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' Tublishedbv THE~A rRoot Co 



$l5^PtRVtAR'^'\S) Hedina-Ohio 



Vol. XXXI. 



DEC 15, 1903. 



No. 24 



All right, Mr. Editor; zinc is the thing- 

 for numbering-tags. 



So HuBER has been going breakfastless 

 for years. He's a huskj'-lookingchap to be 

 starved after that fashion. [I have also a 

 niece who is a no-breakfast fiend, and she 

 is the picture of health. — Ed.] 



The retirement of Editor Bertrand, of 

 Revue Internationale, -will be to me as to 

 maDj' others a real personal loss. [See 

 what Frank Benton says in Pickings in 

 this issue in regard to Editor Bertrand. — 

 Ed.] 



" A WISE MAN seldom changes his mind: 

 a fool, never." I don't want to be in the 

 fool class, so I'm going to change my mind. 

 I'm not going to vote for E. R. Root for di- 

 rector, but for that jolly Canuck, William 

 McEvoy. He's a good one. 



Thanks, Mr. Editor, for the full infor- 

 mation about that automatic smoker, page 

 lOCO. It's worth a good bit, sometimes, to 

 know that we don't want a thing. An old- 

 fashioned automatic smoker is a pan con- 

 taining a smudge-fire on the windward side 

 of the hive. But give me a good bellows 

 smoker. 



H. J. SCHROCK, I think that "old bee- 

 keeper "did not observe closely enough if 

 he thought the circle of bees kept the queen 

 from laying, page 1012. This is probably 

 what 3cu will find: Whenever a queen re- 

 mains still long enough, a circle is formed, 

 facing the queen. The queen does not re- 

 main btill because the circle is about lier; 

 but the circle remains because the queen is 

 still. The instant the queen makes the 

 slightest signal to pass on, the circle opens 

 up for her free passage. 



S. J. Richard reports in Revue Interna- 

 tionale that for three consecutive years a 

 colony with its entrance at the top of the 

 hive did not swarm, while a colony beside 

 it with entrance below swarmed. He then 

 changed the lower entrance to the top, and 

 since then, six years, neither colony has 

 swarmed. [It does not seem possible that 

 the mere location of the entrance could have 

 any effect upon this question of swarming. 

 This experiment is interesting ; but it would 

 be more interesting if it worked in the same 

 way in the case of 100 colonies. — Ed.] 



I've read, several times over, that item 

 of inspector Hinckley, page 1014. If he can 

 cure foul brood by merely spraying formal- 

 dehyde on the hive- floor three times at in- 

 tervals of two weeks, it's a big, a very big, 

 thing. It's hard to believe that the mi- 

 crobes can be killed without killing the 

 bees; yet it may be possible. I suppose it 

 is not necessary to kill the spores, on the sup- 

 position that four weeks after the first treat- 

 ment they have all germinated. [If the 

 plan described by inspector Hinckley shall 

 work equally well with others it certainly 

 will be " a very big thing." I hope we can 

 get reports from others next spring or sum- 

 mer. — Ed.] 



I SPENT some time polishing up that 

 wheelbarrow Straw, p. 9y6, and patted my- 

 self en the back for having got off a good 

 joke. Along comes the editor and spoils it 

 all by saying I've made another slip. And 

 now I'm distressed to know whether the 

 joke is on me or him. Perhaps I deserve 

 punishment for not labeling my jokes. 

 [Your joke would have been transparent, 

 doctor, if you had not put in that clause, 

 "wheeling one another." I told Stenog 

 that I was sure it was one of your unlabel- 

 ed jokes; but we finally agreed that the 

 disclaimer threw that out of possibility. 

 Next time, polish your jokes a little more 

 and they will pass muster. — Ed.] 



Slow liqttekving will keep honey in a 

 liquid condition longer than if it be lique- 

 fied in a few hours. If you don't want to 

 spoil the flavor, heat it in water no hotter 

 than you can hold your hand in. Yes, I 



