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PERrtAR.'^'X® Hedina-Ohio- 



Vol. XXVIII. 



JULY 15, 1900. 



No. 14. 



I USED to tip back a hive and pour feed into 

 the bottom-board, but gave up the plan after 

 careful observation showed many dead bees 

 thrown out next morning. The Victor plan, 

 p. 517, is probably a great improvement, and 

 free from disaster, as the bottom-board is shal- 

 low, and the bees can help themselves without 

 leaving the bottom-bar. 



I don't think that Harry Lathrop's testi- 

 mony, p. 528, shows that winter-passages are 

 unnecessary. Notice that he doesn't say he 

 wintered without such passages, but his testi- 

 mony dates from " this spring, when I placed 

 the bees on the summer stands" After that 

 time they were not confined to the hive long 

 enough to make the lack of passageways dan- 

 gerous. [By looking over Mr. Lathrop's arti- 

 cle again, I see that your point is well taken — 

 that is, he does not offer any testimony against 

 bee passages ?';/ ivi)iter. — Ed.] 



Stenog is rather hard on the man who made 

 a business of killing bumble-bees, page 471. 

 All depends on the point of view. Stenog 

 looks upon the bumble-bee as the useful in- 

 sect that ferlilizes red-clover blossoms and 

 makes possible a crop of clover seed, so feels 

 like calling an)' man names who kills them. 

 Bro. Ritchey looks upon it as the little beast 

 that stings horses attached to reapers and oth- 

 er implements, making possible runaways that 

 result in the cutting-off of arms and legs, and 

 from that point of view feels justified in wag- 

 ing a war of extermination, just as he would 

 against mice and bedbugs. 



J. N. Ritchey writes : " La.st spring. May 

 10, I .sf>wed sweet clover, and find it in bloom 

 June 25. So you see if it is sown in early 

 spring ic will bloom the next season ; but if 

 left to reseed itself the last of July or August, 

 it will not bloom the next year. " If you mean 

 blossoms appeared June 25 from the sowing of 

 May 10, igoo, that would make it an annual, 

 and I should suspect there was some mistake. 



If the sowing was May, 1899, then I should 

 expect it to bloom in 1 900. Moreover, I should 

 expect it to bloom in 1900 if growth started 

 any time in 1899, even later than August. Al- 

 ways, it starts growth one year and blooms 

 the next. 



The proportion of soiled sections with 

 A. E. White in a good season is not more than 

 ten per cent less, he thinks, than at Medina, 

 p. 530. That sets me to wondering whether 

 thtre may be some reason for soiled sections 

 different from the reasons that prevail here. 

 No ten per cent are soiled here, and not one 

 per cent would be soiled if the sections were 

 always taken soon enough. The sole cause 

 for soiled clovt^r sections is staying too long 

 on the hives. [There is no doubt that the 

 locality has a good deal to do with the amount 

 of soiled sections. A very slow moderate 

 honey flow will result in a larger percentage 

 of soiled boxes than where the reverse condi- 

 tions are at work. — Ed ] 



Don't quarrel with Abbott Clemens 

 about .slow work dampening sections, so long 

 as neither takes more than 40 at a time. I 

 don't like to take less than 200 at a time, and 

 prefer 500. [It is not our. custom to dampen 

 only 40 sections and then fold and get up 

 from the chair for more. We grab up a hand- 

 ful, dampen them, and set them down. We 

 then pick up another handful, dampen these, 

 and place them alongside of the first lot until 

 we have the required number of sections to be 

 folded, be they 200 or 500 ; then we set down 

 to fold. Your way of putting 100 or 200 in a 

 row, and then dampening them all at one 

 time, may be quicker, however ; but the dif- 

 ference in time in either case would be very 

 small, I suspect. — Ed.] 



"A GREAT restrainer for Swarming is a 

 frame of unsealed larvse. A comb of capped 

 brood is not nearly as good." So I thought, 

 but I'm skeptical now. From the same colo- 

 ny, take a frame of unsealed brood and an- 

 other of sealed brood, put them in two differ- 

 ent hives with their adhering bees, and see 

 which will be deserted first. [I have changed 

 my mind once or twice on this subject. Years 

 ago, when swarms used to leave the hives I 



