850 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



right here, and tills a '" long-felt want." You 

 can hardly imagine what a relief it is to my 

 feelings to know that I can push the wheel to 

 my heart's content. If I want to make a cer- 

 tain point or a certain place, there is nothing 

 to hinder, and no wrong done to anybody, pro- 

 viding I do not run over tliem, even if I do just 

 '• make the gravel fly " in fetching a combina- 

 tion of events around to a certain climax: 

 therefore you can readily understand why I 

 say so often to myself, " May God be praised 

 for this new and precious gift."' 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



NOVICE OF OLD — AN OPEN LETTER. 



Dear Novice: — Now a novice no more, it gives 

 me much pleasure to grasp your hand and say 

 with whai zest I I'ead your productions in the 

 " Old Reliable," when it was conducted by the 

 lamented Wagner. Your " trials, troubles, and 

 tribulations" were amusing when so humor- 

 ously described over the nom de plume of 

 "Novice;" but I doubt that they were the 

 source of much satisfaction to you, although I 

 judge you endured them very philosophically, 

 even if you were but a "novice." I wish you 

 would, when the spirit moves you, give us the 

 history of your early apiarian experiences, be- 

 cause it would not only "renew the youth " of 

 many who, like myself, are in the "sear and 

 yellow leaf," but would convey much' instruc- 

 tion to the "tyro" in apiculture. Permit me 

 to suggest a title for the (forthcoming?) work; 

 viz., "Reminiscences in Bee-keeping." After 

 you ceased writing for the A. B. J., I lost track 

 of you until lately, in the August number of the 

 Progressive Bee-keeper^ I learned that you are 

 still alive and making things " hum;" in fact, 

 there is something very e(r(l?'(!C.st in your busi- 

 ness methods. So you would like to know who 

 the " Assistant Editor " of our CmiddUin Bee 

 Journal is? Well. Bro. Novice, if you will 

 faVor the apiarian department of our Industrial 

 Exhibition (which is held annually in Toronto 

 during SeptembeV) with your presence, I doubt 

 not you will be most cordially welcomed and 

 lionized (you know we Britishers are fond of 

 lions) by the aforesaid "Assistant Editor." 



I intended, when I liegan this "screed," to tell 

 a snake-story; but if I do not go to bed very 

 shortly I shall probably dream of snakes which 

 will require the services of a doctor to tinker at 

 the internal economy of Octogp:nakian. 



Amigari, Ont., Oct. 24. 



NINE OR TEN COMBS IN A TEN-FRAME HIVE — 

 AVHICH? 



Is it of any benefit, to 40 to 50 colonies of bees 

 that are kept for extracting, to have in the up- 

 per case or extracting-super nine frames instead 

 often ? Is it not more convenient for extract- 



DR. MILLER RILED. 



The British Bee Journal has just " riled " me 

 by one of its proceedings; and as ray anger 

 would cool off before it crossed the ocean 1 11 

 vent my spite on Gleanings. I refer to the 

 bad practice of printing articles with the name 

 of the writer at the end instead of the begin- 

 ning. In a late number of the B. B. J. an 

 article contains a statement somewhat startling 

 in character; but whether it shall be received 

 with implicit faith, or be considered a mere 

 whim, depends something upon the reputation 

 of the writer. So I looked for the end of the 

 article, with the question, " Who is the writer?" 

 The only reply I got was the very unsatisfacto- 

 ry one, "To be continued." 



The succeeding number is now before me. 

 Turning somewhat eagerly its pages, I find the 

 continuation of the article, only to find again in 

 the place for the signature, " To be continued." 

 How long this state of affairs is "to be contin- 

 ued " I do not know; but in the meantime all 

 the readers who are intei'ested in the article are 

 "to be continued" in a state of mind. Of course, 

 no fault can be found if we admit that it is the 

 right thing to have the writer's name given at 

 the end. But isn't it a bad plan in general to 



put the name of the writer at the end? When j, .> q,, ^^jj] j^ j^other again the same time? 

 you read an article in a bee-journal, don t yoii ^ye are using the Langstroth 10-frame hive, 

 always look first to see who IS the writer ? And 141^ jpt 



if the name of the writer is the first thing to be 

 read, why shouldn't it be the first thing lyrlnt- 

 edf Is there any good reason for having it at 

 the end? "Takes less room at the end?" 

 Why, you can print it in just as small type at 

 the beginning as the end, and surely it will 

 take no more room one place than the other. 

 "Yes. but it doesn't look so well." Now. look 

 here, Mr. Printer: are the comfort and conven- 

 ience of your thousands of readers to give 

 way for your notions of typographical appear- 

 ance? Out upon you 1 



Now, it mav be that, if (ii-EANiNGS would 

 take up this matter, and try to show the guilty 

 parties the error of their ways, at least some of 

 them might be induced to amend. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



[Well, now, doctor, we (that's the junior ed- 

 itor and the printers) are glad that you are 

 riled, not at our esteemed cotemporary the 

 British Bee Journal, but at (Jlkaning.s, for it 

 is easy to see you intended to give us a clip 

 over the shoulders of the B. U. J. Our custom 

 has been to put the name of the writer at the 

 end of the article. We have wanted it at the 

 beginning: but A. I. R. doesn't take kindly to 

 it. May be if you will keep your wrath nursed 

 up we shall be able to make the change. Jok- 

 ing aside, we will put the signature wherever 

 our readers desire it. In removing, let us know 

 your preference.] 



14)^ inches inside width. Jacob Wagner. 

 Amana, la., Oct. 17. 



[The only reason for using 9 frames instead 

 of 10 in a ten-frame hive is because some bee- 

 keepers seem to think there is an advantage in 

 having the frames a little wider spaced— that 

 is. 13-2 instead of l-'s from center to center. If 

 the apiarist is not careful in spacing, th<> combs 

 will in time be bulged wider and wider: and 

 the result is, he is obliged to take out one of the 

 combs so he can get in the nine; but with those 

 who are beginning to use self-spacing frames, 

 crooked and bulged combs will soon be things 

 of the past. In our own experience, we get 

 more brood from l^s'-inch spacing than from 

 lio'; we also get truer and better combs. This 

 matter was fully discussed on page 491, 18t)0. 

 Perhaps we ought to say this: For extracting, 

 there may be an advantage in having 9 combs 

 in a ten-frame super, because the nine will hold 

 the honey of the ten. and the nine can be un- 

 capped in a little less time than the ten. But 

 we question somewhat whether the honey is as 

 nic(^ly ripened in deej) cells as in the shalhav.] 



HOAV TO GET POLLEN OT"T OF THE COMBS. 



After extracting the honey from the brood- 

 frames or extracting - frames, is there any 

 known means or way that the pollen can be 

 taken from the cells without injury to the 

 combs? I believe it has been so stated by 



