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 $'i°°pta\tAR 'XsTIedina-Ohio- 



Vol. XXVII. 



MAR. i, 1899. 



No. 5. 



Arthur Hansen, p. 132, is the first man 

 I've seen making end-bars the same as mine, 

 lyi inches wide. Now, friend Hansen, why 

 didn't )'OU make bottom-bars the same width ? 



Getting combs in extracting-snper built 

 out with cells too deep for queens, as men- 

 tioned by Arthur Hansen, p. 132, is an old 

 trick, and I think successful, but it is object- 

 ed that it gives less comb surface, and ripen- 

 ing is slower. 



I AGREE with Doolittle and Stenog, p. 123. 

 If all would breed and select with the care 

 and good judgment of Doolittle, it would be 

 better than importing. With things as they 

 are, there would be a lowering of average if 

 there should be no more importations. 



To emphasize a statement of R. C. Aikin, 

 p. 128, I may say that not only will my bees 

 not build down to the bottom-bar, but if foun- 

 dation comes within j*g or y$ inch of the bot- 

 tom-bar, and often even when it touches the 

 bottom-bar, they'll gnaw it away so as to leave 

 a j^-inch space. 



You've struck it. I mean those springs 

 on p. 141. [Yes, so practical and extensive a 

 bee-keeper as M. H. Mendleson, of California, 

 used and tested these springs very thoroughly 

 last season, and I understand he was delight- 

 ed with them. Mendleson, you know, is one 

 of the most extensive bee-keepers in Califor- 

 nia. — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, your medical doctrine, p. 122, 

 is all right. When grip began to be trouble- 

 some this winter I redoubled my carefulness 

 as to diet, especially as to overeating, and the 

 grip has been able to do no more with me yet 

 than to make me feel like using the lounge 

 more than usual. But I mustn't brag, for 

 there's no telling what may yet happen. 



Fifty colonies in an apiary are more prof- 

 itable than 100, says Doolittle, p. 138, if each 

 colony uses 60 lbs. for its own support and 

 the field furnishes 11,000 lbs. honey. Cor- 

 rect, //"each colony will store 160 lbs. surplus, 



and if the field furnishes only 11 ,000 lbs. But 

 if each colony can store only 100 lbs. surplus, 

 and if the field furnishes 16,000 lbs., then not 

 a colony less than 100 should be kept. 



Friend Aikin, you say, p. 128, that a sec- 

 tion or brood frame a half deeper than wide 

 will be finished quicker than if turned the 

 other way. I admit the section, but dispute 

 the brood-frame. It would be so if the comb 

 was started at one point and all built from that 

 center. But the comb is started in three or 

 four parts, each part being a half deeper than 

 wide. 



C. Davenport, p. 133, thinks it isn't pa- 

 triotism to receive honey from Cuba. Friend 

 C, if patriotism makes us care for no country 

 but our own, then there's something higher 

 than patriotism. If the greatest good to the 

 greatest number is advanced by letting in 

 Cuban honey, then let it in, even if it drives 

 us all out of the business. But may be enough 

 will go to Cuba to eat all its honey at the low 

 prices. 



Bicycles with their gear-cases and other 

 improvements get quite a send-off in last 

 Gleanings. But that one of Rambler's, p. 

 136, beats 'em all, for it breathes "to the £ull 

 the balsamic fragrance." That must be some 

 new arrangement for inflating its own tires. 

 [A gear-case on a bicycle, to use another com- 

 parison, is just about as necessary, in my 

 judgment, as a smoker to open a bee-hive. 

 Either can be dispensed with, but not profita- 

 bly.— Ed.] 



Dysentery, according to reply to F. A. K., 

 p. 137, seems to be a matter of food. But 

 don't bees sometimes have dysentery with 

 wholesome stores? In any case, if my bees 

 had dysentery in cellar, I'd run up the 

 temperature for a few hours to 60 or 80 de- 

 grees. I don't know, but I think it helps. 

 [Yes, bees do die of dysentery, even with 

 wholesome food. Some of our colonies last 

 fall, fed exclusively on sugar syrup, are show- 

 ing, as a result of the extremely cold weather 

 we have been having, dysentery to quite a 

 serious extent. I always supposed that dis- 

 ease was caused either by too long confine- 

 ment, without an opportunity to evacuate the 

 bowels, or by long severe cold causing the 

 bees to gorge themselves more than was for 



