THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



November 



best to "cast poarls before swine," in 

 trying to teach an imbecile how to grade 

 honey, but I do think I have a duty to 

 perform by giving my very best en- 

 deavors toward teaching every bright 

 boy or girl how to become experts at 

 grading honey or grading anything else 

 in the right way, which I have reason to 

 believe I am right about myself. And 

 why? So that these girls and boys may 

 grow up in a way to be of more benefit 

 in the world than I have been, and that 

 thus, by every succeeding generation, 

 this world may be lifted up and up to a 

 higher plain — a plain nearer God. Just 

 set up two or three sections of each of 

 the different grades you wish to sort 

 your honey into, friend Greiner. and 

 tell those inexperienced pei'sons, who 

 are fairly adapted to do things in the 

 world, to sort the honey as you have 

 given them pattern, and see how quickly 

 they will "catch on." Use a little pa- 

 tience and stay by them a little time till 

 they succeed, and then go away by 

 yourself and see what a joy will come, 

 because you have not only helped your- 

 self, but iielped somebody else also, and 

 put them in a way of securing a living 

 for themselves. The masses do not 

 want charity from those who have be- 

 come experts at getting and ke(>ping 

 the good things of this world, but they 

 want justice, through their having a 

 chance equal to their ability to com- 

 ')rehend and use the things which are 

 ■'heirs by right. But I must not dwell 

 longer on friend Greiner's article, 

 though there are several other points I 

 would like to touch upon. 



STKADY, BR0TIIP:K EDITOK. 



1 have read that "Clipping Queens'" 

 article over and over again, and the 

 •:nore I read it the more I wonder if Doo- 

 little could ever become that calm that 

 he could clip Hro. E. R. Root's $200 

 queen t)ie way he advocates. I have 

 clipped thousands of que(Mis, but I never 

 yet attempted to clip a very valuable 

 queen but what a sort of shaking pro- 

 cess comes over ine. in a nervous anx- 



iety not to harm the queen. I iiave 

 said over and over again that I would 

 not get nervous when thinking of clip- 

 ping valuable queens; but the matter 

 always turned out in the same way it 

 did when I declared "I would not shake" 

 when I had the fever and ague, for 1 

 just simply had to shake whether I 

 would or no. So I say "steady" in this, 

 matter, for all are not like the writer of 

 that article; no, nor even like the seven- 

 year-old boy, so nicely pictured for 

 us. Then I wondered what the writer 

 of the article, say nothing about th."^ 

 boy, would do when trying to clip a 

 black queen (remember Bro. Greiner 

 keeps and advocates black bees) or a 

 poor grade of hybrid, which was contin- 

 ually on a "dead run" trying to get on 

 the other, or dark side of the comb. 

 The only way I could ever "engage th(; 

 tip of the wing" of such a queen was to 

 "lay hold" of her very much as a shep- 

 herd lays hold of an unruly sheep which 

 is trying to evade his grasp. But I do 

 advocate the sharp knife plan in prefer- 

 ence to any other, after trying every- 

 tliing which has been recommended. 



FILLED COMBS IN THE CENTEH OF THE 

 HIVE FOR WINTERING. 



There are several things in S. Fred. 

 Haxton's article, page 187, which 1 

 would like to notice, but time and space 

 forbid noticing more than one; and that 

 one reads, "The bet filled combs, which 

 are usually next the walls of the hive, 

 should be shifted to the center, as the 

 bees cluster there during the winter." 

 I would like to ask all of the readers of 

 The Bee-keeper who find this asser- 

 tion about clust<'ring true, to hold up 

 their hands. It is true where the most 

 empty comb is in the center; or. in 

 other words, the he(^s will establish their 

 winter cluster wiiere there is the most 

 empty comb, or where the last brood 

 emerged from, no matter whether 

 that empty coirib be in the center or at 

 one side of the iiives, as is frequently 

 the cast! with small colonies. And this 

 is invariably the case where combs have 



