THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



frontispiece in the January Review is 

 one of the Strongest arguments I have 

 ever seen in favor of the open separator. 

 By the way, what splendid pictures 

 those are in both the December and Jan- 

 uary numbers — the best I think I have 

 ever seen. That one of foul brood was 

 ]\\st perfect. — I could almost sm?ll it. 



It is now my opinion, that when we get 

 clear down to the bottom facts in this 

 matter, that we .shall find that the well 

 filled sections come from the freer com- 

 nmnication that is brought in when the 

 plain sections are u.sed. As Mr. Crane 

 puts it, the bees are led to feel that one 

 row of sections is only one continuous 

 comb. But, supposing that it s/ioii/d 

 turn out that the securing of these fine 

 combs are the result of the freer commu- 

 nication. I fail to .see why the plain sec- 

 tion should not be adopted. To my 

 mind it has advantages over the old-style. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



K. K. H.V.STV. 



HhiMU- wlinn>ynumu-;t. 1 

 And be (inch critic tliu ( 



oil-ii.iluroci Man. 



G LDSMITH. 



MO-O-O, friend Miller, I won't fight it 

 out about assorting these .sections at 

 the same time they are being scraped. If 

 Doolittle and Miss Wilson are both to 

 pitch at me at once I'm going to haul ofT 

 for repairs. 



But about eiting honey mi.xed with 

 bits of propolis, that's different. I know 

 in my bones that there are others l)esides 

 nnself that lick fingers and knives when 

 thev get to dripping with choice honey. 

 A bee-man's fingers are always encased 

 with propolis, except when he lias just 

 been laboriously cleaning them olT. Me 

 can no more lick his fingers without get- 

 ting propolis than a sailor coidd lick his 

 without getting tar. To the wtndd's 

 people, propolis looks dirty; but bee-keep- 

 ers know verv well lliat it is clean dirl. 



Thus it conies about that bee-keepers take 

 within a certain amount of propolis — in 

 addition to one's normal peck of dirt. 

 Propolis has not very much taste — at 

 least what taste it has is not very bad. It 

 seems to be a strong diuretic, and one 

 may easily suspect it of other properties. 

 I only set up a perhaps that it bore some 

 part in destroying the honey relish — and 

 guess I won't run awa}' from that perhaps 

 just yet. Whoever doth that boot dis- 

 place must meet Bombastes face to face. 



Chance shots are sometimes very lucky. 

 Once a Syrian connnon soldier shot an ar- 

 row without shooting at anything in par- 

 ticular, and killed the king of Israel. Dr. 

 Miller fires in (rleanings. 79 and S76, to the 

 effect that January l)rooding is because, 

 the colder it is out.side, the more the bees 

 take pains to heat up the inside — antl .so 

 the colder the out.side the warmer the in- 

 side. Ernest thinks there is something 

 in it; and it certainly does look like a 

 good explanation of a point previously 

 une.xplaiued. why cellar bees sometimes 

 breed less than tho.se out doors. On the 

 whole. ])erha])s this is nearer to being a 

 well-reasoned-at proposition than a mere 

 chance shot. 



-Machines to clean ofT sections are in 

 the wind. I have rather slender faith 

 that anv machine which works with .sand- 

 paper will keep it.self in good working 

 order long enough to pay for the time 

 spent in putting on a new paper. Pul- 

 verized jM-opolis is great at gumming up. 

 or cementing up. everything it touches. 

 I find it some trouble to keep a ca.se-knife 

 clean enough to .see what it's made of 

 while scraping. And, at its best estate, I 

 have some doubt about the wheel being 

 rrn' /////<•/? -quicker than the knife. It 

 will freshen up the surface of the wood, 

 which the knife can not do, and .so do a 

 much better looking job than the knife, 

 providing the first difficulty mentioned 

 does not spoil everything. 



Yes, brother Pridgen, I made corn- 

 stalk fiddles in my boyhood — no necessity 

 of shi])])ing 'cm here from the Carolinas. 

 .\nd now vou want me to crouch b\- a 



