212 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



Nonemher 



' 'To remove propolis from the hands 

 rub well with lard, which loosens 

 the propolis; wash off the lard with 

 soap and water and the hands will 

 be clean." Here is another "kink" 

 from the same journal: "When the 

 nozzle of your smoker becomes 

 clogged and sticky with soot, squirt 

 in with an oil can a few drops of 

 kerosene oil and light with a match. 

 In a few minutes the soot will be 

 burned to a blister, when it can be 

 I'eadily scraped off with a knife, 

 and your smoker will be as good as 

 new." 



Mr. H. G. Quirin, Parkertown, 

 Ohio, suggests the following remedy 

 for ants, where they trouble in 

 the apiary: "One-half pint crude 

 carbolic acid, half pint turpentine; 

 mix with half bushel air-slacked 

 lime; let it stand a day or two and 

 scatter on the ant-hills, or where 

 they may bother." This mixture 

 may prove valuable where the ants 

 are of the "ant-hill" variety and 

 not scattered over the whole coun- 

 try,, as in South Florida. In this 

 locality it would be a waste of time 

 and material to mix less than a 

 thousand bushels of the preparation 

 at a time, or to plaster less than a 

 half-mile square cf the earth's 

 surface with it. 



W. S. Hart, of Volusia County, 

 Fla. , writes : ' 'Your predictions as 

 to prices of honey seem destined to 

 be fulfilled, judging by present quo- 

 tations and the eager search for a 

 market supply. If you still hold 

 your crop you will probably profit 

 by your foresight." Mr. Hart re- 

 ports an increase of twenty-four 

 colonies from his seventy-eight, and 

 a crop of 6,250 pounds of honey, 

 with every colony now in prime 

 condition and a good .supply of win- 

 ter stores. Our own apiaries have 

 been run more for queens than for 



honey during the past season; hence 

 the price of honey will not materi- 

 allly affect our personal interests. 



Our thanks are due Mr. Adolph 

 G. Horn, Dolgeville, N.Y., for a 

 nice photo of a large swarm of bees, 

 clustered on a tree in his apiary. 

 The picture is rendered doubly in- 

 teresting by the information that 

 the swarm includes one of The Bee- 

 keeper queens, of which he writes: 

 "The queen received of you in May 

 I put in a hive which I had divided 

 a week before, using half of the 

 brood-combs. I have taken forty- 

 eight pounds of comb-honey from 

 the hive, and on August 4th it cast 

 this swarm. It is a big one, too." 

 We shall prize the photo very much 

 and are pleased to know that 

 The Amerian Bee-keeper queens 

 are giving such a good account of 

 themselves. 



In the October number of The 

 Bee-keeper, page 193, we spoke of 

 the use of dry sulphur as a cure for 

 paralysis, and noted the detri- 

 mental effect of the practice upon 

 the combs thus treated. Mr. O. O. 

 Poppleton, the originator of the 

 plan, advises us that he has now in 

 operation a series of very thorough 

 experiments by which it is sought 

 to obviate this one objection to the 

 use of sulphur. It appeal's that the 

 bees only are sprinkled after having 

 the brood-combs removed. Other 

 new ideas were revealed also, which 

 bid fair to be productive of much 

 good in the handling of colonies dis- 

 eased in this way, but it is too 

 early to speak with assurance, Mr. 

 Poppleton thinks. 



«t 



A great deal has been said re- 

 cently in some of our exchanges 

 iH^garding a new method of intro- 

 ducing, by the use of a piece of per- 

 forated cardboard over the candy 



