MAY 15, 1916 



Heads of Grain From Different Fields 



THE BACK LOT BUZZKR 



Aunt Bertha Buckwheat says she doesn't believe it 

 is possible to cross the bee with the lightning-bug so 

 it will work nights, but she does think somebody 

 ought to invent glasses for them so they could find a 

 little more honey. 



HMl 

 (There is nothing about bees in this. It is in- 

 tended primarily for Don Marquis of the New York 

 Sun, who, of course, will never see it, and, inciden- 

 tally, for three other gentlemen who may.) 



" It 's SO easy it 'a absurd, 

 Here a word and there a word — 

 Webster 's done the. work, you know ' ' — 

 Don Marquis admitted so. 



So there's nothing left for the poet to do 

 But spend the best part of a lifetime or two 

 Feeling his subject deep down in his heart, 

 Forming and shaping itself to his art; 

 Throbbing, himself, with the pulse of the 



thing, 

 Helping it grow and hearing it sing; 

 Nothing to do but put in and cut out, 

 Polish it up and turn it about; 

 Nothing to do but build a new phrase 

 With smoother or swifter or winsomer ways; 

 Nothing to do but listen and feel; 

 Make of one verse a sabre of steel; 

 Make of another a shaper of wills; 

 Make of another a call from the hills; 

 Make of another a murmuring rest; 

 Make of another a dream -haunted quest; 

 Nothing at all for the poet to do 



But labor and love for that lifetime or two. 

 Yielding his part to a rhythmical whole. 

 Giving his brain and his heart and his soul. 

 Giving his life and giving himself, 

 And then get put on a separate shelf! 

 Nashville, Tenn. Grace Allen. 



Beeway or Plain Sections. 



Dr. C. C. Miller: — Which is the best sec- 

 tion to use — the 41/4x41/4x11/^ inch plain, 

 the 414 x 414 X 1%-inch four-beeway, or the 

 41/4 X 4% X 11/^ -inch two-beeway? I mean, 

 which is the best in regard to swarm con- 

 trol? 



I have ten colonies of bees; two colonies 

 have three-banded Italian queens; the other 

 eight colonies are the common black bees. 

 Now, I want to Italianize the black bees, 

 and on account of expense I want to raise 

 my own queens. Is there any way by which 

 I can keep the black bees from mixing with 

 the yellow ones? How can I get the queens 

 mated with the yellow drones? 



Antioch, Okla. Baxter Burnett. 



I don 't think either section you mention 

 is the best. The one that is in more general 

 use than any other is the 4i/4 x 4%, x 1% 

 two-beeway. The fact that it is used more 

 than any other, in spite of strenuous efforts 

 having been made to push others ahead of 

 it, is pretty good proo'f that beekeepers in 

 general believe it best. So far as swarm con- 

 trol is concerned, I doubt if there 's any dif- 

 ference. 



So long as there are other bees within a 

 mile or two of yours you will find it difficult 

 to keep yours pure. You can, however, con- 

 trol the drones in your own apiary by allow- 

 ing them to be reared only in Italian colo- 

 nies. In other colonies you can keep the 

 heads shaved off all drone brood as fast as 

 it is sealed, or, better still, cut out all drone 

 comb and patch worker comb in its place. 

 One thing in your favor is that, when you 

 rear a young queen from an Italian mother, 

 even if the young queen mates with a black 

 drone, the drones that she rears will be pure 

 Italians. By persistently rearing queens only 

 from pure mothers you will gradually work 

 out the black blood. It ma}^ be well also to 

 mention that the first cross will generally 

 be found as good gatherers as the pure 

 bloods. 



Marengo, 111. Dr. C. C. Miller. 



What is to be Done with the Froth? 



What is usually done with the froth that 

 accumulates on the top of extracted honey? 

 Is it of any value? 



Do bees that are wintered in a cellar have 

 to be put back on their identical stands in 

 the spring? C. C. Brinton. 



Turkey Eiver, la. 



[The froth that rises to the top of the 

 honey is not of much use, altho it would not 

 need to be thrown away necessarily. It 



