514 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



ion of beginning slowly, anJ keeping up a 

 continuous flow for a considerable length of 

 time. Success to you.— Ed.] 



'For~smoker fuel, Li. Highbarger uses 

 cotton waste that train men have thrown away 

 along the railroad after it has been used on 

 car-axles. I've been using it, and am much 

 pleased with it — lights easily, burns long, and 

 makes a good smoke. But it is black and 

 greasy, and unpleasant to handle. [Yes, cot- 

 ton waste would make first-class smoker-fuel ; 

 but where do you get it — by tramping up and 

 down the railroad tracks, or by begging it of 

 the railroad men ? — Ed. ] 



You ARE AFRAID, Mr. Editor, E. F. Pit- 

 mann's foundation would bulge. I don't be- 

 lieve it would if the main part of the founda- 

 tion has space enough between it and the bot- 

 tom of the section. You see the bulging 

 would all be done by the little part. If the 

 entire edge touches the bottom, it will bulge 

 sure. His plan makes sure that the section is 

 fastened sufficiently at the bottom to make it 

 safe for shipment, but I should not expect the 

 entire bottom to be built down as well as with 

 bottom starters. 



Ye editor says cross-bred bees are as good 

 for comb honey as Italians, and some prefer 

 them. Of two colonies harvesting an equal 

 crop, I'd much rather breed from the Italian. 

 The result will be more uniform. If the cross 

 is enough better, then I'd take the cross to 

 breed from. I shouldn't get as even a lot, 

 but 1 would average more honey. [While I 

 believe that hybrid bees are as good for comb 

 honey as the Italians, yet I would alwa3's 

 breed from the latter stock, for the bees will 

 turn into hybrids soon enough without trying 

 to breed them. — Ed.] 



" We ARE ToivD that the HofiFman frames 

 can be picked up in pairs ; and what of it if 

 they can ? How often do you want to pick 

 them up in pairs? And what do you want to 

 pick them up that way for?" says M. W. 

 Shepherd, p. 478. We want to pick them up 

 in pairs as often as we want to take two frames 

 from one hive to another while one hand is oc- 

 cupied carrying the smoker. We want to take 

 two or three at a time to avoid the extra trip 

 that would have to be made if only one at a 

 time were taken. I can carry two or three 

 loose hanging frames in one hand, and I can 

 hurt my fingers pretty badly by it too. [Just 

 so. — Ed.] 



If canker worms work on lindens the 

 same as on apple-trees, it will pay to spray 

 that linden orchard at Medina. Within view 

 of where I write, hundreds of apple-trees 

 were killed outright by canker worms. The 

 first year didn't seem to hurt the trees much, 

 for they sent out new leaves after the worms 

 stripped them ; but the fourth year finished 

 them. Other trees right beside them were 

 sprayed, and saved all right. I think they 

 were sprayed only once or twice in all. [Good- 

 ness me ! We have about 3000 basswood-trees 

 in our basswood orchard that are anywhere 

 from 15 to 30 feet high. To spray that whole 

 o' chard would be a job, to say nothing of the 

 expense for chemicals. If the worms come 



back next season, as we fear they will, we 

 shall be prepared to give them fits. — Ed ] 



You are mad, Mr. Editor, because I don't 

 tell whether I think bees sometimes sting 

 without stopping to feel where they sting. I 

 don't think a little thing like that should 

 break our friendship, and I would just as soon 

 tell you as not. Some people would get mad, 

 and be too stubborn to tell you ; but I 'm not 

 one of that sort, and, as I said, I'd just as soon 

 tell you as not ; but the fact is, I don't know. 

 [Just like you. I am mad because you fooled 

 me again. Did you never have a hybrid make 

 a dart from a' hive, like a bullet, and strike its 

 sting the moment it touched your person ? 

 Unless I am very much mistaken, the instant 

 the bee's feet touch, the sting is doing its work. 

 This is not invariably the case, but under 

 some conditions, as after a sudden snap or jar 

 of the hive on a cool day. Now, Dr. Miller, 

 what do you think, if you don't knozv ? — Ed.] 



While Belgian hares are having such a 

 boom, some one tell us how big an inclosure 

 they must have. Must it have a floor? How 

 protect from dcgs? [The Belgian hares tlat 

 I saw in Colorado were confined in pens about 

 six feet square, I think with floor bottoms, 

 with poultry-netting tops. The wood bottoms 

 will be necessary to prevent the hares from 

 burrowing out, and the netting is probably to 

 keep off dogs and cats. The animals can be 

 grown in small inclosures, if supplied with 

 plenty of green stuff, very successfully, I im- 

 derstand ; but, like every thing else when 

 grown in large numbers, they do not do as 

 well. Every poultry keeper knows it is one 

 thing to take care of and grow successfully a 

 dozen hens and a rooster, and quite a different 

 thing to manage ten times that number. The 

 same proposition holds true in bee-keeping, 

 and I know no reason why it should not with 

 growing Belgian hares. The hares can be 

 raised wherever it would be possible to keep 

 chickens, and they will stand much closer con- 

 finement. Now, please understand that I have 

 had no personal experience with these harts. 

 These statements are all based on what I have 

 learned from different sources. On the oth- 

 er hand, there is no question but that Belgian 

 hares are having a great boom. Like every 

 thing else that has a boom, extravagant state- 

 ments are made. — Ed.] 



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W'lc 



:iJsrG& 



'd-/XOM OUA NEIGHBORS riELDS. 



The sun ha.^ reached the Cancer'.s line, 



And summer has begun; 

 All nature teems with active life, 



The bees in concert hum. 



\i/ 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



A few weeks ago the New York I\Tail and 



E.vpress printed a fake yarn to the effect that 



it is customary among bee-keepers to feed 



their bees with glucose and sugar, and that 



