13(5 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



POINTERS BY " SWARTHMORE." 



f If one could only bo brought to 

 think so, a China silk handkerchief, 

 tucked up under the back of the hat 

 so as to fall down over the shoulders, 

 leaving the face uncovered, is quite 

 as safe as a bee-veil and ten times more 

 comfortable. — Alley. 



f When the bees get ahead of you and 

 build a nice, straight comb outside the 

 follov^^er, do not attempt to cut it out at 

 once, but first trim off the top and place 

 a top-bar down onto it in proper position; 

 then, after the bees have attached the 

 comb nicely to the top-bar, cut loose the 

 sides and remove; brush off the bees, 

 take it to the honey-house and fit side 

 and bottom bars ; replace the perfect 

 comb iuside the follower and give that 

 colony an extra sheet of foundation to 

 work on, or more box room above. 



f If you want an extremely inexpen- 

 sive little house to work or store in 

 during the bee-season, use your storm 

 vestibule, which would otherwise be 

 useless during the summer. Cover the 

 back with tarpaulin — that is the only 

 expense connected with it. After the 

 bee-season is over, put it up to the front 

 door, as usual, to keep the wind away — 

 see ? 



f A most excellent feeder for stimu- 

 lating purpo-ips can be made from 

 burned-out electric incandescent lamps. 

 With an awl turn back the brass which 

 holds the little China disc at the end and 

 remove that insulator; then carefully 

 break away the glass so as to form a 

 wide opening into the bulb. Fill the 

 glass bulb with syrup, replace the China 

 disc and insert the brass socket throus:h 

 a one-inch hole in the honey-board, di- 

 rectly over the cluster. The bulb holds 

 just enough for stimulating purposes and 

 the bees cannot remove the syrup so 

 fast as to unduly excite the colony. If 

 you live in a place near an electric light- 

 ing plant, inill or factory, you will find 

 no trouble in getting all the burned-oUt 

 lamps you can use, "for a song" or less. 



" 'Tis easy to tell another how to do a 

 thing: 'tis another matter to do it one's 

 self." 



The National Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will hold its convention at 

 Buffalo, N. Y., September lU, 11 

 and 12. 



FROM OVER THE SEA. 

 A Review of Our French Exchanges. 



BY ADRIAN' GETAZ. 



THE question of stimulating- feediui; 

 in the Spring is in Europe as here, a 

 kind of lianquo ghosst awaking \\]t 

 every spring in presence of dwindliui; 

 colonies. 



The use of milk (Revue InternatUmnhri 

 is advocated as replacing pollen. It has 

 the advantage of being already partially 

 digested, if we may use that expression, 

 and can be used when bad weather 

 would not permit the bees to fly out and 

 take flour. The milk is mixed with half 

 its weight of sugar and the whole boiled 

 together, to melt the sugar and prevent 

 souring. 



Dr. Hecq (Pruyres Aplcole) rubs a few 

 drops of kerosene on his hands to avoid 

 stings. He says sometimes they start 

 against his hands, but stop short when 

 they realize that kerosene is there. It 

 is not often that an experienced apiarist 

 would need such a protection, but in 

 such cases I would rather use the kero- 

 sene than wear gloves. 



Another periodical ghost, also appear- 

 ing in the bee-papers of all nations, is 

 whether bees destroy their old combs 

 and build new ones in their place. Not- 

 withstanding the fact that the question 

 has been fully settled and proof has been 

 given several times (Revue Internationale) 

 that combs have been in existence ten, 

 fourteen, twenty and even twenty-five 

 years, some "smart Aleck" bobs up oc- 

 casionally, saying that he knows 

 better; that "practice is better than 

 theory," etc. 



Several bee-papers state that honey 

 from the "silver linden tree" is fatal to 

 bees, and that they die in quantities 

 when gathering nectar from its blossoms. 

 The silver linden is a very ornamental 

 tree, and should any attempt be made 

 to introduce it here, it might be well to 

 look into that matter. 



