84 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



purpose. Gleaiiin,L(S, 54. At my shanty 

 taking honey from the hives, taking it 

 out of its holders, and the final task of 

 weighing and marking it, seems to me to 

 constitute the ccork. The mere removal 

 of the propolis strikes me rather as a rest 

 or play spell, almost too soon over with. 

 Should hardly wish to hire anybody to 

 do just that alone. But then that's main- 

 ly owing to my usual mental condition — 

 enjoy light routine work that I don't have 

 to think much about. 



DooHttle says that apple and dandelion 

 honey need more heat and ventilation to 

 ripen them up than clover and basswood 

 do. Gleanings, 52. Also he says that 

 honey of any kind should never be stack- 

 ed directly on the floor of a room. ( That's 

 where my stack stands this minute; but 

 don't do as I do, do as I tell you. ) And 

 he would have strips put in the stack be- 

 tween each tier of sections. I would add 

 the remark that no amount of care in 

 stacking counts quite as much as to have 

 the honey tlioroughly ripened before it is 

 taken from the hive. 



Rambler figures that the people of Los 

 Angeles use 2 pounds of honey per capita 

 ( If so that's better than most of our 

 towns. ) Wants a plan for pushing con- 

 sumption up to 20 pounds per capita. 

 (Start 'em on a honey-eating health regi- 

 men. ) He also sends in w'hat seems to 

 be an excellent anti-ant invention by Mr. 

 Tilton of Newhall. Disks of turned chalk 

 are put under each hive just as the tin pans 

 are put under a corn crib; and standards, 

 preferably of metal, come up underneath. 

 Also he tells more than I have noticed 

 elsewhere about the alcohol test for glu- 

 cose. Pour alcohol on pure honey, and 

 there is no movement or agitation what- 

 ever. Pour it on a glucose mixture and 

 little balloons and threads directly begin 

 to push up into it. Gleanings, 50. 



Proof like Holy Writ— 



" Why, the snminer tliat father died, our bees 

 all died except this one swarm; and I suppose 

 they too would have died, only that tbey were 

 once grandlathors." (ileanings, 4.'). 



Dr. Miller worked on the eight hour 



system last season — eight hours in the 



forenoon and eight hours in the after- 

 noon. But to atone for it came 17,150 

 lbs. of sections to 293 ten-hour days of 

 work. Five dollars a day. Gleanings 

 lumps it off. Gleanings, 41. 



L'Apiculteur's figures for France in 

 Straw 41. Colonies, 1,615,061: Honey, 

 17,621,692 ponnds: Wax, 4,867,219 pounds 

 — "Hold yonr bosses thar!" That 

 wax crop gives the whole thing away. 

 No considerable country realizes three 

 pounds of wax per colon}-, nor anywhere 

 near that. Apparently, the French guess 

 at leading elements of their sheet, and 

 sling figures around just likewe'uns. 



Mrs. Atchley of the Southland Queen 

 has, we are sorry to hear, been sick this 

 three months, near to death's door much 

 of the time — slowly recovering at latest 

 accounts. 



Doolittle advises having ever}- colony 

 that that is strong enough on ten frames 

 in mid spring, and just before the harvest 

 taking out all the frames the queen is not 

 occupying, filling the space w-ith boards 

 and dummies. American Bee Journal, 49. 

 Guess it's all right for those who have 

 the time and the get-up-and-git to do the 

 very best possible for each individual col- 

 ony. My colonies begin on seven frames; 

 and when I meditate reducing one to six 

 frames, or five, I find the frames to be 

 taken out such a mass of fresh pollen that 

 I doubt the policy of sacrificing so much 

 of the colony's hard work — and I let them 

 alone. Wouldn't it be more practical to 

 give three more frames to the extra-pro- 

 lific queens, just at the right time, than 

 it is to get away frames already in use ? 

 As to size of hives mine will all hold ten 

 frames, or more. 



In the same article he says that whether 

 the old colony or the sw-arm stores the 

 more surplus depends on the dates of 

 swarm and har\-est respectively. When a 

 swarm comes out during harvest give 

 it everything you can; for it will 

 make the surplus if there is any made. 

 But in case the swarm comes ten days be- 

 fore harvest, then favor the old colony, 

 for it will give you the larger returns 



