THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



two and two. My bees have never im- 

 pressed me with the idea that black 

 displeased them more than other colors. 

 Perhaps if I had been looking out sharp- 

 er I should have seen something of the 

 kind; but it seems to me that if the al- 

 leged fact had been ver}^ prominent I 

 should certainly have noticed it. Tell 

 you what I think. Wherever bees are 

 worried at night by skunks they are lia- 

 ble by day to charge on whatever re- 

 minds their excited fancy of the vile 

 "vannint's" nigritudinous appearance, 

 as he comes round in the gloaming. But 

 where no nocturnal prowlers prowl, bees 

 are peaceable towards all colors alike. 



Friend Doolittle thinks some of us, 

 when we throw bricks at his honey-fac- 

 ing doctrines, do not take space enough 

 in saying that he does not either advise 

 or practice facing crates with sections of 

 higher quality than the body of the crate. 

 Thought I made that clear enough at the 

 outset; but, as a comrade desires it, I will 

 cheerfully say so some more. Mr. Doo- 

 little is an honest man, and acts accord- 

 ingly — only in this particular case he 

 doesn't talk accordingly. And having 

 tried our best to reconstruct him in that 

 one particular, we have to give recon- 

 struction up in despair. Mind you, 

 nothing herein contained shall admit, in 

 the least degree, that the man who faces 

 honey with higher grades has done other 

 than a wicked act, as well as an unwise 

 act. 



In reply to a rather sharp challenge from 

 critic Taylor, editor York says the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal is editorially responsi- 

 ble for "Beedom Boiled Down." Yet he 

 says it in such language as leaves us still 

 gue.ssing whether tihe Boiler is Mr. York 

 or some assistant. The editor of a jour- 

 nal has special temptation to write with a 

 nom-de-plume when he wishes to stretch 

 his wings in some unaccu.stomed direc- 

 tion. Can see himself as others see him 

 better; because friends who would not 

 criticise the editor will freely criticise tlie 

 unknown writer. 



And so the theory that a fertilized 

 queen alwa3's lays fertilized eggs gains 

 ground and is spreading, Should think 

 that the microscopic finding of seminal 

 particles in worker eggs, and the non- 

 finding of them in drone eggs would neg- 

 ative that. But perhaps that observation 

 ( like things seen along the canals of Mars ) 

 lies too near the boundaries of invisabil- 

 ity to be of much value as an argument. 

 We are queer creatures, and are most of 

 us too anxious to get our facts into invar- 

 iable rank and file. DiiTerence of food 

 does seem to determine whether an egg 

 shall develop as a queen or a worker (forms 

 ver>' different in many details) and if 

 still another kind of food would make the 

 same egg develop as a drone we should 

 have "three in a row." 



American Bee-keeper. 



This paper, as noted some time since, 

 made a decided change when it put a re- 

 sponsible editor's name at mast head. 

 Since then it has kept quietly on in the 

 path marked out for itself — editorial mat- 

 ter showing a tendency to increase both 

 in quantity and interest. The opening 

 article is usually by Doolittle; and the 

 funny little non-germane department of 

 Literary Notes still fetches up the rear. 



On page 149 Mr. Doolittle says he 

 thinks much honey is lost in the attempt 

 to stop prime swarming by destroying 

 cells. And the attempt to stop after- 

 swarming by the same practice often in- 

 creases the number of after-swarms. This 

 is the issue when the cells are cut before 

 all the unsealed larvae are too old to be 

 coaxed into something that will tempora- 

 rily answer for a queen. '^?i\\. eight days; 

 shake off the bees; vigilantly destroy 

 ever}' last cell; then give a good ripe cell 

 or its equivalent, and the plan is a success. 

 Yet he would show us a "more excellent 

 way," by listening every night at the 

 hives where an after-swarm is possible. 

 Can't say that I admire soniuch listening; 

 but may be its the best way. When the 

 young queen is out, and tells vou herself 



