THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



23 



Friend Conser (November Progressive. 

 207) thinks he has found how to have all 

 brood combs attached at the bottom. Put 

 on two bottom bars with a bee space be- 

 tween. Reckon he's " a mile off." It is not 

 because bees ivant another space there, but 

 because of their constant habit of running 

 to the bottom to pinch off a little wax when 

 they need some to use, that combs so gener- 

 ally do not touch the bottom bar. Even 

 when the keeper takes pains to cut away and 

 till in solid with cut comb, in a few years the 

 little " snipes " will have the bottom open 

 again — all lugged off piece meal. 



I have for some time felt that something 

 ought to be said about the Conser system of 

 non-swarming, as the power to suppress 

 swarming is so greatly longed for. Emphat- 

 ically, however, it is the actual reported re- 

 sults — real non-swarming, in swarming ter- 

 ritory, side by side with other bees that did 

 swarm plentifully, that m,ust settle the mat- 

 ter. Arguing the scheme is little better than 

 mere "yawp." Who has had half his bees 

 swarm terribly, and half refrain on account 

 of the Conser method V Most of us will save 

 our cheers till we hear from him. It strikes 

 me that the leading idea, constant supply of 

 empty combs for the queen, and the sealed 

 brood removed to emerge elsewhere, can be 

 licked into shape in a better method than 

 that which Mr. Conser uses. Alas, the empty 

 comb will probably have to be put in more 

 frequently than one would wish to visit an 

 out-apiary ! And maybe — yes, a swarm of 

 maybees — so much tinkering would stimu- 

 late swarm fever more than keeping the 

 queen busy would cool it. 



THE PRACTICAL BEE- KEEPER, 



How great is Canada to have room for a 

 baby in its shanty, besides that lusty short 

 boy the C, B. J. ! All the same, talent and 

 tact, and persistent well doing and waiting 

 (patience-on-a-monument variety) will make 

 a successful journal. And building cheaply 

 and cautiously on the foundation of a sup- 

 ply business will make a sort of a one, that 

 may develop by and by. 



About the raciest article is a letter from 



W. F. Clarke, the key note of which may be 



taken from this sentence — 



"I'd rather be a kitten and cry 'mew ' than a 

 dumb dog of an Editor, wearing a muzzle put on 

 me by my subscribers." Page 11. 



Just imagine once what an article might 



be built up around that sentiment, and you 



have it. 



Heddon appears on the subject of top bars, 

 and runs a tilt against the idea that close 

 lateral spacing at top prevents brace comb. 

 He adduces one rather striking evidence. 

 Slatted honey boards with wide spaces are 

 but little obstructed with comb, but if nar- 

 rowed down to queen excluding distance they 

 will be half plugged up. 



Doolittle gives a practical talk on getting 

 ready for winter, and charges a large share 

 of the disgrace of winter losses to the ex- 

 tractor, and the consequent condition of 

 having nothing but late honey for winter on. 

 Also a much longer wintering article of 

 Doolittle's is copied from Gleanings. 



The adviser for beginners is David Stew- 

 art of Tilbury ; and he does a very good 

 job. 



Peter Bussey is going to tell them next 

 time how to prevent swarming. May we all 

 be there to hear. N. H. Smith pertinently 

 notices that how to winter bees is practically 

 about the same thing as how to make bee- 

 keeping pay. No one proposes to suppress 

 the latter subject as tiresome. The publish- 

 er. Friend Ouellette (our folks will doubt- 

 less pronounce him Owlet, when they should 

 begin him with a W) he is lucky in being out 

 of reach of Uncle Sam's baby-killers, for he 

 spreads his own advertisements around at a 

 great rate. 



The special feature of the Practical seems 

 to be translations from foreign bee journals. 

 This is a corner in which there is plenty of 

 room, and editor Leigh (if it is he; deserves 

 credit for pouncing upon it 



And we gpntly beg 



All men who see 

 Say not Owlet and Leg 



But Wellet and Lee, 



The article from the French by the chem- 

 ist Dr. Haenle on his dialysis method of de- 

 tecting adulteration, and the one from the 

 Italian of Dr. Metelli concerning the over- 

 stocking of locations, are worthy additions 

 to our bee reading. Metelli also says else- 

 where that the worst enemy of the hive is the 

 man who wants to make the honey himself 

 instead of letting the bees. 



Pleasant to see that the Practical shows no 

 look of trying to make the least matter cover 

 the most space. On the whole the new child 

 is not a five pound baby but a twelve pound 

 one. 



The General round Up 



S. T. Pettit of Belmont, Canada, hived a 

 lot of swarms, giving them a surplus of 



