THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



once, but to continue to do this from 

 morning until night, is not only a fine 

 test of acquired skill but of physical en- 

 durance. To do this the woodsman 

 must be thoroughh^ acquainted with his 

 ax and its "helve," or handle. He 

 could not do it with the ax of a compan- 

 ion — not until he had become accustom- 

 ed to it. The successful chopper is not 

 only expert with the ax, but long experi- 

 ence enables him to decide, almost un- 

 consciously, exactly where to plant each 

 stroke to accomplish the greatest results. 



There is one more recollection connect- 

 ed with the maple that is probably sweeter 

 to me than all others. Let me picture it 

 for you. Trees all gray and bare, branches 

 sharply out-lined against the blue of the 

 sky, ground carpeted with the brown of 

 fallen leaves, with here and there a patch 

 of snow in .some sheltered nook, crows 

 cawing from the withered branch of 

 a neigh1)oring pine, sjiring sunshine over 

 all, and two boys, scarcely in their teens, 

 with arms full of household dishes, pans, 

 baking-tins, butter-bowl, and what not, 

 going from tree to tree, boring holes and 

 driving in the home-made ".spiles." 

 How it all comes back to me. I can al- 

 most hear the sharp, quick d-r-r-rip of the 

 sap, as, having filled the cavity bored in 

 the tree, it comes rushing down the spile 

 and tumbles into the pan below. Then 

 conies the gathering of the sap, the fire, 

 by the side of a big log, over which hung 

 kettles that I now liave reasons for think- 

 ing a mother sometimes needed quite bad- 

 ly in her cooking, and, finally, the tri- 

 umphant carrying home in the twilight 

 of a heavy pail of thick syrup. 



One more picture and I am done; and 

 I shall not paint it myself, as I find it 

 already drawn by a master-hand, that of 

 my old friend, Prof. Cook, in his admira- 

 ble little book, "The Sugar-Bu.sh. " He 

 says: 



" The glory of an autumnal landscape, 

 where maples are thickly interspersed, is 

 utterly indescribable. The intermingling 

 of varied tints of orange with all the 

 shades of red, from flaming scarlet to 

 richest crimson, and all encircled bv the 



deep green foliage yet unchanged, pre- 

 sents a picture such "as no hand except 

 that of the great loving master Artist can 

 ever paint. ' ' 



Flint, Mich. Mar. 2, 1898. 



PL.\I\ SECTIONS VS. STRAIN OF BEES. 



The Craze for new Thirigs; Is the Extra-Well- 

 Filled Section Reallv Desirable? 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



T WISH to 

 1 thank Mr. T. 

 1'. Bingham for 

 his timely article 

 in the Review 

 for January, 

 I S 9 S. I'* V e r y 

 now and then 

 there seems to be 

 a ' ' craze ' " come 

 o ver the bee- 

 keepers of the 

 United States for something different from 

 what they have been using. To make the 

 change will cost the great mass of bee- 

 keepers up into the hundreds and thou- 

 sands of dollars, if not into the millions. 

 .A.nd all for what ? Just that we may have 

 things a little different from what we are 

 now using, is all that I can see in the mat- 

 ter. No matter if the thing compels those 

 under our care to scrimp and economize 

 in the necessaries of life, we must have 

 this neii' thing. How easy it seems to be 

 for the apiarists to drift from their moor- 

 ings, and the one who raises his voice 

 against such drifting, as has Mr. Bingham, 

 should have the gratitude of every right 

 thinking person. 



Now, I wish every reader of this arti- 

 cle to turn to that photograph of those 

 eight sections found just before the 

 reading matter in the January Review, 

 and ask themselves which is really the 

 one section, out of the eight, the most 

 to be desired by any lover of a beau- 



