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^ublishedb/THEA'll^OoY Co. 



^ii5PERYtAR'"'\@ Medina-Ohio- 



Vol. XXXII. 



MAR. I, 1904. 



No. 5 



The National Stockman says the Illi- 

 nois Experiment Station has discovered 

 that the bacterium of sweet clover is all 

 rig-ht for alfalfa. How's that? 



A POINT in favor of paper packages that 

 has hardly been emphasized enough is the 

 convenience and beauty of form of the honey 

 after being stripped of paper and put on 

 the table. [Yes, this is a good point. I 

 predict a great future for these paper pack- 

 ages.— Ed.] 



A. Straeuli, a Swiss authority, declares 

 in Bienen- Vater that it is not only his con- 

 viction, but that of many others, that there 

 is nothing left for European bee culture but 

 to become Americanized as quickly and 

 completely as possible. [See answer tO' 

 another Straw on this subject. — Ed.] 



I don't know the answer to Geo. H. 

 Roe's question, page 187, but I venture to 

 guess that, in a country where there is " a 

 lot of rain in winter, with very little frost, 

 and then never down to zero," there would 

 be some advantage in having the bees " un- 

 der a cheap open shed with only a roof." 



August Kamprath, in Bienen- Vater, 

 speaks of sweet clover as an annual, and 

 sa3's that, on account of strong sweetish 

 fragrance it is despised by cattle, and eat- 

 en only by sheep. Even though it be pos- 

 sible that it is an annual over there, I sus- 

 pect Austrian cattle would learn to eat it 

 as well as American cattle. 



D. W. Heise must be converted clear 

 through to give up selling tobacco, p. 189. 

 The Christian merchant who sells tobacco 

 must have a befogged brain or befogged 

 something; j'et I'm sorry to say that "in 

 this locality" those who are not thus be- 

 fogged are scarce as hens' teeth. I've 



known a man to preach to the boys in Sun- 

 day-school against tobacco, and then sell 

 it to them on week days. Consistency, 

 thou art a jewel ! 



Wax production, can it be made as 

 profitable as honey production? That's the 

 problem a French beekeepers' society (de 

 la Meuse) has set itself to solve. A series 

 of experiments is placed before its mem- 

 bers, with five prizes ranging from $4 to $20. 

 One point to be determined is the compara- 

 tive results in double and single walled 

 hives. 



G. M. Doolittle says, p. 171, he doesn't 

 see why any one should object to using 

 honey in sugar syrup, "even if the same 

 had to be bought." In many cases it would 

 have to be bought, if used at all; and in a 

 large proportion of those cases it would be 

 exceedingly difficult to be 5«r6? that the hon- 

 ey bought was free from foul brood. Rath- 

 er than run any risk, would it not be better 

 to use tartaric p.cid instead of honey? Per- 

 haps it might be better still to feed early 

 enough and thin enough to need neither 

 honey nor acid. 



J. A. Green says, p. 180, Illinois honey 

 keeps all right in paper until the heat of 

 summer. There's the rub. Doesn't alfal- 

 fa honey keep through the heat of summer? 

 [No, it did not keep solid in this locality 

 last summer; and that emphasizes the point 

 that such honey should be used up before 

 warm weather. The local beekeepers 

 should take it oflF the grocer's hands if they 

 do not wish to ruin their market for such 

 goods, because there is danger that it will 

 run out and daub the shelves, attract flies, 

 and make a muss generally. — Ed.] 



I think, Mr. Editor, you'd change your 

 opinion about that metal frame-hanger, p. 

 179, upon trial. The chief propolizing of a 

 Hoffman is not where the frame rests on the 

 rabbet, but where the end-bars come togeth- 

 er; and this the frame-hanger leaves as bad 

 as ever. [But propolizing at the points of 

 contact between Hoffman frames in most lo- 

 calities is not a serious objection. The 

 metal edges would be better than the wood- 

 en ones. Your locality is like that of a few 



