248 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 30, 1905. 



the entrance of the hive and even up on the front ? 



10. Starting- this season with 6 or 7 colonies, how would 

 you manage them to secure the most comb honey — natural 

 swarms or artificial, or no swarms at all, as far as possible ? 



11. I should like to increase as much as possible and not 

 interfere with the honey crop. Do you advise putting on a 

 brood-chamber first with full sheets of comb to get them 

 used to working up there ? 



12. An article, or series of articles, on the meaning and 

 significance of various indications and signs — in other 

 words, the ways in which you judge of conditions in the 

 hive throughout the season, would be most helpful to be- 

 ginners like myself. I am always encountering some con- 

 dition which I am unable to translate into simple English 

 language. 



13. During the early season and swarming time how 

 often is it wise to look through the hives ? 



14. Does it do any harm to look too often 7 Does it dis- 

 turb the bees or interfere seriously with their work 7 



Clark Co., Kans., Feb. 24. Hblen Pbrry. 



1. The limitations as to questions do not come from 

 their number but from their character. Any number of 

 questions connected with bee-keeping may be asked, pro- 

 vided they are not already answered in the text-books, or 

 books of instruction about bees. The intelligent beginner — 

 and, for that matter, long after she has graduated from the 

 class of beginners — will always find plenty of questions not 

 answered in the books ; and in such cases the bee-paper is 

 needed to help out. No one who has faithfully studied her 

 bee-book need be afraid of asking too many questions. 



2. Yes, provided you are sure the bees reach the sec- 

 tions. If put on when very cold, it would be of no use till 

 a day came warm enough for the bees to move freely. 



3. Y — es, provided you can count on their flying every 

 few days. In other words, it is not best till winter is well 

 over. 



4. Chiefly cappings that the bees have gnawed from the 

 sealed honey. 



5. The advice of " A B C " might be amended : " Never 

 let bees hang out when there is plenty to do in the field." 

 Nothing strange a strong colony should like to sit outside 

 to gossip after the close of a hard day's work; but it isn't 

 good form in the middle of the day, if there is any work to 

 be done in the field. When there is nothing to be had in 

 the field, the wise little creatures do well not to use up their 

 strength going a-field for nothing, and then they may be 

 expected to cluster outside. But when there is a good honey- 

 flow on, ventilation and super-room enough ought to pre- 

 vent loafing except with a colony contemplating immediate 

 swarming or disgruntled in some other way. 



6. With starters top and bottom, with only an eighth or 

 a quarter of an inch between, and a space of same kind at 

 each side, the bees will build to the sides of their own accord. 



7. No ; and if you should find out the right answer for 

 a certain condition, the answer might be quite different for 

 some other condition. 



8. Possibly, like workers, they may grow darker with 

 age on account of loss of plumage ; possibly the later 

 drones may have been from darker colonies ; possibly (if 

 you will pardon the suggestion) your memory for colors 

 may have been a little at fault. 



9. Just the same that you might be doing on a hot day, 

 fanning. Not exactly to cool their faces, however, but to 

 cool the hive. Other bees inside the hive are similarly en- 

 gaged, making a well-planned system of ventilation. 



10. No swarms at all where the principal gathering 

 comes early ; increasing to SO or 100 percent if there are 

 heavy fall flows. I would have to eat and sleep at your house 

 several days before deciding whether natural or artificial 

 swarms would be best for you. 



11. No ; their habits are all right in advance. 



12. Doubtful whether any general rules could be framed 

 except such as are already in the text-books. Those of us 

 who have been longer at the business probably do not know 

 so much about bees as you give us credit for. If we could 

 only keep quiet all the time we might keep up the delusion, 

 but some question is sure to be asked sooner or later to ex- 

 pose our ignorance. 



13. That depends upon management ; "in this locality " 

 about once in 10 days with any colony in danger of swarm- 

 ing. 



14. The disturbance of opening a hive must interfere at 

 least a little with the labor of the bees, and should occur 

 only when the benefit resulting overbalances the inter- 

 ference. 



Clftertl^ougf?ts 



J 



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

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



THE PRESENT PEICE8 OP BBE-SUPPLIEB. 



Doubtless most of the brethren want the price of sections lower, 

 but I do not. 1 think the current price is low enough. This is not 

 because I sell the wood again for more than I gave for it, but for other 

 reasons. (In my retail sales I make an allowance for the weight of 

 the wood to my customers.) Crowds of people, otherwise good and 

 sensible, would — if court-houses were selling at 50 cents a dozen — 

 would want to get them at 48}^. This disposition to squeeze — squeeze 

 everybody and everything, without regard to how unjust or cruel it 

 may be — is one of the awful iniquities of human nature. As followers 

 of the Christ of Bethlehem, it is our duty to combat this iniquity — 

 combat it in ourselves first of all, and also in the great, great world — 

 combat it just the same even if it does look like trying to regulate the 

 level of Lake Michigan with a teaspoon. More of the spirit of Christ 1 

 And if that sounds too pious for average ears, more of the spirit of 

 " Live and let live!" Murder and " Business " are old pals. Unless 

 we have to take that back and say, Murder and Business are two names 

 for the same old Thug. 



When it comes to hives I think a little differently (but without 

 any great vehemence or bitterness.) Mainly the hive-makers' own 

 affair. Still, my private feeling is that a well-ordered, 20th century 

 factory should be ashamed of itself if a single individual, without a bit 

 of machinery, can make his own hives and make more than wages at 

 it. Such a fact rather " gives 'em away." 



But all the above is rather like obscuring the real matter with 

 smoke. Also the real matter itself is rather complex, and needs dear 

 thinking, if we are to feel just right about it. And this is so impor- 

 tant that it will do us no harm to remember an old saying: "Clear 

 thinking is a prerogative of God alone." If we realize a little how dif- 

 ficult clear thinking is, we shall be less liable to get 10,000 miles away 

 from it — and be bragging about our clear thinking at the same time. 

 Here are some things which clear thinking probably ought not to for- 

 get — some links that belong somewhere in the logical chain: 



(Link A.) — The heart of this mighty nation has enlisted in a cam- 

 paign against a great and real evil — difficult campaign, needing all 

 possible forces. Shall we fail to drop into the righteous current? 

 Shall we fail to push when all honest folks are pushing— and then 

 save our credit by great ado some time when nobody else is pushing 

 at all— or by standing off and saying proudly, " I am a well-wisher to 

 this pushing, just the same as you?" 



(Link B.)— One man excitedly makes a lot of objections— because 

 he loves the cause, and wants to save it from a mistake. Another 

 man does the same because he hates the cause and wants to run it into 

 a mistake. Another man (fit hardly for loving or hating) objects be- 

 cause he is got up that way — always does it. One needs care in esti- 

 mating these three men. Also, one man forbears all objections be- 

 cause (in his superficial thinking) he thinks things are all just right. 

 Another man forbears because he sees the criticism business so terribly 

 overdone that he fears the wisest protests, under the circumstances, 

 would be more likely to hinder the cause than help it. Another man 

 forbears because he always revolves around his own feelings — his own 

 enjoyment ot a rumpus. Objections break in on the fun; and his en- 

 thusiastic nature is never happy unless he is running over like a bottle 

 of bees. One needs care in estimating these three men, too. But 

 somehow every good man ought to be ready with his influence when 

 the tide is right. 



(Link C.)— Bee-keepers incline to consider themselves a select 

 body of men. Is it not true, to a considerable extent, that they are? 

 Neither the drinking, nor the smoking, nor the swearing about a bee- 

 convention that there is about certain political conentions. I'm just 

 now thinking about a hotel-keeper who passed the cigars to an impor- 

 tant bee-committee — and not a man used cigars 1 Such a body of men 

 should not complain that too high a level of commercial morals is 

 urged upon them. Unless they have been badly led they will not, I 

 think— not even if we say. Let wages and prices, and manufactures 

 and profits, be adjusted as the same would be between a dozen brothers 

 living on a far-distant island. Absolute monarchy — with a common- 

 sense. Christian public opinion tor monarch. 



(Link D.) — There are certain men, often wealthy, who make it 

 their business to purvey to the wants of other men. If some of these 

 choose for their lot in life ministering to a superior class of men, it 

 should not surprise them if they should run against accountability some- 

 what greater than inferior grades of men usually insist on. Certainly 

 if they have ignored rules of decency made by the non-select world, 

 they are not to be surprised if their own constituency warm their ears 

 pretty well about it — and often, and long. 



(Link E.) — There are certain doings and arrangements very com- 

 mon in recent years, repeated over and over again in almost every pos- 

 sible field — very capable of being beneficent, but practically almost 

 always the opposite of beneficent — that the world has at last got up 

 arms against. High time. Touch pitch — and be defiled. Get up 

 trust — and brick-bats begin to come your way — if not striped clothing. 

 No use to tell us that the Meat Trust of Utopia is a perfectly lovely 

 institution, which blesses all concerned, and gives the people the 



