140 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



{A. B. J. sailing on same tack) and the re- 

 turn of Prof Cook to Gleanings is one of the 

 best of recent developments. The new man, 

 Karl Mathey opens out middling fair, with 

 his Russian tree, and holes chiseled out of it 

 for colonies of bees. Hard on the thief who 

 wants to run off with a hive, to ask him to 

 pull up that monarch of the forest. And one 

 of Gleanings^ pretty-well-realized dreams 

 is to have able correspondents in all quarters 

 of the globe. 



Now to go away back to Major Shallard's 

 comb spacing article {Gleanings, 101) I'll 

 trot out once more an old hum of mine. The 

 Major wants the comb spaced only 1% 

 inches, and thinks that is the reason his bees 

 build no burrs or braces. I think the bee's 

 reason for building a brace is because the 

 combs wiggle. Naturally they can't wiggle 

 if you jam them up to an inch and eighth. 

 But with that width of spacing I don't think 

 I want the job of looking over the ))ees for 

 the first time in the spring. 1 should wiggle 

 if the comb did not. 



" Our colonies under telescope covers keep 

 mucli drier and nicer than those under other 

 sorts of covers." Ernest Root, Gleanings, 102. 



As dampness is one of the wost foes to be 

 vanquished in successful wintering, we 

 should not forget that we must, at all haz- 

 ards, have the winter's rain and melted snow 

 kept out. That much we can do ; and we 

 shall be great fools if we are content with a 

 cover that will not do it. 



The "Britishers" balance their dipping 

 boards across a pulley when dipping founda- 

 tion, clamp on more boards, and make three 

 times the number of sheets with less work. 

 Gleanings, 153. Where was Yankee gump- 

 tion sleeping to let them find that out first ? 



W. L. Coggshall closes his entrances frosty 

 nights in spring, when brood is plenty and 

 bees comparatively few. Uses a little hand- 

 ful of sawdust ; and the bees open up for 

 themselves when it gets warm enough next 

 morn. Gleanings 1.50. A merciful thought 

 put in convenient shape. 



Dibbern says drones restrained from fly- 

 ing make riot and confusion in the hive. 

 Gleanings, 144. Thought so. 



(3n the question of extracted honey versus 

 comb. R. C. Aikin has had such a thing as 

 to have his best comb colony store more sur- 

 plus in a season than his best extracting col- 

 ony. Gleanings, 138. This reviewer sus- 

 pects that when the yield is doubled by ex- 

 tracting it is done in some way that takes 

 the life of the bees, and the life of the honey 



market too — bees left in unfit condition for 

 winter, and product such as never ought to 

 be put on any market. 



Friend Miller reads Gentralblatt, and oth- 

 er foreign "blaats" (albeit Iowa's og Bi- 

 Avl knocks him out) and he culls the item 

 that a caged virgin queen hung in a hive will 

 make it swarm. If this is sure every time, 

 and not a mere may-be-so and may-be-not, 

 it is likely to be very valuable in some cases. 

 Swarming can be forced out of the way be- 

 fore the honey harvest arrives. Also out- 

 apiaries can be made to swarm on definite 

 days when the keeper will be on hand. The 

 far-south breeders could furnish the virgin 

 queens cheaply if wanted in advance of 

 northern swarming time. I strongly com- 

 mend this thing to the experiment stations. 



Now about that man in A. B. J. and Glean- 

 ings who sells extracted for 24 cents — I just 

 wrote something here about friend Miller 

 and friend York that I scratched out after- 

 ward. Suppose a grocer sells you a sack of 

 flour for 24 shillings, and you find out direct- 

 ly that dozens of grocers stand ready to sell 

 you just as heavy and just as good sacks for 

 10 shillings. How do you feel toward your- 

 self for being taken in so ? And how do you 

 feel toivard the grocer ~' Well then, put cents 

 in the place of shillings, and honey in the 

 place of flour, and your own toes in the oth- 

 er fellow's tracks, and give just judgment. 

 Ten cents for extracted is not a starvation 

 price, but a good, living price. I both hope 

 and expect to live some day in a world where 

 every inhabitant, myself included, would be 

 incapable of taking 24 pearls where 8 or 10 

 would be right. And how shall I get used 

 to that sort of thing unless I practice a lit- 

 tle ? 



W. G. Larrabee has lots of sweet clover, 

 but never thinks of depending on it for sur- 

 plus. Gleanings, 180. 



And here's a brilliant invention of W. A. 

 Pryal's for shipping queens. {Gleanings, 

 184. ) Have two candy holes, the inner one 

 filled with softer candy, which will be hard 

 enough to use when the bees get to it. He 

 also thinks that honey, not candy, is the 

 ultima llmle of excellence, if ever we can 

 get there. 



Frogs and toads have no sly game to keep 

 bees from stinging when swallowed. Prof. 

 Cook found the stings sticking inside the 

 throat of a frog. Gleanings, 184. I sup- 

 pose it is not the poison that hurts us, but 

 the spasm and inflammation of our poisoned 



