THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



(17 



give your bees a good supply of empty 

 combs before the beginning of the 

 honey crop and keep them at work 

 they will rarely swarm. But if they 

 once find themselves crowded and get 

 the swarming fever nothing will keep 

 them from swarming. 



TO GET THE BEES STARTED IN THE 

 SECTIONS. 



Have your sections all ready be- 

 fore the honey flow begins, with good 

 starters of comb foundation in them, 

 which is very quickly done with foun- 

 dation fastener, or if you have no such 

 machine you can do very good work 

 with a common table knife. Lay the 

 edge of the strip of foundation in the 

 middle of the top part of the section. 

 You can then, with the point of a stiff 

 knife, press the edge of the comb so 

 firmly against tne wood that the wax 

 will adhere to it. To do this you must 

 choose a warm day; if it is too cool 

 the wax won't work. To get the bees 

 started to work it is best to put in 

 some sections with some comb in them. 

 If we have any unfinished sections left 

 over from the previous season, which 

 all bee-keepers will have, these are 

 very enticing to the bees, and will not 

 fail to start them at work, especially 

 if the honey flow is good and the bees 

 are strong in numbers. 



SPRING DWINDLING. 



This I think is caused mostly by bees 

 going into winter quarters in poor 

 condition. Many beginners get anx- 

 ious to increase their bees and divide 

 too much, and consequently go into 

 winter quarters with their bees Aveak 

 in number, and if the spring is late 

 and backward their bees will dwindle 

 out or die off with old age before they 

 can rear brood enough to recuperate ; 



and when the bee-keeper, finds his col- 

 onies all dying off he is likely to want 

 to sell out and go west, with blasted 

 hopes. To prevent it we must begin 

 the season before by building all our 

 colonies up into good strong ones, and 

 we will not have much dwindling. 

 Keep all your colonies good and 

 strong. 



Sang Run, Garrett Co., Md. 



" Friend " in Apiculture. 



BY F. H . DEWEY. 



" I do not like to be addressed as 

 " friend " by a man I never saw. A 

 community of sentiment on one par- 

 ticular subject does not warrant men 

 in employing it when speaking of or 

 to each other. Nobody uses it under 

 such circumstances except American 

 bee-keepers. — Contrib. in C. B. J. 



Are bee-keepers over sentimental in 

 the general address "friend," is it 

 cajolery, and are the class insiduous 

 flatterers, or is it a misnomer ? Very 

 few men think seriously, especially 

 non-bee men, as the writer above, and 

 many who are new in the pursuit 

 wonder at the unusual salutation. 

 Here are utter strangers, half and 

 more than half of the continent be- 

 tween them, and one without an intro- 

 duction or without a seconds intimaey 

 steps into the private apartment which 

 each one has in his sentiments marked 

 " friendship," and there takes his place 

 with the assurance of a familiar ac- 

 quaintance, upon the sole pretext of 

 like business, because, forsooth, each 

 know the same class of insects. A 

 merchant or mechanic would look at 

 this as undue familiarity, it might be 

 insinuation or ofticiousness, the former 

 implying a selfish end, the latter either 

 self-conceit or contempt. But we 

 could be hardly warranted in deriving 



