AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



429 



identify it. It is without doubt a fine 

 honey-plant, and surely we have very 

 few wild flowers that are more graceful 

 and beautiful than these gems of our 

 marshes and uplands. A. J. Cook. 



Hives with Loose or Tight Bottoms. 



I read much of wintering bees with- 

 out hive bottom-boards. Now I am so 

 unlucky as to have mine nailed fast to 

 the hives. What would you advise me 

 to do, in this case? Last year I owned 

 a single colony, and wintered it O. K., 

 with fastened bottom-board, but lost a 

 good many bees. This year I have 3 

 more from the same old colony, and 

 have taken about 60 pounds of comb 

 honey from the first swarm. 



Rev. H. O. Jorris. 



Reeseville, Wis. 



Answer.— Perhaps you can do no better 

 than to use your hives just as they are. 

 When you have new ones made, you can 

 try the loose bottoms. If, however, you 

 are anxious to try the loose bottoms this 

 winter, you can temporarily take out 

 the frames, take off the bottom, and 

 make any change you like. Perhaps 

 the chief reason for preferring loose 

 bottoms is because you can thus have a 

 space of about two inches under the 

 bottom-bars in winter, and you must 

 provide for this. 



From — 



The iStmger. 



Away "out West," where grow big moun- 

 tains, 



And "rocky " hills with cooling fountains, 



There wanders a man who pictures " scen- 

 ings," 



In a beautiful paper that is known as 

 " GImnings.'" 



The fellow's quite "queer;" though not a 

 gambler. 



He's neither a bachelor — just simply a 

 " Rambler." 



A bicycle craze is being worked up 

 among bee-keepers ; young Root, of 

 Gleanings^ the Stinger believes, being 

 the father of the fad. A leading San 

 Francisco physician, and a member of 

 the Board of Health of that city, not 

 long ago published a very learned and 

 interesting article on the " Bicyclist's 

 Hump," showing that it is a thing to be 

 avoided. I do not want to see a race of 

 hump-back bee-keepers in this land, so I 

 would recommend that if a bee-keeper 



has to chase his swarms on a wheel, 

 that he keep his handle-bars well up, 

 and thereby not double himself up like 

 a jack-knife while propelling his ma- 

 chine. 



Doolittle's perennial little advertising 

 man is always "on the square," as I 

 suppose Doolittle himself is. But the 

 poor little fellow has been compelled to 

 support himself so long in a perpendicu- 

 lar position that he must have become 

 tired of the vertical attitude, and, as a 

 relief to his vertebra, he has assumed a 

 horizontal position. (See advertising 

 page 288 of this Journal.) 



Perhaps, in the course of human 

 events, this self-same little advertising 

 man of Doolittle's will be next standing 

 upon his head. But, then, to keep him 

 "on the square," he roust manage to get 

 that square block under his head, in- 

 stead of on top of his feet, where it will 

 surely be, if not changed. 



The distressed look that o'er spreads 

 this little fellow that I had just been re- 

 ferring to, impels me to say a few more 

 words in his behalf. From his pleading 

 attitude I am led to believe that he is in 

 dire distress, and would like a dose of 

 medicine. Perhaps it might be well for 

 some medical man to take him in hand 

 and treat him professionally. I suggest 

 that Dr. Miller take him to his hospital 

 and report results as his patient im- 

 proves, as he must do under the Doctor's 

 skill. 



I cannot leave this quizzical chap on 

 the block without inquiring why he was 

 allowed to pull those trousers he is wear- 

 ing before they were longer ? Possibly 

 they were pulled too soon. In this re- 

 spect they may be said to be like some 

 of those queens of the " pulled " variety. 



Editor Root of Oleanings says in the 

 September issue of his paper, that the 

 title of these " Stings " " might lead one 

 to expect something caustic or disagree- 

 able " in them. " On the contrary," he 

 says, " it is very pleasant." Thank you, 

 Bro. Root; but let the Stinger warn you 

 to keep away from his business end, or 

 you may have reason to find out that 

 there is "something caustic or disagree- 

 able" in what may follow. 



Doolittle, Root and Miller have an 

 argument under way in Gleanings con- 

 cerning the respective merits and de- 

 merits of wooden and wire paddles for 

 "shooting " bees on the wing. It looks 



