1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



425 



grass and weeds down In the apiary, such as keeping sheep 

 and horses there, so they can eat it down ; using a lawn- 

 mower, etc., all of which require a constant cutting off of 

 whatever grows ; but I prefer so'nethiog more permanent 

 than this, and where possible, something which will stay year 

 after year. The Drst, and probably the best of anything, 

 where it can be had, is sand or fine gravel, put on to such a 

 depth that grass and weeds will not grow up through it. This 

 matter is helpt very much if the sward or top of the ground is 

 is taken off before the sand is put on. 



" Next to the above, comes coal ashes, which can be 

 readily saved for this purpose where the family or any near 

 neighbor burns coal for fuel. As there is little fertilizing 

 matter in them, they are rarely used for anything except to 

 be dumpt in the road or drawn to some out-of-the-way place 

 and dumpt, so there need be no expense to the bee-keeper ex- 

 cept the hauling. The ashes are used in the same way as the 

 sand, and if a quarter in bulk of sand is used with them, the 

 whole will harden down quite solid in time from the storms 

 beating on them. 



" Next to these comes a piece of a pine or hemlock board, 

 or any lumber which will last well on the ground. To keep 

 this board from curling up under the sunshine on one side and 

 dampness on the other, it should be cleated on each end as 

 hive-covers are, and if properly done, it will not curl enough 

 to be unsightly. 



"Whatever is used, the alighting-board should rest on the 

 material, so that there is vacant space for heavily laden bees, 

 which fall short of the entrance, to drop under, where they 

 will often chill and die on cool days in early spring by the 

 score and hundred. A bee will crawl up an inclined alighting- 

 board to the hive when It is so chilled that it cannot fly, and 

 each bee in early spring is worth a hundred or more after the 

 honey harvest is past. 



" If you do not wish to fix your hives thus till fall or 



early spring, keep the grass down from now on during the 



summer with a knife, sickle or scythe; anyway so that the 



bees do not keep on struggling with this grass nuisance any 



longer." 



^-•-^ 



Smoker Fuel. — Editor Hutchinson says in the Re- 

 view : " Hard wood split into small pieces will burn all right 

 in a good smoker, but it burns the smoker out much more 

 quickly than is the case with a fire from shavings, which 

 smolders and gives more smoke but less heat than the solid 

 wood." 



Patience Should be Exercised.— Editor Ab- 

 bott, in his Busy Bee for June, has a comment that will be 

 appreciated by almost every supply dealer in the land. It 

 reads thus : 



This is one of the seasons which is apt to try the patience 

 of those who have bees, and send off for supplies. All of the 

 manufacturers and dealers in apicultural goods have gotten 

 behind on their orders, owing to the unusual demand which 

 has sprung up all at once. The result has been that many 

 have had to wait several days longer for their goods than they 

 expected. Most of these, so far as the writer knows, have 

 understood the situation and offered no complaint, but occa- 

 sionally there is a man who seems to forget the fact that, 

 according to the estimate given out by the United States gov- 

 ernment, there are about 299.000 beekeepers who may have 

 an order in ahead of him, and he becomes very impatient, and 

 writes his dealer an imperative and petulant, if not abusive, 

 letter. 



1 want to say to all such that I know from personal ex- 

 perience and observation that the men who handle bee-sup- 

 plies are just as anxious to gel them off promptly as the peo- 

 ple who order are to receive them, but there is a limit to all 

 human endurance, and all men reach a point where they can 

 do no more. Please remember that it is possible that your 

 supply-dealer has reacht this point. 



Perhaps you may say, •' Why does he not hire more help ?" 

 If he does, you may be doomed to a greater disappointment 



than you would by waiting a few days, for It is not every one 

 who can pack bee-supplies all day for weeks and not make 

 any mistakes. So I say in this connection, just be a little 

 patient, and do not think or say hard things because you can- 

 not get just what you want when you want it — others are in 

 the same fix. 



Tl?e Weekly Budget 



Mr. E. S. Hubbard, of Monroe Co., Wis., wrote us June 

 25 : " Bees are booming on clover at present." 



Mr. Henry E. Bi.i.ss, of Herkimer Co.,N. Y., writing June 

 25, said : " Bees are booming now on white clover." 



Mr. J. W. Wilcox, of Jodaviess Co., III., wrot3 us June 



29: 



" Bee-business is booming. I am just closing out a sup- 

 ply of bee-goods that I ordered four years ago. How is that 

 for the supply business ?" 



Rev. M. Mahin, D. D., of Henry Co., Ind., writing us 

 June 29, said : 



" We are having the greatest honey harvest there has 

 been in this locality for many years. Bees do not notice 

 honey exposed in the yard." 



Mr. E. France (father of N. E.— the Wisconsin Inspector 

 of apiaries) is in poor health — not able to do any work in the 

 apiary. So reports N. E. France, who, with us all, hopes for 

 speedy improvement of his father's health. So far this season 

 (up to June 26) they harvested a little over 15,000 pounds of 

 very nice honey. Inspector France has issued a leaflet giving 

 his directions for treatment of foul brood, which is given to 

 every Wisconsin bee-keeper in addition to a copy of Dr. How- 

 ard's book. These helps, in connection with theAmerican Bee 

 Journal, ought to be sufficient to keep any bee-keeper well in- 

 formed so as not to run the risk of losing his bees with foul 

 brood. 



Editor Abbott, of the Busy Bee, calls upon those who 

 copy from his paper to give due credit therefor. And that's 

 perfectly correct. But where the joke comes in, is when, in 

 the same number calling for proper credit, Mr. Abbott copies 

 a whole article from the Canadian Bee Journal for October, 

 1896, and doesn't give proper credit. Of course, it is none of 

 our affair, but it struck us as being a pretty good joke on our 

 new brother editor. 



We have noticed lately some of our agricultural exchanges 

 have been copying articles from the American Bee Journal 

 without the least credit as a " thank you." But if Ihcy enjoy 

 indulging in such theft, xvc can stand it. But we believe in 

 fair play as publishers, and always aim to give due credit for 

 what we think worthy of reproduction from any of our ex- 

 changes. 



Xhe Ptaines and Addresses of all your bee- 

 friends, who are not now taking the Bee Journal, are wanted 

 ot this office. Send them in, please, when sample copies will 

 be mailed to them. Then you can secure their subscriptions, 

 and earn some of the premiums we have offered. The 

 next few months will be just the time to easily get new sub- 

 scribers. Try it earnestly, at least. 



Back ISunibers Since Jan. r.— We are able to 



supply complete sets of the Bee Journal since Jan. 1, 1897, 



to any who may desire, at two cents per copy. There are a 



number of new readers who perhap> would like to get some of 



the tirst numbers of this year, to complete ihei.- volume for 



1897. We shall be glad to furnish them as long as they last, 



at two cents each. 



.^ . »- 



!^" See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page -128. 



