iyo2 



THE AMERICAN BUE-KEEPER 



Do 



half of the flat covers blown off and the 

 frames covered with snow; most of the 

 cloths also having blown off- I shall 

 make kindling wood of all of these 

 nuisances this season. They are subject 

 to all the objections that C. A. Hatch 

 mentions in the Bee-Keepers' Review, 

 and more too. A telescope cover, cov- 

 ered w-ith tin or other metal and paint- 

 ed white, (painted tin seems to be cool- 

 er in hot weather than wood) fills every 

 requirement that a flat cover can, and 

 quite a number that a flat cover can't 

 fill. It keeps the bees always dry, helps 

 to retain the heat, never blows off, 

 protects the bees from robbers in 

 feeding, etc. If made right they are 

 nearly as cheap as the flat covers and 

 are the only sensible cover to use. 



"Does clipping queens' wings cause 

 the bees to supersede their queens," 

 is a question frequently asked, and 

 which I answer both yes and no. If 

 done in a bungling manner, yes; but if 

 done right, no. Last fall I ordered a 

 queen from a prominent advertiser and 

 directed him to clip the left wing w-hen 

 caging her. The queen arrived wnth 

 both wings on each side clipped oflf 

 close to her body — one of the worst 

 mangled queens I ever saw. Anyone 

 doing such bungling work as this ought 

 to be exposed by name. I now find the 

 bees preparing to supersede her. A 

 few daj's ago I was talking with two 

 of my friends who keep bees and they 

 both condemned the practice of clip- 

 ping queens' wings because "the bees 

 always supersede such queens.'' Upon 

 inquiry I found they clipped all the 

 parts of the wings on both sides close. 

 When only about one-half of the large 

 wing on one side is clipped (the right 

 way to clip) there will be but few cases 

 o-f superseding on account of clipping 

 the wings. 



Tophet. W. Va., April 1902. 



Deacon Hardscrabble III. 



Instead of the usual letter for his de- 

 partment this month, the deacon writes 

 somewhat apologetically, stating that 

 he had been unusually busy with the 

 bees, and hoeing his large patch of 

 sweet potatoes; and as a result of the 

 violent exercise and extreme hot 

 weather, he suffered a slight physical 

 collapse. His somewhat incoherent 

 style — which may be observed in the 



appended criticisms, which were pen- 

 ned in a nervous hand — together with 

 the fact that he wished the editor a 

 very "Merry Christmas," gives some 

 ground for our fears that the deacon 

 may have suffered a sunstroke. We 

 hope next month to present his kindly 

 face, as usual: 



"You beekeepers are. a quarrelsome 

 lot, you are always fighting among 

 yourselves" quoth a bugologist of na- 

 tional reputation to me recently. And 

 the worst of it is, he's right. Wonder if 

 it is due to the constant prodding we 

 get from the bees? Be that as it may, 

 we're a peppery crowd. For a year 

 agone we have been lamming each 

 other's heads over breeding matters; 

 who's to blame? Why that bland little 

 Rhode Islander. Didn't ye mind with 

 what seeming innocence he tossed the 

 subject at us? And now I reckon he 

 is laughing in his sleeve. 



What's to be the next bone of con- 

 tention? 



Besides pepperiness we are obtuse, 

 deucedly so. Brother Secor said, "I 

 can't, shan't and won't serve as Gen- 

 eral Manager another year,'' but we 

 elected him nevertheless, and he polite- 

 ly threw his books at our head and I 

 presume wished us in some hotter 

 place than the United States. Leastwise 

 if he didn't he'd oughter. What of it'' 

 Well, a lot of it, and it's rapidly get- 

 ting no better. Who's to blame? Oh, 

 congress I reckon. 



What a jolly lot of rot is printed 

 about manipulations. To some the only 

 successful path seems to lie through a 

 labryinth of methods and details. Such 

 and such things to get bees ready for 

 the harvest, another such and such to 

 get 'em over it, another lot to put in 

 queens. Why if you wnll just kick the 

 stuffin' out o' them or into them as the 

 case may be, they'll do your bidding 

 like little devils set at mischief. Where 

 do you opine Brother Coggshall 

 would come out if he worked the "pot- 

 tering systems" in his yards? Oh, give 

 us more such "horse sense." Now that 

 chap up in Cuba, X. Y., needn't take 

 that as a sugar plum. But he's all right 

 though and is doing good work along 

 lines most of trri ara worse than ignor- 

 ant of. \Vcrse thai^ ignorant of, because 

 what some know ahs't so. All so afflict- 

 ed had better shut up and go way back 

 and sit down. 



Wish you'd leave some of those 



