1900 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPEB 



171 



We have received quite a number 

 of contributions of late, but would 

 be pleased to have a more general 

 response from our amateur readers 

 throughout the country. 



Matter for publication should be 

 w^ritten upon one side only of the 

 paper. Number the pages and 

 write any business or matter not 

 intended for publication, on a sep- 

 arate sheet. 



An exchange says the secret of 

 getting beeswax of a bright yellow 

 color is to "allow it to cool slowly." 

 Our contemporary would increase 

 its prestige with the bee-keeping 

 fraternity by running in a lot of 

 slugs and quads instead of such 

 information (?). 



Some dealers as well as some of 

 our contemporary journals con- 

 tinue to express the belief that lower 

 prices will rule later in the season. 

 Some assert that there are indica- 

 tions of a large crop having been 

 harvested. It is the individual 

 opinion of The Bee-keeper that 

 the genei^al crop is small and that 

 better prices will prevail. We see 

 nothing to indicate a decline. 



Some of our contributors, to 

 whom premiums were sent, have 

 kindly reminded us of an earlier 

 assurance that they were not writ- 

 ing for money. We appreciate 

 such courtesies, but cannot suspend 

 an established rule of the paper. If 

 our friends have no personal use for 

 the cash, there may be some char- 

 itable institution which has. 



When acknowledging the receipt 

 of his premium last month, Mr. S. 

 M. Keeler, Chenango Bridge, N.Y., 

 wrote: "Everything is drying up 

 in this section. We had some I'ain 

 early in July. Very little honey 



for me this season," Mr. Keeler 

 tells also of a neighboring bee- 

 keeper who, with one hundred col- 

 onies, secured no surplus honey 

 either last year or during the past 

 season. This appears to be one of 

 the seasons in which many have to 

 report short crops or entire fail- 

 ures, while no one claims a heavy 

 yield. 



Interesting advances have been 

 made in commercial queen-rearing 

 as well as in simplified methods 

 adapted to the needs of the ama- 

 teur. The plan of removing the 

 queen and allowing the bees to use 

 larvae of their own selection, and 

 diminutive cells for their develop- 

 ment, has not given satisfactory 

 results and may now be counted 

 among the things of the past. We 

 are arranging to publish an illus- 

 trated number in the near future to 

 be devoted largely to this subject, 

 giving in detail the latest ideas. 

 Suggestions from our readers will 

 be accepted with gratitude. 



Information at hand would indi- 

 cate that the honey crop geiierally 

 is short. Some sections have been 

 favored with a fair yield, while 

 many ethers have given nothing. 

 We give below the concluding para- 

 graph from a private letter from 

 H. G. Quirin, Parkertown, Ohio; 

 and many others report a similar 

 experience: "A single swarm in 

 our locality, at the time when white 

 clover ought to have been at its 

 height, would have starved if they 

 had had to depend on what they 

 got from the fields, for a living. 

 As white clover is our main de- 

 pendence, you can readily under- 

 stand what it nieans to have it 

 fail." 



NOISY BEES. 



Mr. S. M. Kyle, Bethany, Ore., 



