46 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



while not giving our side of the story, 

 yet, and, indeed, affording us very 

 meagre justice, exonerates us from the 

 charges originally made, and places 

 The G, B. Lewis Co. in an unenviable 

 position. Brother Newman writes us 

 that he would never have written the 

 original article had he known the truth 

 of the matter at first, — and we believe 

 him. 



The discount offer was withdrawn 

 after our January number,as on think- 

 ing the subject over carefully we con- 

 cluded that it would incur a large 

 amount of extra work during the busy 

 season, not only for ourselves but our 

 many advertisers also; still, we do not 

 think it the "foolish idea" Bro. New- 

 man does ; he looks at it from a biased 

 standpoint. Many of the largest man- 

 ufacturers and dealers in the country 

 approved of the idea. 



It is a matter of sincere regret to us 

 thaf The G. B. Lewis Co. should evi- 

 dence so much "hard feeling" toward us, 

 as we are entirely innocent of ever hav- 

 ing done them any intentional wrong. 

 We have always endeavored to so live, 

 and transact our business, that when 

 our career is ended, as end it must 

 sometime, we can count all asour/nenefe. 



It is not always econnray to purchase 

 the cheapest hive you can get. The 

 best way for beginners is to look 

 around and investigate the merits of 

 the different hives, then purchase the 

 one having the most good points. It 

 may cost a little more but if you can 

 manipulate and protect your bees bet- 

 ter in it, and consequently obtain larg- 

 er surplus, is it not the cheapest hive 

 after all ? But by all means decide up- 

 on a standard make of hive, so that 

 your supplies will not always be 



" odd," and then when your order is 

 sent in to your supply dealer in the 

 '"busy season " you can get your 

 goods promptly and will not have to 

 wait for them to be made. 



There are some who advocate a less 

 number of bee-keeping appliances, but 

 we fail to catch their arguments. 

 Every bee-keeper is not compelled to 

 use them all, and while one man may 

 use one style of appliance another may 

 prefer a totally different one for the 

 same purpose. Then, too, this theory 

 of frowning down upon new inven- 

 tions would eventually debar us from 

 the advantages of any new methods 

 that might otherwise be discovered. 

 It is an "old fogy " idea. 



The Bee-Keepers Record, (English), 

 after commenting on the unusually' se- 

 vere winter they have been experienc- 

 ing in England and Europe, says : 



" Where bees have been fed up well 

 with good cane-sugar syrup they seem 

 to have borne the frost well, judging 

 by the few accounts reaching us of 

 bees having ' had a flight,' and, though 

 a good many dead are found on floor- 

 boards it need cause little surprise, see- 

 that the dead of the last two months or 

 more are there, and have so accumu- 

 lated through the bees not having had 

 a chance to carry their dead comrades 

 away — as they usually do at intervals 

 of a week or so — that we do not won- 

 der at some alarm being felt. So far, 

 however, as w y e can gather, stocks are 

 generally 'alive and wonderfully well,' 

 as one report has it, and but for the 

 dysentery already mentioned, we have 

 the best of reasons for hoping that the 

 'open time,' which may uow be looked 

 for any day, will prove that well-hived 

 bees are in good health, which means 

 being in good heart for starting breed- 

 ing as soon as the thermometer rises a 

 little." 



The winter there has been about like 

 one of our average New York winters. 



