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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 4, 1902. 



before the bees stop flying-, with heavy wire-cloth having 

 about three meshes to the inch, but don't use wire-cloth so 

 fine that the bees can not get through it. 



If you don't use the wire-cloth you must see to it that 

 the mice are gotten rid of in some way, unless you are so 

 fortunate as not to have any mice, which would be better 

 yet. Peristent trapping will accomplish much. You can 

 do very good work poisoning them, providing you are faith- 

 ful about it. and see that fresh poison is put down every so 

 often, and if they don't like one kind try another. 



Strychnine is good. Cut a slice of cheese about a quar- 

 ter of an inch thick, sprinkle it lightly with strychnine, 

 and cut it up into little cubes. Put in a saucer, or on a bit 

 of card-board, in a place convenient for the mice. 



It requires some time and patience, but it pays. " 



Honey-Cookies. 



One cup of honey, 1 cup sugar, 1 l?.rge cup of lard, -j 

 cup of sour cream, 1 egg, 2 teaspoonfuls of soda, 1 tea- 

 spoonful of cinnamon, '2 nutmeg, a very little cloves, 2 

 tablespoonfuls of melted chocolate. 



If the cream is very good do not use so much lard. Part 

 sour-milk and part cream will do if you do not happen to 

 have enough cream, and the sour-miik used alone will give 

 good results, but, of course, the amount of lard used must 

 be increased accordingly. 



Mix until you think they are about right, and then bake 

 one for a sample. If not stiff enough, add a little more 

 flour. 



For frosting, take two cups of sugar ; add just enough 

 water to dissolve the sugar ; add a small pinch of cream of 

 tartar ; boil until it will thread when you pinch a little be- 

 tween your thumb and finger. Take off and let cool a little. 

 Stir briskly until it creams, and add about a tablespoonful 

 of melted chocolate, stirring it in well. This recipe is 

 original, has been thoroughly tested for years, and we think 

 it excellent. 



A ^ The Afterthought. ^ 



Tbe "Old Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable QIasses. 

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



MANAGING A LAYING-WORKER COLONY. 



Getting something out of nothing — well, half mankind, 

 and more than half womankind, are sure they can do it, 

 and must aye keep on trying. But its getting something 

 out of less than nothing, I suspect, to get something of 

 value out of a colony with laying workers. Can't say I ad- 

 mire the method of W. Hickox, page 659. Like pretty much 

 all methods that will work at all it disturbs and bothers a 

 good colony — adds something to less than nothing and re- 

 joices to find the result something. Also it looks to my 

 eyes like a promising way to rear a poor queen — which 

 same is an apicultural asset that may, or not, be less than 

 nothing in value. 



REV. W. F. CLARKE AND DR. A. B. MASON. 



Some men are overvalued and some are undervalued 

 by their colemporaries. W. F. Clarke has seemed to me to 

 be a man we have for long years very much undervalued. 

 Not sure but we have gone fuurther and measurably frozen 

 him out of print so far as apiculture is concerned. What 

 personal qualities (if any) may have helped on this I am not 

 competent to say, never having met him. I can sincerely 

 feel his loss now he is gone, and it is fitting that I should 

 lay a wreath on his coffin. Farewell to a fellow-worker ; 

 farewell to a friend of the exact truth ; fare%vell to a man 

 who saw and saw correctly, a great deal in this world that 

 needed mending, and who deeply desired that it should be 

 mended. Earth can ill spare such, they are so few. Page 

 660. 



Of course I would have a chaplet for Dr. Mason, the all- 

 around good man. His foes were the foes of all civiliza- 

 tion and righteousness — and scarce a man besides them it 

 would seem. "How blest the righteous when he dies ! " 

 We don't have to hunt with lanterns and optical instru- 

 ments to find something good to say of him just for once. 

 Page 739. 



BEES AND PEAR-BLIGHX. 



Makes me squirm — " Prof. Waite has proved beyond 

 any question " — (Here's a small boy who never gets so badly 

 floored that he cannot ask a question.) But our best science 

 sharp. Prof. Cook, says it's proved that bees are the " chief 

 agents " in spreading pear-blight. Sorry. Another fact in 

 this matter is more pleasant reading to us. Notwithstand- 

 ing bees scatter more pear-blight germs than all other cul- 

 prits, the other culprits scatter so many that abolishing 

 bees is not practically of much use, if any. When all the for- 

 est is dry and coals are flung, whether it's a million or a hun- 

 dred matters but little. 



A man seven miles high, eh ? And the pear-blight 

 microbe is such a little fellow that he is the antitype of 

 that. Now do you realize he is ? If he was as big as a man, 

 a man to correspond would have to be seven miles high. 

 To say that his length is one ten-thousandth of an inch 

 sounds unimpressive to some minds. 



Diluted carbolic acid to dip tools in when cutting away 

 blighted twigs. 



BORDEAUX MIXTURE — BEES IN GROUND-HOLES. 



And the famed Bordeaux mixture is, lyime 4 pounds. 

 Copper sulphate 4 pounds. Water 46 gallons. 



Prof. Cook wants to know if others have known bees to 

 take possession of holes in the ground. Can't respond on 

 exactly that, but I once put several colonies into holes in 

 the ground as an anti-swarming experiment. Failure. 

 From a big hole in the ground they swarm allee same. 

 Page 664. 



Questions and Answers. \ 



CONDUCTED BT 



DR. C. O. MILLER. Mareago, 111, 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal ofBce, or to Dr. Miller 



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



Doctor to send answers by malL— Editor.1 



Uniting Weak Colonies of Bees. 



1. Would it be advisable to unite a weak colony with a 

 weak robbed colony, rather than to unite the robbed colony 

 with another weak colony ? 



2. At what time in the day should uniting be done ? 



3. Can it be done with perfect success by use of smoke 

 alone? Colorado. 



Answers. — 1. I suppose the question is whether, when 

 uniting two weak colonies, one of which has been robbed, 

 it is better to unite them on the stand of one that has been 

 robbed, or on the stand of the other. Having been robbed 

 once, there is danger that the same colony would be robbed 

 again on the same stand, even if reinforced by another 

 weak colony ; so it may be better to bring the robbing col- 

 ony to the hive of the unmolested colony. 



2. The time of day is not an important matter, but 

 sometimes it is better to unite toward evening, so that for- 

 eign bees may not try to rob, and thus start bad feeling in 

 the community. Yet a cool morning, when no bees are fly- 

 ing, is a good time. 



3. No, not at all times. 



Wintering in a Bee-House— Wax-Worms. 



1. I keep my bees in a winter bee-house, with ventilator 

 for occasional use. It is large enough for 60 hives ? 



I store my bees, 40 colonies, in pyramid shape on winter 

 bottom-boards, which have an opening of four inches wide 

 along the center and the length of the hive. The natural 

 heat of 40 colonies during moderately cold weather in the 

 winter is from 40 to 42 degrees. During extra-cold nights I 

 tire up the stove in outer room, and let the heat go into this 

 bee-room until it runs up to 45 or 48 degrees. Would it be 

 necessary during the winter to put water in the bee-room 

 for moisture ? If so, to what extent ? 



My bee-house is built of 2 by 6 (2 by 8 would be better) 

 with 2 by 8 joist under the floor (under floor, sides and the 

 top to the peak of the roof filled with sawdust.) Sides are 



