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Vol. XXVL 



MAR. I, 1898. 



fubhshedyTHEAll^ooYCo. 



No. 5. 



IzAL is the drug that Bee Cliat feels sure 

 may be relied on to cure foul brood. 



What Aikin says, p. 1 •■>(), reminds me that 

 one year two colonies stored white honey and 

 all others dark. Last year, in the same apiary, 

 a few stored dark and all the rest light. 



For a tenderfoot our old friend C. A. 

 Hatch hasn't done so badly in California — 200 

 lbs. per colony from 275 colonies — the best re- 

 port the Pacific B. J. has had for the year. 



Somnambuust thinks, in imitation of the 

 pink law for oleomargarine, there might be a 

 pink or some other colored law for adulterated 

 honey. [Somnambulist is right, as usual. — 

 Ed.] 



Postal savings banks are getting much at- 

 tention nowadays; and, from the general de- 

 mand, they are likely to come. This country 

 ought to keep up with the proct-ssion in hav- 

 ing postal savings banks and free rural mail 

 delivery. [Just so, doctor. — Ed] 



Taix sections about 6x5x1 >4, four piece, 

 were used long ago by Aikin, who says, in 

 Progressiz'c, " I want to tell every one who 

 reads this that I never had such nicely finish- 

 ed sections of any other style." He thinks it 

 important that top and bottom bars be about 

 as wide their entire length as thickness of fin- 

 ished comb. 



The American Bee-keeper for February is a 

 surprise. Diminished in size by knocking the 

 foolishness off the last end, it is doubled in 

 value by wide-awake editorials and other good 

 matter that show that the brains of a live bee- 

 keeper have been to work at it, instead of hav- 

 ing it make itself. H. E. Hill furni.shes the 

 brains. [See editorials. — Ed.] 



Bee Chat is the name of a new bee-paper 

 in England, quarterly, edited by S. Simmins, 

 the well-known author of " A Modern Bee- 

 farm," and originator of Simmins' non-swarm- 

 ing plan, keeping the bees always building 

 combs below brood-nest, but never allowing 

 them to be finished there. One page is devot- 

 ed to poultry. The first number is promising. 



Box hives and frame hive'^ are not the only 

 kind used in Germany. A. Gustin in Rucher 

 Be/oe, favors for many the use of mixed hives 

 — that is, a skep surmounted by supers with 

 movable frames. An inverted cone is the form 

 preferred for the skep, smaller at bottom than 

 top, as bees ckister and ])refer combs in that 

 form. Undoub'edly a frame would be more 

 easily handled if it were shorter at bottom 

 than top. 



Question 2, p 141, has an answer of only 

 three letters. I'd have used orly two-thirds 

 as many. [So you would have stuck on the 

 little word no. Well I have read over the 

 question and my answer again, and I am of 

 the same opinion still. But say, doctor, I am 

 surpr;sed that 3-ou did not catch me up in the 

 answer just following, where I made that 

 whopping mistake or error of fact. I said that 

 there would be more dead b?es on the cellar 

 bottom during the /(;/r part of the winter than 

 the latter, when in fact I meant just the other 

 way. — Ed.] 



California B. K. Exchange handled for 

 the season 484,287 lbs. extracted honey, 21.8 

 per cent white, 51.4 per cent light amber, 26.8 

 per cent dark; 1467 cases comb. Total busi- 

 ness, ^o<d,m2.— Pacific B. J. [Who said the 

 California Bee-keepers' Exchange was a fail- 

 ure ? Six! y thousand dollars in one j-ear is 

 not bad for the first year or so of its existence. 

 We wish the Exchange success, and will do 

 all in our power to encourage it. There ought 

 to be sujh an organization in the East, and 

 probably will be in time if the California Ex- 

 change continues to prove a benefit and a 

 blessing to its members. — Ed.] 



For end spacing of brood - frames, I 

 thought I liked bent nails ; but after trying 

 staples I think I like them better. With nails 

 the frames slide into place a little better, but 

 then they slide out rather too easily. But any 

 kind of end-spacing is a great comfort com- 

 pared with the nuisance of having the end of 

 the top-bar glued fast, vinless in the course of 

 time the end-spacers should themselves become 

 badly glued. [Your conclusion gives tne a 

 lot of satisfaction. You remember we debat- 

 ed a long time (that is, members of The A. I. 

 Root Co ) whether we should use a staple or a 

 bent nail. I am glad your experience justi- 

 fies the wisdom of our decision. — Ed.] 



