

 thick top-bars, and that the bees en- 

 tered the supers just as readily over 

 the heavy bars as they did over the 

 thin ones. 



Perhaps there has been another ob- 

 jection urged : One bee-keeper says, 

 that honey-boards, with him, have 

 prevented burr-combs, and that he 

 does not care for anything better. Ah, 

 the honey-boards do not do it. The 

 lower bee-space is always filled, while 

 the upper one is left intact. With 

 heavy top-bars we have only one bee- 

 space and no burr-combs. 



Now, then, you have the whole facts 

 before you, so far as I know them. As 

 I have urged in Qleanings,\ would urge 

 now : Do not break your honey-boards 

 into kindling wood yet. Neither 

 would I consider it wise to try more 

 than a few heavy bars this season. 

 Your own experience will determine 

 for you best whether you can with 

 profit rip off, as it were, the old |-inch 

 top-bars, |-inch thick, and substitute 

 in their places a heavier one. 



I may say, however, that the testi- 

 mony is from such reliable bee-keep- 

 ers that I can scarcely sec how the 

 heavy bars can fail to produce the 

 results claimed for them. Please un- 

 derstand that I have had no experience 

 with them myself, and I have at- 

 tempted to give you only a condensed 

 summary of several scores of letters 

 that have passed under my eyes. 

 Medina, Ohio. 



EATING HONEY. 



Getting Everybody lo Use Honey 

 — Bee-Jieepers' Union. 



Wrllten for the American Bee Journal 



BY .1. W. TEFFT. 



Children are not actually crying for 

 honey, but there are hundreds of thou- 

 sands of uncultivated palates in this 

 country that only need the opportunity 

 to try it, to like it. No one knows 

 what he likes until he tries it ; and 

 how can the average citizen know 

 whether or not he likes honey, when it 

 is a fact that he never had a real good 

 mouthful of honey ? 



Now, why cannot the hone3'-pro- 

 ducers of this country make a joint and 

 honest endeavor not only to put a fine 

 article on the /io?»c market, but in some 

 manner see that it reaches the con- 

 sumer at something less than twice its 

 cost of production ? 



UPWARD AND DOWNWARD VENTILATION 



On page 10, of the American Bee 

 Journal for 1889, is an article by one 

 of our bee-masters, who closes it by 

 saying that upwartl ventilation is very 

 desirable. So I always thought until 

 about six years ago, when I tested 

 downward ventilation, and found that 

 the condensed moisture would pass 

 away into the packing under the bot- 

 tom edge of the division-boards, and 

 no ice would form on the combs. 



I was of the same opinion also that 

 the ice melts and dilutes the honey, 

 which causes bee-diarrhea. This also 

 I discovered to be one reason, until I 

 tested the idea of placing a coarse 

 piece of burlap above the bees, and 

 above that several thicknesses of news- 

 paper, and over that 6 to 12 inches of 

 forest leaves. Since that time there is 

 no moisture at all on the combs, as 

 the paper absorbs the moisture as fast 

 as formed. This is both upward and 

 downward moisture-absorbing venti- 

 lation. 



My opinion is, that bee-diarrhea is 

 not caused by the bees eating diluted 

 or thin honey, but by eating honey 

 that has become contaminated by fetid 

 air and no downward ventilation — the 

 same as a human being would have 

 the disease, if he lived and ate in a 

 room near the upper ceiling, and not 

 ventilated at the base, which causes 

 the air to become fetid. 



HE wanted the union's help. 



It is usually a pleasure to me to 

 render one a service, even in cases 

 where I am personally disinterested. 

 But when such a person as the one 

 who called at my lumse the other day 

 comes along, it makes me feel like 

 tacking a sign on the door, saying, 

 I " Ask no favors." 



The fellow has a large apiary and a 

 farm worth about 120,000, admirably 

 located for a manufactui-ing site. He 

 wanted me to intercede for him to 

 have the Bee-Keepers' Union help to 

 secure aid in a troublesome lawsuit 

 about his bees bothering his neighbor. 

 He had kept posted as to the work of 

 the Bee-keepers' Union, and was 

 greatly pleased with the methods of 

 promoting the interests which the 

 Union had adopted. He knew that 

 the Union could do him a great deal 

 of good, and was anxious to secure the 

 aid from the Bee-Keepers' Union. 



I told him that it would be a pleas- 

 ure to present his grievances to the 

 Union, and asked him if he was one of 

 its members. He replied in the nega- 

 tive, when I suggested that in view of 

 the fact that the expenses of the Union 

 were somewhat heavy, it would be a 

 very proper thing for him to join, and 

 thus aid in the carrying on of their 

 work, at least to the extent of 11.00 

 per year. Y''ou wouldn't believe it, but 

 this fellow who was soliciting a 1500 

 favor at the hands of the Union, posi- 

 tively refused to contribute one cent 

 toward the good work ! 



I have no fault to find with those 

 who take no stock in the Union, and 

 then ask no favors, but when such a 

 shrunken-souled fellow like that de- 

 scribed comes along, it makes me feel 

 misanthropic for liours afterwards. 

 Collamer, N. Y. 



CARNIOLANS. 



My Experienee with lliese Bees 

 — The Honey Crop. 



Written fur the American Bee Journal 



BY S. A. SHUCK. 



In May, 1889, I purchased a select 

 tested Carniolan queen, intending, if 

 these bees proved to be as represented, 

 to Carniolanize my entire apiary. 

 From this queen I bred 35 queens dur- 

 ing June, July, and August, 1889. The 

 old queen swarmed twice, and was 

 superseded late in the fall. 



Every oue of the young queens 

 mated with Italian stock — at least their 

 progeny, show more or less yellow 

 bands. The only points of superiority 

 that I could see in pure Carniolans 

 over the common black bees, was their 

 gentleness, and the disposition to stick 

 to their combs while being handled. 

 Tliey were equal to the worst hybrid I 

 ever saw in mutilating the cappings of 

 their honey. 



The progeny of the young queens 

 are the most persistent thieves I ever 

 owned. During the past winter and 

 spring I lost about 30 colonies, and 

 commenced the season of 1890 with 



