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 '1NTE.^EST6- 



'PuBlliHED BY(j;AM^00T' 



?ppERYEAf\^ \g) Medina Ohio 



Vol. XX. 



SEPT. 15, 1892. 



No. 18. 



STRAr Straws 



FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. 



What a nice world this is I 



"The OWNKK of the robbed colony is always 

 the guilty party."'— iS(?'aitb. 



Buckwheat hoxey is coming into my hives 

 for the first time in eleven years. 



Last year clover yielded, cucumbers didn't: 

 this year clover failed, cucumbers yield. 



Pei.ham foundation - MACHINES Seem to 

 have more mention in (Termany than in this 

 country. 



■'Hope springs eternal in the" bee-keeper's 

 breast. I'm getting my bees in good shape for 

 the flood of honey next year. 



What is travel statx? If it's dirt from 

 the feet of the bees, how do they get their feet 

 so dirty when working on clean white flowers? 



Young queens wrong end foremost in queen- 

 cells have been unusually plentiful this season. 

 Last week we found three of them on one comb. 



The next vou hear of A. I. Root he'll be 

 spinning along through a plowed field at a 3:40 

 gait, with a bicycle attachment for sowing onion 

 seed. 



It is convenient to have one hive stand so 

 near another that it can be used for a seat; but 

 when three or four supers are piled up on it, 

 how then ? 



Can't some one tell us for a certainty wheth- 

 er a queen can pass through a smaller perfora- 

 tion while a virgin than she can after she com- 

 mences to lay'.' 



The bee-keeper is one of the happiest of 

 mortals. His chief delight is in the great 

 things he's yi/ir/ to do: and what a lot he has 

 to enjoy "along that line." as Doolittle says! 



Inventions AND discoveries in bee-keeping 

 are plentiful nowadays, but no one invents a 

 way to have good crops. Whenever such a 

 thing is inventi'd and patented I'm ready to 

 buy the patent quick I 



Douhle-tier shipping-cases are used by 

 Frank Rauchfuss, a piecn of corrugated paste- 

 board being placed in the bottom of the case, 

 one between first and second tier and one over 

 second tier. Good idea. 



Honey consumed by a colony wintered out- 

 doors, says the linker, averages for October 3 

 lbs.: Nov., 1 lb.: Dec, lib.: Jan., 2 lbs.; Feb. 3 

 lbs.: March, 4 lbs.: April, (i lbs.; total, l\) lbs. 

 But you can't tell which colonies will go below 

 or above the average, so trie safe way is to al- 

 low 50 per cept more. 



Mrs. Atchi.ey says, in Prtiijrcs^ine, that she 

 can mate queens to the drones she wishes by 

 confining them in nuclei which arc fed every 

 night, and releasing the queens about the fifth 

 day where drones are flying in great numbers. 



Salt codfish ought to have a law to protect 

 it fro*m the cruelty of cooks. It's barbarous to 

 boil it— makes it hard and tough. Soak till 

 fresh and thoroughly softened, then merely 

 warm it; pour oft' the water and dress with 

 butter. 



Foui'yDATioN is not safe, left in a hive where 

 the bees are not making use of it. If very thin 

 they are likely to tear it down or tear holes in 

 it. If thick they may paint it all over with 

 propolis. This is true at least toward the lat- 

 ter part of the season. 



Shaving-soap is not a necessity, even for 

 those who shave. I've used none for some time. 

 Give the beard a good rubbing with the end of 

 a towel dipped in hot water; strap your razor, 

 then rub the beard again, and see if it doesn't 

 go just as well without the soap. 



Treatment of swarms. N. P. Aspinwall, 

 in A. B. J"., reports that he put newly hived 

 swarms in a dark cool cellar, left them 36 to 48 

 hours, then shook them down in front of the 

 parent colonies, and four colonies so treated re- 

 mained without swarming again. 



R. F. Hoetekmann thinks one of my stray 

 straws has gone astray in saying that the op- 

 position to wired frames was weakening in 

 Canada. Which way did it stray, friend II.? 

 Was there never any opposition ? or have none 

 of the opposers changed in favor of wiring ? 



A writer in Deutsche linker says he made 

 continual use of honey for catarrh, only to find 

 the difficulty aggravated. He then tried it 

 reduced with milk or lukewarm water, and was 

 astonished at the beneficial results. Two table- 

 spoonfuls of honey in half a pint of water at 

 bedtime. 



My' bees are getting lazy. Latterly, when I 

 give them empty combs with dry pollen they 

 just leave the pollen and paint it over with bee- 

 glue, and make no use of that part of the comb. 

 Earlier in the season they gnawed it out, often 

 taking the septum with it. Perhaps it would 

 pay to soak out the pollen for them always. 



Do YOU remember that picture of W. L. 

 Coggshall looking like a chimnevsweep with 

 that big broom hanging by his side? I said, 

 " What a looking thing tor a bee-brush!" But 

 I've been using on<! of those same things this 

 summer, and it's far and away ahead of all 

 other bee-brushes I ever tried. You'll say so 

 too, if you try one. 



This season is unusual at both ends. Clover 

 unusually abundant in bloom, but a failure as 



