Vol. XIII 



AUGUST, 1903 



No. 8 



A MEDLEY. 



I The Editor.) 



AS HAS BEEN stated in previous 

 issues of Tlie Bee-Keeper. Mr. 

 O. O. Poppletou comes with his 

 bees every summer to the vicinity of 

 Fort Pierce to secure the mangrove 

 honey harvest. This season weather 

 conditions hereabouts have been such 

 that bee-lvcepers liave often found 

 time more pressiii.c than apiarian du- 

 ties, and as a result the editor's sanc- 

 tum has frequently been enlivened by 

 discussions and social l)ee-chats with 

 this venerable apiaiMst. Under such 

 co!iditions it has not taken long for 

 Mr. Poppletou and the writer to sift 

 the Avheat from th(» chaff, as dished 

 up in the columns of the various l)ee 

 journals of the country, as they have 

 ari-ived. Mr. Poppletou" s long, varied 

 and successful experience with bees 

 enable him to grasp ver.v quickl.v the 

 most minute points having a bearing 

 upon the practical side of apiarian 

 questions. The fact that his hive is 

 of the type known as the "Long 

 Ideal." and is. therefore, all on the 

 "ground-floor." keeps him in constant 

 touch with the operations within the 

 brood chamber, and it is doubtful if 

 anyone in the United States is quite 

 so conversant with the particular and 

 minute points which have to do with 

 bee life in the lirood chamber. Aside 

 from this, his hain't of carefully read- 

 ing the .lournals, and a mind naturally 

 alert for that which is good, and no 

 less keen to detect error, giiided by 

 mature experience, render him a most 

 agreeable companion to those whose 



interest centres upon similar lines of 

 thought. 



WILD CUCUMBER. 



Out at the convention of Chicago- 

 Xorthwestern people, in Chicago, as 

 reported in the American Bee .Journal, 

 the sub.iect of "Bee-pasture" engrossed 

 the attention of the participants, 

 and wild cucumber came in for consid- 

 eration. Avith the result that whilt it 

 was known to yield largely in certain 

 quarters, in others it proved utterly 

 valueless. Mr. Poppletou says is plain 

 enough. Even in this locality, we have 

 two distinct kinds of "wild cucumber," 

 neither of which elicit the attention of 

 the bees. "The fact is," .says he, "there 

 are so many different kinds of vines 

 known as wild cucumber, that the 

 word means nothing at all. Doubtless, 

 many of them belong to different fam- 

 ilies, and their nectar-secreting char- 

 acteristics are necessarily correspond- 

 ingly different." 



HIVE COVERS. 

 At thi^ same convention Dr. Nussh- 

 spoke in approval of the telescopic 

 hive-cover, claiming a particular ad- 

 vantage ill this st>ie of its disinclina- 

 tion to warp. addiTional air-space 

 above and around the top. and its 

 quality of resisting winds and other 

 disturbing influences, such as cattle, 

 etc. Like Mr. Dadant, :Mr. Poppletou 

 is an ardent advocate ot this sort of 

 cover, laying especial stress upon the 

 advantage of the air chamber on top. 

 Mr. ,T. B. Hall, of Canada, uses a 

 deep rim supplied with a flat lid, which 



