70 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



March 



lieve, is trifling when we compare the 

 actual difference in cost. 



With the inside fixtures as I use the 

 chaff hive the cost in flat is only a few 

 cents above the cost of a two story 

 Simplicity hive with the same inside 

 fixtures. I think the advantages the 

 former hive has over the latter would 

 much more than balance the few cents 

 difference in price. The last objec- 

 tion may be considerable to those who 

 have out apiaries and are moving their 

 bees, or a part of them, from one lo- 

 cation to another frequently, but even 

 then I think the chaff hive will afford 

 enough better protection to the bees 

 that are where they do not receive the 

 close attention that those in the home 

 yard usually do, to recompense the 

 extra cost of moving. 



Falconer, N. Y. 



Among the Bee Papers. 



BY ED. JOLLEY. 



" The mating of queens may be con- 

 trolled by clipping the wings of the 

 queen ; thereby limiting the queen's 

 power of flight, lessening the speed of 

 her flight as well as power of endur- 

 ance to make a long flight ; thus more 

 than doubling the chances of mating 

 with select drones from the home api- 

 ary. Very satisfactory results attend- 

 ed the clipping 1-16 to 1-8 of an inch 

 from the queen's wings, care being 

 taken to clip the same amount from 

 each wing, so that the queen's balanc- 

 ing power may not be lost." — L. A. 

 Aspinwall, in the Review. This looks 

 like a long step in the right direction. 



R. C. Aikin says in the Progressive: 

 " We may get along without separa- 

 tors, and get good work done if we 

 have a bountiful honey flow and good 

 strong colonies of bees." He tried a 



partial use of a separator with very 

 good success when he had good honey 

 flows, but when the poor years came 

 the sections were bulged and irregular. 

 Emphatically so if the colonies were 

 not strong enough to begin work in all 

 the sections at once. From my own 

 experience I have noticed that it is 

 harder to get satisfactory work with- 

 out separators during the early, or 

 white clover honey flow, than it was 

 during the buckwheat flow. Presum- 

 able for the very reason that Mr. 

 Aikin sets forth, the white clover 

 honey does not come in so rapidly nor 

 are the colonies as strong as they are 

 at the time of the buckwheat honey 

 flow. 



Wm. G. Hewes, in Gleanings, makes 

 this valuable, and I think perfectly 

 practical, suggestion: "I would sug- 

 gest as one means of protecting our- 

 selves from the adulterations of honey, 

 that we make an effort to have Con- 

 gress place an internal revenue duty 

 on glucose of two or three cents a 

 pound. The coming Congress will 

 have to take steps for increasing the 

 revenue and it is not likely that, if 

 the matter is brought to their atten- 

 tion, they will acquiesce in our wish- 

 es — especially if we are backed up by 

 the producers of cane, beet and maple 

 sugar, all of whom suffer by having 

 their syrups adulterated. As to the 

 extent to which sweets are adulterated 

 with glucose we have but to refer 

 Congress to the government chemist. 

 Glucose, I believe, is valueless as food; 

 is of no value in the arts, and is man- 

 ufactured for swindling purposes 

 only." Editor Root comments very 

 vavorably on the suggestion. I think 

 the scheme is indeed worthy of our 

 earnest consideration. We will have 



