284 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[December, 



fective, and marked him as a genius 

 in that hne. His business of a nursery- 

 man gave him a wide acquaintance and 

 his bhifif and hearty manner won him 

 many friends. (M.) 



The Fred W. Muth Company, Cin- 

 cinnati, report an active business in 

 honey. Mr. Muth, the president and 

 manager of the firm, being an apiarist 

 himself, is very much in sympathy with 

 the producers and keeps in close touch 

 with the fraternity. Fair dealing and 

 promptness in remitting for shipments 

 purchased is a hobby with the com- 

 pany, as it has been with preceding 

 generations of the Muth family en- 

 gaged in the honey business; and this 

 characteristic is doubtless largely re- 

 sponsible for the success of the house. 



(H.) 



We wish to call particular attention 

 to the article in this issue by Mr. Lath- 

 am. His explanation of the when and 

 why of feeding for winter is most com- 

 plete and we surmise that much of it 

 will be new to most of the veterans. 

 But we still insist that the novice, the 

 careless man and the procrastinator 

 had better do or begin to do the work 

 earlier than the time given by Mr. 

 Latham. The skilled operator can 

 work with bees without harm to them 

 when the novice cannot. Furthermore, 

 the skilled one will be sure to do the 

 work wisely, thoroughly and quickly. 

 Other folks must begin earlier or 

 spring will overtake them. (M.) 



In the November A. B. K., Mr. 

 Braun asks how to get pollen from the 

 combs so that it can be used in some 

 sort of drink. Clean combs containing 

 it may be crushed in cold water. The 

 pollen will settle and the wax flakes 

 will rise. It is easier to get it before it 

 goes into the combs. Push a hive 

 forward on the bottom board until 

 front of hive and bottom are flush. 

 Close the space at back of hive with 

 a board. Across the entrance fasten 

 a sheet of queen-excluding zinc, having 

 the openings placed vertically instead 

 of horizontally. Place a pan or dish 

 to catch the pollen for nearly every 

 bee will lose her load. The hive should 

 be high enough from the ground to 

 permit the pan to extend a little under 

 the bottom. The pollen should be dis- 

 posed of every night, because it moulds 

 or ferments quickly, 

 ferments so readily 

 gives it its value in 

 the man puts it. 



Are hive stands worth while or is it 

 better to have the hives set on bricks 

 or stones? The writer has tried both 

 ways and now has all hives on racks 

 the tops of which are one foot above 

 the surface of the ground. The bees 

 do better and the work of caring for 

 them is less arduous. The racks are 

 merely rectangular frames made of 

 spruce boards six inches wide by one 

 and one-quarter inches thick. Into 

 each corner of the frame is nailed a 

 leg, sometimes made of a piece of 2x2 

 scantling, twelve inches long, some- 

 times merely a twelve inch piece of the 

 same material the racks are made of. 

 Some racks take two hives, others take 

 four or six, in which latter case a cross 

 piece and extra pair of legs are put in 

 the middle. Make some this winter 

 and try them. (M.) 



The fact that it 

 is probably what 

 the use to which 

 (M.) 



Editor Root, of "Gleanings," seems 

 to be an easy mark for nature fakers. 

 If it isn't bees' heads for ramrods it is 

 catnip, and if it isn't catnip, it is some- 

 thing else. His latest misfortune is 

 to give fulsome praise to a lot of 

 photos of combs extolling them as 

 fine examples of the habits of the bees. 

 Special attention is drawn to the elon- 

 gated "attachment cells," and to a 

 "beautiful" example of comb "built 

 against glass." Every one of the 

 combs were built from foundation put 

 in wrong way up and the resultant 

 shapes of the attachment cells are ab- 

 normal. As for the comb built against 

 the glass one has but to look at the 

 picture to see the fragments of broken 

 cell walls where the comb was cut. 

 The thin edges of cell walls shown are 

 cut edges. A bee cannot "build" such 

 an edge, producing such only when 

 tearing down. Furthermore, when at- 

 taching comb to glass it is always done 

 in a lumpy manner, broad irregular 

 masses of wax marking every cell 

 wall. We trust that Mr. Root will 

 change his mind and not put the mis- 

 leading pictures in his text book. (M.) 



Mrs. Geo. W. York, wife of the editor 

 of the American Bee Journal, Chica- 

 go, died October 14, 1907. The sym- 

 pathies of the apiarian fraternity are 

 with Mr. York in his bereavement. 



