104 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Siftiiuis in Btc Culture. 



CONDUCTKU BY M. A. KELLEY. 



Does the Bee-hive wish to go on 

 record as saying that the bees are not 



aiumals? 



Dr. A. B. Mason says that am- 

 monia in water will remove propolis 

 from the hands. 



A sure way, and the only one to 

 entirely prevent the building of brace- 

 combs — don't keep bees. 



The fraternity of beekeepers surely 

 have great reason to be proud of the 

 noble band of men that have editorial 

 control of our different bee journals. 



If you would make beekeeping pay 

 you must stick to it. "One swallow 

 does not make a summer," nor will one 

 or two years make a thoroughly prac- 

 tical beekeeper. 



Fruit bloom was an entire failure 

 in this locality [southwestern West 

 Va.], and the bees are in poor condi- 

 tion to enter the white clover harvest 

 which is now at hand. 



Mr. A. E. Manum says in Glean- 

 ings that he has used with success hard 

 soap on the top-bars and the bottoms 

 of the sections as a preventive of 

 brace-comb building. 



A crying need of the trade in liquid 

 honey is some kind of cheap recepta- 

 cle to retail a pound or two up to 

 about ten. It should compare in 

 cheapness with the one-piece section. 

 As material of which to make them 

 howf would waxed paper do? 



"Speaking of the combs in sections 

 Dr. Miller sa}' s : — To have them well 

 fastened, put a strip of foundation at 

 the top and bottom." This, coming, 



as it does, from a leading comb hone\' 

 producer should carry with it nuich 

 weight. 



We reverse tlu; sections to secure solid 

 coiiii)s ill sections. Should suy tliat the 

 Dr. is a little oil" in his way. — Ed.] 



The open-side section has had its 

 day. That day is drawing to a close. 

 Mr. Root says, "our orders for sec- 

 tions made with open sides are get- 

 ting to be few and far between. 



I used two thousand of them the 

 last two seasons but I shall use them 

 no more. Dr. Miller says he is a "lit- 

 tle skeptical" as to the advantages 

 that have been claimed for them but 

 if he would use them by the thousand 

 during poor seasons he would soon 

 become a "big skeptic." 



Artilicial pollen is the subject of a 

 question in the Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal for May the first. From the gen- 

 eral drift of the replies one woidd lie 

 led to suppose that the practice of giv- 

 ing the bees artificial pollen is losing 

 ground in the estimation of many lead- 

 ing beekeepers. It is of doubtful util- 

 ity anywa_y and will soon be relegated 

 to the limbo of wornout fussy fancies. 



It is not now common, as it was 

 some few years ago, for beekeepers to 

 try to induce every Tom, Dick and 

 Harry to go into the bee business. 

 We gain some wisdom as the years go 

 by. Mixed beekeeping, that is, bee- 

 keeping in connection with other over- 

 shadowing pursuits, will not and can- 

 not pay. You cannot keep bees and 

 do a dozen other things and do either 

 well. One thing well done is worth 

 a dozen failures. 



Close spacing of the brood frames 

 is gaining ground. The time is com- 

 ing when all frames will be spaced 

 not more than one and three-eighths 

 inches from centre to centre. "I think, 

 should I begin beekeeping again, I 

 should use frames that would be but 

 one and three-eighths inches from cen- 



