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'ubii5hE<)yTHEAl1^ooYCo. 

 Si°»PERVtAR'^\@ Medina- Ohio- 



Vol. XXV. 



MAY I, 1897. 



No. 9 



A 4>4x4>4 SECTION, no matter what its thick- 

 ness, will be J^ inch thicker without separators 

 than with, and will weigh nearly three ounces 

 more. 



Vinegar can nol be made from honey, says 

 C. P. Dadant, in American Bee Journal, if you 

 make it stronger than 3 pounds of honey to a 

 gallon of water. 



Skylark reports feeding boiled juice of Mus- 

 cat grapes for winteiing, and this spring he's 

 boiling raisins and then pressing the juice for 

 spring feeding.— u4rjie7'ica7i Bee Journal. 



A HUGE BEE-TREE, in 1884, In Australia, ac- 

 cording to a report in Progres Apicole, yielded 

 7700 pounds of honey. Wonder if a decimal 

 point couldn't be worked in somewhere to ad- 

 vantage in that 7700! 



In SOME RESPECTS thick separators are better 

 than thin; but a strong argument in favor of 

 thin separators is that they are so cheap they 

 can be thrown away when used once, saving 

 the trouble of cleaning. 



The Pacific Bee Journal blames light-weight 

 sections for demoralizing the Los Angeles mar- 

 ket. The buyer buys light weights at 9 cts. by 

 the piece, then uses that as a leverage to buy 

 the next lot at 9 cts. a pound. 



Some French writers say a queen will not 

 go up to lay in a super if the direction of the 

 combs crosses that of the combs in the lower 

 story, unless there are drone-cells above. There 

 seems no reason for that, but they claim it holds 

 good. 



Drawn comb with cells }4 inch deep mea- 

 sures 8 feet to the pound, and thin foundation 

 10 feet. Is it worth while to make much fuss 

 about 25 per cent more "gob" in a section, es- 

 pecially if that "gob" is mainly a matter of 

 imagination? 



Those definitions on p. 286 are all good but 



the last, which might better be called " leveled 

 comb," for it's "drawn comb" just as much be- 

 fore it's leveled as after. [Yes, I like your term 

 "leveled comb;" and as we have only just begun 

 the use of the word. Gleanings will adopt it in 

 preference to drawn comb.— Ed.] 



Tell us how you fasten drawn foundation 

 in sections. I suppose a Daisy fastener might 

 be arranged to work, but hardly a Parker. But 

 no one who has tried a Daisy would use a Par- 

 ker. [Wo have been using the Daisy so far. It 

 would be impossible to use the Parker, of 

 course.— Ed.] 



DooLiTTLE, p. 286, favors natural swarming, 

 and thinks if artificial increase is practiced it is 

 greatly better to wait " till very near, or just at 

 the close of the harvest." He gives such good 

 reasons for this latter that it raises the question 

 whether it may not be better than natural 

 swarming, which comes generally near the be- 

 ginning of the harvest. 



Apis dorsata, it is generally taken for 

 granted, has a longer tongue than the common 

 bee. John A. Pease questions this, seeing dor- 

 sata is an entirely distinct species. "The bear 

 is a much larger beast than the cat, but he has 

 a shorter tail, and it may be so with this bee's 

 tongue. — Pacific Bee Journal. [See editorials 

 regarding Apis dorsata.— Ed.] 



Just as much fun watching the bees get to 

 work this spring as it was 35 years ago. [It is 

 a pleasure to know, doctor, that you have not 

 lost your old-time enthusiasm. Young chaps 

 like you and I, even if there is a difference of 

 31 years between our ages, can not afford to 

 lose our love for the business. Some people 

 never grow old, and you are one of them. — 

 Ed.] 



C. Dadant thinks it not necessary, but a 

 damage, to give bees water in transit. They 

 need much when Hying, but not when shut 

 in.— Revue Internuti07iale. [We used to give 

 bees water in transit, but gave it up prin- 

 cipally because the water leaked out, softened 

 the prepared sugar feed, and daubed the bees 

 up. Personally I should be inclined to think 



