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Vol. XXV. 



SEPT. I, 1897. 



No. 17. 



On the mornixg of August 18 I saw a bee 

 here and there on buckwheat, with the ther- 

 mometer at 58°. At ()1° the bees were thick 

 on it. 



J. A. Buchanan, p. .589, has customers who 

 always eat a dollar's worth of honey before it 

 candies. Now, is that because his cu.stomers 

 are so fast at eating, or because his honey is 

 so slow at candying? [Probably both. — Ed.] 



A MANUFACTORY of printers' rollers informs 

 me that the}- use a considerable quantity of 

 extracted honey in their business, but require 

 the pure article, and prefer white clover or 

 basswood. Under no conditions will buck- 

 wheat honey do. 



Is IT NOT just a little inconsistent to charge 

 with hostility, and tr\-ing to get the funds of 

 the old Union, those who have advocated 

 amalgamation ? Why, I think most of them 

 are members thereof, and one is not generally 

 hostile to himself. 



The grooved beixows-boards for smokers 

 will allow the use of a lighter spring, making 

 it much easier on the nuiscles of the hand. 

 [That is so. I never thought of it. For 1898 

 we will bear the fact in mind, and endeavor 

 to have the tension of the springs slightly re- 

 duced. — Ed.] 



It's surprising, considering the times and 

 all the circumstances, that the new Union 

 should already have a membership of ITo, 

 with a still continued up-grade tendency. 

 [The new Union is growing at an astonishing- 

 ly rapid rate. If it keeps on growing it will 

 soon be bigger than its elder sister.— Ed.] 



Smoker fuel, like so many other things in 

 bee-keeping, is somewhat a matter of "loca- 

 tion." It isn't so much what is best as what 

 is most convenient. One of the most gener- 

 ally convenient, and at the same time one of 

 the best, is the small chips about any wood- 

 pile. For a sharp, telling smoke, lasting as 

 well, I know nothing better than sound osage- 

 orange wood. 



Within two rods of my home apiary is a 

 field of buckwheat on which bees have been 

 working some days. They work a short time 

 early in the day, b^it I can see no buckwheat 

 honey in the hives, neither is there any buck- 

 wheat smell either about the hives or in the 

 field until this morning, Aug. 18, when the 

 air about the field is well perfumed. 



Fall honp:v is usually darker than the 

 earlier; but at my south apiary this year, and 

 to some extent last, the rule is reversed. For 

 two or three weeks the bees have been filling 

 sections with the whitest comb and honey, I 

 think, I ever saw — much whiter than clover, 

 and of excellent flavor, as mild as alfalfa. 

 The sad part of it is, I haven't the slightest 

 idea what it comes from. 



"In an apple orchard where the trees 

 are so large and the branches so long that the 

 twigs can shake hands with one another is an 

 ideal spot for an apiary." — Bee-keepers^ Re- 

 viezv. Just the idea, and nicely expressed, 

 W. Z. But my south apiarj' has something I 

 like even better — a grove of young burr-oaks. 

 No, burr-combs are no worse there than in the 

 other apiaries. 



That item, " Big Colonies, Again," p. 604, 

 gives something to think over. With two 

 stories I can have whopping big colonies that 

 store enormousl}' in combs and never think of 

 swarming; but somehow I can't make a suc- 

 cess of having them work in sections. Is it 

 possible that I can make the thing go by first 

 starting them on extracting-combs and then 

 switching off on to sections? Just wait till 

 next year. 



I WANT TO indorse what you say, friend 

 A. I., page 007, about giving young folks 

 plenty of sleep. The time gained in 24 hours 

 by taking it from sleep will have to be paid 

 back in later years with interest severely com- 

 pounded. And when one gets on the shady 

 side of 50, I know of nothing more refreshing 

 than "tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy 

 sleep." As Sancho Panza said, " Blest be the 

 man that invented sleep ! " 



Workers reared in drone-cells, as mention- 

 ed by Elias Fox, p. 599, is a more conmion 

 occurrence than generally supposed. More 

 than 20 years ago I saw workers hatch from 



