Jourmai^ 



• DELVoTE.D> , , 



•andHoNEY . 



•AND HOME.- '^ 



•lNTE.f^EST^ 



•'" rubiishEdyiHEAll^ooYCo.- 

 Siii!P[RYEAR. ^® "Medina-Ohio- 



VoL XXXIIL 



OCT. U J 905. 



No. J 9 



Ye editor, p. 961, expresses surprise at 

 so much swarming with two or three story 

 extracting colonies, which, he says, usually 

 will not swarm. Allow me to suggest one 

 thing that makes a difference — a big dif- 

 ference. Ventilation. With a good-sized en- 

 trance to each story, I should expect practi- 

 cally no swarming in this locality. General- 

 ly have a few such colonies, and not one has 

 ever swarmed. 



Shipping-cases are spoken of by Bro. 

 DooUttle, p. 970, as having glass on two 

 sides. I supposed that nowadays shipping- 

 cases generally had glass on only one side. 

 How is that, Mr. Editor? [Shipping-cases 

 were formerly made with glass on both sides 

 by supply manufacturers ; but in these latter 

 days I think only one side is glassed. There 

 are not many using double glass now, and 

 very likely Bro. Doolittle is in the minority. 

 -Ed.] 



The question is raised, page 955, whether 

 it might not have been all right to postpone 

 the National convention at San Antonio till 

 after the first frost. Granting that railroad 

 rates would have been all right at that time, 

 people don't get over a yellow-fever scare 

 in a day; and the many who have decided 

 not to go on that account Oct. 31 would take 

 more than one frost to get them over the 

 scare. At least that's the way it is "in 

 this locality." 



G. M. Doolittle, page 970, says he ships 

 his fancy and his No. 1 honey to two differ- 

 ent houses, so the two can not be closely 

 compared. But in that case he must be sure 

 to ship his No. 1 where no one else ships 

 fancy, for it would be just as bad to have 

 the No. 1 compared with Smith's fancy as 

 with Doolittle's fancy. But isn't that a 



difficult thing to do, since most commission 

 houses receive at all times honey from any 

 one who offers, and generally have on hand 

 different grades? 



"The shallow brood-nest, as Mr. Hed- 

 don so clearly explained years ago, offers 

 exceptional facilities for getting all the bees 

 off the combs without touching a single 

 comb," page 960. Say, Mr. Editor, do you 

 really make a practice of shaking all the 

 bees out without touching a comb? [The 

 word all should have been omitted. The 

 mistake was overlooked m the proof-reading 

 on my part. Of course, it would not be prac- 

 ticable to shake all the bees off the combs 

 without touching one. — Ed. 



Prof. Bigelow, p. 958, makes a strong 

 plea for tanging; but when he's all through 

 I'd hke to know whether he really thinks 

 tanging advisable. He says: "The noise is 

 made after the clustering, in my experience, 

 when the swarm has refused to go into the 

 hive or to remain." Beg pardon, professor, 

 I suspect the general experience is different 

 from yours. Certainly, in any case I ever 

 knew any thing about, the music began the 

 earliest possible after the swarm was known 

 to be issuing, and I never read of any differ- 

 ent experience till I read of yours. 



J. E. Johnson, p. 959, speaking of Hoff- 

 man frames, says: "If you get well-made 

 combs to start with, and always shove them 

 up tight, using the dummy, nobody can help 

 liking them." Then I'm that "nobody," 

 friend Johnson; for after fulfilling the con- 

 ditions you specify, I most assuredly "can 

 help liking them," and very much prefer 

 frames with smaller points of contact. 

 [Propolis is a factor to be considered. You 

 have more propolis in your locality, I believe, 

 than we have here; but if you had no more 

 than we, I am sure you could learn to handle 

 these frames as easily as we do ours. — Ed.] 



J. W. Southwood files a protest against 

 the impression left by the item headed ' ' An 

 Increase in Weight of Two Pounds in a Min- 

 ute and a Half," p. 919. The surface im- 

 pression is that during that minute and a 

 half two pounds of nectar were carried into 

 the hive. Mr. Southwood wisely hints that 



