1903 



CLEAN IXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



187 



1o prove that you were rig^ht and your neigh- 

 bor wrong". " 



"Yes; and that if I had heeded him I 

 should have ruined every queen whose wing- 

 I clipped when I saw her running in with 

 the swarm. But don"t you clip any queens 

 when you see they have wings while they 

 are running- in the hive?" 



" Where I know for certain that a swarm 

 has a laj-ing queen, I would catch her 

 when seen with the swarm, and clip her; 

 but all clipping should be done before the 

 prime swarm issues, for otherwise the 

 swarm may take a notion to go to the woods 

 before I have a chance to hive them. There- 

 fore I always make sure that all queens are 

 clipped before an\' prime swarm issues; and 

 thus there is no uncertaint}' about the mat- 

 ter." 



" When do you consider the best time to 

 clip?" 



"At time of fruit-bloom in the spring." 



"Why?" 



" Because, at this time the bees are gen- 

 erally very much engaged in the field, so 

 there are few old ones in the hive and in 

 the way. And as few young bees have yet 

 emerged from their cells, there are compar- 

 atively few young bees in the hive. 'J his, 

 with the queen being extremely prolific 

 just at this time (under the influence of the 

 first new honej' coming in), which prolifiic- 

 ness enlarges her abdomen to the maximum 

 size, makes it so that she is easily seen 

 among the few bees, while she is so clumsy 

 under her burden of eggs that she is not in- 

 clined to run and hide, as she often will 

 later on. These things combined make it 

 decidedly the best possible time tt) make 

 sure that each queen is clipped." 



" Well, I must be going. I thank 3'ou 

 for this interview.-' 



"You are welcome. And when you have 

 more questions jou wish to ask and know 

 about, call again." 



Mr. JamrsHkddon, of Dowagiac, Mich., 

 desires to have it announced that the patent 

 on his divisible-brood-chamber hive has ex- 

 pired, and that the same is free to the pub- 

 lic. 



rambler's humor. 

 In the February issue of the Bee-keepers'' 

 Keview the editor very exactly describes 

 the humor that was characteristic of the 

 Rambler's writings. He says: 



He was decidedly the humorist of our ranks. His 

 humor was not the wooden, niade-to-order. try-to-be- 

 fuiinv on-purpose kind, that kind that makes a man 

 shudder, shut his teeth together hard and think 



thoughts that must not be spoken. Rambler's humor 

 was spontaneous. It bubbled up like a clear spring 

 that goes laughing and .sparkling down the niountain- 

 side. His humor -was like that of Josh Billings. It 

 was philosophy expresstd in a humorous way. A sad 

 but strange feature, considering the humorous stjle in 

 which he wrote, was that deep down in his heart was 

 a great .sorrow. He was not given to talking of this, 

 but he once wrote me that, when the wife of his youth 

 died, the light of his life went out. No man has done 

 more to brighten and lighten the pages of Gleanings 

 than has Rambler. 



ILLNESS OF THOMAS G. NEWMAN. 



Mr. T. G. Newman, formerly editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, and General 

 Manager of the National Bee-keepers' Un- 

 ion for a number of years, during which 

 time valuable precedents in law were secur- 

 ed, while going to the postoffice in San 

 Francisco suddenly lost consciousness and 

 fell to the pavement. He was carried to a 

 drugstore, and regained consciousness suf- 

 ficient to give some information concerning 

 himself. "He is now in a critical condi- 

 tion, and complete rest is the surest and al- 

 most the only means of assuring his 

 restoration, even to where he may take up 

 the work he has been compelled to drop." 

 He is, at present, editor, treasurer, and 

 general manager of the Philosophical Jour- 

 nal, of San Francisco. Mr. Newman has 

 had a very active career, and the hard 

 work he has been doing these many years 

 is now beginning to tell on his not overly 

 strong constitution. He has our sincerest 

 sympathy. 



DOES HE INTEND TO PAY FOR THE QUEENS? 



Mr. S. L. Watkins, of Grizzly Flats, Cal., 

 has been getting queens of several breeders, 

 and, so far as we know, he has not paid 

 for them. In 1901 he ordered of Mr. W. H. 

 Laws, of Beeville, Texas, six queens. 

 These were sent; but he wrote back five 

 were dead; and Mr. Laws, desiring to be 

 generous, sent six more. Mr. Watkins al- 

 .so ordered queens of W. A. H. Gilstrap, of 

 Grayson, Cal. ; but up till very lately he 

 had settled with neither party, although 

 the accounts are nearly two j'ears old. W^e 

 have understood he has ordered queens of 

 other people in the same way, for which he 

 has rendered no equivalent. He makes 

 fairly good promises to pay in a given time, 

 but for some reason fails to make them 

 good. We have written him twice, and he 

 wrote back some months ago apparently 

 fair letters, telling of his misfortunes; but, 

 so far as we can ascertain, he has not paid 

 any of these parties a copper, and now they 

 do not hear from him. Whether the man is 

 unf<jrtunate, and can not meet his honest 

 obligations, or whether he intends to get 

 SI niething for nothing, we are not prepared 

 to say. 



THE GENERAL SUBJECT-MATTER OF GLEAN- 

 INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



In response to the request to our subscrib- 

 ers to state what sort of matter they desired 

 to have published each fortnight, we are 

 now getting a large number of replies, A 



