July 20, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



453 



The •■ Old Keiiable" seen through New and Unreliable Olasses. 

 By "COQITATOR." 



THE OLD HOME VS. THE NEW. 



How much nicer the old home of Cyula Linswik is than 

 the new one ! Pages 353 and 354. So much of our progress 

 on earth, in some mysterious wa}-, seems to lose for us more 

 than it gains. When the Kingdom comes on earth I reckon 

 people will live half the time in little booths made of the 

 branches of trees. (In Eden they had absolutely nothing 

 at all for house — blue sk)' for one roj-al tent — and life one 

 endless childhood). Upon the advent of sin it was that God 

 in mercy allowed us to load ourselves up with labor-com- 

 pelling humbugs, to keep us out of mischief. 



And how mad I was to find out. for the first time, that 

 Cj'ula Linswik is not a real name — folks who live in glass 

 houses have such an itch to throw stones. 



A SERMON CRITIC CRITICISED. 

 Mr. Whitney, in criticising the sermon of Mr. Tichenor, 

 rather gets into the familiar role of "sinful scofi^er." That 

 sermon, however, is open to criticism, and would be a good 

 one for somebody to criticise in a spirit of friendliness, and 

 of love for the actual truth, no matter who gets pincht by 

 it. Page 355. A farmer near me bega:i bee-keeping re- 

 cently. His cash expense was, I think, two or three dollars 

 (instead of the Whitney minimum of $10). Got quite a bit 

 of surplus honey the next season — crosswise of the sections 

 — and didn't talie it off till the following June. That loss 

 balance of $3,240,000 would simmer somewhat, I imagine, if 

 adjusted to actual experiences. 



"WILL I BE MIST WHEN I ."^M GONE?" 

 In my own familiar nest, page 356, 1 see — "yl/Zi/him 

 that time." The meaning of that looks rather mist-y. — 

 When I am dead and gone shall I be mist f Rather too 

 ambiguous logicallj', and theologically. 



KNOWING E.4CH COLONY IN THE APIARY. 



That good husband, on page 357, I am at a loss to know 

 whether he needs a club, or a bottle of the " Balm of Sym- 

 pathy," Does he pocket the profits of his wife's apiary ? 

 or does she instantly spend 'em for a new hat, and leave 

 him to buy the apiarj- supplies ? The most startling thing 

 in Mrs. Stow's essay is the assertion that the bee-keeper 

 should know every colony as he knows his own family. 

 Prettj- lofty target for us to aim at. Not necessary to sup- 

 pose that she herself fully reaches it. Those who call our 

 attention to high ideals without full}- reaching them serve 

 us a good term, sometimes. 



DRONE-REARING IN CONNECTION WITH QUEEN-REARING. 



I note that the excellent queen-rearing article of John 

 Bodenschatz, page 358, follows the old regulation scheme 

 of providing choice drones — a scheme rotten and self-defeat- 

 ing, it seems to me. * Suppress the drones of the non-ap- 

 proved colonies (yet they will rear a few ?i\\& painpfr them), 

 and cause the approved colonj- to rear hundreds of extra 

 drones — with the inevitable result that they will be shabbily 

 treated at home, and not one of them will be on time at the 

 vital moment till abetter groomed male has " got there." 

 Worse than waste of time to stimulate drone-rearing be- 

 yond the bees' own inclination, unless we are also willing 

 to take the time to secure the young drones homes, a few in 

 a place, in colonies having few or none. Bee-keepers are 

 keen-witted in most things, why can't they have common- 

 sense in this matter? 



GERMAN-ITALIAN BEES FOR COMB HONEY. 



There must be something still much to be desired in 

 our craft when both the Bee-Keepers' Review and Gleanings 

 in Bee-Culture can soberly countenance putting on extract- 

 ing-supers, and then taking them off to put on sections. All 

 this to get bees started above, A good strain of German- 

 Italian hybrids will start at once (when there is any surplus 

 coming) with no more inducement than a couple of bait 

 sections. Why not keep just such bees, if comb honey is 

 what you're after ? Page 361. 



HUM.\N N.4TURE AND HONEY-DEW. 



How much human nature there is in the D. M. R. clip- 

 ping, page 366. Having satisfied himself that some honey- 

 dew exudes directly from the leaf (as the editor of the 

 British Bee Journal has announced himself satisfied) he 

 now wants to put up $5.00 that there isn't any other kind. 



NOTRE DAME DEVICE — HOUSE-APIARV KINK. 



If I get the correct idea of the Notre Dame wintering 

 device (page 369) it accomplishes nothing for the winter's 

 good except to close the spaces at the ends of the frames — 

 good as far as it g^oes, but hardly sufficient to account for 

 such results as reported, one would think. The amount of 

 difference we see between a box-hive and a good frame hive 

 as to wintering helps us to a judgment in this direction. 

 Probably excellence of packing and some other things con- 

 tributed largely to the final result. It is certainly a re- 

 markable result to realize 24 sections of surplus, with a 

 total gain of 66 pounds May 6, on the nortli line of Indiana. 

 The weights given indicate very large hives. Perchance 

 we have rather a triumph of thelarge brood-chamber, kept 

 so all the year round, than aught else. Note also that the 

 one which last fall was 35 pounds hive, and 41 pounds con- 

 tents by May 6, had regained the winter loss and 72 pounds 

 more ! ' One would almost suspect that these bees, unknown 

 to their keeper, had had opportunities for wholesale robbery 

 somewhere. 



In the same article Mr. Chrysostom contributes one of 

 the excellent little kinks which cost but little and amount 

 to much. Attach to each corner of the octagon bee-house 

 board projections, extending out three feet or so, making 

 its horizontal section look like a paddle wheel. The effect 

 of this is to isolate the colonies on one face from those on 

 the adjoining faces. 



FEARS TO COMMENCE COMMENTS. 



Guess I'll skip the Doolittle article, on page 370 — not by 

 any means because unworthy of comment — but you see if 

 Dr. Miller comments on his questioner, and Doolittle com- 

 ments on Dr. Miller, and I comment on Doolittle, and the 

 editor comments on me, we shall have a "House that Jack 

 Built." or a "Kid that Wouldn't Go," or something. 



Glad to hear that a quart of bees ca?i be made to rear a 

 good queen, however. 



B.'l.RRELS VS. TIN CANS FOR HONEY'. 



On page 371, C. P. Dadant gives us a model article in 

 defense of our gawky country cousin, the honey-barrel — 

 fighting on the losing side, I reckon, but fights well. He 

 didn't explain how s^ glue-coated barrel could have its staves 

 spread and closed again and yet be as proof against honey- 

 soaking as before. How easy it sounds to say, " Spread the 

 staves a little and lift out the head !" and how provokingly 

 stiff' and contrary tho'se staves can be when inexperience 

 tries the spreading and lifting 1 After a long time spent in 

 disagreeable skirmishing you'll forget and rest a portion of 

 your weight on the head — down in she goes, ker-sqush ! 

 Still no peaceful solution arrives, nor will the head come 

 out any better than before. Before you get it out and laid 

 on the'shelf it is in two pieces, and various little " do-fun- 

 nies" the cooper put in shed out from between them. O, it 

 can be done, but I don't like to do it. 



That was a good shot at the 60-pound can — must be 

 washt, and then it rusts inside. Very likely ; but, then, 

 original sin might tempt us to set it on a warm stove until 

 dry as a toast. Some would doubtless rather empty one 

 barrel than eight square cans; but I think they would 

 mostly be persons accustomed to the former and not to the 

 latter! That there is no taking out and putting back in the 

 use of cans, is a strong point in their favor. Cans rather 

 need a special heating arrangement to liquefj- in them ; 

 while the barrel calls lor kettle-room or pan-room enough 

 to hold a barrel, and these pans or kettles would far better 

 be water-jacketed. One set of utensils required is about a 

 fair stand-off for the other, I take it. He was honest to tell 

 us that we must not put the honey back hot if the barrel is 

 used. 



DYING YOUNG AFTER LIVING LONG. 



And so Dr. Miller would die young, after having lived 

 a good many years— pretty good ideal. Page 374. Still our 

 efforts to compel our old and weary hearts to be lively about 

 something, when they don't want to be. are oft a trifle sad. 

 Doubtful if that is really the best way. Simple rest in the 

 bosom of Him who hath eternal youthfulness may work 

 better than forced skipping around. CogiTaTOR. 



