July 6, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



421 



The •• Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Qlasses. 

 By "COGITATOR." 



HAND-SHAKING CONTAGION ALL AROUND. 



What an assortment of diseases presidential candidates 

 must have at the close of a campaign, if Dr. Peiro's anti- 

 hand-shaking- raid on page 331 is well founded ! And, alas, 

 perhaps we dissentants are only but dogs, chained to the 

 hind axle of the car of progress. In spite of our hanging 

 back and 3'elping, on it g^oes, and we with it. Give lis facts 

 and statistics. Doctor ; and when we've had enough of them 

 we'll give hand-shaking up, and wave at each other. It 

 may be different with soft-handed, in-door folks, but we 

 (some of us) incline to incredulity about a hard-handed, 

 laboring-man catching anything by a shake. Drum up 

 some itemized facts, and fire them into us. 



But, let's see. Doctor; if we learn the A of your reform, 

 won't we have to learn B also ? There's the habit of knock- 

 ing on doors now. The human knuckles are very liable to 

 abrasions — and alas for the millions of poor bee-keepers 

 who have died of leprosy or thunderstroke, caught by 

 knocking on doors, where some leprous or thunderstruck 

 chap had knockt just before ! 



FRAME FOR EXTRACTING. 



C. A. Bunch, page 321, is just longing to " climb up 

 some other way " with his deeper frame for extracting, 

 when up thru the narrow way of perforated zinc is the true 

 gospel. With any kind of frame above or below, the queen 

 goes up too much. 



SCREENS FOR MOVING BEES. 



Davenport's moving screens, made to telescope on with 

 eight bits of lath, and then be tied with two big strings, 

 are doubtless practical ; but, then, wire-nails are also prac- 

 tical, and so much simpler. Page 322. 



BTJSINESS ON A BUSINESS SCALE. 



This is business on a business scale, I thought as I read 

 a long way into Herbert Clute's article, on page 322; but 

 where is there anything to comment on ? Toward the lat- 

 ter end I began to find plenty of comment-ables. Nice and 

 unique to have each colony store five or sis pounds of stump 

 honey from the winter's choppings. My skepticism found 

 food in that aster honey alleged to be better than basswood. 

 Still, may be he's right. Here asters are abundant late in 

 the season, and seldom or never seem to yield any surplus — 

 perhaps because they do not bloom until surplus-promoting 

 weather has all gone by. It is a composite flower, however, 

 with the general flavor of its order, and why should it yield 

 other than fall-flower honey ? 



The bee-3-ard, graded into the side of the hill was one 

 of the best things — cellar just pusht still further in. What 

 with the grading, and what with the trees all round, no 

 tight board fence could begin to equal it. A moderate 

 amount of hoeing ought to keep weeds from getting any 

 hold there, and secure that high desideratum — a perfectly 

 clean yard. 



But, on the whole, that groceryman is mj' choice. 

 Actually makes honey the centerpiece of his show-window 

 — big barrel of candied basswood honey with the staves all 

 taken off, sliceable with cheese-knife, and provocative of 

 endless questions — and sales. No wonder it all went in a 

 week. First have a really good thing ; then give the pub- 

 lic mind a right good stirring up. See ? 



THE GENDER OF BEE-PRONOUNS. 



And " Afterthought " must be afterthoughted itself, this 

 time. Page 324. I used to get mad when the editor (of the 

 ancient " Exchange ") changed the gender of my bee-pro- 

 nouns (thought I understood our splendid and delicate and 

 expressive English language as well as he did, don't you 

 know?) but I never said anything — just kept right on, same 

 as before, and by and by he got tired of reconstructing me. 

 This time I didn't even get mad — laught a merry laugh to 

 see that they had mist one at last, out of a string of wrong- 



speckled pronouns. It was "his "and not " its " voyage 

 that went to wreck. 



And at this point let me stop laughing, and soberly 

 take a teacher's chair and tone. Interest and sympathy are 

 great elements to conjure with when we write. No one can 

 have very much sympathy when a little organism has its 

 voyage wreckt. But when reading how a little fellow had 

 his voyage wreckt there is, almost necessarily, a touch of 

 pathos. The ideas, " little fellow " and "its, "refuse to fit 

 together, don't you see ? 



PAINTED QUEENS. 



Who knows whether painted queens (page 330) would 

 stay painted ? or whether, like black walnut stain on a boy's 

 hands. Nature has some trick whereby paint would grad- 

 ually disappear ? 'Tater is quite sure that those who act- 

 ually paint actual queens will know more about that 

 manipulation than those who stop at reading and reflection. 



HONEY-DEW FROM THE SKY. 



On page 332, we score one more man who has seen 

 honey-dew fall from the sky — W. T. Alexander. Enough 

 such witnesses will convince us — just as enough grasshop- 

 pers will stop a train of cars. It's a little hard on the 

 grasshoppers, tho — and perchance a little trying on those 

 who throw themselves before the wheels of our incredulity, 

 as Mr. A. does here. 



" PETER PIPER PICKT A PECK OF PICKLED PEPPERS." 



And behold No. 22 confronts us with the faces of 17 



Canadians — no relation whatever to the forty . Happens 



to be the first time I have seen the "Picker" — D. W. Heise. 

 'Pears like the Kanuckshire pickings are not very tall, if so 

 short a picker can pick 'em so nicely. 



VALUE OF BEES IN POLLINATION. 



On page 338, Prof. Cook, as usual, speaks with a mas- 

 ter's authority. I cull two ideas for repetition ; 1. Other 

 insects did once do something at the pollinating service ; 

 but when we mass fruits in great orchards the hive-bee is 

 the only practical resource. 2. The fact that Nature is dis- 

 inclined to, and often refuses altogether, near fertilizations 

 (same flower, or same exact variety) is a sure and undenia- 

 able thing. This thing is the underlying fact which calls 

 peremptorily for the presence of bees. Let us be diligent 

 in the work of convincing our fellows of this, and in keep- 

 ing it in their minds. 



PUTTING ON SUPERS. 



Another disag-reement. On page 339, C. P. Dadant says 

 for us not to put on comb-honey supers as soon as we do 

 extracting-supers (in certain cases) ; and Mrs. Axtell, on 

 the very same page, says putting on sections early is the 

 best thing she ever tried to keep down swarm fever. I 

 think I'll be ladies'-man this time. 



.ALSIKE BOTH LONG AND SHORT LIVED. 



Thirty-one successive winters and no winter-killing is 

 quite a record for Alsike (latitude 42 on the Mississippi) — 

 quite a feather in its cap, which ought to count something 

 in our favor eventually. F. A. Snell, page 340. But (bane 

 and antidote) E. S. Miles, page 349, saj's all his Alsike is 

 winter-killed, and some white clover is left. 



COTTONWEED INFORM.ATION WANTED. 



I think Mr. Allen, page 340, should have told us more 

 about the West Virginia cottonweed that yields more than 

 the basswood. We want to get acquainted with it. 



PROLIFIC FOUL BROOD BACILLUS. 



Tivo generations in an hour, says Thos. Wm. Cowan, of 

 the foul brood bacillus. That beats the children of Israel 

 in Egypt, decidedly. Twice one does not impress us mucl^ 

 but twice the billions and trillions seems like business for a 

 half hour of history. Page 341. 



DOUBLE-WALLED HIVE WITH NO SPACE BETWEEN. 



H. S. Jones, page 341, is unique in using a double-walled 

 hive with no space between walls — tells us zvhy he does so 

 pretty well ; but still it looks a little like fencing a pasture 

 with no space for grass between the fences. Wonder if he 

 prefers his meals with no between-times. 



PUTTING UP FRUIT WITH HONEY. 



And so J. H. Hermance's four bushels of plums pre- 

 served in honey (two pounds honey to one pound plums) 

 were manifestly too poor to offer to the public till three or 

 four months' time ameliorated them — and then they sold 



