904 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Dec. 28, 1905 



readers will make on that costume which appears on the 

 face of No. 47 ! Possibly somewhat like that below : 



Mrs. Blunt — I like it ; so there, now. 



Mrs. Tartk — If that's a woman, I would rather meet a 

 man ; and if it's a man, I would rather meet a woman. 



Miss Dublin — Jist yez kape away from there and ye 

 nadent mateeyther of them. 



Miss Boston — A secret longing to get into trousers is, 

 I fear, at the bottom of it, rather than any real need of such 

 a garment. 



Miss Edinburg — Whole nations of 7nen wear skirts 

 from choice ; and it really seems to me that women might 

 get along with theirs, if they tried intelligently, and with 

 no hankering for male attire. 



Mrs. Binthbrk— When men wear skirts they mostly 

 don't wear them long, nor puffed out, nor exaggerated in 

 any way. I didn't know my apiary dress hindered me until 

 I was told. And Brother Bill says he would much rather 

 wear my rig than the one in the picture. 



Mrs. Goodsoul — I keep away from bees. If I was 

 obliged to go among them I'd wear 'most anything in which 

 I could feel safe. 



And the Afterthinker puts on wisdom like a garment, 

 and adds that lady bee-keepers have several lines of costume 

 open to them, according to personal inclination. One 

 course is to make the clothes they already have the basis, 

 and modify them as little (or as much) as is really needed. 

 Have the underclothes of firm material, and offering no 

 passes of Thermopylae for the enemy to march through. 

 Have a big pocket, or more than one — else a belt with dang- 

 lets. Have the skirts the opposite of full, and as short as 

 the proprieties seem to allow. 



r.zi Another course is to have a special costume decidedly 

 different from that worn in the kitchen, and still not nearly 

 so revolutionary as the one shown. Room for lots of genius 

 and invention in this middle course. 



Probably some would prefer to take man's suit exact, 

 neither less nor more, put it on after entering the apiary 

 and change before going away. This has the important 

 advantage that strangers passing by do not stare. 



If you do choose the fourth course, and follow the 

 " pictur," how would it do to go a little further ? Sew two 

 big slippers to the bottom. From the knee up have them 

 enough fuller that moderate skirts could easily be tucked 

 in. Then don't take off the costume, but jump into them. 

 And when somebody threatens to heave in sight, jump out 

 of them again. Too warm some days — and — and — roaring 

 lions and escaped lunatics sure to pass by on the other side. 



Aikin's Way of Controlling Swarming. 



P^ So Aikin's favorite method of control is big room before 

 the flow, and shake the most of them just as the flow begins, 

 lyooks good. But he also masses his shaken swarms to 

 some extent, and that would hardly do for the strain of bees 

 I have at present. Page 805. 



Graph-Puncturing and Birds. 



I think past judgment about grape-puncturing was that 

 most is done by small, swift, sly birds, and just at the peep 

 of day, when few people (at that time of the year) have their 

 observation clothes on. This measurablj explains the in- 

 correct suspicion that it must be night-birds. Night-birds 

 all flesh-eaters and insect-eaters, I believe. But the spar- 

 row (seen to tear open bags and eat the grapes within) 

 seems to hold the first place in atrocity. Page 80S. 



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Canabian 



Conducted by Morlet Pettit, Villa Nova, Ont. 



Hershiser Bottom-Board 



J 



O. I/. Hershiser, of New York State, showed at the 

 Ontario convention at Toronto, a bottom-board which is 

 specially constructed for moving and wintering bees. It 

 consists of a box 3 or 4 inches deep, with wire-cloth in the 

 sides, and a block to close the front. For moving bees I 

 would not exchange it for the Holtermaan portico, as I con- 



sider it too much machinery to carry under the hive, with 

 not enough advantage to make its use profitable. 



Its great advantage in cellar-wintering is the deep space 

 for dead bees, and the fact that a live bee can not fall to the 

 floor with the dead one she is throwing out. It provides 

 the necessary bottom ventilation, and at first sight vould 

 be pronounced an excellent invention. But here is the 

 difiiculty : We find it is not practical to confine bees to the 

 hive while in the cellar. Weak colonies and nuclei may be 

 confined without serious loss. Though I doubt that. But 

 where strong colonies are so confined there are sure to be 

 some bees that fly to the screen, try to get out, and make 

 noise enough to rouse the whole cellar. This is no theory, 

 but has been proved in my experience. 



Bee-Keeping as a Business 



The following from an old Farmer's Advocate is apropos 

 the subject of studying and mastering one's business : 



" We of ten hear bees are an interesting study. They 

 certainly are, and the more we study the more interesting 

 they become — and the more profitable. There's the point. 

 While few succeed in a distasteful occupation, not many are 

 in business for reasons other than the desire for board, 

 clothes and extras. 



"The diffiulty with bee-keeping is that it is not taken 

 seriously enough. The idea is held and taught by all ex- 

 cept the few who know differently, that bees are no trouble 

 at all, and every one should have a few in the garden. 

 What is the result ? The honey market is in the condition 

 in which the butter market was a few years ago — crowded 

 with inferior goods put up in miserable shape. Those who 

 see honey at our leading exhibitions, and then contrast it 

 with what is taken in " trade " and sold by dealers gen- 

 erally, will appreciate this. 



" Progressive bee-keepers welcome others to their ranks, 

 if these new men give promise of being equally progressive. 

 Those entering upon any new undertaking must carefully 

 count the cost, else they fail. The financial expense in this 

 case is practically nothing, and after the first cost the bees 

 should, of course, pay their way or get out. 



"Then there is the pasture. Twenty-five colonies to 

 the square mile is probably the outside limit for average 

 localities in Ontario in average years. Now consider care- 

 fully that the heavy work in bee-keeping comes at precisely 

 the same time of year and day as in general farming. If 

 the farmer or his son can spare time to produce a No. 1 

 grade of honey, he will be well repaid ; if not, he would bet- 

 ter let bees alone." 



Bisulphide of Carbon for Fumigating- Combs 



"A York County Bee-Keeper " tells in the Canadian 

 Bee Journal about using 5 ounces of bisulphide of carbon in 

 a box holding 600 Quinby combs. He says : 



"About Oct. 10, an article appeared in the American 

 Bee Journal from the pen of that well-known apiarist, Mr. 

 F. Greiner, of New York, in which he stated his preference 

 for sulphur instead of the bisulphide, on the grounds that 

 such large quantities of the latter had to be bought to be 

 effective. Mr. Greiner said that it was estimated that one 

 ounce of the drug was necessary for every cubic foot to be 

 fumigated. According to that, the big box of combs should 

 have had more pounds than I had used ounces, so it was 

 with some trepidation that I hastened to have a look for 

 (possibly) moths and grubs galore. However, an examina- 

 tion showed everything to be in splendid condition ; not an 

 egg had developed since I had last looked at the combs in 

 August, and the grubs that were then present were all dead 

 and as black as tar. Surely, the bisulphide on the other 

 side of the line must be adulterated nearly as badly as those 

 basswood hams we used to hear of. No, thank you, as long 

 as 5 ounces of bisulphide of carbon will effectually fumi- 

 gate 600 combs, I have no use for sulphur and its sickening 

 fumes." 



To this Editor Craig adds this comment : 



" We think Mr. Greiner can not have used the drug 

 properly, else he would have had better results. We must 

 remember that the fumes of the bisulphide of carbon are 

 heavier than the air, and therefore their tendency will be 

 to descend or fall. The drug must, on that account, be 

 placed above the combs, and in a broad, shallow vessel of 

 some sort, giving as much surface as possible for rapid 



