204 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



ping the combs. Some day we may 

 have an uncapping machine, but, at 

 present, we must depend upon the 

 knife. The Bing-ham is really the 

 only uncapping knife worth consider- 

 ing. First, it must be kept sharp. 

 Next, it must be kept free from honey 

 and wax. This can be accomplished 

 by having two or three knives, stand- 

 ing them in water when not in use. 

 As soon as a knife becomes daubed up 

 and sticky with honey and wax, drop 

 it into a dish of water and pick up a 

 clean knife. The water soon dissolves 

 off the honey leaving the knife clean 

 and ready for business. Whether the 

 knife shall be kept in hot water, or 

 whether the water shall be cold, de- 

 pends upon circumstances. If the 

 extracting is done in hot weather, and 

 the combs uncapped as soon as taken 

 from the hives, while the honey is 

 warm, fresh and comparatively thin, a 

 cold knife is preferable; but if the ex- 

 tracting is not done until the season is 

 over, when the honey and combs are 

 stiffer from ripeness and lower tem- 

 perature, then the hot knife is more 

 desirable. 



SUCCKSS DEPENDENT UPON MANY 

 THINGS. 



Successful men are often asked why 

 they have succeeded — to give the secret 

 of their success. It can't be given in 

 a few words; in short, there is no 

 "secret of success;" it is the result of 

 many things. I was in a dentist's 

 chair the other day when a farmer 

 came in to talk with the dentist about 

 furnishing him with butter. The 

 dentist fell to talking with the farmer, 

 trying to find out why his butter was 

 superior: Was it because of what he 

 fed the cows, was it because he didn't 

 keep the cream until it was too old, or 

 was it because he churned it at a cer- 

 tain temperature, or was it this or was 

 it that? The farmer replied that but- 

 ter might be poor because some of 

 the points mentioned were neglected, 



and it might be one, or more, of a 

 great many other things. The dent- 

 ist replied, "I see; it is something 

 Irike this: If a filling drops out of a 

 tooth before the patient gets down 

 stairs, there is always a reason for it, 

 but it may be one of a thousand 

 things. " 



Then, as is often the case, I fell to 

 moralizing, or philosophying. Suc- 

 cess does not come from a single idea, 

 but from careful attention to many 

 things. The secret of a bee-keeper's 

 success is not in location alone, nor in 

 the kind of stock that he has, nor of 

 the methods of manipulation. It comes 

 from the proper combination of many 

 things; and the neglect of one factor 

 may destroy the effectiveness of others 

 most excellent in themselves. 



•uiTM't^^funMn. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



Mr. F. N. Somerford, in writing 

 from Cuba has the following to say on 

 the subject of over-stocking. 



"Mr. H. C. Morehouse, in his arti- 

 cle in the May Review, over looks, or 

 ignores, a very important point, viz. , 

 that overstocking renders it impossible 

 to have a large per cent, of strong col- 

 onies. A location not overstocked, 

 means a larger per cent, of strong col- 

 onies and big yields. Overstocking 

 means more work to keep the colonies 

 up to a given number, and greater 

 winter-losses. 



I have an apiary now located be- 

 tween two others, and it has given me 

 only three barrels of extracted, and 

 one crate of comb, honey; and I feel 

 certain that had there been no other 

 bees in the vicinity, I would have se- 

 cured a medium yield, as was the case 

 at other ranches having an open terri- 

 tory, or cut off upon only one side. 



I have another apiary where, three 

 years ago, 40 colonies did splendidly 

 through the spring, and were built up 

 to 200 colonies by swarming, divisions, 

 and bringing in bees from other yards, 

 and now they nearly starve in spring 



