218 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



December 



the event of the anticipated recurrence 

 of trouble. The Central California 

 people are members of the National 

 also, a fact upon which they are to be 

 congratulated. 



Mrs. Sarah A. Smith, of Grant. Fla., 

 who contributes this month an interest- 

 ing letter, advises us that her colonies 

 were increased from 80 to HO, and 

 about a ton of honey was secured. Mrs. 

 Smith believes in thoroughly studying 

 the apiarian journals, and has promis- 

 ed Bee-Keeper readers an article deal- 

 ing with this subject. 



Mr. John M. Rankin has resigned his 

 position as inspector of apiaries for the 

 State of Michigan, and Mr. W. Z. 

 Hutchinson takes up the work. We 

 are pleased to announce, however, that 

 Mr. Rankin's retirement from the in- 

 spectorship will not prevent him from 

 favoring our columns with an occasion- 

 al article during the coming year. 



According to the Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view, the Dr. Gandy, of Nebraska, who 

 was reported to have made a fortune 

 by the production of catnip honey, 

 owns numerous farms which are work- 

 ed by his tenants for one-half of the 

 product; the shrewd doctor simply ab- 

 sorbing the other half as rental. Hon- 

 ey money is one thing, and oppression 

 monej' is another thing. 



fence separator and 'knock the stuf- 

 fing' out of them, then you will have 

 a yard of peaceable bees. A 'fence' 

 makes a dandy weapon to kill bees." 

 Bees, if once thoroughly maddened, 

 say by an accident, will certainly keep 

 it up, and bees that have only venom 

 in the "stuffing" ought to be out of 

 harm's way. But there are better in- 

 struments than a "dandy fence." — Irish 

 Bee Journal. 



Alley's system of nueen rearing is 

 strongly championed in the American 

 Bee-Keeper by Arthur C. Miller as the 

 best, and he says that Mr. Alley is 

 testing some changes not yet made pub- 

 lic. L. Stachelhausen also uses the 

 Alley plan and has less trouble than 

 the cell-cup plan. There is no doubt 

 that good queens can be reared by 

 either method. The small frames used 

 in nuclei do not necessarily form a part 

 of either plan, but not all will agree 

 with the first part of his statement when 

 he says: "As fine queens as any one 

 should desire can.be reared with a cup- 

 ful of bees, and as poor queens as ever 

 lived may be produced by a bushel of 

 bees." Unless he means that the cells are 

 to be first reared in a strong colony. — 

 American Bee Journal. 



"Hitter," in Australasian Bee-Keep- 

 er, says: "The best method for pre- 

 venting bees swarming is to manipulate 

 them so as to get as large a yield of 

 honey as possible per hive." If asked 

 as to the best method for securing the 

 largest possible yield of honey per hive, 

 "Hitter" would probably advise us to 

 manipulate them so as to prevent 

 swarming. That's simple enough, sure- 

 ly. 



Everyone knows what it is to have a 

 dozen angry bees pestering him while 

 the rest of the colony remain quiet and 

 peaceable under manipulation. Is this 

 wrath inherent in the dozen, and will 

 they keep it up the next day and next 

 month? Shiber, in the American Bee- 

 Keeper, says that they are the incurable 

 few. "Don't leave the apiary and leave 

 this guard to keep this thing up as long 

 as they live, for they will. Pick up a 



The Canadian experts are dead nuts 

 on split tops. J. B. Hall, one of the 

 largest comb honey producers in the 

 world, is happy in having never used 

 them, says they are good enough for an 

 amateur, but require too much scrap- 

 ing for a professional, for "wherever 

 there is beeswax the bees add more to 

 it and you have it to scrape ofif," and 

 the convention cried out "agreed." I 

 suppose we use 1,000 snlit tops to one 

 not split in Ireland, aye, and three split 

 sections also. Do we have to scrape 

 more now than in the old days of the 

 melted-wax fixing? I think not. Friend 

 Hall is in for saving time. He ought 

 to come over here and see our "ama- 

 teurs'' fixing foundation in three sec- 

 tions at one squeeze. Give me the 

 three split for time saving. We have 

 never had bees add wax to the foun- 

 dation outside of the sections, whether 

 one split or three split; they don't get 

 the chance with one-fourth inch car- 

 riers. Editor Hill does not consider 

 the split top an improvement, but per- 

 haps like friend Hall, he hasn't tried 

 it. — Irish Bee Journal. 



