AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



601 



Xhe Editor has returned to his 

 desk, and feels rested and invigorated. 

 By husbanding his strength, he hopes to 

 accomplish some of his dally work, and 

 the rest "must go" to other hands. 

 The many letters of sympathy and good 

 wishes that have come to hand are duly 

 appreciated, and help to make "life 

 worth the living." The advice of Bob 

 Burdette is timely, and should be fol- 

 lowed : " Every day of my life," says 

 he, "the evening is apt to find some- 

 thing on my programme that I haven't 

 got to. I say, ' Maybe I won't do that 

 to-morrow,' and as a rule, I don't. I go 

 to sleep and forget about it. Every year 

 closes with uncompleted work on luy 

 hands, and then that year ends that 

 work. I'm not going to drag it along 

 with me into the new year. I used to 

 do that, so that about half the time I 

 was working six weeks ago instead of 

 to-day, and a dragging, wearisome busi- 

 ness it was. When you die there will be 

 unfinished "work and raveled-out plans 

 on your hands. Then what are you 

 going to do '? Take it to heaven with 

 you, and bother and drag along with it 

 there ? Not much. Well, then, why 

 not learn to drop some of it here ? It is 

 a lesson not so easily learned, but once 

 learned, it is more refreshing than a 

 glass of cool milk to the lips of the man 

 with the grippe." 



T, F. Bingfliatti was granted 

 another patent on his bee-smoker on 

 April 26, 1892. It is on a new fire 

 plate and nozzle. The latter is thus 

 described in the patent : 



In using a smoker in the management 

 of bees, it is often necessary to force a 

 volume of smoke down through the per- 

 pendicular combs. To do this with the 

 line of smoke parallel with the length of 

 the stove, requires that the stove be in- 

 verted or tipped from a horizontal to a 

 perpendicular position, and when this is 

 done, there is great danger of the hot 

 coals falling from the nozzle down among 

 the bees. 



To obviate this difficulty, and to facili- 

 tate the operation of the device, I have 



provided the supplemental nozzle or 

 hood of angular form, which will direct 

 the smoke vertically downward, while 

 the stove is retained in a horizontal 

 position. 



After the smoke has been used for a 

 time, the stove becomes hot, while at 

 the same time the fresh fuel must be 

 put in to replenish the fire. It is rather 

 a diflScult and unpleasant task to open a 

 hot smoker, and to render this simple 

 and easy, I have provided the wire 

 handle. This handle consists of a wire 

 having one end secured in or to the 

 funnel, and coiled about the contracted 

 nozzle or neck of the hood a number of 

 times. The outer coils are set out from 

 the nozzle or hood, so that the air can 

 circulate freely between them, and they 

 serve as a handle by which the funnel 

 may be removed to replenish the fire. 

 The handle, being formed entirely of 

 coiled wire, is simple, and not liable to 

 get out of order. 



Robber Bees can be stopped, 

 even when thoroughly under way, by 

 wet straw or hay at the entrance. Pile 

 it a foot thick all about the entrance, 

 and then pour on water until everything 

 is flooded. I have tried it a number of 

 years, and this year saved a queenless 

 colony thus when robbers were at it 

 wholesale. The robbers did not attack 

 it afterward. — Exchange. 



A Patent was issued on April 19, 

 1892, on a new bee-escape, to G. H. 

 Ashworth. His third claim is as follows : 



As an improved article of manufac- 

 ture, an escape comprising a case or 

 tube, the top of which projects trans- 

 versely beyond the sides of the same, 

 said sides having sloping ends, the 

 transverse bar arranged at one end of 

 the case, near the top of the same, and 

 a series of pendent guard-fingers loosely 

 attached to said bar, and resting upon 

 the bottom of the case, substantially as 

 and for the purpose described. 



Catalogues for 1892, are on our 

 desk from — 



Wm. H. Bright, Mazeppa, Minn. 



J. W. Bittenbender, Knoxville, Iowa. 



F. C. Erkel, Le Sueur, Minn. 



