50 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



nightfall in the door of his bee cellar (all 

 open GO hour:*, and no foul air possible) and 

 he caught the murmur of the wind in the 

 trees outside with one ear, and the mu- mur 

 of health in his bees with the other ear, and 

 the two sounds were sweetly alik». Guess 

 we shall have to yield him the point that bees 

 are not always silent when wintering well. 

 See December Canadian, page 133. 



It would be quite interesting if Alley would 

 just out with it and tell how he accomplishes 

 what he promises below — but then, trade 

 secrets — yes, yes ! 



"If others wish to do so (keep two queens 

 together) we can ship them queens with the 

 point of the stint? taken off." Api., 1893, page 181. 



Alley also thinks that the prevention of 

 swarming should be given a rest, and that 

 we investigate this question instead : How 

 to bring a colony up to the swarming point. 

 See Api., 10. 



The following from the Canadian's begin- 

 ners' department rather reminds me of the 

 awfully fussy and too-too directions of cer- 

 tain amateurs : 



'• To have a smoker standing in the yard for 

 hours blowing its fumes about the apiary is not 

 in accordance with good management." Page 

 108, Dec. 



Of course a smoker might be left so as to 

 annoy one colony needlessly wiih continued 

 draft of smoke ; but bees are not quite 

 babies, to be watched over with nurse-maid 

 vigilance. Put the smoker right where the 

 boy's mother put the rod — behind the motto 

 — inscription, I Need Thee Every Hour. 



" Last winter I tried the plan of putting in oc- 

 casional fires. Bees out doors have occasional 

 warm days, and why should'ntit be the same way 

 in the cellar ? But it didn't seem to work in 

 practice as well as in theory." C. C. Miller in 

 Canadian, page 111, Dec. 



Ah, yes ! Here we have it. Those grave 



and sapient Germans can get into a mess by 



over positiveness just like we'uns. Hear 



friend Reepen in the German department of 



A. B. J. (XXXII,, 717.) 



" Has the bee to die after stinging ? Yes, al- 

 ways !" 



But then we Yankees have respectable 

 evidence that the bee does not always die 

 after stinging. 



Jennie Atchley finds that in fall transfer- 

 ring (perfectly feasible in her sub-tropical 

 location) i is best to cage the queens a spell, 

 lest brood rearing be started too freely. A. 



B. J., XXXII,, 718. 



Jennie is quite an earnest opposer of 

 McEvoy's foul brood heresies, and on the 

 next page to the above she gets in the follow- 

 ing knock down. 



" Do you suppose that this United States had 

 no dead brood up to the time foul brood was 

 brought to this country ?" 



A sample hive which she bought as a model 

 brought foul brood with it, and developed a 

 bad case when a swarm was hived in it. Men 

 of Israel, help ! This is the man that teach- 

 eth all men everywhere to be ruinously care- 

 less about infected hives ! 



" In this warm climate we find that the moths 

 are twice as bad, it seems, as they were in north 

 Texas. We now put out a tub of soap suds in 

 the apiary, and burn a lantern all night right 

 over the tub " A. B, J., XXXII., 719. 



" Exceedingly yellow drones generally indicate 

 Cyprian blood." Emeraon T. Abbott in A. B. 

 J., 721. 



"The poorest food gathered by bees is the 

 juice of fruits, then the honey dew. Both are 

 bad food for winter." Charles Dadant, A. B. 

 J.. 722, 



But Pierce found that mixing one-tenth 

 of cider in honey seemed to do little or no 

 harm. 



The same writer notes that cold in the lat- 

 ter part of winter works much more injury 

 than during the early weeks of winter. 



Perhaps the following, also from Pierce, is 



worth meditating ou a little : 



" A normal colony of bees hived in a large box 

 or gum, and allowed to keep all honey gathered, 

 say to the amount of 60 or 80 pounds, will live 

 and keep healthy, no matter how severe or how 

 prolonged the winter may be." 



Query 901 in ^. B. J. shows nicely how a 

 method once popular goes into almost en- 

 tire disuse. It refers to the plan of spread- 

 ing the combs for winter to let larger masses 

 of bees between. The respondents are 

 against the practice by a vote of 18 to 3. 



In these days when so many bee-keepers 

 seem to think it nice to make up mouths at 

 their first love, it is refreshing to hear what 

 Doolittle says on the subject. If it is true 

 that "all men love a lover" I think that it 

 is the forever and ever sort of lover that will 

 be awarded the ca'*e. 



" While else has seemed like work to me, yet 

 every moment soent in the bee yard is always 

 play: and after '31 years of this kind of jilay, I 

 must say that to me the l)ee business is still the 

 most fascinating of anything in life " A. B, J., 

 XXXII., 784. 



Mrs. Atchley reminds us {A. B. J., 813) 

 that perforated zinc is one ol the best reme- 

 dies for robbing. Might know how it is 

 yourself. When there is prospect of a fight 

 in front a fellow don't relish crawling, with 

 a squeeze and a grin, through a small hole 

 immediately antecedent. 



" I never yet have had a colony consume a large 

 amount of stores during the winter, unless it 

 was injured to a greater or less extent as to its 

 usefulness, if it lived through to see the next 

 honey harvest at all," Doolittle, A, B, J., 17, 



