THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



175 



complains of losses whicli he has 

 sustained from following unreliable 

 advice. Beekeepers, it would seem, 

 are often so enthusiastic of the 

 success of new ideas, that they 

 publish for facts, what are only 'un- 

 tested theories. We see this in the 

 hundreds of inventions about hives 

 and in the management of bees. The 

 bee papers are full of untested 

 theories, all laid down, as though 

 proven. Tlie losses resulting from 

 attempts to carry out these theories 

 must, in the aggregate, be very 

 great. But those prone to ex- 

 periment with every new idea, 

 should remember the injunction : 

 "Prove all things, hold fast to that 

 which is good." Let the experi- 

 ments be first tried on a small scale 

 and later we may embark our all iji 

 them. 



In a recent number of the "New 

 York Tribune," a noted beekeeper 

 and college professor tells how to 

 destroy moths which ma}' be in 

 empty combs. If followed out, his 

 directions are ver}' excellent for 

 burning down the house, if per- 

 formed in-doors. They are, in 

 short : put the combs in a box in 

 Avhich are live coals, on which 

 sprinkle some sulphur. The fumes 

 will do the work, also the flame 

 melt and set fire to the wax and 

 the house. A friend of mine had 

 just such an experience this spring. 

 I told her to dig a hole in the 

 ground, put some coals in it, sprin- 

 kle sulphur on Ihein, and set the 

 hive over the hole. But to im[)rove 

 on m}' plan, she put the coals and 

 sulphur on a flat vessel on a brick 

 floor in the wash kitchen, and set 

 the hive over them. The result 

 was a nari'ovv escape of the house. 



Leivisburg, Pa. 



Fur the American Apiculturist. 



A DULL DAY IN MAY. 

 WEEDS. 



Mrs. H. Hills. 



I HAVE often wondered how one 

 would get through with the dull, 

 dark da3's which sometimes come 

 in this month, were it not for the 

 weeds. One, finally, becomes tired 

 of remaining in doors and putting 

 up sections, even the white, deli- 

 cate, pearl-like things, sent b}'' 

 Doctor Tinker. 



We wander out and take a look 

 at the bees, but they seem to par- 

 take of the universal dullness. 

 Now and then one, more alert 

 than the rest, starts out on a lone- 

 some journey, and another comes 

 quietly home, looking, as though 

 after all, it were hardly worth the 

 trouble. A few are dozing at the 

 entrances, while now and then 

 one comes slowly out and takes a 

 view of the prospect, then deliber- 

 ately turns back and disappears 

 again from sight. 



We ramble off, under the dull, 

 gray sky, to where the lettuce, 

 young onions and cabbages are 

 congregated. We have not been 

 here for several days, but the weeds 

 have. Are weeds matter out of 

 place? Some of them must feel 

 that they somehow placed them- 

 selves in a wrong position, if they 

 judge from the manner in which 

 they are immediately and effectu- 

 ally rooted out. We are well ac- 

 quainted with them all ; and as we 

 saunter on, by the palings and 

 hedge-rows, many, which were for- 

 merly doomed to early death, are 

 now spared. Dandelion, catnip, 

 motherwort, mustard, jill-over-the- 

 ground and others, so long as they 

 do not intrude on the garden beds, 

 are not molested. Now and then, 

 Ave see a solitary bee taking his 

 lonely dinner. On other days, 



