118 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Siftinqs in Vnt (Eultitre. 



CONDUCTKD BY M. A. KELLEY. 



Mr. C. H. Dibbern has been invent- 

 ing some more and has now what he 

 says is a perfect bee-escape. 



Dr. Tinker has our thanks for a 

 copy of his new book. It is called 

 " Beekeeping for Profit," and it is, 

 like all of the doctor's productions, as 

 nearly perfect as human skill, care 

 and good judgment can make a book 

 of its size and scope. 



Many of the reports in the papers 

 indicate another poor honey year. 

 "Well, well, we must make the best of 

 it. 



The Beehive is printing a serial 

 poem. The " Hive" is rather small 

 to be filled with anything but nectar. 



Have you ever observed that bee- 

 keepers, as a class, are rather good- 

 looking? Or is it because only the 

 good-looking ones have their pictures 

 published? 



Mr. C. F. Muth, in a recent Gleari- 

 ings, gives much valuable information 

 about selling honey. Lack of space 

 forbids its reproduction here. Get 

 Gleanings and read for yourself. 



A neat idea of Mr. S. F. Newman 

 in A. B. J. is to teach the bees to 

 carry a few seeds of the svveet clover 

 and drop them where they will grow. 

 The point is, of course, to do this 

 yourself. 



What a grand thing it would be to 

 have all, or even a majority of the 

 " mooted points " in bee culture set- 

 tled finally and forever by some com- 

 petent authority ! But this I fear, 

 can never be. 



A great deal of nonsense about 

 "dead-air spaces" is to be found in 

 the papers. A "dead-air space," in 

 order to be such, must be airtight 

 and must be surrounded by exact 

 thermal equilibrium. 



A practical machine for uncapping 

 combs for extracting is the one great 

 need of large producers of liquid 

 honey. Let some genius invent one 

 at once. Siftings remembers that 

 there is such a machine in existence 

 but does not regard it a success. 



Our co-worker, Mr. E. L. Pratt, sent 

 out the first of April a bee-edition of 

 the Companion and Prize Weekly. 

 P'our of the eight large pages are de- 

 voted to beekeeping. Many of the 

 most useful hives and apiarian imple- 

 ments are nicely illustrated. 



A thing of beauty as well as util- 

 ity is Brother Newman's book, "Bees 

 and Honey." It should be in the 

 hands of every beekeeper in the land. 



It is largely rewritten and is fully 

 up with the times. It is well-nigh 

 perfection as to its illustrations, mat- 

 ter and make-up. 



Let the beginner start right. "Get 

 the best " is a good rule in beekeeping 

 as well as in other things. Get good 

 tools to work with, it will pay in real 

 comfort. To do a thing well requires 

 correct knowledge, great care and 

 good implements to work with. Cheap 

 thino;s are often dearest in the end. 



One great trouble as to hives in our 

 sunny south is that the flat-covered 

 boards will warp. I have lost sleep 

 nights trying to devise some sort of 

 flat-cover that would remain true. It 

 seems to me now that nothing but a 

 slab of stone will fill the bill? Have 

 any of our readers tried stone covers ? 



