'JOURNAIJ 

 • DELVOT 



•To -Bel 

 •andHoNEY' 



'MD HOME. 



♦INTE-f^ESTi- 



hedyTHE^l^OO-fCo. 



perVear ^® ^Medina- Ohio- 



Vol. XXV. 



AUG. 15, 1897. 



No. 16. 



Gleanings looks very neat in her new suit. 

 Easier to read too. 



\ViKSB.\DEN is where the big convention of 

 German bee-keepers will be. Wish I could 

 be there! 



Alfred ArsTix, England's poet laureate, 

 is a member of the Kent Bee-keepers' Associ- 

 ation — not an honorary member, but pays his 

 subscription. 



Ants in hives. M. Guilleminot, in LWpi- 

 culteiir, saN's he is successful in getting rid of 

 ants by first removing what he can of their 

 nests, then sprinkling well with finely crush- 

 ed soot. 



Did vou ever notice that, in enlarging 

 the brood-nest, the queen often lays first on 

 the side of a fresh comb furthest from the 

 brood-nest? I wonder why. [I never no- 

 ticed it. — Ed.] 



To THE QUESTION, whether it is possible 

 and desirable to increase the length of tongue 

 in our bees, nearly all repliers in A. B.J. 

 agree as to desirability, and a large majority 

 believe it possible. 



The Belgi.vn government has issued an 

 order that all railway embankments shall be 

 covered with honey-plants. — Bieneu - / 'ater. 

 May be that will happen here, if government 

 runs the railroads. 



Bvron W.vlker is right aljout " even thick- 

 ness of combs." The fact is, I'm so iTsed to 

 thinking of separators being used that I never 

 thought of the great unevenness there might 

 be without them. He's right, too, in think- 

 ing there may be too great econom}- of words 

 in describing grades. 



You .\RE right, I think, Mr. Editor, p. 550, 

 in thinking the bees would not have so readi- 

 ly cajjped over that honey if I had taken away 

 all the brood-frames, lea\ ing only full frames 

 of honey; but there was no " putting-in of 

 the frames of foundation in alternation," as 

 you mention. It was frames of brood alter- 

 nated with frames of honey. 



In reply to Mr. Craig's question, p. 57.'), I 

 think fall is better than spring for sowing 



sweet clover, and it most surely must be sown 

 or self-sown every two years, for, like a pars- 

 nip, it grows one year without blooming, 

 blooms the next year, then dies root and 

 branch. So if bloom is wanted every year, 

 seed must be sown or self-sown every year. 



Prop. Cook favors a return to the old plan 

 of having a few bees on ever}- farm, rather 

 than large apiaries in the hands of specialists. 

 — Rural Califoniian. Which may and may 

 not be all right if every farmer would keep 

 bees. But if all the specialists were killed off, 

 would it at all increase tlie number of farmers 

 who keep be?s ? 



M.\NV TH.\NKS, friend A. I., for giving fits 

 to the electrical thieves that are worse than 

 pickpockets, and especiall}- to their aiders and 

 abettors, the religious press. Don't let up on 

 the latter till they cease to be partners in 

 crime. [Doctor, suppos? you tell them the 

 plain truth. We will furnish you all the 

 marked sample copies you want. Perhaps a 

 word from vou woidd have more weight than 

 from A. I. R.— Ed.] 



The Argentine Republic, as reported by 

 A. Michaut in Apiciiltcur, is a paradise for 

 bee-keepers — no failures from drought or 

 moisture (except once in 12 or 15 years grass- 

 hoppers allow a qiiarter crop); no foul brood 

 or other disease ; no moth ; abundant harvest 

 for three months in the va.st alfalfa fields, and 

 an average yield of 75 lbs. a colon)- at .S cts. a 

 pound, and 8>< lbs. wax at 20 cts. Perhaps 

 Prof. Bruner will tell us about it. 



Sheep are good to keep down grass in an 

 apiar\-, but they move hives on their stands 

 more than cows or horses. [I am sure your 

 experience is different from that of Vernon 

 Burt and the rest of us. Whenever a horse is 

 stung in the vicinity of our apiary, there is 

 usually a fracas, and a lively one too. The 

 last experience our Meg had at our home api- 

 ary was when she kicked over tw-o hives and 

 had a nmaway general!}-. Say, doctor, do 

 your sheep kick ? — Ed.] 



Rev. M. M.\hin, D. D., has observed close- 

 ly, and never found bees working on strawber- 

 ry-bloom worth mentioning till this year ; but 

 tiiis year they worked as freely on it as on clo- 

 ver. ' He thinks an unusually damp and cool 

 spring accounts for it. [Two or three years 

 ago a few insisted that bees never work on 



