138 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 27, 1902 



on both sides for generations past are bound to crop out in 

 their progeny. 



I beheve this to be the case with bees, hence I want to 

 to be able to control the mating of my queens so that I may 

 be able to practice inbreeding, and prevent undesirable crosses. 



Some one once asked Abraham Lincoln how long a man's 

 legs ought to be, and he replied, "They ought to be long 

 enough to reach from his body to the ground." I don't take 

 much stock in long-tongued bees ; might' as well choose a 

 long-tongued woman for a good housekeeper. 



Montgomery Co., Pa. 



The Afterthought. 



The '^Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. B. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



THE COMPLETED SCORE-CARD. 



The completed score-card on page 24 still might pro- 

 \-oke objections on one or more points. I think there is 

 sometimes seen bark-louse honey, too nauseous of flavor 

 to be eaten at all, that would score high according to the 

 card, if not actually take 100. No place in the whole eight 

 items where good or bad taste could come in ! Still, this 

 blemish is more apparent than real. Honey that isn't good. 

 very seldom gets offered for a prize. Very likely it's the 

 best way practically not to require judges to cut into sections. 



HONEY-VINEG.AR VS. OTHER "viNEGARS." 



Between the vile competition of "cost-nothing" pyrolig- 

 neous acid and the honest competition of cider-vinegar, 

 honey-vinegar droops, it seems. Rough in me to kick it 

 when it's down — but truth and death seem to have scant 

 respect for Marquis of Queensbury rules. 



"The liquid thus obtained will not appear very clean." 

 Page 25. 



Ves, indeed; me believes us. Twentieth century will 

 hardly get out before it will find the public saying they 

 don't want to eat vinegar made from such dirty slop. May 

 be the going-to-be public and myself are fussy. But say, 

 melt the cappings, lift off the resulting cake (to be melted 

 over again of course — for you'll be astonished to see how 

 dirty it is) and use the black honey below for bee-feed. 

 If you want honey-vinegar, take some clean, sound honey 

 and make it. 



KILLING VOUNG SWEET CLOVER. 



Interesting to see that cutting, followed by a dry spell, 

 does sometimes kill young sweet clover. Alas, that that 

 "sometimes" fails so seldom when I want it to die in my 

 strawberry patch ! 



OPTIMISM PROF, cook's "iSM." 



Prof. Cook, you hardly needed to tell, us that optimism 

 was your "ism." I wonder if you have sufficiently medi- 

 tated the evil of optimism right or wrong — always — through 

 thick and thin. Pardon the suggestion. How sorely the 

 world needs a few more persons who are neither optimists 

 nor pessimists, but capable of seeing with clear, uncolored 

 eyes both modest good and sneaking evil ! Between the 

 pull and the haul of the optimist and the pessimist it seems 

 at times as if all mankind were being divided into two 

 self-neutralizing parties. Nothing so bad but half man- 

 kind will excuse it ; and nothing so good but t'other half 

 will condemn it. O that young students, and young people 

 everywhere who are in the formative period of life, might 

 realize the importance of not making theniselves partisans 

 in this important matter! But we won't call Prof. Cook 

 a professional optimist, eternally proud of his profession — 

 not unless he commands us to. Page 27. 



MELTOSE AND ITS MAKERS. 



How pleasant it is (though oft a bit humiliating) to 

 find people very much more reasonable than we smelt them 

 to be! This anent meltose and its makers. Not the "cun- 

 ning little feet" that gathered honey but the "cunning little 

 thief." The words which stirred our dander were partly 

 inadvertent, and the firm are willing to them. Do us no 

 harm to be civil on our side. On careful and repeated 



tastings of meltose — while not falling head and ears in 

 love with it — I gave up a previous bad opinion. Had guessed 

 it was best commercial glucose sweetened up with some- 

 thing. It appears t6 be a thing of itself, and tolerably 

 good. Presumably safe for invalids, which honey usually 

 is, but sometimes is not. Not seductive enough, either in 

 look or taste, to travel very far outside of the clientage of 

 the health-food establishments — and so not likely to do us 

 any harm whatever. Pages 28 and 67. 



FEEDING BEES IN THE OPEN AIR. 



If you wanted to feed 100 colonies in the open air the 

 chances are you would be "all at sea" about the minimum 

 of feeding space required. Glad to see so competent author- 

 ity as the Atchleys on record that 10 feet by 18 inches will 

 do. Page 31. 



THE queen's STING AND THE LAMB's TAIL. 



Mr. B. Hamlin-Harris, if the queen facilitates laying, by 

 reciprocating her sting, may not the waggling of the lamb's 

 tail facilitate getting the milk? Page 35. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



I>R. O. O. JMII.LER, JUareng-o, 111, 



The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal ofl&ce, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Moving Bees 20 Miles. 



1. How can I movi' my bees 20 miles over a rough country 

 road ? I want them to be in their new home the first of June. 

 The road is quite rough, and over three mountains. Can I 

 haul them on a wagon on boards ? 



2. I would like to take them as early as I can. When is 

 the best time, in warm or cold weather? Will it be safe to 

 move them in this way ? West Virgini.^. 



Answf.rs— 1. Yes, fasten thfim in place so they cannot slide 

 around, and they can be safely taken. Look up back num- 

 bers of this journal, especially within the past few weeks, and 

 you will find some information on the subject. 



2. In the spring, when it is neither too hot nor too cold, is the 

 best time. If the weather is freezing, the combs are brittle 

 and will break in hauling. If too warm there is danger of 

 the bees smothering, and if ventilation is lacking the combs 

 may be broken down because too soft. 



Moved Bees Uneasy in the Cellar. 



What should I do with my bees? I have had them in the 

 cellar abo\it 30 days, they having been expressed 120 miles 

 by train. The temperature of the cellar is 38 degrees inside, 

 and about 5 outside. The bees do not seem to rest easy, flying 

 and crawling continually. The hives have a solid board on 

 the bottom, and I have lifted the board a little on the top. I 

 have the cellar perfectly dark, and the hives on 2.\4 planks, 

 and about 2 feet off the ground. There are about 200 dead 

 bees lying around. Illinois. 



Answer. — It was expecting a good deal from the bees to 

 give them a ride of 120 miles in the middle of winter, to put 

 them directly in the cellar without flight, and then ask them 

 to be good. The 20 I dead bees in 30 days is a very small 

 number if there arc 50 colonies, and nothing to be alarmed about 

 if there were only 200. I'm afraid there may be more dead bees 

 on the floor of the hive. The thing for you to do is to do what 

 you can in the matter of temperature and ventilation. If your 

 thermometer is at all reliable, your cellar is too cold. If there 

 are colonies enough to make it worth whili-. a coal-stove would 

 be the thing to raise the temperature to aO degrees or more, 

 and then let it settle and stay at about 4.5 degrees. But don't 

 use an oil-stove with nothing in the way of a chimney to carry 

 out the smoke or gas. It you have only two or three colonies, 

 you can help matters at least a little by taking into the cellar 

 hot stones or jugs of boiling hot water corked tight. You can 

 lay hot bricks on the covers of hives, or you can remove the 

 covers and put old carpets or cloths of any kind over the 



