1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



823 



derful vieor of mind for a man of such advanced years. He 

 will be 79 years old next May, and yet he seems to be as bright 

 as ever in all respects save one — and that is, he doesn't know 

 enough to enter his dotage when he has arrived at the proper 

 age therefor ! In this last respect he's inconsistently idiotic. 

 Perhaps I'd better label that last remark as a joke, for I 

 came near getting into trouble once from omitting the label 

 when I spoke of the Dadants as " those miserable French- 

 men." A reader of Gleanings not knowing of the warm feel- 

 ing between the Dadants and myself, "roasted "me for my 

 remarks. I suppose I deserved it. 



Overstocking a Localitt. — F. L. Thompson says, on 

 page 790, that he wishes I would tell how I know when there 

 is a poor yield. Well, Bro. Thompson, I know it just as you 

 do — by finding my supers left unfilled. Now are you satisfied? 



But I'll not be mean enough to leave it at that, but take 

 your request as you meant it, and you can settle with the Bee 

 Journal office for tampering with your punctuation and put- 

 ting in that semicolon where it wasn't needed. Or did you do 

 as I so often do — leave out the punctuation so the puzzled 

 compositor might guess at it ? 



You want to know how I can tell whether it's overstock- 

 ing or the season that's to blame for a poor yield. The fact is 

 that I can't tell. But I just won't agree with you that there's 

 something shaky about the idea that the bees crowd one an- 

 other on the blossoms more in a poor season than in a good 

 one. That is, if you mean by that, that when nectar is so 

 scarce that a given number of bees have hard scratching to 

 get a living, that number can be doubled without making 

 the chances any poorer for each. Surely, you don't mean 

 there isn't such a thing as overstocking, for you plainly say you 

 believe that Mr. Carlzen's locality is overstocked ; but perhaps 

 I misunderstand you in some way, and I shall be glad of fur- 

 ther enlightenment. That saying, that when a season is good 

 for 200 it's good for 600 in the yard, is one of those half- 

 truths that sometimes make mischief. Suppose in a good sea- 

 son 200 colonies can do well, you certainly will not deny that 

 the number might be increased until all would starve ? Now, 

 will you ? 



Chicago Honey-Pbices. — On page 791, the editor is 

 quoted as saying, " It seems to me that the actual wholesale 

 selling prices of honey on the very day the dealer quotes 

 should be given." There's no particular point in quoting those 

 words and then leaving it at that. What I meant to have 

 added was, that I always thought and still think that the deal- 

 ers so meant the quotations to be understood. Will the editor 

 please tell us how he understands them ? — [I've been waiting 

 for some honey-dealer to " pick me up " on that remark. I 

 think when I wrote it I must have had in mind circular quota- 

 tions that some dealers send out by mail. — Editor.] 



Buildings for Wintering Bees — I'm somewhat skepti- 

 cal about ihe success of such things, but if a man has succeed- 

 ed in wintering in a special building, that's an argument that 

 carries weight. So I'm much interested in the experience of 

 L. M. Willis, as given on page 791, and am wondering wheth- 

 er he owes his success to the very thick hollow, or rather 

 stuffed, wall. If such a building can be confidently relied on, 

 it would meet the wants of a great many. Will Mr. Willis, 

 therefore, please answer some questions? What is the inside 

 measure of your building ? How many colonies have you kept 

 in it ? How many years have you used it ? What is the act- 

 ual per cent, of loss from the time of putting in till the first of 

 the following June ? When did you, or when will you, put 

 them in this winter ? 



Apiarist and Bee-Keeper. — I sympathize with my Cana- 

 dian friend in his desire for words that express fine shades of 

 meaning, as expressed on page 798 ; but I think he hardly 

 makes out that an apiarist is any other than a bee-keeper. 

 Indeed, after fully arguing the case and apparently proving 

 that an apiarist is much the smarter man of the two, he backs 

 down from his position by saying, " If 'apiarist' is not satis- 

 factory." There's a weak spot in his logic when he says an 

 apiary " is supposed " to have a lot of " fixins." I never un- 

 derstood that a smoker was part of an apiary any more than a 

 curry-comb is part of a horse-barn. And I don't think that the 

 possession of an apiary necessarily implies bee-lore. If he 

 should sell out his apiary to-morrow, wouldn't the man that 

 bought it possess an apiary, even if he didn't know a drone 

 from a worker ? 



What Does He Mean ? — Quoth ye editor on page 796 : 

 " I do not know what bee-keeper crated the honey bought, but 

 whoever it was, he will crate, sort or grade, no more for me." 



Does he mean he'll never, no, never, buy another crate of 

 honey? — [No, sir ; he didn't mean that, at all, for he has 

 bought another crate since then, but it was 9iot put up by the 

 same bee-keeper, as the first crate came from Arizona and the 

 second from Wisconsin. Locality makes lots of difference — in 

 some things ! — but this time the difference must have been in 

 the bee-keepers. I expect to continue to buy crates of honey 

 hereafter just as heretofore, for I try to set a good example by 

 eating honey at least twice a day, thus doing my share toward 

 finding " a market " for reducing the surplus honey crop. If 

 every one of the seventy millions of people in the United 

 States would eat all the honey they ought to, they would feel 

 better — and so would the bee-keepers who would thus find a 

 ready demand for all the honey they could produce, and at a 

 good price. — Editor.] 



The North American Bee-Keepers' Union.— On page 

 793, the Canadian representative takes it to heart that in the 

 new Constitution Canada has been left out. Shake, my Arctic 

 brother, shake. We're both in the same boat. Left out Uni- 

 ted States, too ! Marengo, 111. 



Phenol Cure for Foul Brood. 



BY I. W. BECKWITH. 



With the editor's permission, I will criticise Mr. Clarke's 

 criticism on my former article with the above heading. He 

 says : 



"He quotes me very unfairly by merely giving my state- 

 ment that all who tried the phenol cure on its first appearanae 

 failed to make it a success. Why did he not give the reason I 

 gave for their failure ? Reason enough — the bees never took 

 the medicine." 



Mr. Clarke did not tell us in his first article, that " the bees 

 never took the medicine;" nor any intimation that that was 

 the trouble. On the contrary, he says Mr. Cheshire made the 

 treatment a success, and published the recipe to the world ; 

 that great numbers tried this same recipe, and all failed. 

 Does he mean to say now that "Cheshire was 'content with 

 putting the phenol in the hive,' and that was the recipe he 

 published to the world, and which others tried ?" 



I am well aware that " there is no germ of the disease out- 

 side of the microbe and the spore ;" and that is where the 

 trouble lies, for these germs or spores are contained in every 

 cell that has ever contained the diseased larvse, and all such 

 comb must bo removed from the hive or be disinfected. It 

 seems to me that Mr. Clarice's witty illustration of putting the 

 blister on the tool-chest fits nothing but his own case, and that 

 exactly. He tells us that all those who tried phenol used it as 

 they were told ; but he feeds some acid to the bees in order to 

 disinfect the comb where they deposit none of the medicated 

 syrup, and says: "This is a thoroughly scientific mode of 

 treatment." 



He now tells us, "There is no difficulty, as he supposes, 

 about using phenol during a moderate honey-flow ;" but in his 

 former article says, " It must be fed to them when there is no 



honey to be gathered, They will do this if they have no 



honey to gather from outside They must have no other 



resources." After making the statement so very emphatic, re- 

 peating it three times, I supposed he meant what he said. 



" He quotes me very unfairly" in saying I "assert that 

 both Mr. Cheshire and Mr. Clarke were deceived." Why did 

 he leave out the word, " probably ?" 



As Mr. Clarke has made so many mistakes in his articles 

 on pages 590 and 706, it is reasonable to suppose he would be 

 liable to make some in his experiments and reports. 



I still think, as I said before, that the encouragement is 

 not sufficient to justify me in trying phenol, especially when I 

 compare his article on page 17-1 with what he has said since. 



Grover, Colo. 



Lengthened Life in the Bee — the One Impor- 

 tant Object in Breeding. 



BY WM. S. BARCLAY-. 



Can it be that me assembling of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association at Toronto, Out., awakened our Canadian 

 brethren to new life? Far be it from me to assert they have 

 been leading the lives of drones in the hive, for many and 

 valuable notes from their pens we have had from time to time, 

 but permit me here to say that no more valuable or practical 

 article has appeared in the columns of the "Old Reliable" in 

 the past year, than that written by Mr. VandeVord, on the 



